Preparation for filling:
You will need the following tools:
- a cutter knife or a spatula
- Refill syringe with needle
- ink (305 approx. 2ml, 305 XL approx. 4ml)
- kitchen paper
Choose a place for filling that is not permanently contaminated with ink. For example, work on a place mat and place an absorbent pad (kitchen paper) on top of it. Run the cutter knife under the label on the top of the cartridge (picture 1). Carefully peel off the label. Put it aside; it will be needed again after filling. Now put the needle on the syringe. Draw up the amount of ink indicated above with the refill syringe.
Filling the HP 305, 305 XL:
Take the syringe and pierce the inside of the cartridge with the attached needle (figure 2). You will feel a resistance. This comes from the sponge inside the cartridge. Do not insert the needle deeper than 3 cm into the cartridge. Otherwise you may puncture the filter screen. In this case, the ink can run out of the cartridge unhindered.
Now slowly fill the ink into the cartridge. If ink comes out of the filler opening, draw off some ink again.
After refilling:
To prevent a vacuum from forming in the cartridge, there is a kind of labyrinth system on the cartridge lid. This system ensures ventilation while you print something with the cartridge.
The ventilation openings marked in figure 3 (circles 1 and 2) are connected to the ventilation channels and their ends (circles 3 and 4).
When you stick the label on the cartridge, the ends of the channel system must be free and must not be stuck over (illustration 4). This is the only way to ensure pressure equalisation.
Now you can put your cartridge back into the printer and start printing.
Special features of the HP 305, 305 XL:
It cannot be ruled out that after inserting the refilled cartridge your printer displays an error message that the ink cartridge is empty. In this case, ignore this message and your printer will continue printing. However, it will continue to print without showing the ink level, because your printer knows this cartridge by its serial number and has counted the ink level empty. If it is not possible to ignore this message and get the printer to work, the only option is to replace the cartridge with another filled one or with a new cartridge, as there is currently no reset method as with older HP cartridges.
Tip: Printers usually remember the last three cartridges by their serial numbers. If you have several cartridges of the same type available, try to get one of the other cartridges to work or insert these cartridges one after the other into your machine until, for example, the cartridge you filled last can be reinserted and recognised as the fourth. This way your printer will gradually overwrite the last three stored serial numbers.
However, we cannot give any functional guarantee for the methods described above.