First try at refilling

[Osage]

To Hpnetserver,

This is somewhat new to me-------and exactly 100% different from my experience.
Which I posted in early Febuary--with many responding to that thread and the thread started by Ghostbear.

Maybe my experience is not that extensive but this happened with 9 out of 9 virgin Hobbicolor blanks and quite a number of depleted Canon OEM cartridges.

But before I go into more detail, let me point out that in a non defective ink tank type cartridge for a Canon, there are exactly four controls a user has over the refilling process------those controls are how much ink is injected, the open closed state of the air vent, the open closed state of the ink inlet hole, and time. So if you are getting only a partially saturated sponge, and I and other users are getting a 100% saturated sponge, one or more of these variables must be different.

Exactly like you, I followed instructions and injected an initial 8 cc of ink into the reserve tank of a virgin hobbicolor cartridge---with air vent open, ink inlet hole open, and after a minute or so the reserve tank almost totally emptied and the sponge 100% color infused. Then I taped over the air vent, injected another 6 cc of ink into the reserve tank which filled the reserve tank to about 80% and sealed the ink inlet hole with the screw. This happened with nine out of nine cartridges. Unlike you, I experienced no banding.

But I was left wondering about the air vent--so when I decided to refill some depleted Canon OEM cartridges, I decided to experiment. After creating an ink inlet hole with a screw and o-ring seal, I did the following-----I only injected six cc of ink into the reserve tank and watched the sponge drink up the ink--when after 15 seconds or so--the sponge was about 70% color infused --I immediately taped over the air inlet hole----which did exactly nothing-----the sponge kept absorbing ink until it was 100% color infused. Yet you say that taping over the air inlet hole should stop further sponge absortion---I found that not to be the case--and this happened every time with depleted Canon OEM cartridges. Which leads me to ask
if the state of your ink inlet hole is different from the state of my ink inlet hole in your proseidure? My ink inlet hole was open to air during the entire process--could you be sealing the air vent and the ink inlet hole at the same time ?--which might then account for your sponge not becoming 100% color infused.

Or perhaps is your timing different-----I note the grandad35 responce is that he injects the whole 11 cc at once and then rapidly seals the ink inlet hole--15 seconds in out done. And grandad35 also seemed to note he got 100% sponge color infusion.--while I am using a leisurely three minutes with the ink inlet hole open.

And to Mccoady----I should note exactly zero of my nine virgin hobbicolor cartridges showed wild ink dripping from the ink outlet hole. But my depleted canon yellow cartridge sure did--even though the ink outlet hole was capped. And
the dripping was copious and non stop until the ink inlet hole was sealed--at which point the dripping stopped fairly rapidly----even giving the cartridge sides a squeeze did not induce more than a fleeting set of drips after the ink inlet hole was sealed. I do not know if I should be wary of using that cartridge or not--but I can sure understand anyone being disturbed by the mess.

But as I previously mentioned, I had posted this difference between the hobbicolor instructions and observed experience over two months ago---to date Hpnetserver is the only one to date to post that the instructions have a basis in reality--so I am eagar to hear where our methods differ--because Hpnetservers method could well be better.

 

[hpnetserver]

Fotofreek, I believe the fear of overfilling is really over stated. The way you refill should work. My overfilling experience was my own fault because I did not read the instruction and I actually tried to fill as much ink as I could.

I lost one OEM cartridge refilling it. I tried to purge the remaining ink out by blowing through the vent. Ink did come out from the exit hole initially. But maybe I blew too hard it plugged up completely. OEM cartridges have two layers of sponge. The bottom layer is actualy something different. It somehow got plugged up completely. This made me nervous in refilling OEM carts. Yes, making sure it drips after refilling is a sure way to verify that it will work.

A few years ago I was doing a patent search at work. I found a Canon patent about this special sponge. If I remember it correctly it is not a sponge. It is a laminated layers of fibers. The fiber is horizontally layered. This causes ink easier to flow horizontally (from the reserve chamber to exit hole). Well, I am not certain it is the same as the one used in BCI-6. But I can't say it's not either. It's funny that the patent is about manufacturing method of this laminated sponge, not in the sponge itself.

You are probably right that Canon did figure out how to make their cartridges work better. I have not seen any 3rd party cartridges using dual layers of sponge. But make no mistake. Cartridges without similar dual layer sponge can work very well too. The synthetic sponge used in most 3rd party cartridges allow ink to flow in all directions and it may actually work better.

 

[fotofreek]

HP - You are correct. there are several manufacturers' carts that work extremely well. Interesting info on the Canon patent. Someone on this forum had taken an OEM cart apart (Grandad?) He would know the texture of the two "sponges". Also interesting about your experience with the bottom sponge plugging up. If you haven't seen the threads that Grandad posted on ink residue drying in several areas of the carts be sure to look it up. Your attempt to clear it was a good start! I've successfully used Grandad's backflushing technique and the carts work absolutely like new again. The differences from your attempt are two - Grandad uses hot water which quickly disolves the ink residue and the direction of removing the residue is from the outlet port, flowing out through the fill hole and the air vent. Since the direction of ink flow would ultimately clog the lower part of the sponge, the chanel that permits ink flow from the reservoir to the sponge area, and the outlet filter, it makes sense to wash it out in the opposite direction. Simple, but really an amazing technique that he developed.

 

[mccoady]

Okay I want to make sure I understand this clearly, the consensus is the air vent should be taped over when you're refilling (topping off) the reserve chamber when the level runs low?

 

[Osage]

To Mccoady,

Taping over the air vent is in hobbicolor instructions after injecting the initial 6-8 cc
of ink. And no matter what, that taping can't hurt.--if nothing else it prevents ink solvent from evaporating out during cartridge storage. But some advocate just putting a finger over the air vent--tape is not the only method to block the air vent.

But just remember, when it comes time to put the cartridge into the printer that tape over the air vent must be removed--or your cartridge will not allow ink feeding to the printhead.

But thats my take--it takes many different inputs to have a concenus.

 

[fotofreek]

Probably doesn't matter! I leave the tape off the airvent when refilling and put tape back on the airvent if storing the cart. Works for me. My rationale is that I want the internal cart pressure to continue to neutalize as much as possible as I'm refilling.

 

[hpnetserver]

Osage, I did not follow the instruction either. I screwed up big time the very first time on my 2nd refill kit from HC. Luckily it did not do any ham to my printer. I noticed that the banding ws so bad that I must have done wrong something. Reading the instruction made me realize that I had actually done the opposite to fully overfilled my carts.
Well, according to Fotofreek his method is even easier. I will give it a try next time I get new cartridges.

 

[fotofreek]

I tend to inject about half of what I think the cart needs and then tip it toward the sponge side to increase initial sponge saturation. I then continue to inject slowly to be more accurate as I get to the level of fill that I want. since the amounts are so small, "slow" doesn't amount to more than a few seconds additional.

 

[hpnetserver]

Just found the method I posted isn't completely overfill proof. I refilled my BCI-6bk today but the black ink bled still.
Had to squeeze the cart to get rid of a few drops. the sponge was 100% black so I could not see anyway to tell if it might be too wet or not. But after getting a few drops out the bleeding was completely gone. I am going back to my old method. I will fill as much as I can then get some of them out by squeezing it. This seems work better.