Cartridge Flush schedule

[Grandad35]

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

I never seal the vent hole while refilling.

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?

You probably can, but I prefer filling the sponges as full as possible because they will supply more ink before needing to be refilled again - no ink is pulled from the ink chamber as long as the ink in the upper sponge covers the internal slots in the sponge chamber and ink is supplied by the upper sponge. I have only experienced problems when there is free ink above the sponges - and this is less than a CC.

Also, I would still want to blow into the vent to verify that the sponge was delivering its ink at a low vacuum

 

[Methodical]

I never seal the vent hole while refilling...

Interesting. I see there's 2 camps on this filling procedure: one covers the vent hole and others don't.

Curious - why don't you cover the vent hole?

Al

 

[mikling]

There may be 2 issues to this flush thing masquerading as one. If I count the times I really had to flush, it was because I had cartridges sitting around for a long time not being used and when I got round to using them, they were no good. Of the ones in the machine, I rarely needed flushing. But I am positive old ink sitting in a cartridge is not good. I have given stored carts to my sister who is a light user and she also suffered the old ink flow issue. So as a rule, I recommend that if you don't consume a cartridge within three months, then you really should not be having two sets and certainly not three, though you might be tempted...because you have empty carts.

In my instructions I say to not cover the vent hole until the reservoir side is half full or a little less. Thereafter you want to cover the vent hole. This prevents the user from flooding the air vent maze when they top up should they top off slowly and tilt the cartridge the wrong way. If the cartridge is empty, definitely do not cover the vent hole from the start. You need to totally resaturate to reestablish the ink link.

This ink link is also important in the cartridge design as well. I have seen the evolution of the BCI-6 where the later ones are styled with an ink bridge groove at the bottom of the cartridge that leads from the tank to near the outlet. Earlier BCI-6 carts did not have this. Late BCI-6 incorporated this and then the CLI-8, CLI-42 had this. This essentially puts a short circuit around the sponge during ink delivery.

Now the proper instructions would be to ensure that any air in this groove is removed. The best way is to tilt the cart so that the displaced air in the groove when the cart is empty can rise to the reservoir side. Now try telling a newbie to raise the tank side to ensure that this happens. No, because they inadvertently will keep the sponge side down and then fill the reservoir side and then flood the maze.... and then create another problem.

There are no absolutes as you will come to see, the process is extremely forgiving. The most spartan techniques still work as long as the maze is clear of blockages and the reservoir is sealed air tight.

 

[Grandad35]

Interesting. I see there's 2 camps on this filling procedure: one covers the vent hole and others don't.

Curious - why don't you cover the vent hole?

Like many things, there is often more than one way to accomplish the same task. There are some who say that the top sponge should never be filled, just as the carts come from Canon. Do they recommend refraining from filling the top sponge because that's how Canon does it, or because they encountered problems when they did? All I know is that a purged and dried cart will rapidly draw ink into both sponges (completely filling them unless the vent is covered), and that I have never encountered a problem with completely filled sponges unless a cart is overfilled and there is free ink above the sponges. Perhaps the secret is blowing out some ink to guarantee that there is no free ink above the sponges? Is that why some people squeeze their carts to pump out ink (I don't, because when the squeeze is removed air is pulled up into the filter)?

I like the idea that a completely filled cart will deliver several CCs more ink, reducing the frequency of cart changes and therefore the volume of ink dumped into the absorbent pad. If you cover the vent hole, fill, then plug the fill hole before uncovering the vent hole, you also can't run the "drip test" (just as you can't run this test if you refill with the German method). It is my experience that when I encounter a printing problem, it is almost always shortly after a cart change; fewer cart changes ==> fewer printing problems.

Remember that the experience of any one person does not cover the universe of all Canon printers, and that you may have to develop your own techniques based on the experiences and techniques of a number of people.

 

[Methodical]

Thanks Mike, Grandad for your insight. I've been using PC's directions to fill ink cartridges (came with the kit purchase). I fill the ink until it's level with the opposite bottom sponge (basically about 1/2 way), then I place tape over the vent hole and fill as far to the top as I can to squeeze as much out of one refill as possible - so far no problem.

