Canon PIXMA MP500

[bobcoon]

Hi I am new to this forum and start with a question. Has anyone tried refilling these CLI series cartridges ?

 

[Osage]

Welcome Bobcoon,

Short answer--many here are refilling the chipped CLI-5&8 cartridges. You have to navigate some nag screens, use only depleted OEM cartridges, and you lose ink monitoring. Many posts on this refilling section on the subject---but many are now many pages back. Steves digicams also has some threads on the subject.

Many refillers of said cartridges simply use the same inks they used for the BCI-3&6 cartridges, but hobbicolors recently introduced an ink said to be blended to match the chromalife 100 inks.

Good luck--do some reading--and go from there on other questions.

 

[bobcoon]

Thanks very much...what a response!!!...I am glad to be a part of the forum.

 

[paragon]

I'm finding that some of the bulk ink sellers aren't carrying ink for the MP 500 CLI 5 & 8. Is it that much different that the in for the BCI 3e and 6 carts? I just don't want to damage any jets, etc.

 

[websnail]

I'm finding that some of the bulk ink sellers aren't carrying ink for the MP 500 CLI 5 & 8. Is it that much different that the in for the BCI 3e and 6 carts? I just don't want to damage any jets, etc.

I can't speak for the bulk of CIS resellers but if I remember correctly the photo black and Magenta inks were different between the two types of cartridge but in truth you don't want to be purchasing a CIS without the correct ink.

I'd recommend looking at RIHAC for support, pre-sales and after sales support... Well worth checking for other recommendations but Sam Cahir has been consistently good at this even if he is in Australia. .. and no I don't get commission (I wish!!)

 

[Tin Ho]

A malfunctioned CIS can damage a thermo bubble-jet print head that Canon printers have. These print heads need correct full strength ink flow constantly to keep the heaters from overheating the nozzles. But All CIS when malfunctions tends to reduce the ink flow. If not detected early and be corrected clogging will follow and cause possibly permanent damage if the clogging is mistreated. All CIS I have seen do not have the reliability needed to prevent this from happening. A CIS may work well for some time. They don't last forever so they will break down and begin to give problems. One of the problems may be reduced ink flow. There is no such an issue for CIS for Epson printers. The CIS for Epson printers may be as unreliable as those for Canon. But you will have all the time you need to troubleshoot and fix those problems then keep printing until they break down again. You can repeat the entire cycle, that is repair then print, repair then print and keep going... But CIS for Canon will be different. You may have only one chance. To me it is hard, if not entirely impossible, to spot on reduced ink flow early on. Usually it is found out when a clogging already happened.

Others may disagree. For experienced experts this may not be a problem. But for most people they have no idea about this. Disaster can attack suddenly. I really think the entire community of this forum has not looked at this seriously enough. Like Websnail's words, I can not speak for the bulk of CIS resellers either. But they never warn about this to their customers. Not sure if this is because they are not knowledgeable about it or they do not want to mention it at all.

This really belongs to a new thread. But from time to time I saw people showing interest in CIS without knowing this potential print head killer issue. I thought I should say something about it.

 

[mikling]

I have always placed an analogy of the Canon printhead versus an Epson akin to a finely tuned sports car and a rough and tumble american muscle machine. As long as the ink conditions are perfect, the Canon printhead will work as designed. Using only OEM non refilled cartridges will maintain this condition but it can be expensive. Refilling raises the risk but if one is aware of the issues and spot the problem, then action can be taken and damage prevented.
Using a CIS on a Canon is whole different ball game because the ink feed tolerances are very small and the CIS increases the variations in conditions and if the conditions just cross the tolerance limits then damage to the printhead will start. What exacerbates the problem is that most CIS uses, are heavy load printers and tend to print lots at a time, and if something goes wrong during a job, the printer will still continue to work and destroy its head.

Epsons are not as finicky but have their own idiosyncrasies and errors. They are not as fast. They will have a higher incidence of print quality issues if left unused for a period and refilling is something the engineers intentionally thwarted. However, their heads are tough and even if you run out of ink during a print job, they can survive the episode. Just like the old cars we used to know.

Just as you would not use a sports car to tow a motorhome or make delivery runs, the Canon ( in my opinion is not the best choice for lots of continuous printing. The Epson is likely superior long term. However, for the casual home user or for someone who prints in spurts, there is nothing wrong with Canon. Indeed for consumers who seldom do any printing, I would always steer them towards integrated head cartridge printers... which might seem wasteful. However, the reliability of those systems are far superior to separate tanks and separate heads...both Canon and Epson.

 

[websnail]

Succinctly put there Mikling... Who'd have thought I owned so many high performance cars.. ... well almost..