Possibly a silly question...

[Token]

Hi
When i first got my printer, and before i obtained any canon empties, i started to use the cartridges that came with my printer. However, now that i have obtained some empties, and refilled them, i dont know what to do with my half used carts (with OEM ink). At the moment, i have put them in a zip lock bag, with their orange caps on, and sealed them in an empty coffee jar (along with a few drops of water). They have been there for a while, and i havent used them since i sourced my empty carts.

Now, shoud i:

a) keep them there
b) use them up, refill them, and put them in my cartridge rotation
c) do something else with them
?

Thanks

 

[pharmacist]

As long you will keep them refilled and full and sealed you won't have a problem for a long time coming. I would suggest to empty your half full OEM cartridges and mix the ink with the Hobbicolors UW8 ink and refill the cartridges again, so to minimise colour shifts. A rotating scheme between these and the cartridges already installed in your printer will be fine.

 

[Token]

i have the 4oz per colour hobbicolours ink.. does that mean you want me to put the canon oem ink into those bottles, or do you want me to just top up the cartridges?

 

[nche11]

I have saved my partially used OEM cartridges for over a year now. I did what you did by saving them in a zip lock bag. I refill and use another set of OEM cartridges with Hobbicolors ink. There have worked really well. I see no differences of colors. I don't feel necessary to keep saving the partially used of OEM cartridges any more. If I don't use them they are getting wasted. I think b is the answer. That's what I will do next.

 

[Smile]

I would remove any ink from cartridges, put (mix) it into "black" ink container. Then purge the cartridges. Refill them. Use them or store in zip lock bag.

 

[Token]

@ smile: what do you mean when you say

put (mix) it into "black" ink container

I only have a pigment black, so i dont want to mix water-soluble dye ink in there, lest i lose the pigment ink's waterfast-ness.

@ nche11: yeah, im also tilting towards b), but im not too sure on the way i should be implementing it

 

[nche11]

I will just take them out of the zip lock bag and begin to use them. I will refill whenever any one of them becomes empty. The old set of cartridges will all be refilled and wait in the pool to be used. After that I will rotate the cartridges on a set basis. I will swap the whole set each time so the printer always start with a set of cartridges full of ink. I am not going to purge the cartridges. That's a lot of ink to waste. Hobbicolors does not recommend such a waste. My printer is an ip4300.

 

[Smile]

@ smile: what do you mean when you say

put (mix) it into "black" ink container

I only have a pigment black, so i dont want to mix water-soluble dye ink in there, lest i lose the pigment ink's waterfast-ness.

@ nche11: yeah, im also tilting towards b), but im not too sure on the way i should be implementing it

If your ink is pigment ink then this will not work for you. But I however do use my waste ink as black ink with great success on ip1200 series printers in CLI-40PG

 

[pharmacist]

Do this: Put the cartridge above the ink bottle and blow into the breathing hole until all the ink escaped the ink outlet and till both the ink compartment and the sponge is near completely dry. Close the ink bottle and give it a light shake to mix the inks. Use this ink to refill the cartridge again: any colour differences between the original Canon ink and your refill ink is levelled down. The next time you are using only your refill ink the differences between this mix and your refill ink is negligible.

Mind the foaming if you blow out the ink.

 

[Token]

Ah, thanks pharmacist and smile for clarifying...

Just curious, but would i be able to use the Durchstich method in reverse to get the ink out? As in, i make the hole, and, instead of filling the cartridge with ink, i just suck out the ink. If i seal the ink outlet with the canon clip, and ensure no air leaks past the needle, wouldn't that cause the air to come in through the air vent, and, in the process, suck the ink out of the sponge? Its just that i'm a bit concerned as to what will happen if i let a bit of saliva enter the cartridge.

If the above method won't work, ill just do pharmacist's method and be extra careful