Filling a flushed cartridge

[mrelmo]

when filling a flushed cartridge, should you fill the reservoir and let the ink bleed into the sponge or force it a little bit

 

[pharmacist]

Do not force it or your sponge will get oversaturated. Strangely enough oversaturating can be seen by massive banding on your printouts and sometimes random ink spots on your printouts. If you are going to force the filling, then don't forget to "milk" the cartridge by closing the breathing hole with scotch tape (or use your thumb) and pressing the sponge chambers together to push out 5-10 drops of ink.

If you use the German Durchstich method then this optimal equilibrium is automatically obtained by gravity.

 

[mrelmo]

ok so the 1st time refilling a flushed cartridge i should just let them sit and even off on thier own, it seems like that is going to take a long time like maybe hours and i believe that my carts are very dry

 

[pharmacist]

Try my flushing solution to enhance penetration of ink in the sponges:

-3 % propylene glycol
-20 % isopropyl alcohol
-distilled water up to 100 %

Use this solution to soak the sponge after flushing with water and have blown away as much water as possible. Blow this solution out of the cartridge and let dry. The alcohol and water will evaporate, but the propylene glycol remains inside the cartridge very finely dispersed. This very tiny amount of propylene glycol greatly enhances the penetration of ink in the sponge. Ink will soak the sponge within a minute.

 

[mrelmo]

ok refilling is done the next time i flush the cartridges i'll try the mix thanks

 

[mrelmo]

here is a cartdrige that i filled 1 day ago you can see that the sponge has not evened off

 

[pharmacist]

It looks quite normal. Canon cartridges should have 2 layers. The lower sponge should be more impregnated with ink than the upper area.

 

[mrelmo]

if that is what a flushed refill looks like i'm ok with that, but i am familiar with refilling before flushing when the sponge is at the proper level and never taken too low, i was mainly concerned with the area just to the right of the exit port not having enough ink

 

[ROX]

mrelmo-

did you refill the cart where the ball use to be? also what did you do to cover up the hole?

 

[jflan]

If you look at a brand-new, genuine Canon cartridge, ther will almost always be a "dry area" at the upper-most part of the sponge.
I believe that they use this second, less absorbant sponge to help create a positive airway from the top vent to the bottom vent for even discharge of ink.

I rarely have trouble saturating the entire sponge, in fact I temporarily tape over the vent to regulate ink penetration into the sponge to emulate a new Canon cart. Sometimes the entire sponge area gets saturated and makes it imperative to "milk" the cartridge before installing or stroring.

A cart that has its sponge fully saturated still works OK as long as it has been properly "milked". If the upper 10-20% stays dry, I feel that that is even better, more "wife-proof" shall I say.