A German refill problem ?

[joseph1949]

To: MP640

For the record: I use twoCanon PIXMA MX870 printers.

MP640, it is all a manner of degreeno bun intended. When I look at the carts in my printers the fill hole is indeed in the up position by a few degrees. This helps to move the ink from the reservoir to the pad/sponge areas. Now mind that this has nothing to do with refilling. Canon does not want you to refill. Canon, if it could get away with it, would like to place the carts upside down in the printhead.

MP640, if you want to fill your carts in the up position by just a few degrees (a la the position in the printhead) you have my permission. I would think you will need a third hand clamp to keep the carts in such a tightly restrained position for any length of time.

When I was having overfilling problems I filled the carts at a 45 degree angle (with the top fill hole in the up position). The reason for the steep angle was to get as much ink in the cart as possible. Because of the steep angle the ink escaped from the air maze and a few drops of ink escaped from the ink outlet. When this happened I cleaned the ink from the air maze via tissue and waited for no more ink to escape from the outlet. I then waited for a few minutes for the cart to stabilize and I then placed the cart into the printhead. I did not run a nozzle test until the next morning. You can run a nozzle test immediately if you wish. But do me a favordo not perform a flushing on the printhead if you get a bad nozzle test. I suggest that you wait. Waiting will cost you nothing and you will have better resultsin my opinion!!!!

In conclusion, MP640, you can fill the cart in the dead level, horizontal position, in the down position by a few degrees, and in the up position by a few degrees. Just do not fill the carts in any extreme positionup or down.

Note: any extreme position means by more than 10 degreesup or down.

For me I will fill my carts in the dead level positionmore or less.

I hope this has helped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

To: MP640
the ink escaped from the air maze

This won't happen if you fill the ink chamber 1/4 full, then seal the vent (i.e., maize) with tape. The last step is to remove the tape after you have sealed the fill hole.

 

[PeterBJ]

Hi joseph1949

There are (at least) two different ways a top fill can be done, with and without sealing the vent.

Check this thread: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6264&p=1 and notice the The Hat's method in post #1 without sealing the vent and only filling the ink reservoir to 75%. Notice mikling's method in post #4 with sealing the vent and topping up the cartridge. Also see The Hat's comments in post #12.

The reason it is necessary to use one of these methods to avoid overfilling the sponge chamber and possibly the vent, is that capillary action makes the ink rise higher in the sponge chamber with the vent open than in the ink chamber which is open during refill.

 

[MP640]

To: MP640

[deleted]

I hope this has helped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

Yes it does. Thank you, sir.

 

[PeterBJ]

I refill the PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges using squeeze bottles and 2" 21g sharp needles. My refill method is essentially the one described by pharmacist, or so I thought: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=26249#p26249 , the only change is that you need hold the cartridges at a different angle when injecting ink using squeeze bottles. If vertical is 12 o'clock, then I hold the cartridges with the refill hole at 2 o'clock position. A syringe works equally well independent of orientation, a squeeze bottle doesn't.

After re-reading the instructions I noticed a couple of things I had forgotten. There is some important info in the text between the photos. Italics are mine:

Towards the following picture I forgot to tell: if you experience any resistance when inserting the needle, do not force the needle with brute force into it. It is advisable to make drilling/rotating movements to overcome the resistance and to pierce through the sponge material. With sharp needles the chances of unexpected resistance is considerably lower. Forcing the needle with force -when you do experience resistance- can cause the sponge be pressed together, which will make your cartridge useless.

There is a risk of deforming the sponge, so be gentle and patient when inserting the needle. These cartridges might be less robust than the older transparent cartridges. Grandad35 also mentioned this risk: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59269#p59269

The refilling for the smaller CLI-221/521/821 cartridges are similar to the PGI-220/520/820 cartridge, but the dye ink will be easier to see if the ink compartment is full. Take care not to refill too fast or you may force the ink resident inside the sponge to migrate towards the breathing hole, causing ink to drip out from the top of the cartridge.

Again, be gentle, nice and easy does it. Take a look at pharmacist's cartridges in the last picture. They are perfectly refilled, and apart from a small hole the look exactly like new cartridges. The reservoir is filled 100% and there is no ink on top of the sponges or in the vent.

Also see these instructions from Precisioncolors: http://www.precisioncolors.com/Canon german Method.pdf .

I think that the sealing of the vent might also reduce the risk of ink getting into the vent. And the slightly higher position of the refill hole might help prevent the lower sponge being separated from the outlet filter. I tried refilling a couple of flushed and dried CLI-520 cartridges with the vent sealed and going slowly. The cartridges refilled beautifully and were normal weight after refill, with no ink in the vent. The adding of a piece of tape to seal the vent was my only deviation from pharmacist's method. I still used the resting period to fill the sponges and the second fill of the ink chamber. Maybe the flushing and drying of the cartridges and slow injection of ink is what matters, I cannot tell if the sealing of the vent made a difference.

I hope this helps solve at least some of the problems with the newer cartridges and the German refill method.