Canon CLI refilling experiences?

[Tin Ho]

There isn't anything to get around it. You will get low ink warning all the time until it tells you to press and hold the resume button for 5 seconds. After that the printer works just like any unchipped printer. There will be no more ink level status available on the printer status window. But think about it, you refilling the tanks. The ink level is never accurate for that reason anyway.

The only real difference chipped cartridges make is that there are no 3rd party compatible prefilled cartridges any more. You can only use chipped OEM carts for refilling. There is some postive to this. You won't run into bad quality 3rd party carts any more. This actually saves your print head. You will need to buy 3rd party ink still. Good quality 3rd party ink is widely available now.

 

[websnail]

There isn't anything to get around it. You will get low ink warning all the time until it tells you to press and hold the resume button for 5 seconds. After that the printer works just like any unchipped printer. There will be no more ink level status available on the printer status window. But think about it, you refilling the tanks. The ink level is never accurate for that reason anyway.

Unfotunately there may be more to the chips than we thought.

I thought it was just an "odd" issue but one of the first people to create a custom CIS has hit some kind of time limit on the cart chips.. I've learned the hard way that there's no way to confirm this sort of thing properly and it's more a waiting game but given that HP printer carts have an expiry system and Canon learned a lot from the preceding chip tech I'm wondering if there's something similar at work here... Time will tell.

The only real difference chipped cartridges make is that there are no 3rd party compatible prefilled cartridges any more. You can only use chipped OEM carts for refilling. There is some postive to this. You won't run into bad quality 3rd party carts any more. This actually saves your print head. You will need to buy 3rd party ink still. Good quality 3rd party ink is widely available now.

Would be nice if that were true but in truth there's still plenty of cr*p 3rd party ink out there (just check how people find the eBay inks) and there's also a few new carts showing up that need the chips tranferring to generic carts filled with 3rd party ink... So really all that's changed is that it's raised the technical skill level a little and forced people to be a little more careful.

3rd party cart manufacturs who provide simple one stop changeovers are seriously hurting though like you said.

 

[Nifty]

Looks like I need to start a new business for refurbishing the old non-chipped Canon modles. Now I can justify storing these three i560's in my garage!

 

[davidw89]

Doubt it..people are telling me its the new generation and very hard to crack. Maybe one year?

 

[Defcon2k]

Hi, I have some good experiences with a refilling technique which is quite popular in Germany (thanks to Ritchman, gurl and others). It's called something like "piercing method"(?) or "Ritchman method" over here, and I like it because it's very easy and safe.

1. Make a hole in the front side of the cartrige (can be left open afterwards and reused)
2. Pierce a long (7 cm) needle through the "sponge" (Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3)
3. Fill the ink reserve chamber, let the sponge absorb ink till it's full, and fill the chamber again nearly completly

-> video


Edit:
This is how it looks when I refill a complete set of carts. The procedure takes about 7 minutes.

 

[fotofreek]

Very interesting technique, Defcon! I noticed that there was not a drop of ink on your fingers or the paper over which you did the refilling. Very neat! How do you seal the hole after you refill?

 

[Defcon2k]

Not at all, the hole can stay open. If the tank chamber is sealed air-tight, there will be no ink coming out of the refill hole (the sponge will seal the hole) or out of the normal ink outlet on the bottom of the cartridge. If the tank chamber is not sealed air-tight, there will be ink dripping out of both holes.

The question is: how often can you pierce a needle through the sponge before the sponge deteriorates and won't hold the ink anymore? I can't tell because my iP5200 is quite new and the video shows my very first refill attempt*. But ppl who are more experienced than me said that they refilled the cart 10-20 times or more without problems (perhaps use OEM carts and don't let the sponge become too dry for best results, but you also can use the syringe on it's way out to force some ink into a dry sponge).


/e: Well technically it was the 4th attempt: I refilled C,M and Y before. But it was my first set of ink.
The whole 5-cart-procedure took about 30 minutes and not a single drop of ink left the carts.

 

[fotofreek]

Looks like a very reasonable technique. The technique that most of us use is to create a fill hole at the top of the ink reservoir and use something to seal the hole. I use a stainless steel screw and o-ring. A little more work to set up, but a much faster technique when refilling. Your technique may actually be better from the standpoint that injecting into the sponge may disolve ink that has dried there more readily than refilling into the reservoir area. That may be the reason that you appear to get more refills to the cart before it stops functioning effectively.

 

[Defcon2k]

The technique that most of us use is to create a fill hole at the top of the ink reservoir and use something to seal the hole. I use a stainless steel screw and o-ring.

Yes, I noticed. Most german pages I read said with regards to your technique: Use hot glue or nothing - other sealings may not be air-tight or may react chemically with the ink. It's interesting to see that other people also have good experiences with plastic or stainless steel screws or other things

 

[ocular]

Clever technique, needle may not need to be quite so long as it only needs to get across the sponge chamber into thru the gap between the chambers. Its interesting there is no flow of ink back out the needle when the cartridge is upright during the minute when waiting for the sponge to absorb the ink.

The thinner the gauge the needle is probably relevant.