How to stop Ink from spoiling...

[rarebear]

I am just guessing at this as I do a lot of woodworking, many stains and finishes go bad quickly after opening..

What WW use to stop this is http://www.bloxygen.com/

But an old time trick is to hold your breath and then blow air into the can to drive out the oxygenated air and replace it with CO2

Oxygen is that you dont want, I also seen an artical about adding small clean stones to a 1 gal can so it stays full with liquid and no air is another option..

I am not sure if it is oxygen that causes ink to spoil but its worth a try..

Hope this helps someone..

 

[ghwellsjr]

Your link has an interesting product but it works not by expelling all the oxygen from a partially full container but rather by laying down a layer of argon which is a heavy enert gas that acts as a blanket to keep the oxygen from penetrating into the liquid you are trying to protect.

Furthermore, the link states that it only works with oil-based products and has no efficacy for water-based products which is what all inkjet printer inks are.

The main problem with "spoiling" inks is evaporation. That is why it is important to store refilled cartridges in ziploc bags and to use only cartridges that have a serpentine path for the air vent on the top of the cartridge like Canon originals have. See this link for an example of a cartridge (apparently supplied by Formulabs) that does not have a serpentine path and what can happen:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=23355#p23355

With regard to evaporation in partially used bulk ink bottles, in my opinion, this will probably only be a problem if you buy your ink in large bottles and only refill one or two cartridges at a time so that the bottle lasts for well over a year. Some people transfer their large bottled ink into several smaller bottles to avoid this problem.

If I was starting all over to refill and what I recommend for new refillers is to buy Inktec ink in the small syringes that are good for maybe two refills, put a needle on each syringe and cap it between refills. If you are refilling the Canon single-color cartridges, I would also use the German method and not have any extra cartridges, just refill whenever the reservoir in a cartridge gets low. I don't do this but it sure sounds like an easy way to go. I also would not use any but Canon original cartridges.

You can buy Inktec ink from http://www.inkjetcartridge.com. However, their cartridges are not necessarily made by Inktec.

 

[fotofreek]

In keeping with ghwells advice - I don't mean to sound flippant, but the way to stop ink from spoiling is to use it up in a reasonably short time! Although the ink vendors state that there is a two year shelf life, only buy what you might use in a year's time. Trying to be more economical by buying larger quantities may end up being false economy. You can probably extend the shelf life as ghw states with dividing the ink into smaller containers or the time-honored approach of filling the container with pebbles to bring the ink level up to to top of the container and minimize the amount of air at the top. My approach with most things is to keep it simple.

 

[rarebear]

I'm wondering if its Oxygen that makes ink ill over time, I know the light is bad..

If its O2 then maybe blowing into open jar to fill with CO2 may help some..

 

[fotofreek]

exhaled breath still contains a percentage of oxygen.

 

[Smile]

I was thinking that if if add pure 99.99% coin, rod, etc. (silver object) your bulk ink bottle will last longer as silver kills germs. Other than that if bottle cap is tight no ink can evaporate away. And should be stored in dry place. I had inktec small syringe type refills that were 5 years old and still worked fine so if stored right you can prolong ink life.

 

[Smile]

exhaled breath still contains a percentage of oxygen.

arnd germs too