Mikling CANON BCI CLI PGI Flush System

[mikling]

Plagiarizing Grandad's method of flushing I decided that connecting to a hose bibb or faucet was just not convenient for me. I don't have access to a garden hose bibb as I currently reside in a condo. So what to do?
I came up with a method of flushing that recycles the Canon orange seals. My system is convenient in that it can be safely performed anywhere. All one needs to do is dunk the assembled cartridge end into a container of water and a couple of draws on the syringe and the cartridge is done. After each draw on the syringe, the twist to lock luer connection comes apart so that the syringe can be emptied.

Since the system is based on vacuum, the harder you draw on the syringe, the better the seal. This is opposed to a pressure system where if you pressurize the syringe too much leaks/spurts will happen around the seal.

The white attachment to the orange cartridge seal is a bulkhead female luer lock connector with a barb fitting. The barb fitting is cut off so that when screwed onto the orange seal it does not protrude.

It works very well and this contraption as well as others could ultimately save your printhead.

 

[binkie]

Plagiarizing Grandad's method of flushing I decided that connecting to a hose bibb or faucet was just not convenient for me. I don't have access to a garden hose bibb as I currently reside in a condo. So what to do?
I came up with a method of flushing that recycles the Canon orange seals. My system is convenient in that it can be safely performed anywhere. All one needs to do is dunk the assembled cartridge end into a container of water and a couple of draws on the syringe and the cartridge is done. After each draw on the syringe, the twist to lock luer connection comes apart so that the syringe can be emptied.

Since the system is based on vacuum, the harder you draw on the syringe, the better the seal. This is opposed to a pressure system where if you pressurize the syringe too much leaks/spurts will happen around the seal.

The white attachment to the orange cartridge seal is a bulkhead female luer lock connector with a barb fitting. The barb fitting is cut off so that when screwed onto the orange seal it does not protrude.

It works very well and this contraption as well as others could ultimately save your printhead.

mikling,

Thanks for the great variation on Grandad's flusing method. Sounds like it's worth a try.

Where do I get a bulkhead female luer lock connector with a barb fitting and a syringe to fit? My current refilling syringes are much smaller than your example. Your larger one would work better.

Also, I notice that you have a screw on the top fill hole. It's difficut to tell in the photo, but it looks like a brass colored screw with a flat end. What type screw do you use to seal the air hole, and do you also use an O ring?

Thank, again for your unique flushing technique. Your comments in this Forum are always worthwhile!

binkie

 

[mikling]

The cartridge used was strictly for photos ignore it and don't use it for guidance. I no longer use brass nor o-rings. O-rings work but I prefer like Grandad to use a tapered Stainless Steel machine screw. Why you may ask?....
1. The metal allows me to literally form threads on the hub of the Canon OEM cartridge.
2. It is more durable....dare I say lifetime?
3. It has less of a protrusion when finished
4. Orings work but they were not meant to be torqued down with shear ( lateral ) forces. They are really meant to be in compression (pressing forces) only. The lateral forces you apply has the potential of distorting the seal if it binds up while turning. If I were to use an o-ring here, I'd put some silicone lubricant to make sure that the o-ring doesn't bind as it is turned and tightened. Having said that most report success with the o-ring so maybe I'm too attentive to detail and looking at what might go wrong.

The Stainless Steel Screws have a taper for countersinking applications. this taper meets the edge of the hole and creates a secure seal even if the screw is not put in perfectly square. Suffice to say use a material that will neither corrode nor dissolve any metals out.

The screws I use

How it looks when finished. I put colored labels on top of the original cartridges with the formulation numbers on them so that I never make a mistake when refilling.

 

[binkie]

The cartridge used was strictly for photos ignore it and don't use it for guidance. I no longer use brass nor o-rings. O-rings work but I prefer like Grandad to use a tapered Stainless Steel machine screw. Why you may ask?....
1. The metal allows me to literally form threads on the hub of the Canon OEM cartridge.
2. It is more durable....dare I say lifetime?
3. It has less of a protrusion when finished
4. Orings work but they were not meant to be torqued down with shear ( lateral ) forces. They are really meant to be in compression (pressing forces) only. The lateral forces you apply has the potential of distorting the seal if it binds up while turning. If I were to use an o-ring here, I'd put some silicone lubricant to make sure that the o-ring doesn't bind as it is turned and tightened. Having said that most report success with the o-ring so maybe I'm too attentive to detail and looking at what might go wrong.

The Stainless Steel Screws have a taper for countersinking applications. this taper meets the edge of the hole and creates a secure seal even if the screw is not put in perfectly square. Suffice to say use a material that will neither corrode nor dissolve any metals out.

Mikling,

Thanks for the quick answer. It was most helpful!

Just a few more (for now) questions. Please be patient. I guess I'm a slow learner.

(1) Are the screws that you use self taping? I don't see a point on them to begin making the threads.

(2) Is there a particular purpose in not using a screw with a point?

(3) It looks like you put the screw in the fill hole after removing the ball. Am I correct?

(4) What is the size of the screws that you use?

 

[mikling]

1. Not self tapping. Not required.
2 &3) No point is required when using the hole when the ball is removed. The fit is nice snug and strong. Use Lilla's method of removing the ball.
4) 8-32 x 3/8

 

[Grandad35]

... I don't have access to a garden hose bibb as I currently reside in a condo. So what to do?

This looks like a simple alternative, especially if you only have a few carts to purge. There may have been a misunderstanding about where my hose is attached - the fitting shown in the write-up screws directly onto a standard kitchen faucet and does not have to be attached to a garden hose bibb.

... dunk the assembled cartridge end into a container of water and a couple of draws on the syringe and the cartridge is done.

