My MAXIFY 5350 is on refill ink

[palombian]

As you can see in the enlarged photo, the cyan bands in the nozzle check of my printhead show noticeable irregularities but, fact is that real prints, even at standard quality setting, show no visible defects at all.

Now I have no more Inktec cyan or magenta inks. Time to purchase GI-56 bottles I guess.
I can get them at 21.5€ each ( free shipping for two or more bottles). Good price ?

That's the price of 123inkt.be without shipping.

 

[The Hat]

I guess.
I can get them at 21.5€ each ( free shipping for two or more bottles). Good price ?

Why not get the whole set while you’re at it, that’s what I did, I didn’t need them at the time, but I taught it was better to get the complete set and do a fresh install.. it’s been trouble free even since, except for the Feckin magenta cart leaking..
That’s what spurred me on to get the new print head..

 

[Artur5]

I intend to buy one bottle of C,M and Y. They contain 135ml. each and will last me a long time because at least 90% of my printing jobs with the Maxify are black text.
No plans to get GI-56 black ink for the time being. I still have an almost full 1 liter bottle of black Inktec, which never gave any problem in my second MB5150, or the first one.

 

[The Hat]

I still have an almost full 1 liter bottle of black Inktec,

Ah, That makes sense.. because I’ve got litres of all sorts of ink laying around..

 

[Artur5]

You never know, maybe some crazy fellow found a magical recipe for transforming dye/pigment ink into PLA filament. Keep watching youtube videos just in case..

 

[The Hat]

I have ordered a new print head for my Maxify in the UK, (Thanks to @Redbrickman) so it should get here a lot faster, the last one I tried to purchase in the US was out of stock and they had to return my money.

The standard Maxify printer has a different print head to the newer bigger Multi tank Maxify printers, the standard uses QY6-0087 and the Multi tank uses the QY6-0091, surprising because I taught they would all use the head in their Maxify models..

 

[Artur5]

Not surprising if you consider that printheads for megatank printers don't have the full set of cartridges sitting on top. Ink is fed from a CISS system. Maybe the QY6-0087 and QY6-0091 share a common design at the bottom ( nozzle plate, inkflow control chamber,etc ) but the other parts must be totally different.

 

[The Hat]

While waiting on my replacement print head to arrive for my MB5155 printer, I seen a very cheap MB2750 going so I bought it, I was looking for another MB5150 but all these larger cart printers are as scarce as hens teeth.

I’ll keep it in reserve and won’t use it, considering the cost of new print heads, I got this and a set of carts too for just €149 with free delivery and a €10 discount, so all in all I now have a free printer too, it’s the same head in both printers..
P.S. The printer arrived in just 3 days, that’s more than can be said for the print head, it’s still out there somewhere in snail mail land..

 

[The Hat]

Now that I'm using the new Magenta cart in the Maxify, I put aside the old one so I could do an autopsy on it later...

I started by draining out all the magenta ink first, then removed the plastic cover to expose the inner working of the cart, and then pulled the clear membrane that was welded to the side of cart. Like a clear see through bladder..

This stuff is as tuff as they come because it was not easy to remove all of it, but I got there in the end, I don’t know what sort of adhesive they used, but I wouldn’t mind being able to buy some, its extremely strong stuff. (Probably applied with heat)

Under this clear membrane there is just a piece of opaque plastic plate that is held on by a big spring, the inside setup is very much the same as the inside of the PGl-9 cart, and the spring does the same job keeping the internal space clear when the ink is used up.


Attached under the spring is a small piece of metal that’s stuck down on the body of the cart, I removed that and forgot to take a photo, which has tiny little ridges that were underneath, it does the same job as the air vent on top of a CLl-8 cart and is the start of the internal one way air intake.


On the exterior of the cart there is a skinny opaque window strip of plastic that seems to have some ink in it, well that’s a continuation of the air intake system inside and it wiggles its way to the air intake hole (left open), this hole can be seen beside the larger ink inlet port.


The ink inlet hole is made from a stiff plastic and is covered in the same membrane that was used on the inside bladder, and behind that is a small silicone pipe which also has the same membrane covering. both get punctured when the cart in inserted.


So when it comes to refilling it’s only a matter of holding the syringe tightly against the inlet hole to get a good seal, because there is no spring or ball inside to block the inflow of ink. But you must withdraw some air first before refilling with ink.

To conclude the OEM carts are make very poorly, and can fail very easily, so it’s better to tape over the refill hole after filling to have any chance of stopping them from leaking, O’ and don’t try to over fill them, less is better..

P.S. I wasn’t going to take any Pics of the operation because there’s nothing to look at and everything is well hidden, plus it’s like watching paint dry..

 

[palombian]

Now that I'm using the new Magenta cart in the Maxify, I put aside the old one so I could do an autopsy on it later...

I started by draining out all the magenta ink first, then removed the plastic cover to expose the inner working of the cart, and then pulled the clear membrane that was welded to the side of cart. Like a clear see through bladder..

This stuff is as tuff as they come because it was not easy to remove all of it, but I got there in the end, I don’t know what sort of adhesive they used, but I wouldn’t mind being able to buy some, its extremely strong stuff. (Probably applied with heat)

Under this clear membrane there is just a piece of opaque plastic plate that is held on by a big spring, the inside setup is very much the same as the inside of the PGl-9 cart, and the spring does the same job keeping the internal space clear when the ink is used up.
View attachment 13732

Attached under the spring is a small piece of metal that’s stuck down on the body of the cart, I removed that and forgot to take a photo, which has tiny little ridges that were underneath, it does the same job as the air vent on top of a CLl-8 cart and is the start of the internal one way air intake.

View attachment 13737
On the exterior of the cart there is a skinny opaque window strip of plastic that seems to have some ink in it, well that’s a continuation of the air intake system inside and it wiggles its way to the air intake hole (left open), this hole can be seen beside the larger ink inlet port.
View attachment 13734

The ink inlet hole is made from a stiff plastic and is covered in the same membrane that was used on the inside bladder, and behind that is a small silicone pipe which also has the same membrane covering. both get punctured when the cart in inserted.

View attachment 13736 View attachment 13735
So when it comes to refilling it’s only a matter of holding the syringe tightly against the inlet hole to get a good seal, because there is no spring or ball inside to block the inflow of ink. But you must withdraw some air first before refilling with ink.

To conclude the OEM carts are make very poorly, and can fail very easily, so it’s better to tape over the refill hole after filling to have any chance of stopping them from leaking, O’ and don’t try to over fill them, less is better..

P.S. I wasn’t going to take any Pics of the operation because there’s nothing to look at and everything is well hidden, plus it’s like watching paint dry..

Still no no idea what the air intake is for ?

I stopped sealing the ink outlet after refilling.
Now I raise the back of the printer when changing carts (why else they are inclining forward for no other reason as making refilling as difficult as possible).