First time refilling opaque cartridges CLI-526/PGI-525

[dvdit]

Remember you will need at least 50mm or 2 inch needles to refill using the Durchstich/German method.

Have you found a place that sells the 226 chips separately or empty 226 cartridges that have the chips still on them? I didn't see either of these two options on Mapsy's site.

Precision Ink includes the 2 inch needles with ink purchase so I am covered there. I will be using the OEM opaque cartridge that came with the printer. I have been looking high and low but I couldn't find used opaque cartridges nor the chips anywhere.

 

[stratman]

To facilitate refilling using the Durchstich method you will want the 220/221 cartridges with the transparent window allowing visual confirmation of ink fill levels. You will need to swap the chips on your 225/226 cartridges onto the 220/221 cartridges as has been discussed before. I imagine people buy a second set of 225/226 OEM cartridges and then use those chips to make up a second set of 220/221 cartridge body with swapped chips. Check eBay, Craigslist, thrift stores, or recycling bins of Staples or other big box stores that accept empties.

The empty 225/226 cartridges on Inkjetreset appear to be third party and not OEM. Regardless, these cartridges are sold with either no chip or ARC chips. Maybe you can ask Mapsy if she will sell you the chips from those cartridges - if she has them in the first place.

 

[Tudor]

I wanted a spare set of OEM cartridges for my MG5350, just in case I need to use the warranty. That means no drilling, no modification to the cartridges. Tried freedom refilling method (again) and got these values:

There was ink in the maze and you can see the color on the sponge, unlike when they were new... Is it ok?

 

[The Hat]

Hang on a minute, these cartridges are opaque so how can you see the sponge colour ?

I have had close on a dozen Canon printers and never needed the warranty yet.
There as tuff as old boots these printers..

Its easy to remove the traces of ink from the air maze, just dribble a few drop of water onto the maze and
then blow gently with your mouth or blow with some canned compressed air.

A blind man running backwards would never know that your OEM cartridges
are anything other than new, (Never refilled) nice job and well done..

 

[Tudor]

The top of the 526/525 cartridge is transparent and covered by label when it's new. Prior to install you peel part of the label to open the breathe hole and... sponge... white... Well, my refilled sponges are not white...

Didn't get the part about the "blind man running backwards" and google wasn't my friend.

 

[The Hat]

The top of the 526/525 cartridge is transparent and covered by label when it's new. Prior to install you peel part of the label to open the breathe hole and... sponge... white... Well, my refilled sponges are not white...

Didn't get the part about the "blind man running backwards" and google wasn't my friend.

That was in reference to your very good refill method.
Sure clean and no holes, making the complete procedure undetectable to the eye. (= blind man ! ).

I never did pull 525 cartridges apart to see its anatomy..

 

[PeterBJ]

Tudor wrote:

There was ink in the maze and you can see the color on the sponge, unlike when they were new... Is it ok?

I don't know if you can convince Canon that the cartridges were never refilled, as there are no holes or plugs in the cartridges?

Maybe the best thing to do with a new printer, you want to keep the warranty for, is to replace the original cartridge set with another refilled cartridge set, before the original cartridges are empty. That way you will have an absolutely original cartridge set in case a warranty repair is needed. After the warranty has expired, you can start refilling the original cartridge set.

Maybe this will work: use your Freedom method refilled cartridges until maybe half of the ink has been used, according to the ink monitor. Weigh the cartridge to determine how much ink is left in the cartridge. Then empty the cartridges and flush them using the Freedom adapter. After drying the cartridges refill them without resetting with the amount of ink they contained before flushing and drying. Maybe the top of the sponges will not be stained when refilling with a much smaller amount of ink?

The Hat wrote:
I never did pull 525 cartridges apart to see its anatomy..

From a friend I have just got a complete set of virgin empty PGI-525/CLI-526 cartridges with an extra GY cartridge , so I can do just that, but I think the inner works will be no different from those of the PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges, I think the only difference is windows or no windows.

I have refilled the totally opaque HP 364/564 XL cartridges without problems using the topfill method with a toothoick used as a dipstick. I think this method will work equally well with the PGI-525/CLI-526 cartridges, but I will test the method with these cartridges and report my results.

