"THE INKSIDER" _______________________________________ June 2002 Newsletter #11-0610 ======================================= Hi <>, This newsletter only goes to people who subscribe to it. Unsubscribe instructions are at the bottom of the newsletter. This newsletter is brought to you by Atlascopy.com. Company Goal: Offer you, the consumer, a cost savings alter- native to expensive OEM cartridges. Our cartridges are 50 to 80 percent less expensive than OEM's. We also have Refill Kits, which can save you up to 90 percent. ================================================== This month's edition features the following: 1. News from the InkJet Industry 2. New Products at Atlascopy.com 3. General Tips on Getting the Most for Your Money ================================================== 1. News from the InkJet Industry Epson Sues San Diego Distributors For Counterfeiting Ink Cartridges As part of its zero tolerance program to protect consumers from counterfeits, Epson filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Diego, Calif. against Startech International Computer Supplies, Inter-Globe USA, Inc., and Morty Berger, Inter-Globe's owner. The lawsuit by Epson America, Inc. and Seiko Epson Corporation alleges that these San Diego-based defendants distributed lower quality counterfeits that are almost identical in outward appearance to genuine Epson cartridges. Lexmark Runs Away with Magazine's Awards Lexmark International, Inc. was recognized in a big way by the trade journal Better Buys for Business, earning 14 Editor's Choice Awards in the publication's mid-volume printer guide. The publication tested approximately 150 monochrome laser printer models from 21 manufacturers in four distinct categories. The categories included: personal/small workgroup models rated at 16-19 pages per minute (ppm), workgroup models rated at 20-29 ppm, departmental models rated at 30-40 ppm and enterprise/ departmental models rated at 41-49 ppm. The products were vigorously tested for the strength of their features and specifications and how they stack up against competitors. According to the Better Buys for Business, Lexmark "has made bold moves over the last year to surpass, in price and performance, the latest series of Hewlett-Packard laser printers. At every point in the mid-volume range, it has come up with new printers that offer more in terms of speed and features than the latest Hewlett-Packard models. ...More than ever, Lexmark has become a viable alternative to HP." Better Buys for Business publishes ten buyer's guides for office equipment every year. Its independent evaluations - covering models from all major office equipment manufacturers - help buyers make more informed decisions. Because it has no ties to manufacturers and accepts no advertising, its analysis is viewed as wholly objective and unbiased. Better Buys guides cover copiers, printers, fax machines, multifunctionals, document scanners and electronic filing systems. For more information, visit www.betterbuys.com. ================================================= 2. New Products at Atlascopy.com There's plenty of new products up this month on Atlascopy.com. We encourage you to take a look at our website because we update product listings regularly. To speed your shopping along, here is a list of the latest items you can find on Atlascopy.com, with pricing and URL linkage: Remanufactured Cartridges for the Lexmark Z13, Z23, Z33 10N0016(OEM#), LXN16BF(Atlascopy Product#) $21.95 10N0026(OEM#), LXN26BF(Atlascopy Product#) $22.95 http://atlascopy.com/cartridges/lexmark/index.htm ------------------------------------------------- Refill Kit for the Lexmark Z55, Z66 LX310BK Black Refill Kit $14.95 LX310C3BK 4 Color Refill Kit $24.95 http://atlascopy.com/refills/atlasbrand/lex5.htm ------------------------------------------------- Refill kits for the new Canon Printers S200 / S300(BCI-24) Black Refill Kit $14.95 Black & Color Refill Kit $24.95 http://atlascopy.com/refills/atlasbrand/canon6.htm ------------------------------------------------- New Cleaning Cartridges for Epson Epson Stylus Color 900/900N/980 Epson Stylus Color 480/580 Epson Stylus Color 880 Epson Stylus Photo 1200 We are now receiving a much better price from our supplier for the Cleaning Cartridges, So we decided to pass the savings on to you. http://atlascopy.com/CleaningCartridges/index.htm ------------------------------------------------- If you are looking for Greeting Card stock or Photo Glossy paper, then check out our Media and Paper section. Our films and papers are designed to perform equally well with Repeat-O-Type Brand inks and those offered by the printer manufacturers. http://atlascopy.com/media.htm ------------------------------------------------- We are now selling OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) products. Among the products now on sale are Epson, Canon, Lexmark, Compaq, Nec, Hewlett-Packard, Brother, and Xerox cartridges. OEM cartridges can be found here: http://atlascopy.com/cartridges/ ================================================= 3. General Tips on Getting the Most for Your Money Hewlett Packard Tip Each Atlascopy newsletter provides a easy few tips to help you in the inkjet cartridge re-filling process...which, in turn, can help you save time, energy and (best of all) money. When your printed pages begin to show streaks or unprinted areas of text or graphics, it may be due to accumulated ink on the inkjet print head. This excess dried ink can usually be removed by doing the following... Inspect the rows of gold contact dots along the front of the cartridge to make sure there is no ink on them. If there is, remove this carefully with a Q-tip moistened in water or rubbing alcohol. Also Clean the exit port of the cartridge with a Q-tip and Rubbing Alcohol. You can also clean inside the printer where these contacts press against the print cartridge carriage. Then, gently dry these areas with a paper towel or soft cloth before reinstalling. For H.P. 51626A, 51629A: After cleaning your cartridge, if your pages still show streaks, remove the cartridge and place the print head over several layers of paper towel. Now put an ordinary plastic drinking straw tightly over the white vent hole located on the top of the cartridge. Now, blow into the straw. This will force ink out of the print head and may help remove any clogging. Be careful not to get any ink on your hands or clothes because it stains and is hard to remove! Blot the print head so it's not dripping, before reinstalling the cartridge. ********************************************************* Lexmark Tip Fussy Lexmark color cartridges can come back to life if you remove the clear plastic cover over the sponges and take out the sponges. toss the cover, you won't need it any more. Wash them out with warm water and squeeze out the excess water. Put the sponges back in the cartridge. Make sure you get them back in the proper chamber. While the sponges are still damp re-fill the cartridge. Inject the ink VERY slowly so you don't make foam in the sponges. You may need a strong pair of needle nose pliers to pry the clear plastic cover off. *********************************************************** Epson Tip We may have the Epson refiller owners' most useful tool, and the best part is it only costs 50 cents! I'm talking about the BFILL tool. The BFILL attaches to any injector can suck the foam from a cartridge faster than a vacuum cleaner on steroids! Foam is the main reason why Epson cartridges stop printing. It's easy to use and you will be surprised how much foam a small cartridge can hold. We have a nice little primer complete with pictures for this useful little tool. Check it out here: http://www.atlascopy.com/BFILLinstructions.htm If you have a tip you would like to contribute you can e-mail it to atlas@dvol.com. ================================================== Special note: Some of you are confused by our offering of two different web sites. Essentially, they both offer the same products but the difference is in the shopping cart area. Many of you asked for a shopping cart that retains the user information. The new site does that. Others complained when they were required to set up an account in order to purchase anything. So we are keeping both sites active to make everybody happy. The other difference is the new site has the ability to process credit cards in real time. The security is much higher and people get frustrated when their credit card is declined. If you want to order from the new site you MUST use the correct billing address, which is the address where your credit card statement is sent to. Also, the new site will not accept any International credit cards. If you are having problems with your credit card on the new site then you should use the old site. The old site does NOT have real time processing, we will run your credit card manually which means you won't get rejected, unless of course you deserve it. :-) The new site is at: http://shop.atlascopy.com The old site is at: http://atlascopy.com ================================================== That's all for now. See ya next time! Your friends at Atlascopy.com :-)