Another Canon ploy to stop refilling

[dougsewell]

Hi all
Anyone bought a PGi-5BK recently as I have done and found the usual clear ink tank area to be made from a dense black plastic with no way of checking contents.
Is this another method to deter us folks from refilling . It is certainly difficult using the German method as it firstly impossible to track the needle to the small entry hole to the ink tank. This can be done but again only by trial and error and relying on past experience of needle penetration to check entry into the tank area. Refilling using the method whereby a small airspace is left in the top corner during refilling is also impossible to carry out.
My method involves turning the cartridge the correct way up with the exit sponge facing down as it would in the printer, then withdrawing the plunger of an empty syringe to take out as much of the ink as possible. It is then a relatively simple matter to refill by quantity only so avoiding the feed problems that would result from overfilling. Anyone any other ideas? 22ml seems to be the start quantity but could result in overfill. Too much underfill will result in head burn out if resetters are used. There is no other way to check levels without using a resetter as I see it.
Doug

 

[Manuchau]

Sounds like what you purchased is a compatible, NOT a genuine Canon cartridge. As far as I know, Canon only makes the PGI-5 with clear plastic. There are other compatibles that are made of clear plastic, and most will be re-settable. A better solution might be to find some empty genuine Canon cartridges that you can refill easily and store. These can be found on eBay or perhaps through friends or a local store. I have a recycling bin for empties where people can drop off their used carts. I save the certain used ones for customers, and the rest goes to a recycling plant.
If you are into recycling, your local school or library will often let you set up a recycling bin for cartridges as a community service.

You get the empties that you require, the other empties don't go into your local landfills, and often the empties can be sold and the profits can go to a local school or charity....everybody wins.

Best of luck!!

 

[dougsewell]

Thanks for the usefull advice. The cartridge however came straight from the box of an ip3500 which I bought a few months ago as a backup for my first ip3500. It is wrapped in the original canon paper and had all the genuine canon seals and labels. Is this just one that has escaped any quality check?. It is certainly not a compatable. Mystery eh??
Doug

 

[pharmacist]

Just show as a picture: use the upload function, so we can give it a view of this particular cartridge.

 

[mikling]

No panic needed.

Indeed it is more difficult to see but there is still a window. My guess is that they wish to make the public beleive that there is a lot more happening behind the blacked out area. i.e difficult to refill.

Oh yeah the marketing guys will spin this that this blocks UV.

The above is off a PGI-220 which BTW uses very very different pigment ink from the PGI-5 BCI-3eBK. So be informed.

 

[dougsewell]

Two images attached to show the cart to be a genuine canon. One pic taken with a strong backlight showing no indication of ink level even though I have just done a 250 A4 print run of text. Canon ink level monitor shows cart half full (or empty)
Doug

 

[mikling]

The PGI-5 BK is also a pigment ink and light will have hard time getting through. Let's see what happens when it is empty. My PGI-220 also looked opaques as well before it was emptied.

 

[DomtheMon]

Right I am worried now.... I have recently changed to an ip4600 as the ip4500 died beyond repair. I have now sourced two new ip4500 which was no mean feat (I am in the UK).

However my concern is the statement above that the ip4600 pigment ink is different?

I have only seen retailers selling 'Canon pigment ink' with no differentiation between models, so naturally I have refilled with my pigment ink tank existing stock of this ink. I see that the PGi520 is compatible with the PGi220 mentioned above? So am I using the wrong ink???

Any advice and help would be very much appreciated. My current Canon pigment ink is sourced from www.phenixdirectuk.co.uk.

 

[mikling]

The new ink has distinctly different properties and it is easy to tell by by looking at the surface tension of the ink on the tank. Better or worse I can't tell.
It is always best to emulate the OEM ink. Can I run my diesel motor with oil spec'd for gasoline motors? Yes. Are there long term issues? Yes. Is this the same for the printhead? I don't know. But is it better to use a proper compatible ink? I think you know the answer.

 

[DomtheMon]

Ok thanks....So can anyone suggest where I can source the correct ink from (bearing in mind I am UK based)?