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Converting your HP 1200 printer to test HP 1300 cartridges

Yes, it can be done. My apologies to those that have already invested in a new HP 1300.
It appears that altering the shape of the cartridge guide assembly behind the front door is what is needed. There are two ways to do this conversion. The short, quick or the slow, meticulous way.
The short, quick way (sponsored by Hannibal Lecter) is to mark the area to be cut off (see cut off detail photos 9 & 10), turn the printer on its side and use a hacksaw blade to carefully cut away the section of plastic without damaging the surrounding printer. Vacuum up the excess dust and repeat on the other side. I personally prefer the next method to be described.The slow, meticulous way is to remove some of the outside case and the cartridge guide assembly, modify the combing and reinstall it.

WARNING If you haven’t pulled a printer apart before, remember they are designed to be difficult, the following steps will help you find most of the difficult catches/clips.
1. Remove paper tray assembly
2. REAR COVER Open the rear paper exit door and remove the bottom 2 of the 3 phillips head screws, LHS (see photo 1). Prise open the backcover, LHS. Leave slightly ajar, but do not remove. (Catches /clips are indicated at bottom of photo 1)
3. SIDE COVERS You should now be able to remove both LHS and RHS side covers, starting from the back of the printer (see photos 2 & 3 for hidden clip positions).
4. FRONT DOOR Unclip slide arms from each side of the front door. Pry the hinge pivot point outwards, RHS. Slide the LHS hinge pivot point outwards. Remove front door. (see photo 4)
5. FRONT COVER Loosen screws situated on the side of the printer, one each side.This allows you to pop 5 clips (see photo 5) and remove front cover.
6. Remove a screw from each end of cartridge guide assembly, (see photo 6), push in two clips LHS end (see photo 7) and remove cartridge guide assembly, LHS first.Should this stick there are two more Modification: Now, all you have to do is to mark and cut the cartridge guide assembly to remove 10mm RHS and 15mm LHS (parallel to the existing shape) on both end plates of the combing.

NOTE:- Do not remove the stopper lug situated above the clip on the outside section of the combing. We marked the cutting line with a scribing tool (see detail photos 9 & 10) and cut it with a thin wheel electric grinder (see photo 11), but a hacksaw would be a safer option. We then filed the plastic edge to a neatfinish and put a slight round on the corners (photo 12).
Reassemble the printer following the above steps in reverse order. SPECIAL NOTE: - the front door will not latch properly until the LHS side cover is replaced.

Good luck.
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