The Hat ReFilling Method Mark ll for PGI-9 Cartridge.

[stratman]

What a tease you are HAT!

At least post a Trailer for the forthcoming epic

No trailers but the full Monty

To the possible dismay of Redbrickman and the definite delight of the rest of us... thank you for keeping your clothes on!

Excellent job, my friend.

 

[Redbrickman]

Well that would be taking the Freedom Refill a bit too far!

Err just to clarify, I meant tease as in the way new movies sometimes issue a "teaser" before the premiere

 

[stratman]

Well that would be taking the Freedom Refill a bit too far!

Err just to clarify, I meant tease as in the way new movies sometimes issue a "teaser" before the premiere

For a moment there I thought you two meant "Freedom Refill" as in "Letting It All Hang Out".

Phew. That's a relief.

 

[alvy]

I was wondering, since ARC chips are auto resetted upon lack of power feed from the printer, I wonder if we can solder a circuit onto the chip, add a battery supply strap to the top of the cartridge with a contact switch to cut the power supply and reset the chip as and when we need regardless of whether the printer is power off or not? I can only see a few contact plates on the chip which means we might just need to figure out which is the +ve and ground poles and add the right voltage supply in parallel to the one from the printer. Of course i might risk damaging the printhead circuit or worst the entire printhead carrier circuit. Or we can add a capacitor type circuit which kicks in when power is out. something in that line. any electronic/electrical guru here to chip in?

 

[The Hat]

I was wondering, since ARC chips are auto resetted upon lack of power feed from the printer, I wonder if we can solder a circuit onto the chip, add a battery supply strap to the top of the cartridge with a contact switch to cut the power supply and reset the chip as and when we need regardless of whether the printer is power off or not? I can only see a few contact plates on the chip which means we might just need to figure out which is the +ve and ground poles and add the right voltage supply in parallel to the one from the printer. Of course i might risk damaging the printhead circuit or worst the entire printhead carrier circuit. Or we can add a capacitor type circuit which kicks in when power is out. something in that line. any electronic/electrical guru here to chip in?

Just leaving your printer switched on will do the same job without the need for rewiring and if youre still worried about power outage
try putting your printer on an UPS circuit which will solve that problem also then youll have the perfect solution.

Another solution I didnt mention is an even easier one, just disable the ink monitoring on the two offend cartridges and youll have the same result.
When using the ARC chips in your printer you have to able to work with them and be flexible on how they operate
they do work great but with that one small exception of resetting otherwise youll have to use the other alternative mentioned above..

 

[jtoolman]

There are ARCs and there are ARCs!

Some as in Epson refillable cartridges with ARCs being sold MUST first reach an EMPTY condition before they will either reset automatically or you must remove and re insert the cartridge when you are in cartridge change mode. Then the printer will assume you put it a new cart and go through the purge cycle. The beauty of some of these chips is that you can also reset them, even when partially depleted with certain resetters. Version six OR V-6 fall in that category
So if you own two full sets of carts, you can switch a complete set whenever one set runs out. One one change rather than every few prints.

The second type of ARC are the ones I am using on the PRO 9500 MKII. These can be reset simply by interrupting power to them. Either turning off the printer, or popping the cart off and back on.

The fear of a power outage is understandable but should not prevent you or cause you to get to to the point of frying the print head. If you have a power outage, the next time power on the printer, you will instantly see that all the carts will show FULL. You should know that is ODD since the last time you looked, ink levels were not full. Immediately swap your cart set for a refilled one. Refill the one you just removed and put it aside till needed. Just by being removed, it will reset as soon as it is reinstalled on the printer.

Some type or ARC will reset only when empty condition is reached. They auto reset or the cart has to be removed and installed.
Another type of ARC will reset after ANY power interruption. Nothing else has to be done.

 

[The Hat]

Heres a little helpful tip for those of you that are using the PGI-9 cartridges.
Always remember to store your new and refilled cartridges upside down till you are ready to use them.

This will keep your cartridges in peak condition and help prevent any particles
adhering to the outlet sponge when not in use..

 

[websnail]

Been reviewing all the Pro9500 threads recently and a few things have cropped up that I suspect others might ask and/or want to clarify so here's a quick run down:

1. Emptying the cartridge of air
I was a bit confused by this at first but I've realised that the cartridge design is such that when the bag is fully deflated it effectively blocks off the internal outlet holes that lead to the outlet port. Somehow this appears sufficient to overcome the power of the spring trying to push the internal metal plate away.

So, am I right in thinking that the bag should remain deflated once all the air has been removed? and if it doesn't this would seem to indicate some kind of damage to the internal bag... Comments, confirmation?


2. Syringe & Scales only?
Using a syringe and scales to determine the correct refilling volume is obviously one way to do things but I'm wondering if it would also be possible to go the SquEasyFill route of "blind" filling until you feel back pressure (and/or see the plate/ink "full indicator" The Hat mentioned earlier), reverse the bottle/cartridge to allow a small amount to be sucked back out and then disconnect the bottle. I'm guessing some experimentation required but I'm curious to see if this could be simplified further...


3. Flushing
This is more for older used cartridges but it seems likely that anything that's sat in storage for a while could benefit from being flushed out with a suitable cleaning/flushing solution to remove any old ink. For those already refilling I'm guessing you just jumped straight in and refilled cartridges that were in use though yes?


One thing that is very interesting though is that these cartridges appear to be wholly dependent on the chip for ink level monitoring unless there's some kind of pressure sensor similar to the HP10/11/88 cartridge printers. But that is a whole other topic...

 

[mikling]

The recommendations for storing is actually opposite to that as per the prior post. The key reason is to prevent any potential of the outlet pad from ever drying out. If the outlet pad dries up then the resin that hardens must be re-dissolved to allow ink to flow freely again. So keeping the outlet pad moist with ink and sealed at all times is a very desireable thing.

