Purging Chipped Cartridges (Canon CLI-8 etc)

[on30trainman]

I am wondering what your thoughts are on protecting the chip on CLI-8 cartridges from getting wet when the cartridges are purged. Or does it really matter if the cartridges are left to dry thoroughly before using?
Background: Today I picked up a new, unused Canon ip4200 for $35 (on our local Craigslist) - pretty good price I think. It had been bought as a spare to back-up his other ip4200. The original has worked so well that he decided to sell it. The printer has never been unpacked including a sealed packaged printhead. Only thing missing was the inks - he used them. But he had a complete set of the empty cartridges. These I plan to refill with Hobbicolors inks. But I would like to start with clean cartridges and not mix inks. I know there are some on here than swear by not purging and allowing the different inks to mix. Eventually the ink will be almost 100% the refill ink, but never really 100%. I also make profiles. So I want to purge, but do I need to protect the chip? If so, how? Some tape - what kind?

I do plan on buying a set of Canon OEM inks - to test the printer, use initially and have as a spare set of cartridges for refilling. Also plan on buying a Resetter - probably the one from inkfilling.com. The ip4200 will be replacing my ip4000. The ip4000 is going to my wife to replace her Dell (Lexmark) AIO. She only uses the printer part anyways. The Dell has been giving us constant clogging problems.

So what are the thoughts on purging chipped cartridges and keeping the chip dry. I am ready to purge them. Have already pulled the balls from the top of the spongeless compartment of the cartridges and am ready to go. I use the top refill method with squeeze bottles.

Oh yes - reset before or after refilling or doesn't matter? My guess would be doesn't matter.

Steve W.

 

[brendo]

To answer the OP, Ive got mine wet heaps of times, and it still works flawlessly. Just be sure they are completely dry before you re-install them.

 

[Grandad35]

My carts don't have chips, but I would just rinse the chips with a squirt of distilled water or rubbing alcohol (to make sure that there are no residual minerals left on the chips), then blow them off to remove as much of the remaining liquid as possible before drying them.

You might want to look at these links:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-1902.html
http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/2-2-1.shtml

 

[on30trainman]

I gave the purging a go yesterday. The way I purge, first used with my BCI-6 cartridges, no water got onto the chips at all. The sponges are nice and clean, just waiting to get fully dry before filling. Bought a new set of Canon OEM cartridges at Costco so that I could test the printer - it had been stored and totally unused by the original owner. These will eventually become my refill backups. Made the firmware change to enable CD/DVD printing. The tray from my ip4000 works fine.
Need to eventually buy a resetter. Am wondering if there is any advantage to the so-called newer BLUE version.

Steve W.

 

[jru]

What I did to keep the chip from getting very wet was to take a piece of masking tape, and then take a smaller piece of scotch tape, and place the scotch tape adhesive side onto the masking tape adhesive side so that the smooth adhesive-free side of the scotch tape would go against the chip when the piece of masking tape was placed over the chip. Though it's not 100% waterproof, it seemed to work to keep it dry.
So the idea is to create a smooth, adhesive-less rectangle in the middle of the masking tape's adhesive side so that when the masking tape covers the chip area, the smooth rectangle of the scotch tape is up against the chip (rather than adhesive).

 

[pharmacist]

Most drastic measure: cut away the chip, purge your cartridge and put it back on the cartridge.