CISS or Refill ?

[SpideRMaN]

Hi All,

CISS or Refill ?

I made a big mistake buying a Canon MP980.
you can see other people's complain in here http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=358201&forumid=2&sr=1

This printer is an Inkoholic and to add things up the carts are 9ml for the dye ink and 19 for the pigment.

At the moment I am refilling (german method) but I am spending more time refilling then printing. Don't get me wrong the german method for refilling is pretty fast and clean but the mp980 cleans print head very very frequently. EG. if I install the carts the printer cleans the head for 1 or 2 minutes, If I remove the carts I can see that are +/- 80 %full (without any prints at all). 10 photo prints and back to refill . I leave the printer ON all the time but this printer cleans the head before I start printing. It even cleans the head if aI scan a photo or document (I will soon be asking how to reset the waste ink tank full error)

That's the reason I am always thinking of a CISS. Infact I got one from linexports but I did not even install it. The ARChips were faulty no cilicone seals and NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT after I effected the payment. so the Expensive CISS I baught is in the trash.

Now I am looking ar Rihac CISS or any good quality CISS you kind people suggest.

Can you please help me or share your opinions with me ?

 

[leo8088]

I don't actually own a mp980 so I am just speculating my opinion about it here. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I don't think mp980 is programmed by Canon to consume more ink to make more money from the users. If you followed exactly ghwellsjr's video of his demonstration of the German refilling method to refill your ink cartridges it is why your cartridges are emptied quickly after printing only a few photos.

I viewed the video and I saw that he spent no time in saturating the sponged tank after filling up the reservoir tank. This leaves the sponge nearly empty after refilling. In a new Canon ink cartridge the sponge is from anywhere about 50% to 75% saturated with ink. If you refill with the German method like ghwellsjr did your cartridge has empty or near empty sponged tank. This is why your cartridges go empty so quickly after only a few photos printed. The sponged tank is larger than the reservoir tank. It can hold a lot of ink there.

There was a post recently by someone who claimed to be able to refill with the German method in 10 seconds. This is possible if he does not saturate the sponge after refilling the reservoir tank. I am not criticizing the German method. You want to take extra time to fill up the sponge so that the cartridge is filled up to its full capacity. You will no longer feel your mp980 being an inkholic.

Every Canon printer will park its print head after idling for 30 seconds to 1 minute. When it parks the print head it also checks if there is any paper jam, moving the carriage back and forth, etc. The noise will probably make you think it is doing a cleaning cycle. If the printer needs to do a cleaning cycle it always does it right before it prints a job. It does not do it in printer powering up. It does not do it after a long idle. If you unplug a cartridge and plug it back in it will remember it. When you send a print job to it right before it starts printing it will then check its memory to see if it needs to do a cleaning cycle first. I don't think your mp980 does more cleaning cycles than it needs.

Next time when you refill make sure to fill up the sponge too. I think you will no longer feel mp980 as ink thirsty as you observed before. Forget about CISS. It will give you more trouble than actual benefit.

 

[SpideRMaN]

Thanks for your comment.

I saw the videos by ghwellsjr.

I never leave the ink chamber of the carts to go dry thus when I refill the sponge is still saturated. I also leave the cart standing on some paper so I make sure that there are no air bubbles and the cart is full before I remove the siringe from the cart.

If you look at the reviews of the mp980 (and the link I posted above) you will realise that all reviews even on canon's website speak about the high ink consumption. and trust me "it's very high"

 

[johnwarfin]

I don't think mp980 is programmed by Canon to consume more ink to make more money from the users.

LOL!

And there have never been class action lawsuits against printer mfgs for taking advantage of consumers in this manner.

PS I have tried numerous refills and installed CIS on a variety of printers and absolutely convinced the later is less hassle. Now that CIS costs not much more than a set of refills it is a no-brainer (for me).

 

[SpideRMaN]

Thanks,

Have you ever installed a ciss on an mp980 please ?

 

[leo8088]

Thanks for your comment.

I saw the videos by ghwellsjr.

I never leave the ink chamber of the carts to go dry thus when I refill the sponge is still saturated. I also leave the cart standing on some paper so I make sure that there are no air bubbles and the cart is full before I remove the siringe from the cart.

