Grandad's cleaning method for BCI-3eBK

[mfseeker]

Grandad's method for cleaning BCI-6 carts is just great. Before I go out and buy the adapters I will need to use it for my BCI-3eBK pigmented cartridges, are there any gotchas? Has anyone any experience adapting his method to those cartridges?

Thanks,

Stan

 

[ghwellsjr]

First off, for those who may not know where Grandad's article is, they can find it at:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/docs/canon-BCI-6-cartridges.php

He specifically says that it is for water-based ink cartridges. I have heard that the pigment inks are not water based. I know that it is very difficult to clean the black pigment ink off your hands using bleach which works very well for the dye based inks. So there apparently is a big difference between the two kinds of ink.

Ammonia has been advised as the cleaner of choice for all types of inks, at least for unclogging print heads. See this link:

http://www.outofinkandtoner.com.au/articles/article37.htm

I have successfully cleaned all the ink out of an OEM 3eBK cartridges by filling the reservoir with ammonia and letting it drain out the outlet port and/or plugging the fill hole and blowing on the vent (make sure you have cleaned off all the ammonia-it's nasty). After doing this MANY times, the sponge is almost white. I have not been able to totally clean a G&G cartridge. Clearly the sponge materials are different.

Of course, if your purpose is to put ink in the cartridge, you may have to go through several cycles to get rid of the ammonia.

I don't normally clean my cartridges as I use a vacuum to fill them. I believe that when you pull a vacuum on the cartridge, it drains off anything that could obstruct normal flow, but more importantly, it gets rid of bubbles in the sponge which are probably the major contributor to cartridges that fail to work after several refill cycles.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it worked.

[NOTE: I have learned my lesson about using ammonia. I now use just Windex (with ammonia). Read the following link for more information:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1396
]

 

[mfseeker]

Well, since no one came forward with experience under his or her belt, I visited the hardware store and rigged Grandad's aparatus for BCI3-eBK. Initial result suggest that whatever the solvents in the ink, besides water, they are compatable with a water flush. I have tried five carts so far, picked at random from a basketful. Even the cart with 1/3 ink left flushed just fine without removing the extra ink. It is true that the stuff is messy, because the pigment sticks to everything. But it washes up easily with soap and water. My initial measurements suggested rigging with 5/8" ID vinyl tubing. For some reason I came home with 1/2" instead. I am glad I did. It is harder to force over the exit port, but it grips tightly. If your water is not too hot, you may even prefer attaching it with a slight flow through the cart already started. This heats the vinyl and the slight pressure helps to push the end of the tube open as you attempt to force it over the short nipple on the cart.

Some, but not all, of the carts I have purged ended up with a light shade of gray in the foam, lighter than some of the results for non-OEM BCI-6 carts. Whether this depends upon how dried out the foam was or the brand of ink used I have no way of telling.

I still have a ways to go. I need to vacuum out the water, load, and test.

More later.

Stan

 

[Nifty]

Stan, this is great stuff! I hope all the forum members realize that our comments and experiments are just as important as Grandad's initial (excellent) post.

Please keep us up to date with how things progress. Stan, did you mention why you are cleaning out your carts?

 

[mfseeker]

Thanks for the encouragement, Rob.

I am cleaning the carts because they are there. They are almost all OEM carts. The sheer number of them is painful. I want to rescue something from all those bucks I threw down the maw of Canon.

More seriously, I want to print a lot of photos, avoid the mounting costs, and know for sure what ink I am using. I plan to profile my inks and papers.

Yes, I know that a complete set of pigmented inks, an Epson 2400, etc. is the way to go for serious, archival, photo printing, but only time will tell whether I want to take my photography in the direction of fine print making.

Oh, and, yes, I agree. I am cleaning them because its fun.

