FLUSHING....WHY?

[martin0reg]

I just tried to refill a set of BCI carts to reanimate a ip4000.
The sponges of these carts were totally white, completely flushed a long time ago and therefore very dry (sadly I've had no "conditioner" in the last flush then).
Refill german..what happens:
Instead of filling the reservoir, the ink goes straight in the sponge and up to the air vent. Reason is obviously no air exchange to the reservoir so there is overpressure and it is impossible to inject ink in the reservoir - the ink goes in the sponge then ... see above..
Now what is blocking the air exchange? Certainly no "stained ink" as the sponges are virgin white.
Must be something in the dust-dry sponges ... dried out "air voids" or what ever..?
I have now flushed these BCI with a mild fluid for conservation of printheads (I will try pharmacists conditioner later as the ingredients are on the way) and laid them to dry for a night with wicking paper towels ... will see tomorrow if the carts are refillable ...

 

[The Hat]

If you need a quicker way to dry your purged cartridges then why don’t you give @pearlhouse’s idea a whirl ?

Just wrap your cartridge in a paper towel and place in a sock, then swing it as hard and as long as you like, it gets out awful lot of water and you then you can use the cartridge straight away, just make sure the outlet is facing downwards..

 

[stratman]

Just wrap your cartridge in a paper towel and place in a sock, then swing it as hard and as long as you like, it gets out awful lot of water and you then you can use the cartridge straight away, just make sure the outlet is facing downwards..

Would this be best done outside?

 

[stratman]

I just tried to refill a set of BCI carts to reanimate a ip4000.
The sponges of these carts were totally white, completely flushed a long time ago and therefore very dry (sadly I've had no "conditioner" in the last flush then).
Refill german..what happens:
Instead of filling the reservoir, the ink goes straight in the sponge and up to the air vent. Reason is obviously no air exchange to the reservoir so there is overpressure and it is impossible to inject ink in the reservoir - the ink goes in the sponge then ... see above..
Now what is blocking the air exchange? Certainly no "stained ink" as the sponges are virgin white.
Must be something in the dust-dry sponges ... dried out "air voids" or what ever..?

In the past, did not people with this issue find that resting the cartridges for X amount of time, along with blowing out any ink in the air vents, resulted in the ability to complete the refill?

 

[Roy Sletcher]

If you need a quicker way to dry your purged cartridges then why don’t you give @pearlhouse’s idea a whirl ?

Just wrap your cartridge in a paper towel and place in a sock, then swing it as hard and as long as you like, it gets out awful lot of water and you then you can use the cartridge straight away, just make sure the outlet is facing downwards..

Don't forget to let go in mid swing. The sound of breaking glass will tell you where to find it.

 

[martin0reg]

Or I could use a salad spinner..
..but seriously I don't need a quicker method of drying - I need a method to overcome this annoying "blocking air exchange issue"...

 

[CakeHole]

I just tried to refill a set of BCI carts to reanimate a ip4000.
The sponges of these carts were totally white, completely flushed a long time ago and therefore very dry (sadly I've had no "conditioner" in the last flush then).
Refill german..what happens:
Instead of filling the reservoir, the ink goes straight in the sponge and up to the air vent. Reason is obviously no air exchange to the reservoir so there is overpressure and it is impossible to inject ink in the reservoir - the ink goes in the sponge then ... see above..
Now what is blocking the air exchange? Certainly no "stained ink" as the sponges are virgin white.
Must be something in the dust-dry sponges ... dried out "air voids" or what ever..?
I have now flushed these BCI with a mild fluid for conservation of printheads (I will try pharmacists conditioner later as the ingredients are on the way) and laid them to dry for a night with wicking paper towels ... will see tomorrow if the carts are refillable ...

This is easy to over come and something i had an issue with in my new experience of refilling with one of my carts.

What i did after seeing the issue quickly was draw up all the ink i had placed in the reservoir. You can avoid that issue by doing the following if and ONLY IF it is needed...

Insert your needle via the German method, turn the cart upside down (IE see you are looking at the ink outlet, or the cart is the opposite way up to how it would sit in the printer). Inject ink into the reservoir but do not fully fill the reservoir (aim for half to about 2/3rds NO MORE). Slowly withdraw the needle but trickle a TINY and ONLY a TINY amount of ink direct into the sponge area... This will moisten the sponge, push the needle back to the reservoir area and fill the rest of the way. Withdraw needle entirely, turn cart back up right way (put some tissue paper down incase of leaks) and watch as suddenly there is no more ink absorption issues. I had to do that with a black cart i flush as i had left it to dry out wrapped in Kitchen roll paper for about 2 weeks Opps! The cart gave no problems though and is running fine, did not need any cleaning cycles or such like, has been perfect

 

[The Hat]

Would this be best done outside?

Not unless you got a hole in your sock..

 

[stratman]

Not unless you got a hole in your sock..

LOL

I was thinking more along the lines that the centrifugally removed water might leave the sock and spray all over the room walls, floor and ceiling.

 

[martin0reg]

This is easy to over come and something i had an issue with in my new experience of refilling with one of my carts.

What i did after seeing the issue quickly was draw up all the ink i had placed in the reservoir. You can avoid that issue by doing the following if and ONLY IF it is needed...

What I have described was: that NO ink flows in the reservoir (because of mssing air exchange TO the reservoir THROUGH the sponges) - all injected ink (with the needle IN the reservoir) flows straight in the sponges up to the air vent - refilling impossible.
This was an extreme case of one cart... with 3 other carts I was able to inject some ink in the reservoir - but while injecting IN the reservoir the sponges already began to suck, and before I could fill more than half the reservoir, the lower and also the upper sponge was full with ink (what it should NOT be). So no more air exchange and no more filling of the reservoir.

What you describe is a method to make the sponge suck.

My issue is blocking air exchange while injecting ink: (1) by some residuals (or these mysterious "air voids" which mikling describes) in the flushed and dust dry sponge or (2) by the ink that is sucked or pressed into both sponges very quickly

It seems to be that the BCI's are more prone to this issue than the newer CLI's ...but I have to refill these damn air blocking BCI's for my old ip4000...no success yet...