Refilling BCI-8 cartridges??

[Xalky]

This is a continuation of a thread that started in the CIS section but has diverted into a refilling discussion.

I've been using miklings method of refilling thru the sponge area which makes sense to me to help keep the old dried or drying ink in solution. But then the discussion diverted into vcuum filling the cartridges without poking new holes into the OEM cartridge.

What exactly are the advantages of vacuum filling? Who's got the easiest neatest and most effective solution to vacuum filling? Let the discussion begin.

Xalky

 

[ghwellsjr]

The advantages of vacuum filling are:

1) No refill hole has to be made.

2) No concern about sealing a refill hole.

3) Many cartridges can be filled at one time.

4) Cartridges that are dead due to pockets of air in the foam are automatically rejuvenated.

5) Cartridges can be filled to the maximum.

The disadvantages are:

1) It's a mess.

2) It wastes some ink.

3) You have to set aside a couple hours because it isn't efficient to fill a small number of cartridges.

4) There is a fair investment of hardware (vacuum pump and bell jar).

I've already pointed out that it isn't neat and I don't know if my process is the easiest or most effective but you can see how I do it at this link:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1426

 

[Xalky]

Your insight into filling from the vent rather than thru the outlet seems spot on. If there is crap on the bottom of the chamber it could get deposited on the wrong side of the filter and wreak havoc on the printhead.

I'd like to try this vacuum filling but first I need more empty bci-8 cartridges with chips. Your method would work well with the chipped cartridges because you can effectively keep the chip out of the ink soup.

I really don't wanna be bothered moving chips over from one cartridge to the next. I'd prefer to just refill oem cartridges with the chips already installed.

Now who's got some used bci-8 chipped cartridges they want to get rid of? OR Whats the best way to get my hands on some spent OEM chipped cartridges?

Xalky

 

[Tin Ho]

How do you get ink into the reserve tank by vacuum? I thought this impossible. Why OEM cartridges all have a fill hole in the first place if you can fill them by vacuum filling?

 

[mikling]

Seems like many don't understand the fundamental principle of vacuum refilling.

check the CIS section for discussion on this.

 

[Tin Ho]

I can never forget how much I disliked my teacher who told me to look up a reference book for a question I asked and he had no answer. If I am not mistaken hpnetserver asked a challenging question. He (or she) had OEM cartridge as an example to support his or her challenge. Your answer is very much like what my teacher used to give when he was cornered by his students.

 

[mikling]

the answer is the latest source of discussion there is you only looked.

 

[fotofreek]

Ii think that the answer to Tin Ho's question is that the factory that fills Canon OEM carts is set up to use a fill hole and ball seal. Individuals who refill these carts can use any technique that works! Most of us either open a new fill hole at the top or we pop the factory ball seal out and refill in the same hole that the factory used. We were recently shown a technique used in Europe in which a small hole was made at the bottom of the narrow wall of the sponge compartment and ink was injected into the sponge until the entire cart was filled. Mikling is advocating vacuum filling. Hey, guys --- whatever works!

 

[Xalky]

I think we should try to run some sort of a survey indicating fill methods, and the amount of refills that particular method provides before the cartridge goes dead.

If we can't do a survey lets at least try and get some anecdotal testimonies as to which method seems to get us the longest life out of our cartridges.

I think this is particularly important to those of us that use the new BCI-8 cartridges because these cartridges aint cheap.

We can use the BCI-6 cartridge experiences for this discussion since they are relatively similar except that One has a chip and the other does not.

I can see see, theoretically, the advantages of filling on the sponge side and/or vacuum filling(which also tends to use the sponge side) over filling thru the tank side but the real world is where its at.
Theory is great, but reality is better.

So lets throw it out here to see what comes out as a clear winner.

Xalky

 

[Tin Ho]

This forum has grown into a big sea of knowledge. I don't always foloww all the threads all the time. If you want to point me to something I would appreciate a link but not just say look for it yourself. Frankly I can't find the question asked by hpnetserver either nor the answer your guys pointed to. I have heard about vacuum fill of ink cartridges with a composite print head on them such as HP and Lexmark ink cartridges. But I have not heard about it for Canin. I am curious too how vaccum works to get ink into a sealed tank with only one opening. If you drill another hole then it makes sense to apply vacuum to one and allow ink to be sucked in from another. Well, this thread is about vacuum filling, isn't it? Why not discuss about it and not point to a sea of knowledge and say it's there, dig in please? Let me get my questions started. Where do you apply vacuum to? Where ink is fed into? Then we can talk about the advantages and disadvantages. Shall we?