I will also give the German method and the Freedom refill method a test, and do a "reverse" chip swap, so I can test the refilled cartridges in a Pixma 3600.

 

[The Hat]

PeterBJ
Your idea of testing the 525 opaque carts in your 3600 sounds interesting but will turn out a boring success,
the printer will be unaffected by the change and the carts will go unnoticed, but dont let that stop you..

The real problem I see in using the refilled opaque cartridge is the tendency to over fill them, causing ink starvation later.

The fact that the guy refilling these carts cant exactly see how much ink he is putting into them can lead to total paranoia,
they are afraid it will damage the print head when the cartridge runs out of ink, which of course it wont..

 

[Tudor]

cli-526 can be top-filled without the risk of under/overfilling. I use a clip from octoinkjet and some modelling clay to cover the breathe hole.
Put the clip and clay on, unplug, refill, plug, remove the clay and leave. Repeat the procedure with the other cartridges. When done with all just check if more ink is needed. If it needs more ink apply clay, remove plug, fill, plug, remove clip, remove clay and go to next cartridge. Easy enough!

@peter:
I will try the "Freedom method" again, this time I'm not going to let the syringe go back all the way. Maybe that's why I get ink in the top sponge...
I already opened a 526 and it's a 521 with more black plastic. Can take some pictures if you want.

 

[PeterBJ]

The Hat wrote:

PeterBJ
Your idea of testing the 525 opaque carts in your 3600 sounds interesting but will turn out a boring success,
the printer will be unaffected by the change and the carts will go unnoticed, but dont let that stop you..smile

The real problem I see in using the refilled opaque cartridge is the tendency to over fill them, causing ink starvation later.

The fact that the guy refilling these carts cant exactly see how much ink he is putting into them can lead to total paranoia,
they are afraid it will damage the print head when the cartridge runs out of ink, which of course it wont..

My purpose of the testing is to prove that the 525/526 cartridges can be easily refilled using the proper technique, so you don't need to fear that using refilled 525/526 cartridges will damage your printer. I admit that refilling the windowed 520/521 cartridges is more convenient, but the opaque cartridges are not at all impossible to refill.

To prove a refill successful I think that weighing the cartridge to verify proper ink amount and blowing into the vent to exit a drop of ink to verify proper ink flow are necessary tests, but I think that printing photos and/or purge pages with the refilled opaque cartridges is also a necessary test to verify proper operation of the refilled cartridges. The purpose of testing the refilled opaque cartridges in the Pixma 3600 is not to test if chip swapping works, but to test the function of the cartridges.

Tudor wrote:

I already opened a 526 and it's a 521 with more black plastic. Can take some pictures if you want.

Yes, please. This will also help to de-mystify the opaque cartridges.

I have refilled a CLI-526 M cartridge using the German method, squeeze bottle with 2" 21g sharp needle and IS magenta ink. You can see when the ink chamber is full, without modifying the cartridge. When the ink chamber is full, the prism/window turns darker. See this scan of the underside of a windowed and an opaque cartridge with needles inserted, the lower cartridge is not magenta but a flushed and dried CLI-526 GY, click to enlarge:



To refill the cartridge I held it with the squeeze bottle upwards at a 45 degree angle. When injecting ink I watched the prism/window. When the Prism/window turned dark, I continued to carefully inject ink until the ink outlet became moist. Now the ink chamber was completely filled. I let the cartridge rest for a couple of minutes with the ink chamber facing upwards, and occasionally tapped the cartridge against the table to remove any air bubbles trapped in the ink channel between the two chambers. After the resting period I topped up the ink chamber and weighed the cartridge. The result was perfect: 20.3 grams.

As the cartridge was "virgin empty" and had been sealed using the orange clip and the ink outlet was still moist with ink, I did not flush and dry the cartridge before refill.

I replaced the chip with a CLI-521 M chip and installed the opaque cartridge in the Pixma 3600. The cartridge was (of course) accepted and the nozzle check is also OK. I have not done further testing of cartridges yet, I will do that when I have refilled a complete set of cartridges using various methods.

As expected the cartridge seems to perform properly, problems with German method refilled 521/526 cartridges usually occur after some refills, not after the first refill. That's why I have now started top filling these cartridges, top filling some of the opaque cartridges will be my next test.