German Durchstich refill method for Canon carts with pictures

Pushing the needle through the first time is the biggest drawback to this method. I used to think this method was great until I just ruined 2 new cartridges by the sponge getting squished. I didn't have that problem the first 3 cartridges I did it on in the past.

Its really ticked me off. I'm about ready to give up on all Canon printers due to their stupid chips and expensive ink. Why can't some company for once make a chipless printer with inexpensive ink or cartridges that are designed to be refilled, instead of trying to screw all their customers out of their money.

Hi tc17,

if you read my instructions carefully: if you encounter resistance when entering the needle you have to make drilling (rotating) movements to overcome this resistance and therefore sharp needles are to be preferred. Just pushing the needle -even you do experience resistance - is just seeking for problems. The best way is have the needle crawl against the inner surface of the cartridge (in fact the needle is pushing the sponge a bit inwards and when the needle has gone the sponge will push itself back to place).

You want cheaper printers ? Go for the non-chipped Brother printers, for which there are easily available refillable cartridges available. Sadly: the refill ink will cost as much as good quality Canon refill ink and the print quality is inferior (especially photo's).

What size needle are you using?
The thinner the better.

I wouldn't use anything thicker than a 21 gauge needle.
Works great everytime even after multiple stabs. Good luck!

tc17 said:

Pushing the needle through the first time is the biggest drawback to this method. I used to think this method was great until I just ruined 2 new cartridges by the sponge getting squished. I didn't have that problem the first 3 cartridges I did it on in the past.

Its really ticked me off. I'm about ready to give up on all Canon printers due to their stupid chips and expensive ink. Why can't some company for once make a chipless printer with inexpensive ink or cartridges that are designed to be refilled, instead of trying to screw all their customers out of their money.

Click to expand...

thank you very much for this refill method. i have now refilled my original cartridge successfully and no mess even at first time. i used spinal needle 21G/3.5inch with 20cc syringe.

yupkime said:

But it is basically a fool proof method.
Thanks again to the German guys who started it! Hope they read this forum!

Click to expand...

Hi, I think I mentioned this refill method here for the first time, but of course it was not my idea:
I saw it first mentioned 2006 on the druckerchannel.de printer forum by the user "Ritchman" who told us he was at a supermarket and saw a salesman using this method, who told him he already had refilled 12 printers sucessfully.

Btw, I'm still using my iP5200 from 2006 and still refilling the first set of cartridges which came with the printer. I flushed them once using the method mentioned here by Grandad35, and once I pierced the sponge of my yellow cart 300x to test if this would have a negative impact on the sponge. But no, they are still doing fine.

Btw: Thanks at pharmacist for his nice guides.

Defcon2k, where have you been? It's been well over a year. I thought you had lost interest in us.

Yeah, I lost interest in my printer from a "scientific" point of view. I refill my carts, and the printer just does his job without complaining for years, so nothing new there.
But I check the printer forums from time to time to read a little bit and because I want to see if there is any interesting new stuff (like the chip resetter was, but I think Canon made new carts with new chips since then).

I guess, then, no news is good news. Glad to hear things are going well for you.

Do you have any idea who it was that came up with the German method of refilling Canon carts? That has to be one of the most brilliant ideas I have ever heard of.

I'm determined to try this method for my next set of carts! Thanks guys for keeping the topic alive!

Defcon2k,

thanks for your compliments: all the credits should go to you and Ritchman though !!!