Cartridge Flush schedule

[Methodical]

What is the best or suggested maintenance schedule for flushing cartridges. I could not find anything concrete, but not impossible that I missed it.

Thanks...Al

 

[Roy Sletcher]

When I was refilling my PRO 9000ii made a habit of flushing and cleaning every 10 refills.

Nothing scientific. Just seemed a relevant arbitrary number. I keep comprehensive records of my carts and their refills, and where necessary any weirdness or misbehavior like blockages, ink starvation etc.

So far on my Pro-100 coming up for 1,000 pages printed has not reached the 10 refill threshold. Without the little used green and red of the 9000, the carts empty at a more uniform rate. Probably same total amount of ink used to protect Canon's lucrative revenue stream, but more evenly spread over the eight colours.

For the record, and in the interests of providing even more useless information, the most used so far on my printer is the photo cyan with eight refills to date, and the least used being cyan with six refills to date. So you can see the range from most to least is pretty narrow. Usual disclaimer YMMV.

Roy S.

Later Edited Comment: Because I top up all carts when a refill is need to prevent excess cleaning cycles - the term refill above refers to a complete refill. (IE: THREE Topups of 25%+25%+50% WOULD COUNT A one REFILL.

GETIT, GOTIT, GOOD

 

[Lucas28]

Flush the cartridges? I've never done that. At first warning I fill the Canon cartridge 526 with new ink, then the sponge won't get dried out. I use dye ink by Sun Chemical which mixes very well with the OEM ink remains in the cart.

But the PGBK is another story. Until now I've filled with OEM PGBK ink. But I've heard that third party PGBK ink doesn't mix easily with OEM ink. So maybe in the future I have to flush!

I've got a Canon printer with a grey ink cart and that grey ink has to be filled most often. It is logical when you think that most colors in a photo are not very intense so the printer mixes those colors with a lot of grey and some color.

 

[Grandad35]

What is the best or suggested maintenance schedule for flushing cartridges?

This discussion is based on BCI-6, CLI-8, etc. type carts with a transparent body and dual sponges.

I used to re-fill multiple carts with a total of 42 carts (8 colors) in circulation, and purged when any cart started to have trouble feeding (as evidenced by printing problems) - usually after about 6 refill cycles. I now keep only 16 carts in circulation at any time - one set in the printer and a refilled set in reserve. I try to replace the carts when any cart reads "low", but this difficult to control when printing multiple photos (almost always my case) and at least 50% of the time at least one cart goes "empty". The higher use carts (PM, PC and Y) are always swapped out. The lower use carts (R, G, M, C and K) are swapped out if they don't have sufficient ink to last until one of the high use carts goes low again (based on past experience, at least 1/2 full in the ink chamber).

I have come to the conclusion that carts don't need to be purged because they become "clogged" - rather because when the ink chamber empties and ink is pulled from the sponges (e.g. by running the cart until it is "empty"), the sponge cells that release their ink and become filled with air often will not refill with ink on their own when the cart is refilled. This breaks the "ink link" and makes the cart act like it is clogged. I believe that this is why some people who refill before the ink chamber empties report that they do not need to purge (because the critical lower sponge cells are never emptied?). It would also explain why the "freedom refill" and "vacuum refill" methods work well - the vacuum has the capability of forcing ink into empty cells and restoring the ink link.

It is my opinion that purging doesn't clean the sponges, but the clean/dry cycle restores the sponge cells surface energy to a higher value that draws ink into each cell on the first refill, completely filling all of the sponge's cells and restoring the "ink link". This happens every time that I fill a clean cart. Most of the "clogged" carts show many areas where the ink is missing in the bottom sponge, while a refilled purged cart shows no such areas.

I have developed two simple tests that I run on each refilled cart to identify any cart that has reduced ink flow. When a refill cart performs poorly on one of these tests, it is flagged and taken out of the refill loop (and put into a "to be purged" bag) when it next needs a refill. It is then replaced with a purged and dried cart.

Since starting this procedure about 2 years ago, I have never experienced ink feed problems or cross-contamination - both of which I blame on one or more carts requiring excessive suction to pull ink from the cart.

What is interesting is that the low use carts almost never need to be purged (because they almost never run out of ink in the ink chamber?). Of the 3 high use carts, the yellow almost never empties first, and it almost never needs to be purged. With my printer and the types of images that I print, the PM and PC are almost always the first to empty; and they are almost always the carts that need to be purged.

YMMV

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

I have come to the conclusion that carts don't need to be purged because they become "clogged" - rather because when the ink chamber empties and ink is pulled from the sponges (e.g. by running the cart until it is "empty"), the sponge cells that release their ink and become filled with air often will not refill with ink on their own when the cart is refilled.

This certainly makes sense. Canon even mentioned this in one of their patents.

 

[fotofreek]

This discussion is based on BCI-6, CLI-8, etc. type carts with a transparent body and dual sponges.

I have developed two simple tests that I run on each refilled cart to identify any cart that has reduced ink flow. When a refill cart performs poorly on one of these tests, it is flagged and taken out of the refill loop (and put into a "to be purged" bag) when it next needs a refill.
YMMV

Grandad - you mentioned two simple tests but didn't include them in your post. Please include them in a follow-up post.

