Is it time 2 create community spreadsheet about opaque Canon carts?

[joseph1949]

To: All

Is it time to create a community spreadsheet concerning the opaque OEM Canon carts?

I have two reasons why we should create a spreadsheet for the opaque carts (CLI-226 and PGI-225P):

1. When a resetter becomes available for the opaque carts people will want to know how to fill the opaque carts. Yes, I know people are requesting help to refill the opaque carts (without using a resetter). But when a resetter becomes available the number of requests asking for help will be 10 times what it is now. We need to get ahead of the curve and develop a spreadsheet before the hordes of the unwashed start screaming for help.

2. Sooner or later ALL of the Canon carts will be opaque. When that happens everybody (be they newbie, participator, guru, master, etc.) will want a spreadsheet to help them fill a cart. I see no reason for each person who wants to fill a cart to develop a spreadsheet. A well thought out community spreadsheet will make it possible to fill a cart with little or no botherassuming one knows how to use the top-fill method or the german method to fill a cart.

Question: What should a community spreadsheet look like? I will be developing a spreadsheet in the near future, but I can say a few things that should be on a spreadsheet:

1. Weight of virgin OEM Canon cart in grams.

2. Weight of Low ink cart in grams.

3. Weight of No ink cart in grams.

4. Weight of no-ink-in-ink-tank (no warning message) cart in grams.

5. Dipstick (using a toothpick) readings in mm.

The spreadsheet should show how to do conversions.

Examples: converting a ml of ink to grams of ink
or converting grams of ink to ml of ink
or a half-filled ink tank is equal to (x) ml and
(x) grams of ink.
or mm of ink into ml of ink and grams of ink.

So, What do you think? Do we need to develop a community spreadsheet or not?

Thank you.

 

[rodbam]

You have to be really brainy to make a spreadsheet, my question is do I have to be brainy to be able to read it?

 

[marceltho]

I remember the time ( not so long ago......) that we all we refilling with the German Methode and a syringe, and no-one had any problem.
Than the squeeze bottle came, and with the tranparent carts they were a big success.

For me, I refill CLI-8 carts, but when I get my low-ink warning, the ink chamber is always empty, with other words....I refill always the same amount of ink, even if it is a visual " thing".....( I have squeeze bottles as well....)
I guess with the opaque cart that will be the same ?
So why not go back to refill with the syringe, it is easy to find out how much ink an empty ink chamber needs ?

I understand refilling with a squeeze bottle is clean and easy and fast, but it is NOT the end of the world to go back to the syringe until something new comes up.

 

[lowepg]

NO offense- but this seems like a lot of work for limited benefit.

Unless you have a pretty precise scale- I think trying to blindly fill purely by weight will result in a mess.

I've weighed completely flushed carts and there is still some variance.... I cant imagine how much fluctuation there'd be when you have some partially empty, some partially saturated sponges, etc, etc.

I think the near-term solution is much simpler:
Buy compatible windowed-carts (220/221) and swap the chips- thats why I bought 10 sets of 220/221's- trying to insure against future shortages.

But, lets assume the next gen of Canon's have a new cart size (so chip swap wont work) AND they are opaque:
I suspect top filling (with some sort of visual fill guidance) will have a renaissance as the German method will become too difficult to utilize "in the dark."

But wait!?!? What if canon also designs the case to have a 2 nanometer clearance so topfill plugs crash into it? Then the world will truly have ended.

 

[rodbam]

What if canon also designs the case to have a 2 nanometer clearance so topfill plugs crash into it? Then the world will truly have ended.

Not quite, I saw on one refill site I think it was Inkjetcarts where they made a recess in the cartridge & the top of the plug is flush with the cartridge top.The battle between them & us continues

 

[pixmarmite]

The real problem with top filling opaque carts with a syringe is how steadily you can operate the plunger. Once you have that under control it's just matter of waiting for the first bubble to appear where the needle goes into the cart. This can best be arranged by using a 3rd hand soldering clamp (available on eBay at very reasonable prices) to hold both the cart and the syringe so you can concentrate on operating the plunger with the correct ammount of pressure.

As for the clearance issue I have always avoided the technique of pushing the ball into the cart to create the hole in favour of a M4x10 countersunk head stainless steel self tapping screw. By first using a countersink bit - or just the tip of a drill bit - to locate the hole to be screwed right beside the structure holding the ball you can take advantage of the extra thickness of the plastic there to produce a good seal around the screwhead.

An additional point I have found useful once the filling hole has been opened is to clamp the cart in the middle of the ink tank section with a miniature vice grip just tightly enough - but no more than that - to provide suction in the chamber. Once the filling is completed and the screw tightened back into place the releasing of the vice grip should produce enough of a vacuum to reduce the aerating influence of the filling process without restricting the flow of ink into the sponge compartment.