noob needs advice on getting started refilling with ip4000

[Nifty]

I use the Hobbicolors kits too and I echo what was said about removing the orange cap.
As to the plastic screw, I have my girlfriend put them in and to prevent any chance of ink getting on clothing I have her remove hers first.
Better safe than sorry, eh?

haha... I just had to read that to my wife!

BTW, I got some new cartridges from AcuJet to try out and they have the orange clips on the bottom, but they aren't glued on, they actually snap onto the outlet hole. While not as user friendly as the acrylic clips mentioned above, they are better than the ones that come with the OEM cartridges where you have to use rubber bands to fasten them.

 

[Osage]

I have been a little afraid to use rubber bands---which are fine when new---but rubber bands can deteroriate
over time---so I am trying scotch tape---has anyone else tried scotch tape to keep the factory ink outlet seal on the cartridge?

 

[drc023]

Tape will work fine. Be sure to fold over one end to make removal easier. There are other ways of sealing the outlet port for storage. The other day a new member posted about using a damaged or obsolete printhead. If you have one available it would be great for that purpose. Last summer I posted some pictures of what I called (for lack of a better name) an Ink Refilling Contraption. It works great for storing refilled tanks. I'm also working on a completely different unit at this time. I'll post pictures when it's done.

 

[ghostbear]

Osage , fotofreek ,
Thanks for the heads up on ebay and the link to get to hobbicolors,I'll be ordering a refill kit for the ip4000 and looking forward to getting started.

drc023 ,
Very good post on how the optical sensor works and resets, this together with the easy to understand step by step refilling proceedure is very appreciated for someone who knows nothing.

on30trainman ,
I am looking forward to your posting results with hobbicolors kit and the ip4000 as this is exactly my next step.

My thanks to all for the helpful and friendly information.

ghostbear

 

[Osage]

I posted something about sponge saturation being not quite as advertised in the refill section of this forum.
But I did finally go through the refill process yesterday with the two hobbicolor kits yesterday.

Took me about an hour to refill the nine virgin cartridges in the two kits I ordered---but I was in no hurry and took my time. I did the dirty deed in my double stainless steel sink in my kitchen. In the right sink I placed a pre-read newspaper on the sink bottom, added a few kleenexes for blotting and also rested both the syringe and the opened ink bottle there. In the left section I placed a dixie cup full of water and used that section as my working area. On the kitchen counter I placed the a roll of scotch tape, a screw driver, and the removed hobbicolor screw. I used my bare hands, partly because I did not have any exam gloves and partly because I am an over confident fool.

Actually my first attempt went almost incident free--whatever small spills occured were blotted up easily with kleenex. And that dixie cup with water in it made cleaning the syringe easy as I switched colors. Just three reps of sucking in about 1 cc of water and then injecting it into the drain resulted in the third rep showing almost no ink color when I sucked in the water. Next time I will probably use exam gloves as I did get some ink on my hands----but I am somewhat ham fisted and had no trouble handling the screw for re-insurtion---but don't recommend doing it over a drain where one slip could result in it falling down the drain--which could be a problem if you don't have a spare.

But my dominant next time mental notes center in two areas. (1) The nature of hobbicolor 2 oz. bottles--or for that matter bottles in general---is that any side force can easily tip them. So I am likely
to bore out a wide board with some housing to secure the ink bottle so that a wrong move will not easily tip them over. (2) It would be nice to have some housing to place the cartridge into that also gives me
a visual side view-----thereby leaving me two hands free to manipulate the syringe--which I found
hard to do with one hand and also maintain a slow and steady ink injection. I found the hobbicolor included syringe somewhat prone to a slip stick less than smooth feel to it.

Such a contraption could be really simply or elegantly crafted to permit in mass filling of multiple cartridges for maximum efficency--------as for me I just want two hands free and zero danger of tipping over the ink bottle.---some sort of varnish on the wood might make the contraption easily cleaned or
the user would get a rainbow patina over time depending on user desires--me thinks untreated wood
would really drink up any ink spills.

 

[hpnetserver]

There is another way to fill a new virgin cartridge the first time. Just break off the orange cap before filling with ink the first time. There will be no spill no mess. Just fill it as if you are refilling it. You can seal the ink outlet anyway you want. Or recap it with the orange cap ans use the rubber band method. After filling ink and ink fill hole resealed I always check if ink will drip from the ink oulet. I will squeeze the cartridge to force it to drip a few drops off. This should be the final step for refilling a cartridge.

 

[on30trainman]

Osage,
Your comment about something to keep the open ink bottles from tipping over got me to thinking last night - never good for me to think late at night. I found a small piece (~7") of 2" X 4" in the workshop. This morning I got out a hole saw attachment for my drill press and drilled two 1.5" holes in the wood. The bottles will fit loosely in this size hole and it would be nigh impossible to knock them over. Don't think the type of wood makes any difference. Little ink spattered when I did my first refill two days ago. Heck, a little ink on the board will give it some color. I know when I did the first fill that I was very concerned about knocking an open bottle over. Like you said, the syringe can be somewhat sticky at times when pulling in a load of ink. A slight bump to the lip of the bottle and over it goes. Thanks for the nudge to get me thinking about the problem.

Steve W.

 

[hpnetserver]

Hum... It makes me wonder if I can be lazy on this issue or not. So far no spill yet. But it seems it will happen sooner or later. Better do something about it. A piece of 2x4 wood block with a hole in the middle should do it. Excellent idea , Steve. Here is another idea. Find a small carton box and make a # shaped thing using 4 pieces of carton board. Put the thing in the box and put the bottle in the middle. That should do it too.

 

[drc023]

I like the idea of the drilled 2x4 to hold all the bottles, but the easiest and most readily available way of preventing an ink bottle from tipping over is to set the opened bottle in a flat bottom coffee mug. We've all got them and they work great. Just don't drink any ink if you get it in the mug. <g>

 

[fotofreek]

I did set up a "caddy" for my six squeeze bottles with luer-lock caps and syringe needles by using a hole saw and a piece of 3/4" pine stock (backed up with 1/4" ply to close the bottom of the holes). Convenient to store the ink bottles and bring them to my desk for refilling. I really like these squeeze bottles as they eliminate syringes and minimize cleanup. No spills if they tip over. If anyone wants to order them, be sure to ask for 22 guage needles, not the 18 ga. needles that are the first ones listed on their site, and get longer ones than the 1/2" they usually provide. The link for these bottles is http://heinc.com/kahnetics/squeezebottles.html