Canon OEM cartridge capacity comparison

[d1hamby]

When I checked the capacities of the cartridges I use for my printers I got:
21ml for PGI-220BK, 10.5ml for CLI-221BK, 25ml for PGI-5BK and 13ml for CLI-8BK
From this site:
http://stores.ebay.com/buyinknow123...18QQ_sidZ154613128QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322

 

[The Hat]

fotofreek..

Got it in one, Well said. Whats a couple of ml. of ink anyway when you use bulk ink, its so much cheaper then oem ink that you can afford to splash some behind your ears now and then..

 

[d1hamby]

I'm using a Sub-cartridge for my printer right now, so I included those capacities too.

Since there are about 20 drops per ml., next time I fill a cartridge I'll count the ml and the remaining drops to see what I can pull out of a cartridge to see the actual capacity that I'm refilling. If somebody else wants to give me some of their data I can compare with what I get. It would probably better if the cartridge was mostly empty.

 

[fotofreek]

d1hamby - better be splashing green ink - St Paddy's day is comin' up!

 

[stratman]

For those of us who refill our carts, 0.6 ml or roughly 5% difference is of no consequence with a 13 ml capacity, plus or minus. Actually, refilling when the reservoir is just empty takes less than 13 ml as there is ink remaining in the sponge. I've never calculated the actual usable volume of ink in the bci-6 carts (which I am still fortunate to be using!) but it hardly matters for a refiller. As long as you have a refilled spare on hand, a difference of doesn't matter as it only takes a few seconds to replace a cart.

Everyone who posted on this thread is certainly trying to be accurate, but the tiny difference isn't worth an argument. Even with those who buy OEM carts, the variation in output for the same ink volume is more critical than the last 5% of ink. Consider that doing borderless prints involves wasting ink that is applied beyond the edge of the paper. Different habits regarding leaving the printer on or off affects the pages of output per cart. Each time a cart registers low or empty and is changed triggers a cleaning cycle, so changing or refilling more than one cart when one registers low or empty will trigger less numbers of cleaning cycles and waste less ink.

I'm sure that several contributors would be able to point out even more variables that make the argument about 0.6ml moot. Anyone who has studied statistical analysis will recognize the fact that a variance may be identifiable but not statistically significant. Due to the many variables, I believe that this discussion falls into this catagory. Any statisticians out there wish to refute my premise? I'd be delighted to read it.

Fill your CLI-8 cartridge to the top in both the sponged and spongeless sides and tell me if "a few ml" matters. The answer is yes. You will leak ink if you refill too much. In reality, ink leaks without both compartments filled completely but filled beyond an amount (given all other variables are constant) an undetermined amount (AFAIK in this forum). At some point, 0.6 ml's more ink causes leaking.

Smile's original post wanted "exact" capacity amounts, not statistically insignificant variances in amounts.

 

[stratman]

d1hamby:

OEM Canon CLI-8 capacity is 13 ml.

The alledged 13.6 ml capacity continues despite no proof in this thread.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I believe if you refill a Canon reservoir with the German method, you cannot overfill the cartridge. If you refill from the top, you will almost always overfill the sponge part of the cartridge unless you really know what you are doing and take precautions to prevent overfilling.

Also, I don't know what the capacities of the Canon BCI-6 and CLI-8 are, but I do know that the CLI-8 has a significantly smaller reservoir than the BCI-6 so I would question one or the other of the capacities listed for these two cartridges on post #1. Canon had to make the reservoir smaller on the CLI-8 to provide room for the light pipe that goes up from the chip to the indicator on the top of the cartridge. It is very easy to see the difference if you look at both cartridges at the same time.

When determining capacities of cartridges, are we talking about how much ink the cartridge holds or how much ink you can use before the printer declares it empty? And are we talking about an OEM cartridge fresh out of the package or an OEM cartridge after it has been refilled?

 

[Grandad35]

d1hamby:
The alledged 13.6 ml capacity continues despite no proof in this thread.

Here are 4 links that use the number 13.6 for a CLI-8 cart (one also uses 13.8):
http://www.inkjetsoutlet.com/canon-cli-8.htm
http://www.amazon.com/review/RSK1HVBK2FQIN
http://astore.amazon.com/webelements/detail/B002M78HVS
http://www.spanishink.info/canon-cli8-magenta-compatible-cartridge-with-chip.html/

Fotofreek was spot on with his comments. Who cares whether it is 13.6 or 13? It just isnt statistically significant.

The cart bodies have relatively large, flat surfaces that form the sides, and the stresses induced during the injection molding process can easily cause variable warpage on these surfaces which can change the internal capacity by more than 0.6 ml. When refilling, the variability is even greater.

This is akin to arguing about How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

 

[ghwellsjr]

This is akin to arguing about How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Well, I can assure you the answer isn't 13.6!!

 

[stratman]

I believe if you refill a Canon reservoir with the German method, you cannot overfill the cartridge.

No, you can overfill the cartridge which will leak, though no one has determined to my knowledge the threshhold volume of ink that results in leaking.

When determining capacities of cartridges, are we talking about how much ink the cartridge holds or how much ink you can use before the printer declares it empty? And are we talking about an OEM cartridge fresh out of the package or an OEM cartridge after it has been refilled?

Factory fresh ml capacity.