Basic Question for BCI-6 and similar carts...

[turbguy]

For weeks, I have wondered by what path does air enter the ink reservoir on the BCI series of carts as the ink is used. I know that there are some vertical grooves that run up the side of the separating "wall" between the ink reservoir and the sponge reservoir, but they seem to terminate partway up the wall (about where the sponge "changes" in OEM carts). If all of the sponge is totally saturated, the slight vacuum generated could interferre with the ink flow to the outlet port, no?

Anybody have a response??

Wayne

 

[ghwellsjr]

That's why OEM cartridges have a two-piece sponge, the upper sponge material does not readily absorb ink but freely lets the air flow to the top of the groves. Most compatibles cartridges only have a one-piece sponge and do not work as well as OEM catridges.

 

[turbguy]

Then why have a top sponge at all?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Or why don't the groves go all the way up the wall? I don't know. I just know that Canon's original design for cartridges like this was the BCI-3 series and it had a one-piece sponge in it. Then Canon went to the two-sponge design and called it BCI-3e which is still available. Then they came out with the BCI-6 which is physically identical to the BCI-3e. All I can conclude is that Canon's design evolved and if they had known originally that a tall one-piece sponge would not be a good idea, they might have gone with a shorter cartridge with one-piece sponge or something else. It's also possible that simply leaving out the upper sponge may have allowed too much air to get into the reservoir, causing leakage of ink, just like a leak in the plug on the reservoir side.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Here's a post that explains the advantage of the two-sponge design.

 

[nche11]

Or why don't the groves go all the way up the wall? I don't know. I just know that Canon's original design for cartridges like this was the BCI-3 series and it had a one-piece sponge in it. Then Canon went to the two-sponge design and called it BCI-3e which is still available.

The difference between BCI-3 and BCI-3e is not just in the sponges. The ink in BCI-3e is called by canon photo ink while the ink in BCI-3 was called tri-color ink. I do not know for sure if this was just a marketing terminology or what. Canon printers that are supplied with BCI-3e (CMY) ink cartridges were advertised as photo printers.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm basing my comments on the fact that BCI-3 cartridges have not been available for a very long time. I assumed that any printer that used them would have been switched over to the BCI-3e cartridges, but I don't know. Do you know of any printer that specified the BCI-3 cartridges?

 

[nche11]

I seem to recall some BJC series printers that use BCI-3 cartridges. Those printers could use BCI-3 or BCI-3e cartridges. BCI-3e were for printing photos. That's how I think the inks were different between BCI-3 and BCI-3e.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Thanks for the lead on the printer type. I found a manual for the BJC-3000 here. If you look at page 25, it appears that you could put four cartridges in the printer. For plain paper you would use:
BCI-3Bk
BCI-3C
BCI-3M
BCI-3Y

But for photos, you would use:
BCI-3PBk
BCI-3PC
BCI-3PM
BCI-3Y

The BCI-3Bk is a wider pigment black cartridge. The BCI-3PBk is the narrow dye black cartridge.
The BCI-PC and BCI-PM are lighter versions of the BCI-C and BCI-M.

This is Canon's current webpage for purchasing ink cartridges for the BJC-3000 printer and they are all of the BCI-3e type. There is no mention of the original BCI-3 type ink cartridges.