Hot water dissolves the residue in the sponges and filter much more quickly than cold water. It would help to fill the container with water that is as warm as possible without causing a burn.

... After each draw on the syringe, the twist to lock luer connection comes apart so that the syringe can be emptied.

Here is a syringe (http://216.219.159.185/tools.html#anchor82015) with some check valves so that it does not have to be disconnected to empty it - just keep pumping. The hoses are only 1/8" ID, so if you want to use larger lines for the water flow, insert a canister in the inlet line (http://216.219.159.185/tools.html#anchor93243), modifying it to accept the larger inlet water lines. The 1/8" ID hoses should be sufficient for air flow, especially if they are kept as short as possible.

 

[Defcon2k]

I like the flushing techniques presented on this site! I'm wondering about this: Is it better to suck the water from the inside of the filter to the outside like you suggest here, which also represents the normal ink flow? Or is it better to press the water from the outside into the cart, like Granddad's original flushing technique? (Alternatively, you could also suck the water on the other side of the cart to achieve this)
I think with your technique, ink residues and other particles are sucked into the filter. This would not happen with Granddad's technique, but particles in the water may be collected at the outside of the filter, and may be drawn into the print head the next time you install the cart. With your technique, maybe the particles don't build up much in the filter, but are just sucked through.
But perhaps both methods are fine and I worry to much about particles.
This is because I read the article "Inkjet Cartridge Cleaning" by Mick Carlotta, who writes about carts with build-in printheads:

Typical inkjet cartridge foam (and most foam for that matter) is polyurethane reticulated foam, meaning that the closed cells created by the foaming process have been literally thermally exploded free. The formerly cell walls mostly fuse themselves onto the surrounding networked cell fibers. Lurking free particles exist in the foam. Some are fused better than others. Many of these particles are long in length and small in diameter similar to a fiber. The cartridge has a filter for this reason (and others) preventing these particles form entering the nozzles. The OEM may clean the foam, to reduce the free particles prior to insertion into the cartridge. The more aggressive the cleaning, the more the particles can become dislodged (which can be a double-edged sword). An OEM cartridge designer has one thing going for him though - the flow rate inside of an OEM cartridge is very low. This means that the normal ink flow through the foam, due to printing, moves few (if any) of these particles towards the filter and therefore cleaning the foam after reticulation is not necessarily needed. If the particles make their way to the filter, under normal printing conditions, the filter blocks them. When the flow through the foam and out of the nozzles is sufficiently increased, the loose particles tend to become oriented in the direction of the flow increasing the chance of them getting past the filter. The low flow rate of the ink due to printing is not sufficient to orient them. However once a high flow is introduced, like a centrifuge or a nozzle-sucking device, the long fiber like particles can penetrate the filter resulting in clogged nozzles.

[...]

Even with filtered ink, the exposed surrounding surfaces of the container, cartridge seal, nozzle plate and airborne particles will get caught up in the ink and thus will be forced into the nozzles by the filling pressure. In the past when we analyzed such clogs in nozzles, human skin particles frequently were the cause of the clog.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I also read that article before I started vacuum filling my cartridges because I was concerned about the high flow rates through the outlet port if I allowed the fresh ink to flow backwards through the filter. That's why I decided to plug the outlet port and fill through the air vent.

I suspect that vacuum filling eliminates the need to clean/flush/purge cartridges, although since I have so many empty virgin OEM cartridges, I haven't ever put a cartridge through more than one refill. It would be interesting for someone who has cartridges that have gone through many refill cycles and are no longer working, to vacuum refill them and see if that clears up the flow problem. If anyone wants to send me some OEM cartridges like that, I would be willing to refill them as a test or just trade me for some already-refilled OEM cartridges. I no longer mess with third-party cartridges since I have had so many other problems with them.

 

[Grandad35]

Defcon2K,

You are correct about the two directions of flushing having different effects, and that is why I started with back flushing, since it is the same technique used with most filters that are "cleanable" (e.g. swimming pool filters). A few points:
1. We aren't really sure what clogs the filter/sponge, and I suspect that at least a lot of it is a "glop" that is soluble in warm water and/or alcohol. There are old posts on cleaning the filter by dropping a few drops of alcohol on the filter or by immersing the cart (sealed in a plastic bag) in warm water. These techniques work, but only for a short time - not nearly as well as a complete flush.
2. If the contaminants can be dissolved with warm water, it doesn't matter which direction you flush. If the contaminants can't be dissolved, then you are better off back flushing.
3. You are correct about back flushing depositing some debris (from your drinking water) on the discharge of the filter, but when I vacuum out the water, any loose debris should be removed by the "bubbling action" that is observed as the water/air mixture is pulled through the filter.

ghwellsjr,

I dabbled with vacuum refilling as a cure for clogged filters/sponges some time ago. While the carts refilled perfectly under vacuum, I still had ink delivery problems in the printer. That's when I developed the purging method. Unfortunately (at least for scientific purposes), I also switched ink suppliers at the same time. Which change fixed my problem? I suspect that purging cleaned the carts and that the new ink is much less prone to contaminating the filters/sponges than the old ink, but I have no proof.

 

[binkie]

I dabbled with vacuum refilling as a cure for clogged filters/sponges some time ago. While the carts refilled perfectly under vacuum, I still had ink delivery problems in the printer. That's when I developed the purging method. Unfortunately (at least for scientific purposes), I also switched ink suppliers at the same time. Which change fixed my problem? I suspect that purging cleaned the carts and that the new ink is much less prone to contaminating the filters/sponges than the old ink, but I have no proof.

Grandad,

Which ink were you using, and which ink, and vendor, did you switch to?

Curious.

Binkie