l_d_allan
Fan of Printing
With a spare, empty Canon OEM CLI-8M cart and highly diluted magenta ink, I played around to try to better understand what is going on.
I purged the CLI-8M, pumped most of the tap water out of it, and let it dry several days. The reservoir side seem almost entirely dry (just a little mist on the side), and I speculate the foam/sponge side was barely damp.
Using the "traditional/open top filling method", and inserting highly diluted ink in the top inlet port with a 20 ml syringe and 18 gauge sharp hypodermic needle, I was only able to get ~ 5 ml of diluted ink into the reservoir side. There was no #1916 rubber'ish plug inserted in the top inlet port , so there was no positive pressure within the cart. There was a tight fitting #1813 outlet cap on the bottom outlet port.
Contrary to my early observations, almost none of the diluted ink wicked to the foam/sponge side. There was little or no drop in level on the reservoir side, even after several minutes. I could just see some faint magenta discoloration at the bottom of the foam/sponge side next to the reservoir
Some explanations:
* Real ink may behave differently that highly diluted ink ... different wicking properties?
* The foam/sponge side may have had more saturation than I thought?
* Poor technique on my part?
* I may have blown out the air maze when pumping and suctioning in the purging tests. I was pushing the 20ml syringe plunger hard enough to blow off the relatevly tight fitting #1916 outlet cap from the bottom. I was also reverse suctioning the syringe plunger pretty hard.
* The air maze / labyrinth serpentine / top vent hole may behave differently that I thought. It seemed like diluted ink was being picked up from the bottom of the cart and making its way to the vent hole. It seemed like there might be some kind of channel from the top to the bottom?
I used the "alternate purging technique", and then tried using the "modified top filling method" with a #1916 rubber'ish plug in the top inlet, By now the cart sponge/foam was in an unknown state of saturation, so I couldn't really tell what was happening. I attempted to pump it to a state of relative semi-dampness, and then set it aside to try for subsequent tests on yet another day.
Comments? I would find it interesting to hear from others on how much ink they really get into a CLI-8 cart when refilling, after the printer has reported "Low" or "Empty".
My speculation is that if I'm only getting ~ 5 ml into the reservoir, I'm doing something wrong. When doing only my second batch of refilling, my less-than-crystal-clear recollection was that I got the reservoir about full, and ink quickly wicked into the sponge/foam side. I think put in another 2 or 3 ml of ink to get the ink level again to almost the top. That still is only 7 to 8 ml or so.
IIRC, the sponge/foam side seemed quite saturated after top-filling. I didn't really pay careful attention to just how full the 20 ml syringe was before and after, but my observation was that quite a bit less than the claimed 13 ml was transferred into the cart. I think I got about 8 ml refilled, maybe.
That would explain that the "Low" and "Empty" popup shows up more often than I would expect. I guess I'm not wasting ink or compromising print quality, but slowing down the print process by refill interruptions.
So how are the "German Refilling Method" experts doing? How much ink are you getting into the CLI-8?
I purged the CLI-8M, pumped most of the tap water out of it, and let it dry several days. The reservoir side seem almost entirely dry (just a little mist on the side), and I speculate the foam/sponge side was barely damp.
Using the "traditional/open top filling method", and inserting highly diluted ink in the top inlet port with a 20 ml syringe and 18 gauge sharp hypodermic needle, I was only able to get ~ 5 ml of diluted ink into the reservoir side. There was no #1916 rubber'ish plug inserted in the top inlet port , so there was no positive pressure within the cart. There was a tight fitting #1813 outlet cap on the bottom outlet port.
Contrary to my early observations, almost none of the diluted ink wicked to the foam/sponge side. There was little or no drop in level on the reservoir side, even after several minutes. I could just see some faint magenta discoloration at the bottom of the foam/sponge side next to the reservoir
Some explanations:
* Real ink may behave differently that highly diluted ink ... different wicking properties?
* The foam/sponge side may have had more saturation than I thought?
* Poor technique on my part?
* I may have blown out the air maze when pumping and suctioning in the purging tests. I was pushing the 20ml syringe plunger hard enough to blow off the relatevly tight fitting #1916 outlet cap from the bottom. I was also reverse suctioning the syringe plunger pretty hard.
* The air maze / labyrinth serpentine / top vent hole may behave differently that I thought. It seemed like diluted ink was being picked up from the bottom of the cart and making its way to the vent hole. It seemed like there might be some kind of channel from the top to the bottom?
I used the "alternate purging technique", and then tried using the "modified top filling method" with a #1916 rubber'ish plug in the top inlet, By now the cart sponge/foam was in an unknown state of saturation, so I couldn't really tell what was happening. I attempted to pump it to a state of relative semi-dampness, and then set it aside to try for subsequent tests on yet another day.
Comments? I would find it interesting to hear from others on how much ink they really get into a CLI-8 cart when refilling, after the printer has reported "Low" or "Empty".
My speculation is that if I'm only getting ~ 5 ml into the reservoir, I'm doing something wrong. When doing only my second batch of refilling, my less-than-crystal-clear recollection was that I got the reservoir about full, and ink quickly wicked into the sponge/foam side. I think put in another 2 or 3 ml of ink to get the ink level again to almost the top. That still is only 7 to 8 ml or so.
IIRC, the sponge/foam side seemed quite saturated after top-filling. I didn't really pay careful attention to just how full the 20 ml syringe was before and after, but my observation was that quite a bit less than the claimed 13 ml was transferred into the cart. I think I got about 8 ml refilled, maybe.
That would explain that the "Low" and "Empty" popup shows up more often than I would expect. I guess I'm not wasting ink or compromising print quality, but slowing down the print process by refill interruptions.
So how are the "German Refilling Method" experts doing? How much ink are you getting into the CLI-8?
