martin0reg said:
These are BCI-6 OEM cartridges from ebay, empty and more or less dried out.
OK. They are all dye-ink cartridges. This means that if there is dried, caked-on ink on and in the sponge, then your fresh refill dye ink will (eventually) dissolve the old dry ink and the cartridge will perform as expected.
It might be possible that the cartridge/sponge may have bacteria or fungal contaniments requiring a flush to restore optimal performance.
Depending on age and storage conditions, it might be possible that the sponge(s) has changed in structure to alter performance, but I haven't read about that much if at all.
It could also be that the sponges have moved from their proper orientation within the cartridge, so a gentle rap or two of the cartridge bottom - NOT on the ink exit port to prevent damage to the plastic geometry (according to some) - may be required to re-seat the sponges.
Some carts I have flushed 1-2 months ago and they are clean and dry. So dry that the refilled ink does not soak well into the sponge to the outlet.
This is not unexpected behavior. You can wait a few days to optimize saturation of the sponge. You might also inject a small amount of ink as you withdraw the needle to "prime" the sponge and use the cartridge immediately. If the problem remains, you might want to try "conditioning" the sponge per the recipe I will post below.
The other case (ink going to the top of sponge and leaking out of the outlet during refilling) happens if I refill empty carts which are not flushed. Because I don't know how wet they still are I have tried to fill without flushing.
This is the hit or miss nature of refilling a cartridge of unknown age, condition of the sponge, and saturation of the sponge. If the sponge is stiffer/less permeable from age or caked ink or contaminants, then the sponge will not take up refill ink smoothly or in expected quantities. The result may be overflow. Another cause is a sponge more saturated with liquid ink than you anticipate. It also might partially be refilling technique - injecting too fast - but probably is due to the other reasons. A flush may solve this problem by restoring the sponge to its optimal condition (if need be).
3 carts I have flushed yesterday, dried with a paper towel from the outlet wrapped around the carts. They are probably not completely dry. One of these I refilled now (cyan) and the sponge soaks very well - but not only in the lower sponge, the cyan ink goes in 1-2 minutes up to the top of the sponge leaving no white areas. I don't know if this will be block the air exchange from the vent of the sponge chamber to the ink chamber, I will try...
Not unusual behavior either. You don't have to wait until the sponge (actual sponges) are completely dry. The issue is the sponge has some residual water and that water is more abundant in the lower portions of the sponge, hence the lower portions of the sponge do not take up the refill ink as readily. In time, the ink and water in the sponge will equilibrate. Trying another paper towel to wick away more moisture, blowing into the vent to force more water out the ink ejection port, or letting the cartridge dry in a sunny warm (not too warm!) place for a day or two may resolve the issue. You could also inject ink slowly into the sponge as you withdraw the needle to help boost ink in the lower portion of the sponge.
As for no white areas on the sponge... it's ok. A completely ink-colored sponge does not necessarily mean trouble. If either the spongeless side or the sponge side have too much ink, the excess ink will drip out of the ink ejection port until the pressure/ink combination is equilibrated.
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My copy and pasted together compilation of posts on flushing, cleaning and conditioning solutions is as follows.
Nifty-Stuff.com Pharmacist's cartridge flush/conditioning solution recipe again:
-3 % propylene glycol (or 2 % glycerin)
-20 % isopropyl alcohol
-distilled water up to 100 %
To make this conditioning solution a cleaning solution to dissolve stubborn stains: add 5 drops of concentrated ammonia per 100 ml of this solution. This solution has been tested by several forum members already and they are very happy with it. It also enhances the absorption degree of ink into the sponge after flushing, especially with the difficult pigment based BCI-3eBK/PGI-5Bk cartridge.
Conditioning: after flushing the sponge has difficulty to absorb the ink well and tends to be become a bit hydrofobic (water repellent). By completely immerge and drenching the sponge material with this solution and then blowing as much solution as possible the sponge is revived again. The pigment BCI-3eBK/PGI-5Bk is the most difficult one and using this conditioning solution improves the absorption degree of your favourite refill pigment ink.
Cleaning: fill a cartridge with this solution (with ammonia) and execute a deep cleaning cycle to remove stubborn and tenacious clogging.
20 ml isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol)
80 ml distilled water
10 drops of propylene glycol
(optional: 5 drops of concentrated ammonia)
Ammonia Concentration: if used in cleaning cycle stick with 5 drops per 100 ml and when used to soak printheads externally increase it to 20-25 drops.
Fold a paper towell into a nice thick and even strip and drench it with the cleaning solution and put it under the printhead and let it soak for about 1 hour. After that, execute one cleaning cycle.
25-30 % ammonia: this is concentrated ammonia. If you use household concentration, increase accordingly.
Standard household ammonia in the UK is 9% w/w (weight for weight)
