This is a cheap way for robotics makers to get high quality gear motors 4 their robots & contribute 2 save the environment.I bought EPSON CX4300 for only 50 $. A great deal for a nieve. Soon it began to eat ink replacements. each repalcement

cost 42 $. After 2 ink changes I decided not 2 b a cash cow for EPSON..So I bought the Direct ink kit which was a good

bargain.

Step 1: Happy Hour Ends

The direct ink kit is a big reservoir that feeds the cartridges thru rubber pipes..the entire kit cost 45 $ and

worked equal to 7 ink changes. That is 45 $ against 300 $

Soon happy hour ended when printer began to give alot of error msg. I tried many tricks like take out the same cartirde

and put it back; remove air bubble from rubber pipes by asyringe...all worked for a short time...but sounds like the

printer just got stuborn.

Step 2: Wait or Hack

Web search revealed that EPSON(and other makers) has a life countdown chip inside the printer that kills the priner after a

certain prints (like a 1000 pages or so..). credit is given to a Russian programmer and his group on this website

http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

This website has a life resetting software for many printers...Sadly this CX4300 one is not among them.

Shud I wait till someone comes up with a resetting software for this model...need a printer quickly; so I decided to recycle this one. inside a dead printer-scanner; There are at least 3 high quality motors; alot of gears, opto electronics, switching power supply. Even the plastic of the body can be used to make a casing for smaller electronic projects, or mould it to other shape. here are some of gems found inside a printer. When u see a dead printer; take it.