Stan

 

[fotofreek]

Although I am using MIS virgin carts, Hobbicolor virgin carts, and some refilled Arrow carts, the ones I like best for refilling are still the OEM bci-6 and bci-3ebk carts. There's no arguing that Canon's design can be duplicated but hasn't been improved on for functionality. The only area where there has been improvement with aftermarket carts is with the refill holes, the screw concept in hobbicolor carts (although I replace them with stainless steel pan head sheet metal screws which are easier to handle), and the holder/clips from the Arrow carts. Techniques like refilling require following a few little steps successfully, and Grandad's cleaning technique really solved the problem of carts that stop functioning after several refills. Another step forward for me has been the "2oz Boston Round Bottle w/ Luer Lock Cap" squeeze bottles from Howard Electronic (http://heinc.com/kahnetics/squeezebottles.html ). Just a little thing, but it eliminates uncapping the ink, drawing it into a syringe, replacing any excess from the syringe back into the container and capping it, and cleaning the syringes. Admittedly, none of this is difficult, but it speeds up my refills to the point where I do them on the fly at my desk.

 

[mfseeker]

Hmm. Just after I ordered some nifty-looking reservoir top bottles (http://www.inkjetsaver.com/tools.html), you tell me there is an even better way. Is there no end of cleveness? I hope not. May I ask why you opted for the 2oz bottles rather than the 4oz bottles?

 

[mfseeker]

Well, my initial attempts at Grandad's purging method for BCI-6 carts has yielded less than I had hoped. I purged eight BCI-6 carts and four BCI-3BK carts (all OEM, of vaying ages and conditions). When it came time to refill my "second-chance virgins", things began very well, indeed. I have learned to predict the viability of a cart from the way it takes up ink when I refill it. Good refills start to wick ink from the reservoir into the foam almost immediately and continue to wick at a rate that almost keeps up with my slow injection rate. My first two yellow carts sucked their ink voraciously. Unfortunately, even though all of the carts were a lovely white, none of the remaining BCI-6 carts performed well. Most would not wick any ink. A couple wicked ink very, very slowly. When it came time for the BCI-3BKs, the first one sucked the ink right up. The remaining three failed. I tried rapping the carts on their front edge as Grandad suggests, but to no avail.

I suspect my carts might have simply been too empty for too long, but there might be some other problem. For instance, I did not bake dry any of them. Still three of them worked beautifully.

I have an HB kit on order. I may just wait for it, or I may try a few more purges with carts that I know have not dried out. Currently, I don't have a working set for my iP5000. One good thing, the success rate for the BCI-3BKs was as good as for the others. Once I actually print with the the purged/refilled BCI3BK, I will report on it. It would be good to know if the method works on it with its pigmented ink.

Meanwhile any further suggestions will be most welcome. What a knowledgeable, congenial bunch you guys and gals are!

Stan

PS Now there is some urgency gettin a good ink set. My new Profile Prism kit just arrived. I could use it on our iP5200, but that is in my wife's office, and I don't think she would take well to my mucking around at her computer. This is a very busy time of the year for her.

 

[fotofreek]

MF - I have a six color printer and order 2 oz containers of magenta, cyan, and black, and 4 oz containers of photo cyan, photo magenta, and yellow. The latter are used much more than the others. Because these printers have a finite life I prefer to order in these quantities to avoid having lots of left over ink when the printer fails. Also, the 2 oz squeeze bottles are easy to handle and fit a space in my roll top desk.

Regarding the purging of carts, I keep my old carts that need to be purged in an airtight container until I have several to clean. After purging I blow out as much water as I can and then use an old tank type vacuum cleaner and hold the cart at the end of the tube with my hand wrapped around it to get as much of the vacuum as I can pulling moisture out of the carts. I then rubber band several together and stand them in front of a fan to dry them out. I posted a picture on the thread about cleaning carts that shows the fan drying carts. Obviously, if the sponge is somewhat saturated with water it will not take up the ink readily.

 

[mfseeker]

I reprocessed eight of the failed carts. This time I baked them for seven hours. Nada. Even though they look nice and white, they will not suck any ink from the reservoir into the foam. Apparently there is something that happens to carts when they have been abused from which Grandad's method cannot restore them. Does anyone have any clue what that might be?

Meanwhile, I will wait for my HB order to arrive, perhaps I'll buy some OEM carts; for sure, I'll be very careful not to let my carts run dry; and I will purge them at the first sign of sluggishness.