Replacing ball for seal after top filling 225 &226 carts

[pearlhouse]

I just purchased over 40 Canon carts off of Ebay. I’m getting ready to flush out these carts 225s & 226s OEM virgin never refilled carts. I’ve looked at the various ways you guys and gals have been flushing them, and I believe pushing water in the ink exit port is the way to go as long as you have a hole on the reservoir side for the dirty water to exit. I have been a German refiller for sometime now and probably will continue on this way. I am also looking at flushing these carts out thru the hole where the ball is on the top. One way or the other I will need this hole on the top of the reservoir. I did a trial on one of these to try and pull the ball out. First I trimmed the label away in a circle around the ball. Leaving the label surrounding the ball hole will allow for a better seal using alum tape then trying to seal on the plastic surface of the cart. I touched the ball with pointed tip of a hot soldering iron to put a dent in it, and then threaded in a small cup hook. I was able to pull out the ball with a slight pull. I cleaned out the hole with a paper towel rolled up into a point and also cleaned the ball with a little alcohol. I refilled the cart through this hole and used a scale to weigh it so I would know when it was almost full. I had the orange clip on the bottom exit port. As a test I just pushed the ball back in and it sort of popped in place giving me the feel it was in very securely. I then inverted the cart to see if it would leak. I even took off the orange clip on the exit port. I let it sit for a couple of hours and found no leakage at all.

So now I’m wondering has any one tried sealing their top fills by just popping the ball back in and maybe sealing the top with alum tape??? Seems to be a pretty simple method for top filling. I guess I’m wondering how many times this ball could be removed and replaced before “maybe” it would start to leak. Seems once you can establish you got a good reseal you should be able to keep doing this, on and on…..

Next question is when this ball popped back in, it of sort felt like it locked itself in. Has anyone done an exploratory section of this hole to see what the actual shape is. I’ve read when putting a tapered flush plug in to use this hole rather than drill a hole next to it because the material where the ball seat is, is a little thicker which gives more area for the plug to seal on. But the way this ball popped in, I’m thinking this hole has a concaved side wall which let the ball lock it self in place. So maybe a tapered plug in this hole really has no advantage as far as surface area goes for the seal.

Right now I’m considering just pulling the balls so I can flush the carts and then replace them just this once. Then drill a hole on the side and refill by the German method. Then checking the ball to make sure it is not leaking before I cover it with alum tape as a final security measure. So whats your thoughts on this subject?????

 

[Tudor]

As long as you put Al foil on it, you can put anything in the hole, the foil will seal it airtight. I did an experiment where I only sealed the hole with Al tape and used the cartridge. No leak whatsoever, but... it is just a foil, I felt more relaxed whit a plug+foil. The ball+foil should work ok.

 

[pearlhouse]

As long as you put Al foil on it, you can put anything in the hole, the foil will seal it airtight. I did an experiment where I only sealed the hole with Al tape and used the cartridge. No leak whatsoever, but... it is just a foil, I felt more relaxed whit a plug+foil. The ball+foil should work ok.

What if I just use the ball and no foil. I was considering the foil as a backup that I may or may not use. Near as I can tell the ball sealed up the hole just like a new oem.

 

[Tudor]

The new OEM has a foil over the ball filled hole. But plugs are inexpensive and Al foil too, why risk it? It's easier to remove a plug than the ball if you'll need to in the future. And if you use the German method you should plug the hole, I wouldn't advise using just Al tape. Or just the reused ball.

I wish I won't have to say "ball" or "hole" in the near future!

 

[pearlhouse]

The new OEM has a foil over the ball filled hole. But plugs are inexpensive and Al foil too, why risk it? It's easier to remove a plug than the ball if you'll need to in the future. And if you use the German method you should plug the hole, I wouldn't advise using just Al tape. Or just the reused ball.

I wish I won't have to say "ball" or "hole" in the near future!

yuk yuk yur right I need to come up with some new terminology. I don't want to get sensored.

 

[pearlhouse]

yuk yuk yur right I need to come up with some new terminology. I don't want to get sensored.

So I guess you are saying the seal label or foil over the area that has the round pressed in object is actually the seal and the round object is just a filler to help support the foil, label, seal ????

 

[barfl2]

You removed refilled and replaced the ball with no leaks so you have answered your own question. Surely the ball is a precision made to fit the case and the label is additional seal. I use this method sometimes and like it because there is no headroom problems like there can be with some of the plugs. I do add a thin piece of tape for back-up but probably not necessary. And of course it makes it perfect for purging a cart. I carefully use a .5mm drill to just start the hole and then use the small screw eye to pull it out.

 

[pearlhouse]

You removed refilled and replaced the ball with no leaks so you have answered your own question. Surely the ball is a precision made to fit the case and the label is additional seal. I use this method sometimes and like it because there is no headroom problems like there can be with some of the plugs. I do add a thin piece of tape for back-up but probably not necessary. And of course it makes it perfect for purging a cart. I carefully use a .5mm drill to just start the hole and then use the small screw eye to pull it out.

I guess I was trying to verify if I just got lucky or is this a reasonable approach to try without getting into much trouble. That ball just sort of snaps in place like it was locating in a socket.

 

[mikling]

You removed refilled and replaced the ball with no leaks so you have answered your own question. Surely the ball is a precision made to fit the case and the label is additional seal. I use this method sometimes and like it because there is no headroom problems like there can be with some of the plugs. I do add a thin piece of tape for back-up but probably not necessary. And of course it makes it perfect for purging a cart. I carefully use a .5mm drill to just start the hole and then use the small screw eye to pull it out.

Actually the ball is not as precise as you might think. After cutting through thousands of labels, you begin to see that ink goes past the ball on a lot of cartridges and it i the label that is the real reliable seal.

As for a reason for removing the ball. Here is my video on using the ball tunnel for effective flushing.

http://youtu.be/KwHt8uB2UEQ

 

[Methodical]

Actually the ball is not as precise as you might think. After cutting through thousands of labels, you begin to see that ink goes past the ball on a lot of cartridges and it i the label that is the real reliable seal.

As for a reason for removing the ball. Here is my video on using the ball tunnel for effective flushing.

http://youtu.be/KwHt8uB2UEQ

I agree with Mike. I have seen this with every Canon CLI-42 cart so far when I removed the ball. I thought "how is this sealed" and as Mike stated it's the label that's doing the sealing.