CLI-42 Cart Flush - First Attempt

[jtoolman]

Looking good!
Joe

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

I would just draw most of the ink out of the sponge and fill again. I think you had the ink diluted with water, as Mikling said.

 

[mikem65d]

hi William,

What did you use to flush the yellow cartridge?

 

[William Seaward]

What did you use to flush the yellow cartridge?

Don't run any water through it initially, but give it a good soaking of Windex with ammonia. Fill the sponge up and let it sit there for about an hour. You might have to do this a couple of times to get it in that pristine condition. @jtoolman has a very good tutorial on this... check it out on youtube.

You rule Joe!

 

[William Seaward]

I would just draw most of the ink out of the sponge and fill again. I think you had the ink diluted with water, as Mikling said.

I read a post on this topic and how some people wait too long for their cartridge to dry, as others fill them rather quickly. I guess that post threw me, along with a pretty inadequate scale, but after the "mega flush" to make sure nothing was in the sponge AND the 2.5 day dry period was the key. Like I said earlier, it's better to figure this out on the first one and learn a good lesson.

 

[mikem65d]

Don't run any water through it initially, but give it a good soaking of Windex with ammonia. Fill the sponge up and let it sit there for about an hour. You might have to do this a couple of times to get it in that pristine condition. @jtoolman has a very good tutorial on this... check it out on youtube.

You rule Joe!

Thank you sir

 

[Methodical]

Yep. I was able to get 2 of them cleaned with some patience and the right tool for the job.

 

[pharmacist]

Please be careful: the sponge seems to be oversaturated.This can be negative for the ink flow. The optimal situation is a completely saturated lower sponge and a partially saturated upper sponge. To overcome the oversaturation, milking the sponge to force out a few drops of ink can restore the optimal saturation degree: for this you will have to seal off the breathing hole during the milking process.

 

[Methodical]

Please be careful: the sponge seems to be oversaturated.This can be negative for the ink flow. The optimal situation is a completely saturated lower sponge and a partially saturated upper sponge. To overcome the oversaturation, milking the sponge to force out a few drops of ink can restore the optimal saturation degree: for this you will have to seal off the breathing hole during the milking process.

Do you have a link to the milking process? I'd like to have it for future use, if needed.

Thanks

 

[pharmacist]

It should be somewhere found on this forum many years ago. I personally refill this type of cartridges with the German Durchstich refill method. This method automatically balances the optimal saturation of the lower and upper sponge, without oversaturating the upper sponge. However: flushing cartridges is a bit more difficult, but still possible. I think forum member Mikling has written a post a few years ago about milking the cartridge.

You might have notice that the original cartridges have a partially completely white upper sponge, which is not soaked with ink. This is the optimal saturation degree. See this picture below: