Top filling mod for 3800 & 3880 refillable carts.

[irvweiner]

Joe, you were not beaten!!! YOU opened the the doors!!

Congrats irv weiner


My ink level was ~1/4 in above min.

 

[jtoolman]

I was corresponding with him about my idea and he took the 1st step before I could get my new set of carts.
Seems to be working great.

Thank you for the cart volume hint. I will never let it drop below 50%.

 

[jtoolman]

Well, after seeing photos and corresponding with another person who converted his 3800 to top fill copying my suggested method, I went ahead and proceeded to modify a set of carts on one of my 3800s.
Holes were 5/32" and carts wereheld in a jig at 45 degrees to the drill.
White round top plugs were used to seal the new hole. All fit tightly.
After thoroughly checking for any post modification problems I printed a couple of 8 color purge bar charts followed by a perfect nozzle check, then I sent it a 13 x19 image job x 3 to check whether ink flow had be affected. Not a problem. Then did another nozzle check and that was 100%

So unless the whole thing blows up on me tomorrow, I think this worked out very nicely.

The other person already has gone through half of his full carts and has refilled in situ. Turning off and on the printer resets everything without having to pop off the carts.

 

[rodbam]

Well done Joe, this will make life a lot easier for the owners of these printers.

 

[plew]

Is this mod still working well?

 

[W. Fisher]

I got a question on the air pump and the refillable carts.

If the OEM ink cart uses the air pump to supply air to crush the bladder bag to get ink into the lines, wouldn't the air being used without the bladder (as in the refill carts) cause an issue if it operates like a garden sprayer? In other words, wouldn't the air mixing with the ink cause the ink to congeal and dry out a bit maybe leading to clogged heads, verses the bladder OEM approach?

W. FIsher

 

[The Hat]

@W. Fisher, I don’t use these OEM cartridges, but do use ones that are very similar, and I can tell you that no air is pumped into theses cartridge whatsoever.
The plastic bladder bag remain sealed and completely air tight, and the ink remains fresh as new..

 

[mikling]

I got a question on the air pump and the refillable carts.

If the OEM ink cart uses the air pump to supply air to crush the bladder bag to get ink into the lines, wouldn't the air being used without the bladder (as in the refill carts) cause an issue if it operates like a garden sprayer? In other words, wouldn't the air mixing with the ink cause the ink to congeal and dry out a bit maybe leading to clogged heads, verses the bladder OEM approach?

W. FIsher

The refillable carts do not have bladder bags. They fully contain ink. The elasticity of air is retained is retained in the refillable carts via semi separated air chambers which ink is not supposed to get into via the use of flapper check valves. Unlike the OEM carts which have a bladder and which totally isolates the pump from the ink, the refillable carts do not have a physical separating barrier. Is this a bad thing?, well it is not the best but it works and works for thousands and thousands of folks. Is it failproof? No. but on a practical basis, it works and rather well. Refilling the OEM is also a possibility but it is much more involved.

 

[jtoolman]

Is this mod still working well?

Yes. Not a problem!

 

[jtoolman]

@W. Fisher, I don’t use these OEM cartridges, but do use ones that are very similar, and I can tell you that no air is pumped into theses cartridge whatsoever.
The plastic bladder bag remain sealed and completely air tight, and the ink remains fresh as new..

Which is why I stick with modified OEM carts if at all possible.
One of my PRO 3800s is running on refillables that I drilled and plugged for top filling while still in the printer. They are from inkjetfly and read FULL all the time so there really is no need to ever remove them for resetting and refilling.
Joe