How is the Pixma ink applied to the printhead?

[Fabphoto]

In the Canon 5 cart printers, how does the ink get out of the cartridge and into the printer? Since it doesn't drip when installed I would assume its not "gravity fed".

 

[turbguy]

The ink is delivered at very low pressure to the nozzle plate through gravity and capillary action. An "empty" print head is primed by drawing the ink saturating a sponge (a properly saturated sponge will not drip, but will soak into a dry paper towel if contacted) into the print head passageways by applying a small vacuum to the nozzle outlets. Once a solid column of ink fills the passageways, operation of the print head bubble jets draws replacement ink in to replace that "spit" out the nozzle(s). Operation is, indeed at VERY low gauge pressure, (probably less than a cm of water). An air vent above the sponge (opened when you pull off the plastic strip atop the cart) allows air to enter the sponge compartment to allow ink to exit without drawing a vacuum in the cart. The air vent also allows for equalization of atmospheric barometric pressure and temperature variations. If the cart is filled at sea-level, and shipped to Laramie, WY (7400 ft elevation) you quickly learn to pull the strip off FIRST, before removing the outlet orange cap!

A reservoir of pure ink connected to the sponge keeps the sponge properly saturated.

As you can guess, this is a tricky situation. It requires the right combination of sponge and ink properties...

If ANY air leaks exist between the sponge and nozzles, the system's ink column breaks and printing eventually ceases as replacement ink is not drawn from the sponge.

Wayne

 

[Fabphoto]

Thanks !!