Freedom Refill Method for Canon BCI 3, 5, 6 & CLI 8 & PGI 5 and others

[pharmacist]

Unfortunately the Eweko Air Box is too expensive, since this is the basis of the Freedom Refill Method. Also: the Eweko Air box uses a Luer-Lock system as a safeguard to prevent inky disasters.

 

[member 5159]

latest update I built a rough copy of gigigogu device and filled a compatible BCI-3bk cart quite sucessfully. I superglued a 3/4" piece of neoprene1/4" bore 3/8" O/D to a 2" length of .156"bore 1/4" O/D silicon tubing. The small end to the apparatus large to my 60ml female lock syringe. The fill went OK but holding a sharp metal object and the syringe in one hand, whilst operating plunger with the other was a bit tricky. my connection pieces could have been shorter.

Have now adapted a Inktec clip (see post 58 pictures of inserts) As I now longer have a HP Printer I took the decision that the clips/inserts would have to be modified for the BCI-3bk. All clips are the same size, but HP pigment carts are different widths to Canon, although the output ports are roughly the same.

So I have modified the PURPLE insert by cutting off the outside land with a sharp scapel and filing the support which contacts the side of the cart at a slight angle to get the cart UPRIGHT Most important.

I have again connected my 60ml syringe with a 3/4" length of the 1/4/-3/8" neoprene tube. This I can hold in my left hand whilst I operate the plunger. The refill started fine apart from the high vacuum and I refilled to approx 80/90%. As previously posted I had plenty of plunger movement left, but every pull back took water out of the cart and release put it back in. Perhaps this is because there is no longer any air left in the cart. Anyway I gave up because my shoulder was painful (Chronic problem).

This proves that the Inktec clips/inserts are a convenient and quite neat way of connecting your syringe and are airtight UNDER WATER. However no doubt other devices could prove OK with less financial outlay. I merely used what I already had. I am not convinced that you need ghwellsjrright angle connection. But I have adapted what I could find as like others I found difficulty in locating his original materials in small quantities and at reasonable price.

barfl2

 

[member 5159]

gigigogu Magnificient effort. looks really professional, you are obviously very good at metalwork. I presume you have been able to source a supply for the 3way cock ? not sure about the needle sticking out whilst refilling any difficulty ?.

barfl2

 

[ghwellsjr]

Unfortunately the Eweko Air Box is too expensive, since this is the basis of the Freedom Refill Method. Also: the Eweko Air box uses a Luer-Lock system as a safeguard to prevent inky disasters.

The Eweko Air Box is not the basis for the Freedom Refill Method. In that method, the operator is both pulling and pushing on the plunger which I objected to when this was discussed in the thread called A New Way to Fill (post #10). You will note that the Eweko operator is wearing gloves and he does not show the dismantling of the apparatus. It's the preparation and the final activities that warrant the gloves and work over a sink, not the actual refilling process.

You also complained about the stress on the cartridge in this thread on post #74:

what about the cartridge itself, as the cartridge wall is put under stress (bending inwards putting stress on the sealing on the edges and corners) by the artificial vacuum created by the repetitive sucking by the syringe.

And yet you have endorsed flushing and purging a cartridge by hooking the outlet port to pressurized water coming straight out of a faucet. This pressure is many times greater than can be produced by a vacuum which is limited to 14.7 psi and it visibly bulges the walls of the cartridge outward which really does put stress on the sealing on the edges and corners of the cartridge. The Eweko method also has this problem if you're going to apply positive pressure on the plunger. But, as I pointed out earlier, you do not want to push on the plunger in the Freedom Refill Method or you will have an explosion of ink everywhere.

The Freedom Refill Method was inspired mainly by this Russian site. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see their method. I tried this method as described and it didn't work very well, as many others attested to. However, by using the 60cc syringe which was inspired by RJetTec and Eweko, and keeping the connection between the syringe and the cartridge short which was made possible by melting a bend in the syringe, and by using the rubber hose connection rather than the retrofitted orange cap, I was able to solve all the problems and achieve my goal of refilling an OEM cartridge so that it looks like a new OEM cartridge.

