Clips

[Lucid]

Hi all, this is a great little forum!

I've been toying with an idea for the industry for a new clip for cartridges (its pretty different from what I've seen out there, and should be a little less expensive) to seal the print head and protect the circuits for shipping and I thought I'd see if there was some professional concensus on a couple things.

1. Do people in the aftermarket use these clips much?

2. How much pressure do they really need to apply to the printhead to seal it?

3. For home users, how long do most people hold onto a cartridge betwee when they have it refilled and when they install it in thier printer? ie - is the clip a long term storage for most people, or is it just packaging for the 1/2 hour it takes to drive home?

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Xalky]

Well, I think that the clips that come with the cartridges are used to store refilled cartridges and to seal the outlet when they're being refilled. The smart ones hang on to the clips for future use. I, unfortunately, am not one of the smart ones, I threw some out and now I have a shortage of clips. The cartridges, even when empty, should be stored with a clip to prevent the ink from drying inside.

You mentioned the printhead, I'm not sure where you're going with that, unless you're reffering to cartridges that have the printhead built in. On canons the printhead is a seperate entity.

 

[Lucid]

Well, for HP and Lexmark, the printhead is on the cartridge (HP15 or HP 57 for example) ... and all of the clips I've seen for these cartridges have a piece of rubber at the bottom of the clip to cover / seal the printhead (nozzles).

 

[ghwellsjr]

Canon does make printers with print heads built into the cartridges, but they are not very popular on this forum. If that is what you are asking about, see this link:

http://users.adelphia.net/~inkprocessusa/taping.html

If you are asking about the more common type Canon cartridge that does not have a print head and you just want to seal the outlet port, I recommend a good vinyl electrical tape that can stretch and will not leave an adhesive residue. Scotch makes one called 35. You can do a search for Scotch 35 to find it.

I don't bother sealing the air vent because unless the whole cartridge is vacuum sealed in a plastic bag, the normal variations in barometric air pressure will cause ink to be forced out of the cartridge. The air vent is designed to take care of these variations. I have stored refilled cartridges with only tape over the outlet port for over a year with no problem.

I used to use G&G clips but since switching exclusively to Canon cartridges for refilling, I find that many of the clips will not stay on the Canon cartridges.