My (bad) experience with refilling PG-560 and CL-561 cartridges

[Herb]

I bought a Canon printer that uses the PG-560 and CL-561 integrated cartridges, with print head and nozzles on the ink tanks. (The cartridges look the same as the PG-540, PG-545 and so on that are used for some other printers.) My plan was to refill them and use them for a long time.

Well, after 2 refills the black cartridge prints were already visibly degraded. After 4 refills they were no longer usable for printing using the "standard" quality.
Then I tried cleaning the nozzles with various recommended liquids and methods. None of it not helped, it only made the problem worse.
The color cartridge is noticeably less degraded after 3 refills, but I've been mostly printing text and that uses the black cartridge more.

I was using generic dye ink for refills. Maybe using a different ink would yield better results, but I doubt it. Because even pushing pure distilled demineralized water through the nozzles caused degradation every time.
So I think that these nozzles have a limited life span and there's nothing you can do. Canon probably designed them so that they last just long enough to safely consume the included ink, forcing you to buy new ones. I did not expect them to last forever, but I thought I'd get at least 5-10 refills.

 

[The Hat]

but I thought I'd get at least 5-10 refills.

If your unhappy with Canon OEM carts then why not give 3rd party aftermarket cart a go, they couldn’t be any worse than the results you’re getting now..

 

[Herb]

If your unhappy with Canon OEM carts then why not give 3rd party aftermarket cart a go

I thought those were just refurbished OEM carts that were discarded after the original ink ran out. Is that not the case?

 

[pharmacist]

PGI-560/CLI-561 are cartridges with integrated printhead and those are known to be very difficult to be refilled properly. The problem with bad ink flow is caused by a bubble/bubbles of air above the nozzles that prevent the ink to flow well...this causes bad ink flow and like you have said: the quality is designed to wear after a few refills.....Even permanent printheads on the Canon are supposed to be replaced after a while unlike Epson printheads that should last your printer life (unless there is delamination of the printhead.....in this case replacing the printhead will cost a new printer).

 

[PeterBJ]

I thought those were just refurbished OEM carts that were discarded after the original ink ran out. Is that not the case?

That's true. There are no third party manufacturers of combined sponge/printhead cartridges for Canon. These "compatible" cartridges are Canon cartridges that are cleaned and refilled professionally, better than the home refiller can do.

Here is an article from druckerchannel.de about refilling Canon combi cartridges. The article is old but the new cartridges are very similar to the old ones. Google Translate does not always work with links from druckerchannel.de but you can use Google translate or other translator yourself.