Canon 220/221 CISS/ CIS DIY HELP

[ac5a]

Hi Currently have 221 and 220 cartridges. They are both refillable and I have a bunch (300 mL) of ink for each color. I was wondering how I would make a CIS/ CISS system for it since the only way I know the ink if empty is when nothing prints. Since of the auto reset chip.
Thanks

 

[The Hat]

ac5a
I was wondering how I would make a CIS/ CISS system for it since the only way I know the ink if empty is when nothing prints. Since of the auto reset chip.

A CISS would only be a necessity if you were printing hundreds of sheets a week;
the better option is using cartridges, there just as good.

If you are using ARC chips then youll need to visually check the cartridges yourself on a daily basis.
I would advise you to just keep refilling your OEM cartridges and also have a spare set ready
when one of your cartridges gets low on ink just change it.
Happy printing..

 

[bwmeyers]

I have been having trouble with the yellow ink clogging the printhead in my Canon MP560, recently. I've been refilling with ink from Computer Friends (quite old) and from The Printer Ink Warehouse. One of the two is causing my printhead to clog within a day; but I'm not sure which.

I bought an OEM yellow cartridge for emergency and for testing; and took all the cartridges out of my printhead, and washed it for about 3 minutes under running warm water. After replacing the head and all cartridges (the OEM yellow), it worked fine, until I tried replacing the new yellow cart with one of the refilled ones. I have two of these and have tried them both. Both of them clog the print head again. The other colors (refilled) haven't shown much problem.

However, the cyan, from Printer Ink Warehouse seems to be off-color somewhat, and I have to finagle alot to get the colors correct with the printer software.

Would someone know or have a good idea which ink is clogging the printhead, or both? And does anyone suggest the best ink available for refilling with accurate color rendition and freedom from clogging the printhead?

I also have an old Canon MP500, which supposedly uses the same inks, according to Printer Ink Warehouse, but not according to Computer Friends, who claim the cyan is slightly different between the two computers. That has appeared to be true, from my experience.

Bob

 

[stratman]

Since a new OEM Canon Yellow cartridge works fine, then the problem seems to point towards an issue with the cartridge(s) used for your aftermarket ink(s). The problem you seem to describe is "ink starvation" where the cartridge does not have proper flow of ink out to the print head. This can be caused by a number of factors. The simplest universal fix for this issue is to either flush the problem cartridge(s) or obtain new cartridges for refilling. See here for numerous methods to flush cartridges.

Respected sources for aftermarket ink for refilling are Precision Colors, Octoinkjet, Hobbicolors, OCP, KMP, R-JetTec and a few others.

There are no guarantees when it comes to clogging. The best way to reduce your risk of a clog is to use your printer often if not daily. Barring this schedule, at least print once a week something that uses all the cartridges, such as a nozzle check. You may even identify a problem early on when you can more easily correct it. The other suggestion is to use known high quality aftermarket inks such as the ones mentioned above. You will find reading this forum that some people have had issues with all the recommended inks, such as Hobbicolors Pigment Black ink, but the consensus seems to be these brands are quality refill inks that reduce risk of problems such as clogging.