Anyone successfully refill the new Brother LC51 carts?

[tigerwan]

First of all, use the proper ink to refill LC-51 cartridges, only use high quality ink. If you don't, say good bye to your printer. There are to many people on here using HP ink to fill Brother cartridges, or left over Canon ink to fill Brother cartridges, this is wrong. If you are going to refill, then refill properly, and don't cut corners like that, unless you plan on throwing out your printer and purchasing another.

 

[bowace]

Refilling the LC51 is not easy and if you puncture the plastic bag or the casing the air pressure will not be right. I tried it on several LC51 and finally gave up and bought new ones from Off. Dep. Anybody got any new "fool" proof ways to fill these rigs. Pressing the pressure relief valve to relieve the air so that you can get more ink in seems to blow the seals around the plastic bag so I won't do that one again. The silicone plug is at the bottom of the cartridge so leaking may be a problem there. The non-oem cartridges don't even have a pressure valve on them just a vent hole at the top. DO THEY WORK OK. How does the pressure thing work. Help!!!!!!!!

 

[tigerwan]

"The non-oem cartridges don't even have a pressure valve on them just a vent hole at the top."

How interesting, I've never seen those kind, the ones I sell to my clients have the relief valve. I wouldn't know if the ones you are talking about are any good or not, seems strange not to have the required valve in place.

 

[BOYNTONSTU]

I just refilled my LC-51 cart. After I opened the outer shell I was looking at the back of the inner cart. There is a hole back there with a silicon plug in the bottom. Most kits come with an eye screw for removing the plug. I used this, removed the plug so it was at the top of the hole. I then inserted the syringe needle through this plug and it fills wonderfully. Remove needle and hole is sealed. No tape required. Works great. Way too easy.

Would this work?

Drill a hole through the cartridge into the inner cart.

Place a tube into the inner cart and seal it.

Drill a hole through the printer side.

Mount an ink reservoir on a 'shelf' at the same level.

 

[drmike]

I have refilled LC-51's but it is not easy. As far as drilling through the outer shell and inserting a tube...I think that would result in a big mess because it seems almost impossible to seal the inner shell that way. Open the outer shell and make a resealable hole in the inner shell for refilling. But that's not easy. I have purchased refillable empty carts that replace the LC-51 and they are all set up for refilling easily. There's no inner and outer shells. Just an outer shell and they work well. Or buy filled, but refillable replacement carts. They work fine. and if you want to run a hose to an external bottle for a CIS system, that works too. Good luck.

 

[pharmacist]

Concerning the Brother cartridges: they use a floating wedge combined with the old-fashioned optical sensor to tell the printer whether or not the cartridge is empty/full: no nasty chips or so whatever. Besides: unlike the Canon cartridges (double density sponge material versus single sponge) the cartridge itself has almost no implication on the printing quality, since the ink is sucked towards the printhead by an internal CISS-system. Therefore any decently made refillable cartridge is far easier to deal with then cutting/drilling holes inside the genuine empty Brother cartridges. Therefore my advise: buy a set of refillable cartridges and you will be set and it will cure you from a lot of refill headache...

 

[BOYNTONSTU]

Concerning the Brother cartridges: they use a floating wedge combined with the old-fashioned optical sensor to tell the printer whether or not the cartridge is empty/full: no nasty chips or so whatever. Besides: unlike the Canon cartridges (double density sponge material versus single sponge) the cartridge itself has almost no implication on the printing quality, since the ink is sucked towards the printhead by an internal CISS-system. Therefore any decently made refillable cartridge is far easier to deal with then cutting/drilling holes inside the genuine empty Brother cartridges. Therefore my advise: buy a set of refillable cartridges and you will be set and it will cure you from a lot of refill headache...

Would these be OK for my LC-41?

http://tinyurl.com/yczoydd

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brother-LC41-co...cmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Toner?hash=item3ef29f9d5c

 

[pharmacist]

Hi boyntonstu,

yes it should be OK if the carts are well welded and do not leak and the floater does move freely, then you are set. Please take care to use the right type and and a good quality refill ink, because this will determine the print quality and to some extent the permanence of the printouts.

 

[BOYNTONSTU]

Hi boyntonstu,

yes it should be OK if the carts are well welded and do not leak and the floater does move freely, then you are set. Please take care to use the right type and and a good quality refill ink, because this will determine the print quality and to some extent the permanence of the printouts.

Please explain the function of the floater.

Refill ink source for goo quality?

BTW I use a LC-41 cleaner cartridge occasionally that unclogs the head.

Very handy.

 

[drmike]

You might be interested in a CISS for the LC-41's.
http://exchangerate.ws/product.php?product=Brother+LC41+Continuous+Ink+System+with+UV+INK
Using a CISS is the best way to go in my opinion because what messes up the printheads is running out of ink and running the head dry and with a CISS that should never happen so it just works and works and works... I run my black carts in a home made CISS mode since all I do is black in my office. I have 2 setup that way. One for the computer and another for faxes and copying. Both are all in one machines MFC-240C's