Refilling BCI 6Y,s

[Danny Kiwi]

Firstly may I congratulate you on your excellent Forum and best wishes from down here in Lil Oll New Zealand(New Zealand is a Group of Islands 1200 Miles South East of Australia),In other words no where near Australia..lol lo..
I am about to embark on refilling my first Cart BCI6Y from my Canon Pixma 5000(which incidentally has the facillity to print directly to C.D down here in N.Z)
I notice there is a small plastic ball inserted into the original fill hole.
Is it not just a case of pushing that ball in ,and filling the Hole with the replacement Ink and then resealing with a simular size Plastic Ball ,or do we have a Vacum Issue here"""
I have a Spare empty Cart so I can reuse the Sealing Plastic Ball in the one I am refilling, as it looks as though it will Push down???
Am I barking up the right Tree, or is there more??
Thanks in Advance and Kia Ora from New Zealand
Danny..

 

[Mark]

Danny:

Your perceptions are correct. The object is to create an opening, refill the tank and reseal. The method of making the opening has more to do with how you intend to reseal it than anything else (and as you can see, we've written tons on that subject on a seperate thread- including screws, glue, tape, etc.). It won't interfere with anything if you shove the ball into the tank. There is no Vacuum issue...just a good seal is required.

Good Luck!

 

[Nifty]

Danny, welcome to the forum.

I echo mark's comments and add that the BCI-6 cartridges are some of the easiest to refill. Posts that you see on this forum regarding vacuum refilling are from those of us who are anal and want to squeeze every bit of life out of our cartridges. You should be able to achieve excellent results by following the basic instructions for refilling these cartridges which, in a nutshell is making a hole, injecting ink, and sealing the hole.

 

[Danny Kiwi]

Thanks so much for all your Help..
Is it possible to use a small Ball Bearing like the one that is in the other ones I have??
I had a Canon Refill Kit once that actually came with a Ball Bearing..and this type of thing is quite cheap..and the one in mine looks the excact same size as a BB???
TX...

 

[Grandad35]

Danny,

Anything that seals the hole will work. This thread (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28&p=1) shows that there is no single "best" solution to sealing the refill hole. A lot of the reason for our individual preferences has to do with the ease of opening and closing the refill hole and the reliability of the seal that we achieve. Ink will drip ink into your printer if the refill hole leaks air, so getting a reliable seal is very important.

To check the reliability of your seal, let each refilled cart sit with the exit port open and the refill port plugged. If ink drips from the exit port for more than a few minutes after the refill port is plugged, you probably have an air leak. After you run this test on the first 10-20 carts that you refill, you will know if your sealing system is reliable. You can then refill with confidence without testing each refilled cart.

 

[Nifty]

To add to what grandad said, a BB / ball bearing may make the seal, but you'd have a very difficult time getting it out. My personal suggestion is to use hot glue, a screw, a screw with o-ring, etc. It's fun to experiment, but if you don't want to re-invent a new wheel I'd go with one of the suggestions in the thread GD mentioned.

 

[Danny Kiwi]

Thanks so much for all your help Guys and best wishes from down here in New Zealand as we celebrate Anzac Weekend (a long weekend with Monday off to Honor the War Dead),simular to your Vetrans Day..and as I type we are experiencing one hell of a Lightening Storm!!lol lol..
I did my first Refill today with a refill kit that i bought from the Local Tandys Type Shop for $5.00 NZ(about $3.50.US) with all three colors in but only having 9Mill each..
I used Blue Tack to seal this one as I read in one of your forums that this can work..
I have printed up about 10 4X6 Glossy Photos and the Colors are perfect..
I realise Blue Tack is not as good as Silicone Sealer and Screws but I thought I would give it ago..
Cheers and Beers from the bottom of the World
Danny..

 

[Nifty]

Danny, one important note about blue tack, sticky tac, etc. Be careful as I used this once and some got into the cartridge when I was removing it for the next refill.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Manuchau]

And...don't forget to seal the bottom of the cartridge when refilling. After re-filling, unseal the bottom, and wait until the dripping stops. Then you're good to go

 

[fotofreek]

For OEM carts, Computer friends has blue soft plastic plugs that seal the hole that originally is sealed by the little ball you pushed into the cart. They don't list them on their web site but I've ordered them by phone. Probably not practical to order them from NZ however. DRC023 posted info in the thread about sealing the carts. He leaves the original seal alone and punches or drills two small holes, one for filling and one to let air escape as the ink goes in, and seals it with duct tape. I know that Nifty had problems sealing the fill hole with duct tape, but perhaps it works for DRC because he makes smaller hole and they may seal more easily than the larger fill hole in the OEM cart.