Freedom Fill Pump Vs. Syringe Fill

Hello, I compared the two methods of Freedom fill.

I got the adapter from octoinkjet and I was however not satisfied with filling using 50cc syringe and aluminum tape, somehow I was unable to fill it without air. This resulted in bad feeding to the printhead.

See attached photo that shows one cartridge filled with syringe another with pump.
Sure the syinge method doesn't wate any ink, but with pump filling is way better IMHO.

How I filled:


Syringe method:

1. use 15ml of ink
2. use 50cc syringe
3. use adapter for cli-8 from octoinkjet

Pump method:

1. Seal the ink outlet with canon original orange cap with rubber band
2. Place cartridge in vacuum container jar with air maze down
3. fill container with ink
4. pull vacuum then release it
5. take cart from container, squeeze it to for ink from air maze few times
6. take some paper towell to clean it, remove orange cap then absorb any ink until
the ink maze part of cartridge on top is clear
7.put the orange cap back, seal the maze with magic tape, put into storage.

15cc is not enough for a cli-8 and freedom/syringe. Try 20-22 before deciding on which is best and make sure the syringe is facing down when you slowly release the plunger.

Firstly congratulations, now whether your new refill method is a success or not can only be judged
when you have used it a couple of times without incurring any ink flow problems.

The original ghwellsjr Freedom refill method has been tried and tested for for several years now
without any problems reported while using these refilled cartridges.
http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...-canon-bci-3-5-6-cli-8-pgi-5-and-others.5994/

Quite a number of guys (Me included) have tried to copy ghwellsjr successful refill method
with our own crudely constructed contraptions and have had some degree of success with them
but never achieved true reliably, so they just faded away and are now classed as nearly worked.

So here’s to your successful trails with your new refill method and hopefully you’ll report back
here on how the cartridges preformed for you when in use..

Tudor said:

15cc is not enough for a cli-8 and freedom/syringe. Try 20-22 before deciding on which is best and make sure the syringe is facing down when you slowly release the plunger.

Click to expand...

I do not wait for cartridges to be empty. I refill in sets of cartridges. This reduces purge cycles. I purge every 10 refills. However I just tried the 20cc of ink and it's not better because vacuum now is even less.

Yes I let the syringe down, and I listened if theres a leak or something, but there was none.

The Hat said:

Firstly congratulations, now whether your new refill method is a success or not can only be judged
when you have used it a couple of times without incurring any ink flow problems.

So here’s to your successful trails with your new refill method and hopefully you’ll report back
here on how the cartridges preformed for you when in use..

Click to expand...

Vacuum filling using vacuum pump and jar (glass container), was used by me for a long time. I just changed pumps. Now I use inductrial vacuum sealer pump to do the job. It's quiet and fast 10seconds for refill. I need to pull vaccum only once.

Will my Pos-T-Vac work with cartridges?

stratman said:

Will my Pos-T-Vac work with cartridges?

Click to expand...

No definitely not, I’d strongly suggest you keep it for its original intended use,
you never know when you'll need it again..

Maybe Christmas..

ghwellsjr's original freedom refill adapter involves a 90 deg. bend. I have experimented with this method using both bent adapters and straight through adapters like Octoinkjet's flushing adapters. I think the right angle bend is essential, I have had the best results with bent adapters. With a straight through adapter the sponge chamber tends to overfill and the ink chamber does not fill completely.

Link to the freedom refill method here: http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...-canon-bci-3-5-6-cli-8-pgi-5-and-others.5994/

Hmm, filling is done by vacuum not by geometry of the tube, I could use flexible too if I wished, but I doubt that would make it fill better. The more you have ink in 50cc syringe the less vacuum you can create. That is why I filled with half way empty carts. I don't say you can't do it, but it's harder for me to remove the thin aluminum tape from the airmaze, then to fill it my way. And a guaranteed fill every 10 sec. If you have the stuff ready, like orange caps, rubber bands etc. for every color.

That way you wash your stuff later, not wash the same cap and rubber band, container etc. for every refill. You can also fill multiple carts too if you like.

I'm sorry I didn't find this thread sooner. Smile, you are not using the Freedom method correctly. It's hard to know exactly what you are doing wrong, but there are only three possibilities. Either you have a leak, or you are not pumping the air out, or you are letting air flow back in. If there are no leaks, and you pump the air out (it usually takes three or four strokes), and you let only inkflow back in, you will fill the cartridge.

Removing the air requires three or four strokes of the plunger. If you continue, I'm sure you can fill it completely with ink, but that's too much. Air removed from the cartridge will fill the syringe partly. When this happens, you cannot draw as much vacuum on subsequent strokes, so you may have to pause and remove air from the syringe. If you have a leak anywhere, that will also fill the syringe with air.

I think your syringe adapter may not be making a good seal. Also, tape does not make a good seal if the label is still present, and the label itself may be leaking. I use a simple, leak-proof syringe adapter that I made from flexible tubing. If you pull the plunger, the plunger keeps moving, and you can feel the vacuum release after a half minute, that's not good enough. I use Stick-Tac to seal the vent. PeterBJ removes the label and then uses aluminum tape. I think I recall that someone made a silicone plug that worked well. (Note that a silicon plug would never work, as that is a completely different material.)

Remember also that in order to let air escape and ink return to the ink chamber, you must tip the cartridge a different direction for the fill stroke than for the vacuum stroke.

Some ink foams when it emerges from the cartridge. It may take too long for the foam to break up and form liquid again. One way to get around this problem is just to put extra ink in the syringe. I just keep part of the ink in a small bottle, and return the excess to the bottle. I have never had a problem with that.

The method you are using is similar to GHWellsjr's original vacuum method that he used to fill multiple cartridges commercially. If you are happy with it, that's fine, but I suspect you will find it messy and wasteful for just one cartridge. The Freedom method is somewhat less messy.

I have written more about the Freedom fill method here: http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...bci-3-5-6-cli-8-pgi-5-and-others.5994/page-19 . A picture of my adapter is posted on this page: http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...bci-3-5-6-cli-8-pgi-5-and-others.5994/page-15 .

It's all easier than it sounds.