Interested in refilling cartridges for my Canon mp 610

[esp]

Well I have have read alot on this site regarding refilling. Where would you recommend I go for a kit to begin my refilling?

Also, every time I refill do I have to reset my chip? All the kits I have seen don't include a chip resetter.

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you are in the USA, do a search on eBay for redsetter and you will find what you need to reset your cartridges every time you refill them.

I recommend refilling using the German method. Most refill kits that I have seen have needles that are too short for the German method and they provide extra stuff designed for refilling through the top of the reservoir which you won't need if you refill with the German method. You need two-inch needles for the German method. You can buy two-inch needles with syringes from Computer Friends. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see them. I recommend that you buy at least five of them so you can have a separate one for each color (you need separate ones for the dye black and the pigment black) and I would get a couple extra to use for purge pad cleaning and as backup in case one breaks.
EDIT: I no longer recommend getting syringes and needles from Computer Friends because they no longer supply the covers (scabbards). See posts #17 through #21 for more info.

Then I recommend using Inktec ink from inkjetcartridge.com which comes in small syringes. Scroll half way down the page to see them. They are a little more expensive than buying ink in bottles from other sources but they are the cleanest and most convenient way to refill. If you buy your ink this way, you won't be using the syringes that come with the two-inch needles.

Here is a video I made to show how to prepare and refill the cartridge the first time. The cartridge in the video is not the same as yours but you refill it exactly the same way. Also, I do not recommend poking the hole in the end of the cartridge while holding it in mid air. I just did it like that to make it easy to see in the video. The way I actually do it is to hold it down firmly on its side near the edge of a counter top and poke it horizontally as close to the bottom edge of the cartridge as possible. Also, since you should be refilling before the sponge begins to dry out, you would quit as soon as the reservoir is full. And, of course, you need to reset the cartridge before putting it back in the printer.

I recommend that you leave the needle on the Inktec syringe until the next time you need to add more ink to the same cartridge which you should do when the reservoir is empty. Here is another video showing that process. If your Inktec syringe runs out of ink while you are refilling a cartridge, withdraw it from the cartridge, remove the needle from the syringe and put it on a new full syringe and continue refilling.

I also recommend that you top off all your dye ink cartridges whenever you refill any of them. You should refill your pigment black cartridge by itself whenever its reservoir is empty. You can do all four dye ink cartridge in less than five minutes, including the time it takes to remove them from the printer and return them filled and reset back in the printer. You want to minimize the time each cartridge is out of the printer, so do them one at a time.

I believe if you follow all of my recommendations, you will have the most efficient refill process possible and will get the longest life of your cartridges. Note that I do not recommend that you buy an extra set of cartridges, just refill the ones that came with your printer.

 

[esp]

Thank you for detailing the method used for refilling cartridges.

I have a few questions:

I have read after refilling the cartridges a few times its best to buy new empty cartridges because of ink issues with sponge and dried ink will eventually cause clogging?

You say always topoff the inks when ever I refill one of them. So each time I topoff I reset the chip ?


For a year I have used compatible cartridges don't I need Canon cartirdges to be able to reset the chip? Some sites that sell resetter say it MAY work on SOME compatible chips. If so where do I buy empty Canon cartridges with original chips?

Also am I allowed to link a website so I can see if the particular resetter I found is the one I need? I found some that are called Chip Resetter. There also is the redsetter. I even saw one that is blue.

 

[ghwellsjr]

It is true that the sponges can dry out if you use the cartridges until they are totally empty. That is why I am recommending that you refill them before the ink in the sponges start to get used, ie, as soon as the reservoir gets empty.

When you remove, refill and reset one of your dye ink cartridges, the printer will go through a cleaning/purge cycle for all of the dye ink cartridges which uses some ink in all of them. If you didn't do this and you had another cartridge that was low but not quite empty in the reservoir, it will soon become empty and you will have go through another cleaning cycle. The idea is to minimize the number of cleaning cycles by topping off all the dye ink cartridges at the same time. And you need to reset them all. But the pigment black has its own purge unit so we want to refill it seperately.

I had assumed that you just bought the printer and were using the original cartridges that came with it. I was suggesting that you refill those and not buy or have any other spares until one of them quits working. I would not use any cartridges other than original Canon. I know it is expensive but I would just buy a set of new Canon cartridge if I no longer had the ones that came with the printer.

You can link to the eBay websites to show us which resetters you are considering but I would recommend the one that uses the name redsetter.

 

[esp]

I'm sorry I didn't provide more information about how long I owned the printer.

It been a over a year that I have owned this printer and love it. After spending so much money on the canon cartridges I decided on buying compatible cartridges because of price. I have used them ever since.

Rather then try to save a few dollars and seeing the knockoffs of resetters I bought the resetter like you suggested. I just questioned the difference because the redsetter was about 10-15 Dollars more and there was only 1 merchant on ebay selling them.

I figured that buying all canon cartridges was what I would have to do. Considering how much I will save it's a small price. I actually have 2 cartridges that are canon OEM in my printer now. I ordered compatibles and I was in a rush so I went to Best Buy.

What are those orange things called that seal off the sponge on the bottom that you remove when the cartridge is new? I worry my oem cartridges will dry out when there done and I put my compatibles in to use up my inventory.

In my Inventory

2 CLI-8BK------Compatible
1 BGI-5BK------Compatible
1 CLI-8C-------Compatible
1CLI-8Y--------Compatible

In printer now that are Canon OEM

1 CLI-8BK
1 CLI-8Y

In printer that are compatible

CLI-8M
BGI 5BK
CLI-8C

I'm looking for a plan without having to waste the inventory I have. Can you make any suggestions?

 

[ghwellsjr]

You say you have spent so much money on Canon cartridges--don't you still have those Canon cartridges? If you do, you can use them for refilling.

I call the orange things "clips". I don't know if that is their official name. You want to save those clips so that you can put them back on cartridges when they are left out of your printer so that the ink won't dry out in the sponge. You can hold them on with a rubber band.

In the meantime, I would remove your two Canon cartridges from your printer, put those clips on them and refill them as soon as you get your inks and needles. Hopefully, the reservoirs still have some ink left in them.

In the meantime, use up your compatibles.

I'm not sure what you mean when you said you "ordered compatibles" and you "went to Best Buy". Are you saying you bought some compatibles from Best Buy?

 

[esp]

All the canon cartridges I ever had I would put in the trash.

My yellow ran out 3 days ago so I ordered yellow and blue since it was getting low. I had to use my printer that day and couldn't wait for them to come in the mail, so I rushed out to buy the yellow from Best Buy also.

 

[pharmacist]

wait a minute about blue: I presume you mean cyan, because there is a difference between cyan and blue. Large format printers have different colours like cyan, magenta, yellow, but also: blue and red and most people confuse them causing them to buy photo magenta for their IP4500 printer, which ultimately rejects this cartridge. Hey, I want to print photo's so I bought this photo magenta cartridge...Or how many webshops call magenta cartridges red... (CLI-8R, only used in the Pro 9000).

 

[esp]

Yes its Cyan

I have 5 Cartridges

Cyan,magenta,yellow, and 2 different Black

 

[ghwellsjr]

All the canon cartridges I ever had I would put in the trash.

My yellow ran out 3 days ago so I ordered yellow and blue since it was getting low. I had to use my printer that day and couldn't wait for them to come in the mail, so I rushed out to buy the yellow from Best Buy also.

I hope you are not throwing any more cartridges in the trash, you can take them to Staples for a $3 reward.

I'm also assuming that you still only have two Canon OEM cartridges, the yellow and thin black, correct? Are you planning on buying three more Canon OEM cartridges to refill?