First Look At The Pro1 Cartridges

[The Hat]

I got a couple of pro 1 cartridges just to see how easy it is to refill them.
These tanks as there now called are a big size 11 x 8.5 cm and weigh in at 81 grams with 35 ml of ink.

There are five holes in the back, two for what I can see are alignment holes I guess for the printer, another one has a small felt pad beside the outlet hole and the last has a clear plastic probe sticking out of it for all intensive purposes it looks like some sort of new prism system.

On the inside of these cartridges its a whole new ball game they look very like a HP cartridge that I think pharmacist done a report on it a good while ago when he was converting his printer over to using a CISS, or some other printer.

The cartridge is all black on the outside with just the one ink outlet hole on the back and a standard chip on the top.
With the side cover off.

Picture 1 shows the inside of the cartridge which had a bit of a leak probably from original filling, when I cleaned the ink off there was no leaks.
There is a clear plastic film covering the inside wall of the cartridge which seals it airtight from the outside, it is not visible in this picture but it is there.

Picture 2 shows the bag removed from the cartridge and you can clearly see where the inlet valve is glued in and the prism rod sticking out the top.

Picture 3 shows the inlet valve with the piston removed and a better shot of the new prism protruding out of the bag.

Picture 4 shows the outlet valve with the piston in place, it needs to be pressed in to allow ink to flow in or out of the bag.

Picture 5 shows the inside of the bag with a better shot of this new prism and its shape.

There is several possible ways to defeat this new cartridge which I am working on but nothing to easy just yet, I can fill it but its darn messy.
I have not said anything about the chip on these cartridges because it will be a cold day
in hell before anybody is interested in making a resetter for it, maybe in the future an ARC will come.

The only answer for now is to disable the ink monitoring and use scales which shouldnt be that difficult.
The pro 1 is a printer mainly aimed at the professional Photographer who will buy OEM inks and wont bother using third party inks so I dont think it will be as popular as the Pro 9500 is with guys who just want to print loads of great photos cheaply and keep them.

This printer is about the same price as the Pro 9500 is so it is not that expensive and it comes with 360 worth of ink and a great pedigree so it will be worth a gamble if it can be refilled..

To be continued...

 

[mikling]

Cartridge courtesy of the Hat. Here are some pics of the new cartridges for the Pro 1. Take a good look because Canon will be introducing some less expensive models further down the road that will use less cartridges. I can tell you that Canon has designed these cartridges along the lines of what Epson would do. To foil the unwary refiller. I'll start with these first for a look around the outside.

 

[rodbam]

Excellent posts you two, very interesting.

 

[mikling]

Next we get to the details. It's not what most think! At least what we had been used to. This design looks to trick unsuspecting refillers.

Why is that felt in its own compartment? What is its function really?

 

[The Hat]

Here is the PGI-29 tank alongside the PGI-9/ CLI-8 cartridge sizes
Its just so as you can see the difference in scale..

 

[mikling]

 

[mikling]

If you look at the last photo any attempt at refilling that engages the outer shell seal will fail miserably. You are essentially trying to transfer ink into a sealed vessel. Forget Epson bottom fill adapters! They will not work as the dimesions are not compatible and furthermore if used improperly will render the cartridge near useless if ink flows into the chamber instead into the ink the bladder and you can't determine if the ink is in the bladder or outside of it.

The refill adapter must be sized properly to allow the refill.