Bought 30 Ebay 220 221 virgin oem carts - dry sponge question?

[inkadinkado]

Just purchased 30 virgin OEM carts from Ebay and they seem to be in very usable condition with the ball still in tact.
I've flushed and wick dried 12 of them with 18 to go.

After reading some posts on a dried sponge possibly starving the printhead of needed ink moisture and the problems that can cause, I'm wondering about how to revive the sponge.
Pharmacist has a sponge revival recipe and if I understand his recipe correctly; after using the solution, even if the sponge becomes dry again, the glycerin in the recipe will keep the sponge in a ready condition to better accept ink moisture again. Am I understanding this correctly? I would love to know your method of refilling a flushed/dried cart and what was your experience of getting the sponge to fully accept the ink?

Thanks for your help.

 

[turbguy]

I once flushed a BCI-6 cart, finishing with distilled water as the last flush, and let it dry COMPLETELY (I'm talking vacuum chamber-drying at 24" HG vacuum overnight). That cart was DRY!

I injected black dye ink (Hobbicolors) via the top fill method, and 9 months later, the sponge has yet to absorb ink to the wall opposite the ink tank. Needless to say, it does not supply sufficient ink out the outlet port.....

Wayne

 

[inkadinkado]

turbguy

OOOOh!!! Sounds like I'll have to do some mega experimentation to prevent that from happening to my 30 freshly flushed and dried carts. I think I'll know when I try to refill the first one of these carts, watching the sponge window on the side to see the penetration of the ink....or not. It it does not penetrate, even after a couple of days, I'll flush it, dry it, and try pharmacists recipe to revive a dry sponge. Wish me luck, OK?

Thanks for the advice

 

[fotofreek]

I've purged many carts and dried them completely. When refilling, the sponges take up some colors better than others. Yellow is the best and black the worst. The simplest way to get a good refill on a newly purged, completely dry cart that doesn't take up the ink well in the sponge is to apply a light vacuum on the air chamber vent (yes- suck lightly on the air vent, but not enough to enjoy the flavor of the ink!) That plus a bit of tapping the cart on a table top in the direction of letting the tapping plus gravity help saturate the sponge.

I should add that I top fill, and purging top fill carts is very fast and easy with the simple purge tool described in another thread. Hot tap water only, blow excess water out with my mouth on the fill hole and the air vent, vacuum the remainer of water out with an old tank type vacuum, and totally dry the carts with a small house fan. Works great.

Bottom line - no problem with the refill or with starvation of the printhead. My motto is use the least stuff that works - keep it simple.

 

[inkadinkado]

Thanks fofofreek for these tips. I have noted them to my file on "inkjet refilling".

And, I can just see it now. I've sucked on a black ink cart and my teeth and mouth are black for days. The only thing left for a self respecting person to do is to tell people that my spouse hit me for spending all my time on the nifty-stuff forum. But, I will not tell them I've been sucking on ink cartridges, OK?

As of today, I have flushed (using tap water ending with distilled water), wicked dry, and cleaned the cart contacts with distilled water as well on all 30 Ebay carts. They are now bundled in batches of six, rubberbanded, and stored in a storage container just itching for their chance to contribute to inkjet refilling heaven. While I've refilled my old C4180 hp printer carts, I haven't refilled a Canon MP990 cart yet and I'll have to admit I'm anxious to give it a try. My ink levels are getting fairly low so it won't be long. Wish me luck.

You do learn a lot about carts though going through the flushing procedure. I've learned how air affects the passage of liquid through the cart and how important it is to get a REALLY good seal over the fill hole. How these colors have a lot of red pigment in them which could be why so many photos have such a reddish cast. How effective the wicking method is for sucking the water from the carts. How easy it is to purge dye based inks versus pigment based inks from the cart. And, how to reset the cart's chip. My spouse made a great little jig to hold the cart under the (slow trickled) hot water to secure it upright, to fit right under the sink spout, and to dump the ink right over the sink's drain hole.

This is turning out to be quite an adventure for the both of us. And, one that I hope lasts the rest of our lives.

I'm grateful to you and all who have helped us down the inkjet refilling road.

 

[websnail]

The only thing left for a self respecting person to do is to tell people that my spouse hit me for spending all my time on the nifty-stuff forum. But, I will not tell them I've been sucking on ink cartridges, OK?

You mean it's not respectable to tell people you are a printer geek?

*checks friends lists*

...Oops!





Does sound like you could be in the running for guest blogger to distil all this compiled knowledge though Sue as you seem to have been incredibly thorough in your research and dragged various bits together...

... and yes, the more I think about this the more seriously I'm taking the thought... Rob?

 

[The Hat]

I too had a purged cartridge that refused to take the ink after I had let the sponge dry out completely and had to purge it again.

Since then when I purge a cartridge I dont let the sponge dry out completely but leave it slightly damp,
it certainly helps the new ink absorb into the sponge better.
My two cents worth anyway..

 

[ghwellsjr]

My newly announced Freedom Refill Method works just great on absolutely dry sponges since it uses vacuum to inject ink into the cartridge. You don't have to do any sucking on the air vent. And you can use the same technique to purge your cartridges too. It's especially good for virgin carts that have never been punctured with any refill holes.

 

[inkadinkado]

websnail

being called a "printer geek" - a good thing
being called a "cart sucker" - not a good thing.......but, if it works.....a very good thing.

 

[fotofreek]

it works, it works! Just don't overdo it, and for G-d's sake, don't inhale!!!!!