Air Bubbles

[herky1127]

Refilling ip3000. Have air bubbles in my bci-6 magenta. I have been refilling and using it with no problems but still am concerned by the amount of bubbles present. Any tips on getting rid of them? I am going to let the cart sit for an hour. Should I leave the ink fill hole open?

 

[Dan@blue-optix]

Seal it up and tap it gently (like you do with a can of coke thats been shaken up) this should pop the bubbles. What ink are you using thats bubbled up? I havent really had problems with bubbles b4?

 

[herky1127]

I tried shaking it. Didn't help much. I let the cart sit with the ink fill hole open for a couple of hours. Some of it settled down. The cart works, so I guess I won't worry about it too much.

I am using bulk ink from Re-Inks.com. I bought this stuff over a year ago. Have had many problems with cyan and their tech support sucks. Don't recommend them. I have ordered some MIS ink which I will be switching to once this stuff runs out.

The bubbles are caused by my refilling process. I started using a squeeze bottle to fill the carts. No more syringes. Nothing to wash. Fast process. Only problem is the squeeze bottle has some issues with air bubbles. When I first squeeze the bottle, instead of a stream of ink coming out, sometimes I get a big ink air bubble. The bottle is clear and I can see the air bubble coming. Just have to pay more attention next time.

 

[Tin Ho]

Ink for Canon (and for HP as well) is supposed to bubble up when shaked. That's why Canon and HP are bubble-jet printers. But some ink bubbles up more than some others. Have not heard if it makes any difference through.

 

[fotofreek]

Herky - I use the squeeze bottles (the ones from Howard with luerlock needle fittings on the top) for refilling also. When using a syringe, you draw ink into the syringe through the needle and there is no air to inject although air is displaced and comes out the fill hole when the ink flows in. With the squeeze bottle there is no ink in the needle initially and you start by injecting a small amount of air. This sometimes causes the air/ink bubbles you mentioned, either when you start refilling or when you have the cart nearly full. I use the screw/o-ring technique for the fill holes and there is sometimes a bit of ink in the fill hole when it is opened. To minimize the air/ink bubble and the mess that it makes when coming out of the fill hole around the needle be sure there is no ink residue around the fill hole when you open it. If there is, blot it with a tissue before refilling. BTW, I think they are called bubble jets because there is a heating element that heats the ink and creates a "bubble" (steam?) that ejects the ink from the nozzles. I don't think it has anything to do with bubbles forming when you shake the ink bottle. I've also seen some bubbles in carts after doing a long print run. They always settle down and not harm is done.

 

[herky1127]

Here is a pic of the magenta cart right after pulling it out of the printer. Prior to running this cycle, I let it sit for two hours with the ink fill hole open. As you can see, it did not help.

fotofreek, I checked out Howard's site. I have never seen bottles like that. Very cool. I am using much larger bottles which I bought from MIS.

 

[fotofreek]

Any way you can get ink into the cart without flooding your house with it is fair game! I would rather have a thinner needle to inject the ink into the cart. The Howard units or syringes work well for me. I'm not so concerned about the bubbles as I am that you are letting the cart reservoir become empty. Only let the reservoir get about 80% empty as it will extend the number of refills you can do. Otherwise the sponge tends to dry and accumulate dried ink in it.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Herky--You mentioned "no more syringes". If you still have a syringe, you can use it to suck the air bubbles out of the reservoir and just discard whatever little bit of ink gets sucked up with them. Of course, you will be back to the mess you are trying to avoid.

 

[Manuchau]

I would think that inserting your needle right to the bottom, and re-filling slowly would force the air bubbles out of the top refilling hole.

Good luck!

 

[Hendo]

Hi,

I don't see how air bubbles in the tank side of the cartridge affect the machanics of the cartridge and/or the printer. When you fill the cartridge the sponge is going to draw ink into it not the air bubbles.