Whether you're purchasing ink cartridges for Kodak printers, Epson stylus ink cartridges or Dell ink cartridges, you may find yourself in a situation where you have exactly the right cartridge but where you still have trouble fitting it into your machine. If this is happening, there are some things that you should take a look at before you start trying to force the ink cartridge into the appropriate slot. In fact, you should never force an ink cartridge into the slot. There are many delicate plastic parts in printers and, if you force them, you may find yourself with a broken printer on your hands.

Take a look at the area where the ink is supposed to seat. In some cases, there will just be a slot where the ink cartridge is placed and in others, there will be a plastic lid over the top of it that you will have to fasten down. Dell ink cartridges, for example, are slid into the plastic well where they sit and then a thin plastic lid is fastened over the top of them to hold them in place. Other printer cartridges have many different handling instructions. There will usually be instructions right on the inside of the printer. Even if you've replaced the ink cartridge hundreds of times, take a look at the instructions and make certain you're doing everything right. Quite often, the problem comes down to something as simple as pushing the ink cartridge in the wrong direction.

Look at the inside of the well where the ink is supposed to sit. If you see any dirt or debris in there, you'll want to clean it out before you put the new ink cartridge in. Even though printers are closed up when they are in operation, it's not uncommon for stray dust and other materials to end up clogging up parts of the printer. In fact, there's a rather robust business to be had in cleaning up people's dirty printers for them.

Finally, make certain that you do have the right ink for your printer. In some cases, there is only a letter difference between one model and the next that renders an ink cartridge inoperable with a particular printer. If you do have the wrong type of ink, talk to the company you purchased it from and see if you can get a replacement. Sometimes, the obvious solutions are the right ones.