Need info on refilling Canon MP620 cartridges

[balloonshark]

Help! I'm doing my first refills and I've hit a snag. In the yellow cartridge window I can see some pulpy looking debris. I did need to work the needle in and out a few times to hit the hole (no jokes lol). I was twisting the needle as I moved it in and out as it did it though. Is the cartridge ruined? Is it safe to try it and hope sponges catch the debris?

Other than that it has been a very long and interesting learning process. I have caused a couple of the cartridges to leak out the vent and/or outlet holes but I think it was caused by air bubbles and me injecting the ink too fast while the cartridge was nearly full. I think things will go better the next go around. I have a couple more questions if that is ok.

1. If I overflow the cartridges when filling are they ok to use if I let them sit and they quit leaking?

2. If I have messed up one or more of the sponges (not the yellow mentioned above) how can I check as I think I remember that they can cause a leak.

3. Do you take the plunger out of your needles to let them dry after rinsing them with water?

4. Does my printer monitor ink usage from the point of the reset or can it actually see the ink level?

5. Is it just me or are the seals on the bottles a pain in the butt? I have more ink on my fingers from removing the seals than from filling the cartridges.

 

[stratman]

Help! I'm doing my first refills and I've hit a snag. In the yellow cartridge window I can see some pulpy looking debris. I did need to work the needle in and out a few times to hit the hole (no jokes lol). I was twisting the needle as I moved it in and out as it did it though. Is the cartridge ruined? Is it safe to try it and hope sponges catch the debris?

Pulpy looking debris? That does not sound good. If the cartridge is brand new and you have been the only owner, then the likelihood of contamination is remote unless it is from the refill ink. Sounds like either sponge or plastic shavings. This debris may choke off ink flow and cause skips in printing. You may need to purge the cartridge if this happens, or do it preemptively. If the sponge is damaged enough, it could itself cause flow issues, maybe leaking. You'll find out when it happens, I guess.

Other than that it has been a very long and interesting learning process. I have caused a couple of the cartridges to leak out the vent and/or outlet holes but I think it was caused by air bubbles and me injecting the ink too fast while the cartridge was nearly full. I think things will go better the next go around. I have a couple more questions if that is ok.

1. If I overflow the cartridges when filling are they ok to use if I let them sit and they quit leaking?

Yes. Injecting ink too fast and overfilling may cause these issues. You'll learn to finesse the refill with more experience. With overfilling, the cartridge will drip ink from the ink exit port until equilibrium is established. You could speed the process by sucking up some ink or squeezing the cartridge gently over a sink. I use squeeze bottles when refilling. They allow for greater control of flow and save time and energy that are required when using syringes.

2. If I have messed up one or more of the sponges (not the yellow mentioned above) how can I check as I think I remember that they can cause a leak.

All you can do is look at them and see how they perform when refilled. If the sponges are displaced from normal position, you can gently rap the bottom of the cartridge to reseat the sponges. Do NOT hit the ink exit port or you might deform it and cause problems once returned to the print head.

3. Do you take the plunger out of your needles to let them dry after rinsing them with water?

You can. It's your choice.

4. Does my printer monitor ink usage from the point of the reset or can it actually see the ink level?

Once you reset a cartridge's chip, the ink monitoring system responds as if a fully filled cartridge has been inserted - no matter how much ink you have refilled the cartridge with. Therefore, if you only half refill the cartridge and then reset the chip, the system will not know you only half refilled and will keep printing even when no ink remains. This seems to be the consensus of the forum.

5. Is it just me or are the seals on the bottles a pain in the butt? I have more ink on my fingers from removing the seals than from filling the cartridges.

Yes. It is just you.

Just kidding! It can be messy. Wear gloves, use a paper towel between the seal and your fingers, use tweezers or a knife, or become more dexterous.

 

[balloonshark]

Thanks again stratman! You have been very helpful and patient .

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I've uploaded a pic of the pulpy yellow cartridge. Maybe that will help us decided whether or not it is safe to try. I don't mind if my printouts are streaked until I get another yellow cartridge but I do worry about the ink leaking out into the printer or hurting the print head. If I flush the cartridge do you that this stuff would wash out? Also, I don't think the ink was contaminated as I don't see anything in the bottle. I believe your right about it being plastic or foam.

 

[stratman]

Good picture. What is that gunk? I take it you are referring to the lighter yellow cotton ball thing and not the solid orange around the right edge and bottom of the window.

If it is plastic or sponge, the worst it will do in the short run is clog ink flow. A purge may flush that junk out. If the material is attached to the sponge on the other side of the cartridge, a flush may not help. You've got a jelly fish in your spongeless compartment!

If you want to try printing with it, then look at every page that is printed to make sure that you catch ink starvation quickly. Make sure there is no loose debris on the ink exit port sponge or print head filter which could choke off the print head. Otherwise, you could try a purge.

For a purge of this cartridge, I would want to make a purge hole above the spongeless side so as to flush this crud out, hopefully. Hot wax could be used to seal the purge hole afterwards. Using screws or silicon plugs is a little more difficult if reports of tighter tolerances between the top of the cartridge and ??? ((whatever it is in the printer above the cartridge) such that the plug might bump up against and impeded movement of the print head. So, shave the hot wax or silicon plug or sink the screw low to allow for proper carriage movement.

