cartridge leaking using the durchstich method

[macpinty]

I have been refilling my CLI 521 cartridges using the german method a few times with no problems at all except that when the needle arrives at the reservoir chamber it finds an obstacle and some times I need to push with strength to get in the chamber. Apart from that everything seemed ok until the last refill of the blue cart. I refilled it 4 consecutive times !!! the sponge seemed to be soaking up all the ink I was injecting. Since then the refilling hole in that cart is leaking and the level of ink on the reservoir is getting lower witouth any printing. Any ideas to fix that ?.

Cheers

 

[Tom Hock]

The first time I refilled using the German method, and plastic squeeze bottles, I couldn't beleive how much ink was being absorbed by the sponge once the ink chamber was full. Then I realized that I had released the squeeze preasure on the bottle, with the needle still in the ink chamber, and was just sucking the ink back into the bottle. When I used a syringe I would turn the cartridge right-side-up after filling to allow ink to be absorbed into the sponge, without removing the needle. If a significant amount of ink was absorbrd, I would invert the cartridge again and add a little more ink. This worked fine because the syring wouldn't draw ink out unless the plunger was pulled back, but it doesn't work with the squeeze bottles very well. I love the squeeze bottle method for refilling, but now I just withdraw the needle as soon as the ink chamber is full.

 

[qwertydude]

If the sponge soaked up all the ink it just means you used up the ink in the sponge area, you can fill it again. Now if the ink is actually dripping out of the outlet then you've got an air leak in the resevoir, or you overfilled the sponge area without actually filling the resevoir.

 

[Nifty]

Ya, I was going to guess either an air leak or overfilling. I'd refill the cart and make sure the sponge is saturated and top off the cart. I'd leave it out of the printer for a while and watch it to see if ink continues to leak out even after equilibrium is met. That should help determine where the problem lies.

 

[pharmacist]

A few things:

-when you feel a sudden resistance when trying to enter the needle: never push it as such. Make rotating movements like you would drill the needle through the sponge. This will overcome the resistance and inserting the needle should be much easier. Just pushing with power can distort the sponge material.

-sometimes injecting ink into the ink compartment can cause ink from dripping out from the breathing hole. This is a symptom of an oversaturated sponge. To minimise this problem is injecting the ink very slowly, so the air can escape through the ink outlet/durchstich refill hole without pushing the ink towards the upper sponge area and eventually through the breathing hole. If this still occurs: remove the ink from the ink compartment by reversing the process and suck out the ink. Then -after thoroughly cleaning the breathing hole- blow out any ink as much as possible from the sponge area by putting your mouth over the breathing hole into the ink corresponding refill ink bottle. Warning: ink tends to foam at the end of the blowing process, so be careful and note that the ink also escapes from the durchstich refill hole. Therefore I always sacrifice my finger getting stained with ink by putting it firmly on the refill hole to avoid a spill of ink over my desk.

-the nearly dry cartridge can now be refilled without any problems again with the ink of your choice....with the Durchstich refill method.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Since then the refilling hole in that cart is leaking and the level of ink on the reservoir is getting lower witouth any printing. Any ideas to fix that ?

Yes, seal the refill hole with vinyl tape. And you may be leaking ink inside the print head behind where the cartridge goes. This could lead to an electrical short that could permanently damage your print head and your printer. Remove your cartridges and use a cotton swab to dab up any ink you can find in the area, seal all your refill holes with plastic or electrical tape, put them back in your printer, do a regular head cleaning and continue using your printer.

 

[pharmacist]

My personal opinion about Canon leaking cartridges in a Canon printer using a separate printhead: the chances of getting a shortcut is highly unlikely. The reason is the construction of the printhead: the gold contacts are much higher than what the cartridges can reach in the unlikely scenario all cartridges suddenly will leak. You will end up with a total mess around the overspray area, but the contacts will remain dry. I had a friend who onced try to refill his PGI-5Bk cartridge by just drilling a opening over the ink compartment -while still inserted in the printer- injected the ink and "sealed" the opening with scotch tape. He kept wondering why the ink was drained away so quickly and it turns out after 3 refills the ink was "down the drain", causing a complete mess around the overspray area and the parking pads. Strangely enough the other colours remain clean and the printer is still working. After cleaning the printer with a lot of paper towels, window cleaner (not Windex, but Glassex here in Europe) the taking out the printhead to clean it and putting it back together and how to refill using the durchstich refill method the printer is still working as new and this was 1.5 years ago.

 

[macpinty]

Thank you very much for all your quick answers. I didn't mention that I use squeeze bottles instead of syringes. How can I desaturate an over saturated sponge then.

cheers

 

[ghwellsjr]

You can hold the cartridge over a sink drain and blow into the air vent. You have to put your lips around the air vent so make sure it is clean or you'll end up with ink on your lips. The more you blow, the more ink will dribble out of the outlet port.

It can also form a foamy mass or bubbles which can pop, spreading ink all around so be careful.

If you drain too much ink out of the sponge this way, the reservoir will continue to resupply the sponge and you'll end up with no ink in the reservoir so don't blow too much.

 

[IanYY]

... How can I desaturate an over saturated sponge ...

Instructions came with my Hobbicolors ink kit to pressure-balance a sponge overfilled during top-filling, but I don't see why the procedure shouldn't work equally well in all cases.

Rewritten from memory ...
1. Temporarily seal the sponge chamber air vent with vinyl (insulating) tape.
2. Squeeze the sides of the sponge chamber.
3. Keep a steady pressure until ink stops dripping out of the exit hole (expect 5 to 10 drips).
4. Stop squeezing, remove tape.

Ian