 

[gigigogu]

gigigogu Magnificient effort. looks really professional, you are obviously very good at metalwork. I presume you have been able to source a supply for the 3way cock ? not sure about the needle sticking out whilst refilling any difficulty ?.

Thank you, but the picture is misleading, I used only plastic pieces from a ruler.

I found the 3 way stopcock at the medical device store (thank you, ghwellsjr) where I bought the 60 cc syringe (also a 50 cc syringe with luer lock tip).
The needle is not a disturbance during refill.
But as I said, the 3 way stopcock is not necessary, a simple piece of tube is better.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Unfortunately the Eweko Air Box is too expensive, since this is the basis of the Freedom Refill Method.

I wouldn't say it's the basis, since the method predates the Eweko device. And variations on this method have been discovered or discussed (independently, as far as I know) for quite some time. I suggested it, probably in January. Another poster in this thread (possibly Panos--I forget) said he had tried it. In January I saw a UTube video of a similar procedure using the InkTec device (which clearly predates the Eweko device). And Ghwellsjr found that Russian site, which is dated August 2007, shows essentially the GhwellsJr device.

Furthermore, the Eweko video used a combination of pressure and vacuum; Ghwells pointed out that you can't really fill the vent if vacuum only is used.

Also: the Eweko Air box uses a Luer-Lock system as a safeguard to prevent inky disasters.

We've already been over this point, and it's getting old. My syringes for the German method are not Luer-Lock, and I have no problem with it. The InkTec device is a widespread commercial device that has works fine and has gotten good reviews from users, yet it doesn't use Luer-Lock either. Furthermore, it's hard to spray ink if you are working with vacuum, as with the Freedom Method. It does look like a good device, though.

 

[pharmacist]

I did not know the freedom method is based on a russian method, which is quite ironic...

 

[ghwellsjr]

Ghwellsjr found that Russian site, which is dated August 2007, shows essentially the GhwellsJr device.

Actually, PeterBJ is the one that found it and posted a lot of good information about it, including the idea that it did not survive as a viable refill method. But, as I said in my first post on this thread, "I had to come up with some of my own ideas to make it actually work at a cheap price." So the device on the Russian site is not essentially my device. My device works well, the Russian device does not work well.

 

[member 5159]

Here is my latest Freedom bit of kit built from various items of scrap in the garage apart from 80mmx6mm roofing bolts.

Pic. 1 general view

Pic.2. the two different sized spacers

Pic.3 the locking connection point cut from a 10mm syringe. (lock type is essential in my view to avoid inky disasters).

The jig top and borrom plates are cut from 10mm laminate floor sample which is nice and flat and tapped 6mm to take the bolts and the fill adaptor. (Studs would be nicer but not available locally) the Cart. locaters were cut from 1/8" old perspex number plate hence colour showing. The all important filling point was provided by the top of a 10mm syringe cut off at the 20ml mark. I then machined an adapator from 1/2" brass to be a slide fit for the syringe top,machined approx 3/4" down to 6mm and threaded it, and finally reduced the last 3/16 to .190 to take a 1/"2 Tap washer This last idea borrowed from gigigogu thanks. The syringe top was bonded after the machining was finished.

The system works very well I have glued a piece of 1/8" rubber to the base (back from an old mouse mat) where the air vent fits. As long as i tighten up the assembly enough, I no longer need to tape the vent, which was the area I also prevoisly had problems with. I have now filled Photo Black, Cyan, and PG WITHOUT ANY GLOVES, NO DRIPS, NOTHING. I have got a really solid vacuum with this system.

The PB is in the printer done its part in a 150 page run, the others are stored ready for when I need them. The 1 syringe I have is a female luer, which is fine for taking ink directly from my squeezy bottles and returning any surplus the same way. Ideally the fill point I would like to be a metal one for long lasting use, but these these items seem difficult to source except in multiple items like the syringes. I am watching my costs as this is merely an experiment.

I do not consider the vacuum system to be better than the other well established methods, just an alternative. it works well but I need now a set of virgin carts. It is of course slower assembling the various parts, and you have to rinse the fill point out each time you change colour. Likewise the syringe unless you have a full set of them Thanks to ghwellsjr for raising this interesting subject.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi barfl2,

nice construction indeed: now it looks like the Eweko Air Box but way cheaper.