Jero CaBox Mini Canon Refilling Kit

[Digital10d]

Anyone use one of these www.rjettek.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/75/products_id/491

Now I use the german method with great success but this method my be difficult with Canon's new opaque carts. So saw this method of filling the cart through the exit port, no holes and with a measured amount of ink could fill the opaque carts easily. However it looks like with the CaBox the ink saturates the sponge before filling the reservoir area. When top filling or german filling you fill reservoir NOT the sponge. So does this matter ?

 

[ghwellsjr]

This is basically a vacuum refill technique. The only problem is that you will get ink in the serpentine air vent path which will have to be cleaned out--not easy. But for the price you could buy a real vacuum pump and a real vacuum chamber and do many cartridges all at once, although not as cleanly as this method.

 

[Digital10d]

Yup understand that. In the video he does seem to really do for it ! I think if you used the vacuum created by pulling back on the syringe and then being a little more gentle, maybe with the cart the right way up, you could avoid getting ink into the air vent path. However the sponge will still be saturated. I thought the idea with the Canon carts was to try to avoid the top half of the sponge getting too saturated with ink, which could dry and cause air flow issues.

 

[fotofreek]

I must say that I haven't worried about saturated the top sponge of BCI-6 carts and they've always worked just fine. I am careful to not overfill the ink reservoir, as that could get ink into the air vent maze.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I also have never had any problem over filling the sponge when vacuum refilling virgin cartridges but after I cleaned out the air vent path, I would blow into the air vent to reduce the amount of ink in the top of the sponge.

Fotofreek, how does over filling the reservoir lead to ink in the air vent maze?

 

[fotofreek]

I guess that the fact that liquids seek their own levels applies, and filling the reservoir absolutely to the top would also raise the fluid level to the top of the sponge compartment. If ink is up to the air vent hole, capillary action might pull ink into the maze. My university physics classes were in 1952 - I'm just winging it at this point!

 

[Digital10d]

Ok sounds good to me. So saturated sponge not a problem, which is good news because my sponges in my carts look pretty saturated and all seems to work just fine.

 

[l_d_allan]

how does over filling the reservoir lead to ink in the air vent maze?

Out of newbie ignorance, I ended up with a 5th CLI-8M Magenta cart, a color which isn't used as much of others. I decided to play with it to see what happens. Good practice for alternate technique, with less mess and expense. I was also curious on how much the cartridges hold.

Among the techiques I played with was "modified top filling" into the top inlet port where the plastic ball had been pushed into the reservoir. I had a R-Jet Tek #1916 rubber'ish plug in this inlet port, and stuck the 18 gauge hypodermic needle through it. I had a R-Jet Tek #1813 cap over the bottom outlet port for a tighter seal than the original Canon orange caps provide.

With this combination, there is positive presure in the cart if I push on the syringe barrel faster than air can exit the top equalizing vent hole that is part of the air maze (a.k.a. labyrinth serpentine).

I also used diluted ink with tap water, so I could see where the ink was going. Also less mess, but still some mess as I was deliberately refilling until diluted ink emerged from the cart. You can't really see what is going on with plain water. I suppose diluted food coloring would work as well or better. It was part of trying out an alternative cart purging technique to flush the foam/sponge.

Note that this was several days ago, and I was trying a number of different things, so my recollection isn't all that clear on just what resulted. I wasn't taking notes or being particularly scientific. My "experimental design" was less than it could have been. The following is my recollection, but I'll try to find some time to repeat and confirm. The diluted ink may be treated differently by the foam/sponge material than undiluted ink, which could invalidate my observations. YMMV.

If I had the cart positioned so the sponge/foam side was lower than the reservoir side (tilted down), then as the diluted ink filled the reservoir and wicked into the sponge, it could work its way into the upper air vent maze and come out the upper vent hole. Since there was pressure with the cartridge, the diluted may have been forced into the sponge rather than wicking. I'm not sure. In any case, Not Good to have ink in the upper air vent maze..

If I had the cart positioned so the inlet port was lower, and injected slowly, then air was forced out of the upper vent hole as diluted ink went in, and I could fill the cart until it was almost entirely full. The upper vent hole remained clear.

I also tried the "traditional top filling method" without the #1916 plug, but my memory is fuzzy on just what happened. There wouldn't be internal pressure within the cart with this technique.

IIRC, if I held the cart with the foam/sponge end lower than the reservoir side, diluted ink got into the top air maze and emerged from the air vent hole at the end of the air maze as the cart got nearly full.

IIRC, if I held the cart with the foam/sponge end higher than the reservoir side, I would fill the cart nearly full. Then within a short amount of time (less than a minute IIRC), about a third to half of the ink in the reservoir would wick into the foam/sponge side. Then I would put some more diluted ink into the reservoir side until it was nearly full, let it sit for a minute or two in case more ink wanted to wick to the foam/sponge side, and then seal. This is the refilling technique I'm currently using. No fuss, no muss.

R-Jet Tek recommends filling with the cart upside down. I suppose the outlet port is left open so air can escape from it rather than the air vent maze hole. I haven't tried that yet. Seems like you could get ink into the air maze, but perhaps not if your technique is good.