Finally had a low-ink warning for PRO-100

[SkedAddled]

...and I replaced the full cart set with flushed & refilled carts.

Some drips occurred when releasing the storage clips, and I was prepared for that,
just as OEM and other carts will do.
A few more drips from some carts as opposed to others, but they're all good.

It took but a few seconds for the printer to become ready after the full changeover,
which surprised me. I was prepared to wait out a 10-minute purge cycle,
but it didn't happen. It was ready to print no more than 1 minute after
the full-set cartridge change.

The damned carriage head retreated back to park position before I could replace
all 8 carts, because I had to watch for and wash away any dripped ink
while I was doing this, but simply closing and re-opening the top cover
brought the carriage back into position.

With the refilled carts, I've now printed 4 DVDs and 2 plain-paper DVD covers
for my downloaded copies of Windows 10, to store in a pair of two-disc
library cases, for my desktop and laptop systems.


I could not have done any of this without the collective knowledge of
everyone here, so I am officially extending my heartfelt thanks
to all the good people who contribute to this forum.

 

[paulcroft]

Hi SkedAddled

Just a word of caution: I'm surprised your carts were leaking as much as you suggest. I find it rare indeed to have my refilled cartridges dripping noticeably and, if they are, I'd suspect the refill plug was not fully sealing the hole. May I suggest you hold a refilled cartridge over the sink, remove the storage clip and see if the drips keep on coming. If they stop there's no problem but if they don't there's an air leak from the refill plug hole which will need investigating otherwise there's the likelihood that your cartridge will empty itself unexpectedly quickly.

 

[PeterBJ]

Leaking cartridges can also ruin a print head. I once lost a print head in an iP4200 because of a bad quality 3rd party cartridge. The cartridge leaked and some of the leaked ink crept under the nozzle plate and caused a short that took out some of the yellow nozzles.

 

[The Hat]

Leaking cartridges can also ruin a print head.

I also lost an Epson printer from a badly filled and leaking cartridges, it fried the print head..

 

[SkedAddled]

No worries: the carts dripped a few times, then stopped completely.
Nothing further, even after shaking to encourage drips.

They went through some mild temperature changes, so I suspect
that somehow created a slight pressure change.

 

[pharmacist]

Actually I still think the German Durchstich method is better: it allows auto saturation of the spong without oversaturating using the top filling method, that can cause dripping and no problem with with plugs not properly sealing the ink reservoir. Most people don't no that using the top fill method you will have to close the vent hole after injecting half way and then continuing filling with the vent (serpentine) hole closed with your finger or tape and then continuing injecting ink until full, put the plug to firmly close the cartridge, and then release the vent hole, that it can obtain a slight negative pressure in the cartridge. The Canon cartridges has a double sponge design in which the upper sponge should never be completely wet, but only partially so this ensures a slight negative pressure necessary for good functioning. With the German Durchstich method you just inject ink into the ink chamber, let the sponge suck as much ink it wants until equilibrium and continu injecting until ink until full. This way the cartridge has obtained optimal negative pressure automatically.

 

[SkedAddled]

Whoa! @pharmacist replied to my measly thread!


While I've only replaced the carts once, I have another set filled which are not so full.
I probably overfilled in my eagernesss, leading to the drips.

I now have a used set of OEM carts, some of which show proper ink levels when full
and empty. I have two empty, flushed cart sets on hand.

I'll refill the second standby set more cautiously this time and see how they fare
for the next replacement. Levels are not as full as this latest set.

 

[The Hat]

Levels are not as full as this latest set.

A half-filled cart is better than an over-filled one…