Canon Pixma MX860 printer ink monitor

[twcinnh]

What are the consequences of turning off the ink monitor on the MX860 class of machines?

I had turned it off and recently decided to try ARC chips, didn't work. Then I got a chip resetter and those results have not been good. (It seems to report too much ink, by the time the reservoir is empty it shows full, it takes refilling the reservoir at least twice to show any ink use.)

Has Canon done something clever to distort what is reported when turning the ink monitor back on?

Would appreciate any thoughts or information.

Regards,

Tom C

 

[vallejoboy]

I had this problem on my Mx860 as well, the ink monitor did not move a bit despite it having half of the ink in the reservoir. I never disabled the ink monitor because I had a chip resetter. My guess would be that you did not let the ink seep in to the sponge when you refilled, this is what I did and so when I checked couple of prints later I had half of the ink gone in the reservoir but the monitor still says full. Also from my understanding the monitor and ink level in the cartridge are independent meaning i can reset an empty cartridge and it would show full in the monitor even though in reality the ink cartridge is bone dry(by the way don't print with and empty cartridge, the print head could burn)

 

[twcinnh]

Looking into capacities I am beginning to realize the CLI 221 cartridges hold about 9ml of ink and the PGI Black 19 ml. On each refill (when the reservoir is empty) I'm only getting about 3ml into the CLI221s and 6 into the PGI black. After resting, there is no absorption into the sponge.

Does this mean I should be leaving the cartridges in longer to suck out some of the ink in the sponge? Would that provide more accurate results?

The refilling goes well, prints are very good, it's just my concern about running the cartridge dry and burning the print head.

There have been some reports that disabling the ink monitor has corrupted or damaged the operation of the printer. Has anyone any experience with this. I have had a few times where printing was extremely slow and unsuccessful. I've reinstalled drivers and that didn't seem to help. However, it has been printing well for a few weeks now.

Tom C

 

[vallejoboy]

How long do you leave the cartridges to rest? The guides in this forum says leave the ink cartridge with the ink outlet facing down for a minute or two. Look at the 8th-10th picture in this guide: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4315. If the ink won't seep in that means the sponge is saturated so you still actually have some ink its just in the sponge. The capacities you mention is for a dried cartridge because most of the ink will go to the sponge and there is no way the reservoir on these small cartridges can have 9ml.

 

[leo8088]

I never waited and wasted any time before using my freshly refilled OEM ink cartridges. My understanding is if it takes a few minutes for the ink to settle in the sponge the cartridge is questionable. Don't use it.

 

[twcinnh]

I find as I recheck a day or so later, if I haven't printed, they are still full.

Tom

 

[vallejoboy]

leo8088

Yah... I don't wait a full two minutes either. I refill via German method so when refilling the cartridges are upside down and I give them a quick rotation...more like 10 seconds and the ink seeps in pretty quickly and I just compensate for the ink that seeped in and I remove the needle and I run a nozzle check and if comes out fine I go ahead and start printing my stuff. But the guide states to wait a minute or two and the person who wrote the guide is more knowledgeable than me regarding these printing stuff so...

 

[leo8088]

If you refill a yellow ink cartridge you can see how the ink is absorbed by the sponge. It really takes only a few seconds. You can see why there is no need to wait for a few minutes before you can use the ink cartridge. By the time the cartridge is installed in the printer it is already a minute or so passed.

 

[twcinnh]

Has anyone any advice about refilling and how re-setters work? I have CLI221 Canon cartridges (MX860). They will only take about 3ml of ink while the cartridge is rated at 9ml.

Does the re-setter expect use of 9ml in a full cartridge, or is it supposed to show the level in the reservoir. My concern is not reilling soon enough and burning out the printhead.

Tom C