Filled first two cli-42's, advise please?

[dannno]

Ok, I had a window of opportunity, so I refilled my first two carts today. I re-set the chips, removed ball from each, drilled 5/32" hole, and filled. I was very concerned I'd over-fill, as I watched the ink level climb on the sponge side, so I played it conservatively.
These are photo magenta and light grey.

Should I have loaded them with more ink?
Dan

 

[William Seaward]

I would go ahead and fill them to the top.

 

[dannno]

would you tape the vent again? or just add more ink with clip on bottom of cart

 

[stratman]

I refill using the Durchstich method instead of your top fill method, but the same conclusions can be reached.

Some like the sponge to keep its top portion unsaturated with ink just as they were when brand new. I find it makes no difference in performance as long as there is no ink ABOVE the sponge choking off air flow. I also fill the spongeless side anywhere from 2-5 mm from the top/ceiling of that compartment. In other words, you could add a little more ink to the spongeless side and be fine.

The one thing you want to avoid is UNDERFILLING a cartridge so that you run out of ink before ink monitoring flags the cartridge as empty and you potentially burnout nozzles in the print head permanently.

Of course, if you follow mikling's recommendation to refill at the first warning (spongeless side empty but sponged side full) then you have plenty of ink to prevent running out and potentially hurting your print head.

 

[dannno]

Thanks for the advise. I added more ink, to 1/8 - 3/16" from top

 

[Roy Sletcher]

would you tape the vent again? or just add more ink with clip on bottom of cart

Good job, and well done.

I would just remove the plug and give a quick squirt to top off the ink level with the bottom orange clip still in place..

The refill level probably dropped after you refilled as the internal pressure equalized and the sponges reached maximum absorbancy.

A good indicator that your sponges are working well with good absorbancy is that the ink colour of your sponges is nice and dark. Same colour as the ink chamber. As you go through multiple refills the sponges seem to loose some of their absorbancy and visually starts to look lighter coloured as the absorbancy declines.

Then it is time to flush and purge, followed by a final rinse in Pharmacists solution. Lots of posts on this site about the process and mixing the solution. You have 6 to 12 refills before it becomes necessary, so plenty of time to research the procedure.

Welcome to the world of refilling. You will save a bundle of money.

rs

 

[The Hat]

Thanks for the advise. I added more ink, to 1/8 - 3/16" from top

It was your very first refill and you got it spot on, so I wouldn’t attempt to interfere or adjust the ink levels, there is more than enough ink in the sponge side of the cartridges to make up for any shortfall in the reservoir side, overfill is your worst enemy.

If you were to weight the refilled cartridge against a new one, I reckon there would be nothing in the difference.
Great job..

 

[dannno]

I am setting these refilled carts aside,will use them next when needed. I think it will be 5 or 6 weeks until that happens. These are so much easier to work with than the HP tri-color carts I used to refill (will mixed results). Thank you all for your replies.
Dan

 

[The Hat]

@dannno, You should get yourself a Pro 10, you’d be shocked at how easy the cartridges are to fill and maintain.
One word Simple...

 

[dannno]

I don't doubt it, but for now,I'm tickled pink with the Pro 100. I've done a bunch of 8 1/2 x 11 glossies on Canon paper, and they are eye-popping.