The internal spring creates a negative pressure that counteracts the hydrostatic pressue of the ink column inside the cartridge. This as you can see requires a precise spring...one reason ONLY OEM cartridges have this as they can maintain the consistency and precision required of this. The spring always has a tendency to spring back out, so if the cartridge is inverted, and the seal from the orange show is not perfect or is not there, then there is a potential for the spring to pull air through the outlet pad and draw air into the bladder.

This ingestion of air can cause a few things to go wrong when refilling without a scale or not using my method of sqeezing the sides and overfill and then removal of excess ink. If you use a scale, you are always assured of getting the whole cartridge filled when you hit the target weight. Not hitting the target weight and the cartridge not accepting any more ink indicates trapped air internally that must be removed. If you use my dribble method and overfill and sqeeze until only ink comes out with each squeeze, and then remove the excess ink with a suction then you are more likely to be more confident that all air has been removed. The scale still rules as the prime method.

Flushing is not as easy as a sponge cartridge for old dried up pads. The pads are large and the pads needs to be flushed of all dried up ink. So if you get an old cartridge that has a dried up pad, you should ideally clean the pads of the dried up ink solids spread inside the pad. This can be a lot of work if not using a vacuum pump and liquid trap and an appropriate solvent. Hat's extraction method with the clip, tends to focus on cleaning directly under the entry and exit point whereas the corners of the pads need to be flushed as well.

The chip monitoring has been discussed before and there are no optical sensors as that is physically impossible with this cart. Another reason why the carts must be precise as all ink level monitoring hangs on a consistent flow that the printer assumes will be there....this is what the chips rely on.

If you have an empty cart and shake it a bit and it doesn't rattle, then you know that the cart needs to be flushed out well. The ink internally has become too viscous to allow the steel balls to move freely. Work lies ahead.

 

[The Hat]

websnail

1. Emptying the cartridge of air

The only time there is a need to deflate the bag inside the cart is just before its refilled
using a syringe attached to the refiller clip, other than that is stays inflated with air when not in use.

The internal bag in my carts sometimes stay completely or partially deflated or not at all,
it really doesnt mean anything because the more you refill the more flexible the bag gets I think anyway.

If there is a split a tear or hole in this bag then ink leaks out all over the place instantly
because the outer plastic casing of this cartridge is not air tight.

2. Syringe & Scales only?

A scales is not necessary to refill these carts, there are just two easy steps to refilling and both can be done blind.
I still would recommend the use of scales just to be on the safe side.

1 Use a syringe filled with 15 to 20 ml of ink attached to your refiller clip (Cartridge held above) and pull back on the plunger
till you can see the bag inside completely deflate then hold it with the cartridge on bottom and press down on the plunger
till the bag re inflates and you can see some ink just appear on the outside of the metal plate,
now the cartridge is completely full of ink.

2 Using a SquEasy bottle while holding the cart in an upside position, squirt a continuous flow of ink from the bottle onto the inlet pads
while occasionally squeezing the cartridge sides to expel all of the internal air.

Keep squirting ink till the outlet pads are full and there is a pool of ink on top of them, now the cart is over full.
If you squeeze your refill bottle while holding it upright to expel some air out of it

then stick the bottle needle into the cartridges outlet and release your grip on the bottle then the excess ink
will be drawn back into the refill bottle again also give the cartridge an extra squeeze or two
to check that all of the air has being expelled, now the cartridge is full.

This second method is very long winded and slow and should only be used to top up a cartridge 1 or 2 ml.
if you have to completely fill a half dozen carts this way it take an awful long time.

If you want to use a scales then the total weight of the full cartridge should not exceed 34 gm. in
total for any of the colours and this weight is also to include the orange clip.

One further note here is to always reseal the cartridge airtight straight after refilling
by using the OEM orange clips this will prevent the outlet sponge drying out.

3 Flushing

As there is nothing inside these cartridges to dry up there really isnt a need to flush them at all when new.

But if you get a supply of empty carts from an unknown source then a quick rinse in a bowl of water should be sufficient,
just squeeze the cartridge sides while its submerged in the water and then leave it in the bowl for five minutes
this will allow the water to refresh the outlet sponge then suck out any remaining water with a syringe and the job done.

4 Ink level monitoring

Because there is no light sensor prism inside these cartridges the printer relays solely on correct information
received from the cartridge chip to measure ink usage so all you refillers please note.

When the cartridge has the low ink warning showing is imperative to change the cartridge as soon as possible
DONT wait till its showing completely empty, please play it safe this advise only applies to a refilled cart.

Foot note

As these cartridges are very pressure sensitive it is vital to RESET the chip before you refill
otherwise youll leave a trail of ink all over the place, Trust me is will happen if you dont.

The PGI-9 cartridge is probably the easiest and simplest cartridge to refill ever so dont be fooled
into using any compatibles for your printer no matter how cheap youre offered them or even get them for free.

The inside of these cartridges are so simple and yet so very complex that no other compatible
cart can even come close to delivering the same ink flow as the OEMs can.

If you have a chance to get a printer that uses these cartridges then jump at it
because printing couldnt get any easier or cheaper especially now that a new resetter is on the way for all ten cartridges.

Lastly but a very obvious note, only buy the best inks for your printer from an known supplier that sell quality pigment inks
or just use OEM ink and dont be fooled by anyone no matter who they are or what they say into believing them
that a CISS will work better and cheaper than any refilling does, if you hear that then dont walk, RUN away..

As these are only my observations and recommendations anybody can disagree with them if they want too (They do) and add their own
comments and suggestions which would be very welcomed because the more information
we get the better it will help all of us, so how about it guys..