FLUSHING....WHY?

[stratman]

The videos take HOURS to load.
Here are the first ones loaded. More and more interesting ones will follow. These first two are the fundamentals of what to know.

http://www.precisioncolors.com/Maintenance_Canon.html

Thanks for the videos! Great job getting your points across and the image quality is as needed.

Watched the first 4 videos. The 4th one seems to end abruptly at 5:09. Is this the end? There is also a potential error in the 4th video beginning at 1:37 -- do you mean to say "when the printer says EMPTY"?

The 5th video is a link to a PDF at this time.

Concerning your theory on foam causing ink flow issues, it sounds reasonable. A couple points:

1) Your sucking up from and refilling the ink only into the reservoir ALONE does not produce foam in the cartridge since no ink is redistributed from the sponged side. I get your point but the foam you created is by the action of the syringe causing turbulence in the fluid.

2) The foam will resolve, at least for the most part. This occurs in the reservoir and there is no reason to think otherwise in the sponged side unless you have data to the contrary. Empirical evidence support my theory based on the fact I have seen foam resolve in the reservoir in a short time, and, a cartridge that is not taking up the ink in the sponged side will improve if let to sit.

3) Foam does not, at first blush, explain how a sponge that appears to have sufficient ink may still result in ink flow problems that a flush will resolve.

4) I do not recall a sponge that behaved in the extreme as you demonstrate and I always print until one cartridge is marked as empty. Then I refill all the cartridges except maybe for the Pigment Black if there is plenty in the reservoir when a dye-based cartridge runs empty. I have not flushed a cartridge in years and have been using one set of cartridges only for same time as well. I do not remember how long because there haven't been issues for a long time. (knock on wood) I also use CLI-8 / PGI-5 cartridges and refill via the Durchstich method as does Jimbo123 and we have been relatively issue free. Jimbo prints boatloads. I do not but I do print something that uses all the cartridges once a week, or at least most weeks.

All in all, I do like your theory of foam as a causative agent in ink flow problems. Looking forward to video #5. Please let us know when it is up for our viewing pleasure.

 

[stratman]

Grandad mentioned this before but he calls it, breaking the ink link.

Wasn't the "ink link" the channel between the reservoir and the sponged side that ink flowed into the sponged side? If so, this was postulated that if the liquid ink in this channel was replaced by an air bubble, especially for those using the Durchstich method of refilling, that ink starvation would occur as ink would no longer (sufficiently?) flow into the sponged side via this now air-locked channel.

While that theory may have its merits, empirically, for me, it was and is a non-issue. I have had an air bubble in this channel and no printing issues. Not saying it is not a cause of ink flow issues but not a consistent cause.

 

[mikling]

I called it foam but it really are air voids, inside the sponge. We could care less about the foam in the reservoir it will break down. What is observable is the decreased capacity of the sponge in each cycle when it is run down to empty. What needs to be done is to actually weigh the filled cartridges over time to determine how this capacity decrease. One reason I personally pretty much never need to flush is that I take the time to top off all when one is low. Typically that low one is the PGBK. I never want to run out when I need the printer, so I routinely top them all off when I see I am getting low. I like to keep all printers topped off so hardly any ever runs to empty.
When I need to flush is when I get carts from my sisters who do run their printers to empty because they use printers like an appliance.

I know I used the term ink bridge before and that was the channel leading from the reservoir across the bottom of the sponge. These were not seen in early BCI-6. I have seen some BCI-6 sporting them. They are present in all CLI-8 and newer.

Yes there appears to be a blooper on empty.

 

[PeterBJ]

No, once the foam build up is there, the only way to rid it is to "FLUSH". Some may break down but not all. Grandad mentioned this before but he calls it, breaking the ink link.

The last video still loading now will possibly answer for a lot of reasons why the most used channels end up having banding problems in the nozzle check and printing.

It will also answer why PeterBJ only gets around 6 refills before he requires flushing on the 526 or 521 carts.

Thank you for the videos, I look forward to the next video.

The advice to refill when you get the low ink warning is very good IMO.

The depleted lower sponge could very well be the cause of the problems. I have lent a niece a Canon MP540 for which I supply refilled cartridges for free. The MP540 uses the PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges. I have recommended that the cartridges should be changed at the low ink warning, as this will make refill easier for me, but she often uses the cartridges till they are declared empty.

I have found that the top fill method seems to give fewer problems with these cartridges than my favourite refill method that is the German method with squeeze bottles; the German method works very well for me with the older transparent cartridges, but not always so with the newer windowed cartridges, but maybe the problems are more related to the sponge condition than the refill method used?

The reason that I have lent and not donated the printer is that as long as I am the owner I still have a word to say. If I donate a printer to friends or family, they tend to ignore my advice of doing a test print at least every fortnight if the printer has not been used and they also continue to print in case of ink flow problems.

If the printer belongs to me, I can tell them to stop printing immediately in case of a malfunction and tell me. That way the printer has a greater chance of survival.

 

[The Hat]

Thanks Mike nice work and very well explained.

This might cause a bit of a dilemma amongst the inkjetmasters who have been refilling for years and still get problems and won’t admit it..

 

[Grandad35]

Wasn't the "ink link" the channel between the reservoir and the sponged side that ink flowed into the sponged side?

My definition of "Ink Link" is that there is an unbroken liquid ink path all the way from the ink tank through the sponge(s) to the filter to the ink pickup to the nozzles. If this link is broken at any point, then the surface tension in the ink cannot pull ink to the nozzles by capillary action. Cells in the sponge that are filled by air instead of ink block that local flow path, but the cart will still work as long as there are enough ink filled cells to form a continuous path. If too many cells fill with air, the ink link can become broken and the nozzles starved for ink even though the ink tank isn't empty.

 

[Emulator]

I imagine this is where pharmacist's conditioning fluid comes into its own.

 

[The Hat]

I imagine this is where pharmacist's conditioning fluid comes into its own.

Yes but only after a darn good purging first..

 

[mikling]

One thing I am unable to look at closely is to see at what point the unchipped printers are declared empty. No longer having an unchipped printer prevents this.

It was always hard to determine what was causing the need to flush amongst different users. I hardly needed to, but other users, some had the same experience as mine and others appeared to need to flush more frequently....All using the same ink. What was the causative factor. I knew it varied by user but could not put my finger on it. I am now confident this is the reason as I had suspected but I did not think to show it because it was my belief that to do would be near impossible. I was surprised and shocked really how easy it was to create this condition.

 

[andy_48]

I wish I'd been able to see these a year ago. I'd have made a lot fewer mistakes when starting out down the inky slopes!

May I suggest that this thread (or at least the link to the videos) should be designated 'sticky'?