This is how a Canon ink cartridge works. The printer first uses ink in the sponge, which when new is 50% to 75% (don't know exactly here) saturated with ink. When the ink in the sponge is nearly emptied (replaced by air entering from the vent above the sponged chamber) air entering the sponge will reach the hole at the bottom of the wall between the sponged chamber and the reservoir tank. When the air enters the reservoir tank it exchanges ink with the reservoir tank. The ink coming out of the reservoir tank continues to feed the print head. This process continues until all the ink in the reservoir tank is released and replaced by air. Throughout the time the reservoir tank was full and emptied the sponge has almost no ink remaining (probably 1 cc or so).

When you refill the cartridge with the German method and does it exactly the way ghwellsjr did in his video you will fill up the reservoir tank. But if you stop there and do nothing to fill ink to the sponge (as ghwellsjr did in his video) the sponge is pretty much still empty although it looks wet. The sponge can take another 4 to 6 ccs of ink but it is left unfilled. Your cartridge is 4 - 6 ccs short of ink comparing to a new Canon cartridge.

By the way, here isn't anything wrong with what ghwellsjr did. He refilled the cartridges only half way and the cartridges will work just fine except that they are 4 - 6 ccs less ink in the cartridges.

What you can do is after filling up the reservoir tank just withdraw the needle half an inch out of the reservoir tank but the tip remains in the sponged chamber. Continue to inject ink into the sponge until the sponge gets another 4 -6 ccs of ink. Watch for ink spilling. It may happen. the vent at the top of the cartridge should be covered. The cartridge is flipped upside down when you refill with the German method so the vent is actually at the bottom despite that it is in fact at the top of the cartridge). This is how you can fully refill your cartridges with the German method. I think pharmacist had very excellent post(s) discusssing this before. This is actually a difficult part of the German method. It's not really difficult but it is a little tricky to do. Some people skipped this part and left their sponge unfilled. It will work but the cartridges will need to be refilled more frequently.

If you look at the reviews of the mp980 (and the link I posted above) you will realise that all reviews even on canon's website speak about the high ink consumption. and trust me "it's very high"

Canon might have increased the frequency of automatic priming for the print head, which could cause ink consumption (wasted) to be higher. But this has the benefit of better protecting the print head. If you use refill ink such as Hobbicolors ink that I useof in the cost is already very low. I would be willing to pay a little extra for wasted ink than early death of my print head. I don't own a mp980 so I can't dispute the claim that it uses more ink than it should. If you refill your cartridges and fully saturate your sponges in them you may feel differently by then.

 

[leo8088]

Johnwarfin, if you look at the 4th section of the forum which is where CISS subjects are discussed you will find that I am not the only one who says what I said. If you know how to take care of your CISS you can succeed in using it. I wish you best luck with your Canon printer.

 

[SpideRMaN]

I agree 100% with what you said. Tomorrow I will try to saturate the sponge with more ink (hobbicolor) than i usually do.

Will I do any harm to the cart (non OEM) if ink leaks from the vent hole while the cart is upside down ?

Thanks for your time (I really appricate it)

 

[leo8088]

It will not cause any harm but it's messy. Just use a finger to cover the vent when you inject ink into the sponge. Inject slowly. Don't overfill the sponge. It should be only 50% - 75% saturated. Do it on the yellow ink cartridge first. You can see how the sponge is filling up by the yellow ink before it is too full. You will know how much ink to inject for each other cartridges. Good luck.

 

[johnwarfin]

Johnwarfin, if you look at the 4th section of the forum which is where CISS subjects are discussed you will find that I am not the only one who says what I said. If you know how to take care of your CISS you can succeed in using it. I wish you best luck with your Canon printer.

I put a CIS in my Canon 860 about 4 months ago and admittedly use it rarely. I print a couple pages a week to keep it going. Total time spent for installation and maintenance so far is about 4 minutes.

My brother-in-law bought the same model just after that but unable to consider CIS because of house full of kids. He depends on me to keep his aftermarket carts filled and I've probably spent 3-4hrs. on that task since. Granted he uses it more than me but in my estimation the CIS would have cut time spent down to at least 1/10th.

Similar results with a dozen or so Epsons convinces me this is the way to go. Maybe it's different for other models or a MP980, i've no clue what type of printer that is. I can only give my opinion on the matter based on my small experience.

PS Bad experiences with HP a few years back prompted me to participate in the class action suit hence my opinion on ink drinking printers and the companies that sell them. Switching to Epson ain't much better.