Now, when I got the empty CLI-8 cart for the yellow ink, I filled it a little and slowly, then let the ink saturate the sponge, rinsed repeat until the sponge was saturated with the yellow ink. What I found is what has been described here about the "free ink" above the sponge. The entire sponge was pretty saturated (let it sit overnight to see what happened). I looked at my other cartridges and noticed that the bottom half was more saturated than the top half (pictured like you said Grandad about Canon's carts) and was not comfortable with it, so I employed the the ghwellsjr paper towel drain method (Grandad that's why I asked that ?) and pulled some ink out and now the cart looks like the other carts - bottom 1/2 more saturated than the top.

Grandad, I am learning different methods from different folks and see that there's more than one way to skin a cat. I am starting to develop my own particular method based on the guidance I've gotten here. As an example: I discovered that you can reset the cart, then refill it, which I didn't know at first, but employ now. This method helped eliminate ink leakage when resetting the cart.

Al

 

[websnail]

Wasn't there discussion years ago, about the drying affect of air in the cartridge sponge and how that might create problems? I'm sure the idea was that, if a cartridge/printer was rarely used and/or topped up, such that the top sponge was often filled with air for long periods of time, thus things dried out, reducing air flow, sponge usability and subsequently ink flow.

Watching folks like @stratman and other prolific refillers that don't flush particularly often, could it be that they may succeed because they're going through cartridges at a rate of knots compared to casual and infrequent printer users and avoiding the drying effect?

I'm going from memory and can't find the relevant thread(s) although I'm pretty sure @Grandad35 was heavily engaged in discussions...

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Now the proper instructions would be to ensure that any air in this groove is removed. The best way is to tilt the cart so that the displaced air in the groove when the cart is empty can rise to the reservoir side.

I do this by tipping the cartridge and tapping it to dislodge the bubble. But I do this after filling, just before changing cartridges.

I really don't understand why this is necessary, but it is. The new cartridges are not stored in any particular orientation, and can easily get a bubble there, but there is never a problem as far as I know. And yet an air lock sometimes develops when a refilled cartridge is about 1/3 to 1/2 empty. (You have to remove the cartridge and tap it. With a partly transparent cartridge you can see a stream of bubbles and watch the cartridge empty.) I'm not sure whether this happens with newer cartridges, but I know it happens with my older HP cartridges.

 

[Grandad35]

Wasn't there discussion years ago, about the drying affect of air in the cartridge sponge and how that might create problems?
...snip....
I'm going from memory and can't find the relevant thread(s) although I'm pretty sure @Grandad35 was heavily engaged in discussions...

When refilled carts are swapped into the printer, I always try to refill the empties within a day or two so that the empties don't dry out. The only time that empty carts sit for any length of time is when they are waiting to be purged.

The empty and refilled carts in the refill rotation are always stored in a sealed food container to minimize evaporation and drying of the sponges. Until about 2 years ago, a paper towel was placed in the bottom of each storage container and dampened with a rubbing alcohol/water mix to inhibit bacterial growth and to bring the relative humidity in the storage container up to 100%. This sometimes caused the carts and clips to become lightly coated with a condensation/ink mixture, so I no longer do this and have not noted any problems as a result.

As long as the tape covering all but the tip of the "air maze" on top of the cart is intact and the carts are stored in a sealed container, evaporation while the carts are stored in the container should be very low. If there is a problem caused by drying of the sponges through the vent hole, it will most likely occur when the carts are in the printer. Even then, as long as the lower sponge remains wet (the cart is refilled before it goes "empty"), you should still be OK as long as the lower sponge retains the "ink link".

 

[fotofreek]

Historical insight - The first information about the simplicity of refilling Canon BCI-6 carts that I saw came from Neil Slade. I used his early technique of "refilling on the fly". This involved removing the cart from the printer, placing your finger (gloved in my case) over the exit port, opening the fill hole, injecting the ink, sealing the fill hole, letting the cart drip until it stops, and immediately replacing the cart into the printer. Couldn't be more simple, and it worked extremely well! At that time there was little consideration for having refilled backup carts or purging.

This forum was developed to expand upon the knowledge of printer maintenance, selection of aftermarket products, and cartridge refilling. We can thank the community of people this forum attracted who had the curiosity and diverse areas of knowledge to make inkjet printing a less expensive and more pleasureable experience. At the same time we've found "kindred souls" across the world that make the forum a fun place to hang out.

 

[The Hat]

I can only concur 1000%..