A Much Different Approach for Refilling the 551 Carts.

[The Hat]

Most of the instructions below wouldnt be necessary if I had bought another set of XL cartridges
instead of the set-up ones that came with the printer. (Cheapskate)

I did in fact buy two sets of compatible cartridges so I could mess around with the OEMs,
and what I did learn from the manufacture is and I quote
"there are no plans for the foreseeable future to make any ARCs for these new cartridges, "
So that is not good news at all.

What I set out to do was to remove a section from the top of the cart top over the unused area of these set-up OEM carts.

I peeled the label back and made a cross cut of about 2 mm on the cart top beside the refill ball,
this section on the top is made of almost clear see through plastic.

Then I made the second cut just under the clear piece of plastic again 2 mm deep till it met the cross cut on the top.

The next step was to drill a 6 mm hole into the dividing wall between the two compartments as close to the top as I could
and I then moved the drill bit downwards till Id got to the bottom,
I used the side of the drill bit to cut away the plastic wall and not the tip of the bit.

I then cleaned up the edges of the inside wall with a hobby knife and then used a small pliers
to nip out the remaining pieces of the wall that still remained beside the now clearly exposed prism.

All I had to do then was to glue the top section back onto the cart using (Araldite),
there is a clear piece of plastic running from the bottom to the top at the very back of the cart,
and its used to help transmit the red LED on the underside of the cart which has to be sealed also.

I put a good amount of adhesive on this plastic section as well as the sides of the cart and then put this piece back into position on top again.

I left the cart to dry over-night in an upside down position slightly tilted
favouring the back of the cart to keep the adhesive around the clear plastic piece where the hole was.

Next day I taped over the air maze and pulled out the refill ball but decided to refill the cart using ink instead of water,
messy I know but it helps to concentrate the eyes that bit better while watching out for leakage.

Refilling was very easy because I could see the ink inside through the clear plastic top;
I then put the refill ball back into its hole and covered the ball over with a bit of hot wax.

Once the cart was sealed I squeezed the side-walls while tilting the cart from side to side to check for any signs of weakness or leaks,
it turned out that I did in fact have a small leak in one of the side-walls very close to the top.

I mixed up another small amount of Araldite and rubbed it firmly into the crack and then later checked again and it was fine no leaks,
so no matter how much I squeezed the cart now it doesnt lose a drop of ink. (Job done)

I removed the electrical tape from the air maze and cleaned away the small amount of ink that had escaped while I was testing,
I then decided to remove the orange clip from the bottom and blow gently into the air maze
just to make sure it was clear and that the cart leaked a few drops of ink easily from the outlet.

Fig 1. Shows where I made the first cross-cut. Fig 2. Shows the second cut with the top piece removed.

Fig 3. The prism is just visible after the removing the inner partition. Fig 4. This shows the cut in the side wall that sprang a leak.

Fig 5. The finished cart with the colour label crudely taped on. Fig 6. The top piece in position ready for Adhesive.

Fig 7. Shows the Plastic for the LED light and the hole in the back of the cart. Fig 8. Is the same as Fig 3. Just from a different angle showing the prism location.

 

[Lucas28]

A lot of work for getting these carts normal working. You are the best, Hat.

I've been thinking of buying a Canon MG6350, which uses these carts. There is a 40 cashback by Canon for this printer at the moment. But now it appears that the 551 carts are terrible!
Maybe I'd better choose the older MG6250 model, which uses the more convenient 526 carts.
No cashback, but better carts.

 

[The Hat]

If you have that choice then go as fast as you can and get the MG6250,
dont be tempted by the tasty worm on the hook (Cash back), these newer printer are just a money pit.

We all shouldnt be held to ransom just because we like to printout our photos, the set-up cartridges are just that,
they run out very fast and a complete new set of XL cartridges are nearly the same price as the printer.

Bear in mind these newer printers/cartridges are a real pain in the ass especially knowing
there will be no resetter or ARC chips available for a long time.

The MG6250 does use the 525 carts but can also take the 521s so you can have the best of both worlds
with a resetter and the clear cartridges if you so wish.

I only converted the 551 cart over just to see if it could be done and for no other reason
but it might also help to inspire others to make their own attempts at conversion also.

These newer cartridges are going to be around for a long time so theres a real need to get a more reasonable way to refill them
so guys are not forced to keep buying new OEMs all the time..

 

[websnail]

While there's going to be plenty of nifty-stuff folk who like the challenge of attacking these cartridges to convert them, most people are going to want the XL's from the get go. Bottom line I could see a pretty solid market for recycled XL cartridges.

One question to add though Brian... The orange clips on these appear to be different but it's not immediately apparent how solid they are or whether they could be converted to flush clips. Any input on that side of things?

 

[The Hat]

Yes I totally agree that XL cartridges will be much better but how many guys will actually buy two sets of XL cartridges for refilling ?.

The orange clips will work for flushing so long as you dont try to put too much pressure on them,
they are held on good and tight but if you want you can uses the belt and braces approach
by applying a rubber band for triple strength.

I think the orange clips will start to degrade from constant use and will lose their grip eventfully,
but the auld rubber band will come to the rescue.
Come to that I wonder which will last the longest the printer or the orange clips ?

 

[mikling]

The same is happening with the Epson clips on the newer cartridges. The seal is not good for pressure. It distorts when snapped on and does not "seal" like the PGI-9 ones.
These clips appear more for protection of the user when the cartridge is disposed or handled. When it is new, they are vacuum sealed which does the real sealing job.

 

[websnail]

Hmm... so it might appear that an approach like the rubber inner tube (ref) or similar might work to provide the required pressure/seal.

Take your point on the Epson carts as well Mike.

I'll probably get a couple of third party carts to see if the orange clips for those are compatible with the OEM coupling points and, if they are, whether they do a better job of sealing as with the earlier Canons.

 

[The Hat]

I'll probably get a couple of third party carts to see if the orange clips for those are compatible with the OEM coupling points and,
if they are, whether they do a better job of sealing as with the earlier Canons.

The compatible cartridge orange clips will not be suitable for the OEMs, they wont fit, (Smaller)

The compatible 551 cartridge is set to explode onto the market in a big way because of the cost of the OEM XLs
and the Chinese manufactures are also charging more for these cartridges
compared to all of the previous model cartridges for that very reason.

Its quite possible that they will corner the market with their cartridges,
and there are no definite plans for an ARC chip so yes the market is there to be manipulated.

I believe the new Canon chip is designed to fail when it is removed and installed repeatedly,
where as the older chips would not do this and could even be reset indefinitely.

Unless a resetter is going to become available very soon then its either buy XL cartridges continual
or compatibles and fly blind with no ink monitoring till disaster strikes (Dead Print head).

The Chinese chips are only a one time chip so they cant be reset so how can someone
make a resetter if all of the chips on the market are un-resettable ?

A CISS could possibly be the only alternative if someone could get one to fit, that would be some miracle..

 

[websnail]

Well, the good news is basically there's no bad news regarding the chips and their ability to be reset. My contacts are still working the problem and haven't given up yet so it's still a waiting game.

I guess we shall l see what happens...

For what it's worth I can't see the status quo of nobody designing an ARC holding sway.. Someone will almost certainly work on the problem and look to corner the market when they do... Our problem is going to be that the OEM carts are unlikely to be able to use them due to the minimal room such a chip could use.

Interesting times ahead but it's just different day, same old cr*p...

 

[barfl2]

Does this make some of the newer Epson printers a better bet to refill/reset? looking at mikling experiments.