My habit has been to 1) Close the refill hole after refilling and remove the bottom exit port cover to be sure it drips. If it doesn't I also remove the fill hole seal to be certain that the cart drips when both the exit port and fill hole on the top are opened. 2) Before placing a refilled cart into the printer I blow lightly into the air vent. If it needs too much pressure I purge the cart and start refilling it over.

I also stopped keeping so many backup refilled carts some years ago. I do keep two backups of the most used colors - PC, PM, and Y, and the rest have only one backup. With a lot of backup carts I found that some had been refilled two or more years ago, and the suposed shelf life of the inks is two years.

 

[Methodical]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm just starting, so my carts are virgins (or slightly experienced virgins). With 2 sets (want to keep it simple for now), hopefully I should not have to flush them often. I will keep an eye on them and if there's any unusual printing behavior, I will flush.

Thanks...Al

 

[Grandad35]

Grandad - you mentioned two simple tests but didn't include them in your post. Please include them in a follow-up post.

My habit has been to 1) Close the refill hole after refilling and remove the bottom exit port cover to be sure it drips. If it doesn't I also remove the fill hole seal to be certain that the cart drips when both the exit port and fill hole on the top are opened. 2) Before placing a refilled cart into the printer I blow lightly into the air vent. If it needs too much pressure I purge the cart and start refilling it over.

I didn't mention them because the post was already long and also because I wanted to keep the post "generic" so that it applied equally to "top fill" and "German fill" users. My tests are very similar to those you listed.

I top fill (tried the German re-fill method for a few months, but went back), so after the ink chamber is initially filled with the cart in a storage clip, it is left to "rest" while any other carts are refilled. After wiping off the excess ink from around the fill hole, it is covered with a finger while the cart is removed from the clip and moved over a drip pan; the hole is then uncovered and the cart allowed to drip (just as you do). After a few seconds to get the filter saturated, a "good" cart will produce at least one drop every two seconds - less ink than this will cause the cart to be flagged. The hole is then re-covered until the dripping stops, the cart put back into the clip and the ink chamber topped up (some ink should also have been wicked into the sponges by this time). The fill hole is then sealed in the normal way.

The second test is to do exactly what you described by blowing into the vent hole (after making sure that any ink has been cleaned off) with the cart out of the clip and being held over a drip pan. This does two things:

1. There are rare occasions where free ink will work its way above the sponges, and the free ink will cause the cart to drip while it is in the printer. Blowing into the vent will remove this ink.
2. It will take you a while to calibrate your "mouth pressure gauge", but you soon develop a feel for how much pressure is required to force ink out of a normal cart. A cart with too much air in the sponges can take far more pressure than normal, and it should be flagged.

If a cart fails either test very badly, it is immediately put into the "purge" bag. However, most carts fail slowly, and (being a frugal retiree) they are put into the printer one more time to use the ink that they contain, with a paper label noting that they should be purged after they are emptied.

 

[Methodical]

Great info. I have a few questions (see below)

I didn't mention them because the post was already long and also because I wanted to keep the post "generic" so that it applied equally to "top fill" and "German fill" users. My tests are very similar to those you listed.

I top fill (tried the German re-fill method for a few months, but went back), so after the ink chamber is initially filled with the cart in a storage clip, it is left to "rest" while any other carts are refilled. After wiping off the excess ink from around the fill hole, it is covered with a finger while the cart is removed from the clip and moved over a drip pan; the hole is then uncovered and the cart allowed to drip (just as you do).

1. Fotofreak, Grandad, during this step (covering the refill hole), do you still have the vent hole covered (i.e tape over it)? I'm thinking no, but just need to confirm.

After a few seconds to get the filter saturated, a "good" cart will produce at least one drop every two seconds - less ink than this will cause the cart to be flagged. The hole is then re-covered until the dripping stops, the cart put back into the clip and the ink chamber topped up (some ink should also have been wicked into the sponges by this time). The fill hole is then sealed in the normal way.

2. Fotofreak, Grandad, do you cover the vent hole at this time? I'm thinking no, but just need to confirm.

The second test is to do exactly what you described by blowing into the vent hole (after making sure that any ink has been cleaned off) with the cart out of the clip and being held over a drip pan. This does two things:

1. There are rare occasions where free ink will work its way above the sponges, and the free ink will cause the cart to drip while it is in the printer. Blowing into the vent will remove this ink.

3. Can you use the ink draining method described by ghwellsjr to pull excessive or free ink from the sponge instead of blowing into it?

1. 
   
2. It will take you a while to calibrate your "mouth pressure gauge", but you soon develop a feel for how much pressure is required to force ink out of a normal cart. A cart with too much air in the sponges can take far more pressure than normal, and it should be flagged.

If a cart fails either test very badly, it is immediately put into the "purge" bag. However, most carts fail slowly, and (being a frugal retiree) they are put into the printer one more time to use the ink that they contain, with a paper label noting that they should be purged after they are emptied.

Thanks for the detailed step by step explanation.

Al

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

the [fill] hole is then uncovered and the cart allowed to drip (just as you do). After a few seconds to get the filter saturated, a "good" cart will produce at least one drop every two seconds - less ink than this will cause the cart to be flagged.

Thanks. That's the first time I have seen that anywhere.