Cool pic, not so cool potential problem.

 

[balloonshark]

I does look like a jellyfish doesn't it! It looks worse in the pic and it's basically a bunch small loose pieces. It's not one big ball of gunk.

For a hole above the spongeless side would removing the ball with the included kit from chubs do the trick? Would there be a problem with having a sealed hole on top the cartridge and one for the german method hole? Where would be the best place to aim the water for the debris to come out the spongeless side. Chubs kit included flushing instruction that show water going into the ball hole but if I did that it may flush the debris into the sponge correct?

 

[stratman]

You can remove the ball or you can drill a 5/32 hole nearby, then seal either with chubs silicon plug or hot wax. Keep in mind the tolerance issue.

I would flush using some sort of tubing connect to the ink exit port with the waste water exiting the new purge hole (and Durchstich/German hole). There are a myriad of contraptions people have devised as flushing units and shared them on the forum. One of these setups, or your own design, might flush the junk out. It might even be possible to somehow skewer the junk, if it is sponge, with your needle/syringe and pull it out through the purge hole. Can't tell till you get there. It sure is a head scratcher.

 

[balloonshark]

I decided to go ahead and install my cartridges and see what happens. The printer recognized all the cartridges as full except the yellow which it didn't recognize at all . I tried cleaning the chip and contacts with alcohol with no luck. I tried installing the cartridge with the printer off and in the center position with no luck. I tried resetting the chip again and it didn't work. I guess I need to flush the cartridge or get a new one and try again.

I may try flushing it as you directed but I'll need find a 5/32 bit. I hope I have one in my dremel set. I really can't rig up a flushing system so I'll just have to wing it and hope for the best. If it doesn't work I will throw in the towel and buy a new yellow cartridge.

At one point I did try a cleaning cycle as I thought the yellow was ok and I can also report that the other colors printed a test pattern fine. It looked a little light but the cartridges worked .

I am also happy to report that the chip resetter worked great. I got it from bisontec on amazon for $9.99 shipped. It wasn't red but it was blue like in the 2 other pics on this page. http://www.amazon.com/Resetter-CLI2...DHKC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305699717&sr=8-1

 

[l_d_allan]

P.S. If you have any reliable and safe ink supply vendors in the US please don't hesitate to post them.

My 2, since you ask.

Once you are an experienced refiller, you might consider RJetTek in the USA for ink and supplies. They are NOT oriented to individuals/hobby'ists, but rather commercial refillers like franchised Rapid-Refill. Don't expect any hand-holding, coaching, or mentoring, You are expected to know what you are doing.

They happend to be local for me in Colorado Springs. If I were doing it again, I would have NEVER started with them because I had the attitude of "how hard can it be?". If it hadn't been for the patient assistance of forum members, I'd have given up in disgust long ago.

Using RJetTek is kind of like "jumping into the deep end ... sink or swim".

YMMV ...

 

[stratman]

I decided to go ahead and install my cartridges and see what happens. The printer recognized all the cartridges as full except the yellow which it didn't recognize at all . I tried cleaning the chip and contacts with alcohol with no luck. I tried installing the cartridge with the printer off and in the center position with no luck. I tried resetting the chip again and it didn't work. I guess I need to flush the cartridge or get a new one and try again.

Could be the chip malfunctioned or has been damaged. Doubt the resetter is the problem since the other chips were reset, but anything is possible I guess. If this is from an aftermarket cartridge/chip, that could be the reason - incompatibility or lax manufacturing standards. The forum strongly advises all OEM cartridges for multiple reasons.

You say that Yellow wasn't recognized but then say the other colors printed a "test pattern". What is this "test pattern"? You should only be printing nozzle checks until all cartridges are working. Also, it is my understanding that chiped-cartridge Canon's won't print unless all cartridges are "recognized" and the chip is not marked as empty (or an override has been performed). How did you get it to print if Yellow is not "recognized"?

I may try flushing it as you directed but I'll need find a 5/32 bit. I hope I have one in my dremel set. I really can't rig up a flushing system so I'll just have to wing it and hope for the best. If it doesn't work I will throw in the towel and buy a new yellow cartridge.

The 5/32" is from chubbs directions, IIRC, to work with his silicon plugs. You can drill any sized hole you want if you are using something else to seal the hole.

 

[l_d_allan]

Could be the chip malfunctioned or has been damaged. Doubt the resetter is the problem since the other chips were reset, but anything is possible I guess.

Mostly agree. My experience with a CLI-8 resetter was it reset erratically when the battery was getting low. I thought I had some bad chips on several virgin empty carts because most would reset, but a few wouldn't.

The 2032 battery was down to 2.95v IIRC ... a bit low. I replaced it, and all carts have reset fine since. That includes the ones that were resisting being reset earlier.

The RJetTek page for the resetter did mention it was only good for 100 or so resets. I found that odd as it seemed absurdly low. But now I believe it. Or the battery could have been delivered in a low charge state?