Cli 8 Saturated sponge

[rodbam]

A few days ago I did my first purge of some Cli8 cartridges & they're now dry I think after wicking over night & sitting out for 2 days in our winter sun. I have just refilled one of the clean cartridges via the top fill method because it already had a top fill hole & no German method hole. I was filling slowly & the sponge sucked up the ink all the way to the top of the sponge. I thought these cartridges always had a non saturated sponge at the top, does this mean my sponge wasn't properly dried to suck up the ink to the top?
I won't be so lazy next time & use the German method.

 

[The Hat]

rodbam
No worries mate these pesky sponges tend to do that from time to time and still work perfectly.
Just as long as the ink does not go all the way to the top and stops at the sponge thats the critical point.
Most of my cartridges, not all tend to get fully saturated sponges and I havent notice any drop off of quality from them.
The German method is not immune from the over saturation problem either..

 

[msmart]

I agree with The Hat, you're fine. Mine did that too after purging.

So top fillers are lazy? I take offense.

 

[fotofreek]

I agree with The Hat, you're fine. Mine did that too after purging.

So top fillers are lazy? I take offense.

Same with me. I've never had a top filled cart with all sponge areas saturated fail to work properly. After purging they generally do this. Top filling has worked so well for me that I'm not interested in changing my routine. Also, purging is much faster with the top fill hole.

 

[emerald]

I agree with The Hat, msmart and fotofreek. I've had ink saturate into the upper sponge with no ill consequences. To lessen the chance of this happening you might try this technique posted by mikling. It works for me.

 

[mrelmo]

over filling has been thought to be a cause of cross contamination, to prevent this you can blow through the vent hole to expel some of the extra ink in the sponge area

 

[The Hat]

mrelmo over filling has been thought to be a cause of cross contamination,
to prevent this you can blow through the vent hole to expel some of the extra ink in the sponge area

You can indeed blow out some ink but it wont prevent the sponge from getting a resupply from the full reservoir.
The cartridges with this little problem are not over fill but they still tend to saturate the sponge after a good cleaning out..

 

[bsanotrun]

To lessen the chance of this happening you might try this technique posted by mikling. It works for me.

Yes i top fill and that is the method i use, no drips and no overfilling. no possible damage to the sponge or outlet sponge filter and if anything quicker then the German method.

 

[rodbam]

Thanks all your answers were very reassuring. This all reminds me of bringing our first baby home & the silly things we would worry about. I was sure my printer would be dripping ink when I saw the sponge saturate to the top, I've just checked it this morning & alls well after doing 3 large prints.
I don't want any top fillers to feel lazy it's just that I couldn't be bothered to make a hole for the German method so in my case it was laziness. I have come to the conclusion after reading the posts here that the ones who use the German method are more brainy than the ones who use the top fill method. The German method is more akin to doing a surgical procedure, the needle has to be accurately inserted just below the sponge & with high precision find the inlet to the ink well. The top fill method is more akin to just pouring a cuppa tea really

 

[The Hat]

rodbam
I must say that a cup of tea is far more preferable than any surgical procedure..

the ones who use the German method are more brainy than the ones who use the top fill method

I think when your in a hole stop digging..