CLI-42 Cart Flush - First Attempt

[William Seaward]

I attempted to flush my first cli-42 cart, and that part actually went very well. Absolutely no traces of any of the original OEM yellow ink left over. The cart is weighing in at 14 gm so its ready to be filled.

When it was clean, I dripped some ink in the outlet port, then I commenced to fill it up slowly. At first, the sponge seamed to absorb the ink rather well. Should I be concerned about the lower portion of the sponge not being consistent all the way across?

 

[jtoolman]

Yes. Please dont laugh as is this going to sound really ridiculous but... Bear with me.
Give it a spin with your arm. Like you are winding up to pitch a baseball or cricket ball. Orient the cart so by the Centrifugal force generated, Ink is forced into that corner of the cart lacking saturation. So hold the cart with the sponge area that is still white pointing OUT. Spin that cart! In the end You want the lower third to be pretty evenly saturated with ink. Works for me every time. After that you should reset and top off the cart at the low point, meaning she the liquid chamber is empty and no further.

Joe

 

[William Seaward]

Thanks for your input Joe. I did what you said, and got some funny looks from neighbors as I did this outside. There was movement, but most was the top of the sponge as it moved about 1" and very little on the bottom. I believe that the sponge is locked up somehow, so I went ahead and cleaned out the cart to a nice pristine white again. I'm in the process of wicking the excess water out, using one of your videos as a guide, and its at 15 gm right now.

If I'm going to have a problem, it might as well be on the first one, so I can learn all I need...

 

[mikling]

I attempted to flush my first cli-42 cart, and that part actually went very well. Absolutely no traces of any of the original OEM yellow ink left over. The cart is weighing in at 14 gm so its ready to be filled.

View attachment 4350

When it was clean, I dripped some ink in the outlet port, then I commenced to fill it up slowly. At first, the sponge seamed to absorb the ink rather well. Should I be concerned about the lower portion of the sponge not being consistent all the way across?

View attachment 4351

Just a reminder to ream out the hole with a 5/32" bit. The plug sits there like it was not able to make it all the way down which usually is because the hole was not reamed out.

 

[William Seaward]

Just a reminder to ream out the hole with a 5/32" bit. The plug sits there like it was not able to make it all the way down which usually is because the hole was not reamed out.

I had a cheap set of drill bits laying around so I used them and as it turns out that the bit marked as 5/32" was not the right size... go figure. I went and bought a new set and now the plug sits a lot better.

 

[William Seaward]

I checked my wicking paper towel and it was dry, so I'm ready to try refilling once again. I primed the pump, sorta speak, by putting some ink in the outlet port and I noticed that it wouldn't fill up the lower sponge. It did absorb the ink, however, it was very light in color and not the dense pool of ink that I was hoping for. I went a head and filled the ink chamber about 1/4 full and I'm getting the same results. It's been sitting for about 30 minutes and its not absorbing any more.

I'm gong to clean out the cart again, this time I'm going to take the next step and rejuvenate the sponge with "Pharmacists Solution"... Patience is a virtue!

 

[mikling]

Even when the paper is dry, there is likely still water trapped inside. If you get uncontrolled and rapid wicking then there is still a little too much water inside.

After the paper is dry, remove it and further drying is required. If you're patient, 13.6 to 13.7 grams will allow perfect control of the fill process. There is no need for Pharmacists solution with Precision Colors PC42 ink in the Canon carts. Only if the surface tension and viscosity of the ink is not where it should ideally be, will something like Pharmacists solution be required.

 

[William Seaward]

There is no need for Pharmacists solution with Precision Colors PC42 ink in the Canon carts.

I filled up the cli-8 cart I got from the Precision Colors kit and it worked great! It filled with no problems at all. That's why I can't understand when I flush this cart, things go wrong. I'm chalking this up to being a newbie and maybe I'm rushing the process. I'm going to inject a little more patience and I'll let this sit for a couple days and not use the "Pharmacist Solution"... and make sure there is no water. This is a good test for my own knowledge.

I need to get a scale that at least has a readout that goes to the hundredths. I'm going to get that with the Pro-10 kit.

 

[William Seaward]

I got my cart flush adapter from OctoInkJet and decided to "really" flush out the cart, thinking that there might be something keeping the sponge from absorbing ink. I must have done this about 20 times with a 60ml syringe. The wicking phase is complete and now I'm going to let this sit for a few days just to make sure that there is no water in the cart. I have high hopes right now.

 

[William Seaward]

Success! I finally have my cart flushed and looking good.

It's been about 2.5 days air drying and after the mega flushing, I can actually smell the scent of victory! How sweet it is.

Thanks for all the help guys.