Clear out ALL the stock ink from a cartridge?

[Lightsorama]

Hello everyone, I'm looking to clear out all the black ink from a stock black inkjet cartridge. It is an HP 96, but I saw that most people on this forum use Cannon printers and considering it's not a technical question I want to ask it here because I really need to get this working today :|

I plan on replacing the ink in my black cartridge entirely with a different color (don't ask hahahah), and was wondering what would be the BEST way to go about doing this? I know how to refill and have the ink and syringe, its just I don't want ANY black ink left in the cartridge. It was fairly used, but only about 1/3 of the ink is left. I opened it up and took the foam out to attempt to "squeeze" the rest of the ink out, but i'm sure that want get it all. Is their any method that will clean out the sponge until its almost looking white and new?

Thanks in advance!

 

[panos]

Purge it with running water on the exit port.

Then let it sit for a few hours to days (depending on your environment). Placing a paper towel on the exit port in contact with the sponge will accelerate the drying time.

 

[Tudor]

This is the cartridge he is talking about:

 

[panos]

Oh, I am sorry. I doubt that you can remove all the ink from this cartridge without professional equipment but if you soak a paper towel with a little water and then let the cartridge sit on it with the nozzles in contact with the paper then most of the remaining ink will be removed.

 

[The Hat]

Oh, I am sorry. I doubt that you can remove all the ink from this cartridge without professional equipment but if you soak a paper towel with a little water and then let the cartridge sit on it with the nozzles in contact with the paper then most of the remaining ink will be removed.

Not a chance in hell of getting all the black ink out using your method, in fact no chance at all with any.
The better alternative would be to just get empty HP compatibles cartridges and fill them with your colours..

 

[sathyakala]

Oh, I am sorry. I doubt that you can remove all the ink from this cartridge without professional equipment but if you soak a paper towel with a little water and then let the cartridge sit on it with the nozzles in contact with the paper then most of the remaining ink will be removed.

I am sorry my question may sound dumb but I am learning. What did panos infer from the HP 96 cartridge picture to change his suggestion. I can only see that HP96 has print head on the cartridge. Does that make a difference if you can clean all the ink inside the cartridge or not? Even cartridges that have print head (like Canon PG 810) seems to have exit port underneath from which ink can come out.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Yes, I would think it's harder to get ink out through the print head than through an exit port, but it should still come out, albeit slowly--or maybe VERY slowly. You can surely get ink or purging solution in through the top (and probably out as well). But to clean it you need to fill and empty it MANY times or flush it with LOTS of liquid. Has anyone tried this for this kind of cartridge? I'll betcha The Hat has tried this, and he just might be right.

But I noticed that you mentioned that you had OPENED the cartridge and removed the sponge!! Usually people don't open the cartridge to flush it, but who am I to say that it won't work?

I suspect that the problem with the pigment is, that it may flocculate when you add water to it (I noticed that when I diluted some ink with water). Once it's stuck to the sponge, it's probably going to stay stuck--but maybe not stuck enough, unfortunately. Imagine trying to get ink off of paper. You might have better luck if you use 20% isopropyl alcohol in water, but if you have already used water on it, it might be too late. Once the pigment is attached to the sponge material, it's kind of hard to get off. On the other hand, if you can get it clean enough so that the pigment stays in the sponge, that's probably good enough. You'll just have to try.

Let us know how it comes out.

 

[Tudor]

I tried cleaning a HP300 and a CL-511 cartridge (clogged or burned nozzles) like this: opened the cartridge, removed and washed the sponge with warm tap water and soap, cleaned the inside of the cartridge and printhead with warm water. They were as clean as they could be, so I refilled and... disaster, even more nozzles clogged. Clogged or filled with air, I'm not sure.
Maybe the HP96 has a sturdier printhead...

 

[panos]

What did panos infer from the HP 96 cartridge picture to change his suggestion. I can only see that HP96 has print head on the cartridge. Does that make a difference if you can clean all the ink inside the cartridge or not? Even cartridges that have print head (like Canon PG 810) seems to have exit port underneath from which ink can come out.

I did a too hasty search before hitting reply on my first posting. I thought your cartridge was a sans-printhead ink tank (which HP had copied from Canon a few years ago). Purging ink tanks is easy because you run water through the exit port and it cleans the sponge very well as it flows outside from the air hole.

But it wasn't. It's a cartridge with an integrated printhead. That means there is no exit port but nozzles instead. I would rather not run pressurized tap water through the nozzles of a functional cartridge whether from inside or outside. What I've written in my second posting can be safely done. It will not remove all the ink as I had written and as Hat assured.

It's not necessary to remove the old ink as long as your vendor assures you that your ink can be used to refill your specific cartridge number.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Panos, he wants to change it to a different color, so he has to clean it thoroughly.