Filling Through the Printhead, or to Not Fill Through the Printhead

[inkspot]

I have an ink store now and we currently have a machine that fills with injecting a needle in combination with a vacuum chamber and it works great for certain cartridges but for Dell and Lexmark, not so good. We are looking at getting a new machine. We have been looking at the Ink O Matic by Inktec and also some machines by CBR. Can someone give me the pros vs. cons of filling through the printhead. I am also wanting to hear people's opinions about different machines and which they think is the best. Thanks.

Justin

 

[leeswan]

I run a cartridge refill store and my opinion is that filling through the head is not good, you are only going to damage the head and increase ink flow resulting in bad print outs. I now take most cartridges apart remove the sponges wash them, dry them in an old table top spin dryer, steam the print head, steam the filters on inside of cartridge. I then pour some flush into the cartridge so it covers the filters and suck it through the head with a rubber tube attached to the vacuum on my refill machine to make sure the head is clear (if not repeat steam process) then i put the sponges back in and fill in vacuum chamber using needles pushed behind the sponges not through them. Then glue lid on and suck some more ink through the head to prime the cartridge. I know this can take more time than just sticking a cartridge in a machine and pressing the button but the results are perfect and i keep spare cartridges allready prepared to fill and swap customers cartridges over. I think the secret to a good refill is in the preperation and cleaning of the cartridge.