PGI-220BK Cartridge flushing

[Geklingel]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with flushing this cartridge by drilling a hole in the top of the cartride above the sponge opposite the outlet port and then flush the cartridge from the top. It would seem to me that using the refill hole above the ink tank would just force the solution along the bottom of the cartridge and not do a good job of circulating the fluid throughout the sponge. What say you?

 

[stratman]

On the CLI-8 and PGI-5 cartridges, making the hole over the sponge could disrupt the atmospheric vent system. Not worth the risk. Keep the hole over the spongeless side either by removing the ball or moving further towards the side where the tab is located (ie away from the sponged side).

Of course we would welcome your results if you'd like to try it. We will all learn from your efforts.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You don't have to drill a hole, you can use the air vent hole to either force fluid into or drain fluid out of while forcing fluid into the outlet port.

 

[Geklingel]

OK here goes...

Here is the result of my experiment with drilling a hole above the sponge of a pigment black refillable cartridge that is compatible with Canons IP4700 which uses a PGI-220BK cartridge.

A little background I refill my cartridges through a hole drilled in the top of the ink tank and sealed with a setscrew.
First I drilled a 5/32 hole about 1/4from the wall that separates the ink tank from the sponge. Then I removed the ink tank setscrew, refilled the ink tank with clear water and let it run out the outlet port to clear the tank and replaced the setscrew.

Next order of business was to protect the chips and circuitry so I cut down a 2 x3 re-sealable plastic bag to fit over the chip end of the cartridge and sealed it using a small rubber band and scotch tape. These bags are available in various sizes at craft stores, Wal-Mart in the craft dept or you might ask your local cocaine dealer for a couple of empty bags the next time you see him/her. I covered the chips whenever I flushed the cartridge to minimize water getting on the chips but removed the bag the rest of the time to keep condensation in the bag from getting to the circuitry. I guess this step might be skipped if youre real careful and keep the water away from the chips.

Using the new hole over the ink tank I used a 35ml syringe to flush the sponge. First I flushed with tap water until it came out clear then I followed that with distilled water. Next I used the empty syringe, and then my mouth to blow the excess water from the sponge. (See, all those trumpet lessons werent a complete waste of time). Well call this the flush/blow step from now on.

Next, with the outlet port sealed I filled the cartridge through the new hole with a cleaning solution similar to Nifty-Stuff.com Pharmacist's cartridge flush/conditioning solution recipe made up of
1 ml glycerin (cant seem to find Propylene Glycol anywhere)
10 ml 70% Isopropyl Alcohol
2 ml clear ammonia
37 ml distilled water
And let it sit for 18 hours. Then I performed the flush/blow step.

I experimented with a few cleaning items we had on hand by putting them on some dried pigment ink on a piece of paper and found that Windex and Woolite seemed to loosen some of the ink so I made another solution as follows;
2 ml Woolite
10ml Windex
10 ml 70% Isopropyl Alcohol
5 ml clear ammonia
25 ml distilled water

And with the output port sealed I filled the cartridge with this solution through the new hole and let it sit another 18 hours and then performed the flush/blow step. Keep repeating this flush/blow step until no more suds appear from the outlet port. This solution came out grey indicating that it removed more of the ink.

Next I removed the setscrew over the ink tank and filled the cartridge to overflowing with the following reconditioning solution and let that sit for 24 hours.

1 ml glycerin
10 ml 70% Isopropyl Alcohol
50 ml distilled water

After 24 Hours I performed the flush/blow step with distilled water. Then to wick away more water I put a button battery under a folded paper towel and sat the cartridge on the paper towel with the button battery underneath the outlet port to keep the towel in contact with the sponge. Once all the water had wicked out of the cartridge I put the clip on the cartridge, closed the hole over the sponge with a setscrew and refilled the cartridge with 17ml of ink (which filled the tank to about full) and replaced the setscrew over the ink tank. I always remove the clip and with the outlet port over the ink bottle I squeeze the sponge side of the cartridge until 2 or 3 drops of ink exit the cartridge.

I put the cartridge in the printer ran a cleaning cycle and did some printing. Worked great.
When I was done I refilled the cartridge and it took 9ml of ink.

My printer seems to print pretty well using the standard quality setting when the cartridge has just been refilled but I have to keep a strict eye on it as it seems to get ink starved at certain places on every page after a while. Switching to fine seems to solve the problem but on some occasions when the printing skips badly and the cartridge is not empty I think an air bubble in the cartridge is the problem so I pull the cartridge and put a 1 drop of alcohol in the outlet port and 1 drop on the print head screen and that usually fixes it. Sometimes I need to run a cleaning cycle after adding the alcohol.

Anyway, the new hole doesnt seem to hinder the cartridges ability to dispense ink in any way and it was a lot more efficient than using the ink tank hole.

If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them.

DW
(not the NASCAR driver)