Cog arrived but I can see it is not going to be straightforward to get it on the end of the shaft. More hunting YouTube videos beckons.
We did too. A transformation. After a lifetime of worrying do I have enough replacement, expensive cartridges I know a black refill, at my going rate, will last me a year. The colours even longer.
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I had an A3 Canon printer a few years ago, and the print head died - I replaced it, and it immediately fried the new printhead (a costly lesson), so I managed to find the same printer (one model up) on eBay, second hand coming from Germany. Unfortunately it broke in transit, but I was able to take it apart and use the spare parts from the old printer on the one I just received. It was all very fiddly, but I was very satisfied when it worked, and it’s still working to this day, and uses super cheap cartridges.
I was looking at Canon A4 printers this year, and was shocked by their new rip off ink system (a large combined cartridge), that increases the cartridge cost further, and is less efficient. I managed to get a Canon TS model that still uses individual cartridges that are sold third party, but it appears to be one of the last models that still does this. In the future I would probably look at other brands. I’ve only ever bought printers on the basis of the ink usage cost.
We’ve had an ET-2750 for about 6 years. Marvellous machine! Includes scanner and ‘talks’ to all the other machines via WiFi. It came with full tanks and spare bottles of ink which are still in use now, although I believe Epson aren’t quite so generous with the newer machines.
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In a sale I think I paid around €20 for two black and 3 colours, bear in mind this is for bottles not cartridges and it’s super cheap.
The kit has 130ml black, 70ml colours with a yield of around 5-6000 pages and it’s Epson’s own ink it’s a no brainer.
My last cartridge Epson was €45 for around 50ml of ink in the cartridges so the saving are substantial.
So, printer now working
I suspect that the part was indeed 3D printed, it was a bit tight and I had to file out the cog to get it to fit at all.
Enlarging the photo above shows where it should go
The new one in situ
Test page successfully printed.
It seems to me that this is a part destined to fail - the cog is a tight friction fit onto the shaft, which puts the material of the cog under considerable tension from the slightly oversized shaft - it’s not surprising that as the part ages it is very likely to split.
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Crikey, there looks to be plenty of black ink splashed around inside the mechanism there 
Normal for inkjets unfortunately
Not all. When I tried to repair my 5 year old Ricoh inkjet printer, It was surprisingly clean inside. That is the only one I’ve opened though. Didn’t manage to repair it as the print head was fscked and a replacement wasn’t available. Did look at getting a second hand one, but not practical.
I have a Canon IP8750 inkjet (photo printer) which uses multiple cartridges, which are readily available in third-party replacement form at much lower prices than Canon charge for OEM items.
That said, I only use it when I really need to print in colour - most of the time I use a Brother monochrome laser printer which I have had for 13 years and which has a much lower cost per page than any inkjet. Again, third-party toner cartridges are available - the last one I bought cost me a mere £12.99 from Amazon.
Yes I have to find desk space for two printers, but adding a cheap laser printer to your setup may be a more economical solution than buying a new inkjet with external tanks.
Depends how much you need colour of course.
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While in the Netherlands a few months ago there was a programme of people getting in the swing of things, fixing things for others, even shops opening up and doing it. For a small fee or in exchange for something else - repair or doing an odd job, etc. Fortunately my husband did a bit of translating for me. It was very interesting.
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People power! Taking back at least some control over the just chuck it era.
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They are a thing in the UK as well - locally there are 7 in the county - though typically each one only runs once a month.
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The OH got a HP Laserjet IIIP from whichever University she was working for in about 2002 (possibly Leeds or Nottingham) in an old equipment sale they were having for £50. It was the best printer we ever had. Third party toner cartridges cheap as chips and it would print and print with ease. She used it a lot at home printing research proposals and materials amongst other things, hundreds of sheets at a time.
Gave it away along with the old PC (with Centronics card !) when we moved here in 2018 and I think it’s still working.
Our commune in Luxembourg organises every few months a Repair Café where a few people volunteer their time to try and repair things. Last month I had some solar lamps fixed that just needed some soldering which is above my pay grade.
This is the umbrella organisation
And
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Another link to repair café
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