Freedom Refill Method for Canon BCI 3, 5, 6 & CLI 8 & PGI 5 and others

[PeterBJ]

The blue plastic hose is a piece of air supply line for pneumatic control components. I don't know what material it is made from. It fits snugly inside an 8mm hole drilled in the bottom of the storage clip. It also fits snugly onto the tip of the syringe, which is same type as used by ghwellsjr, and also bent at a right angle.

Inner diameter of the plastic hose is between 5.5 and 6mm. A 5.5 mm drill bit slides into the hose, a 6mm drill bit doesn't A hole was punched in the silicone rubber gasket in the the clip, using a pair of pliers type leather punch.

The outside of the hose and the circular bottom part of the clip was roughened with abrasive paper and hot melt glue was used to hold the things together.

BTW the the clip is not attached to the cartridge the way I would expect. The locking tab on the cartridge is slid through a rectangular hole in the clip. See this picture series from websnail's site: http://www.octoink.co.uk/productimage.php?product_id=292&current_image=0#

Who needs instructions for a cartridge clip? I admit I did!

 

[stratman]

hot melt glue was used to hold the things together.

I was wondering if this was hot glue or an epoxy of some sort.

Thank you. Again, nice work!

 

[The Hat]

In a post in another thread I suggested that the storage clips from websnail could be used to make nice Freedom Refill adapters. Indeed they can. I've just made a set of adapters for BCI-3/PGI-5/PGI-220/225 and BCI-6/CLI-8/CLI-221/225. Link to clips here: http://www.octoink.co.uk/products/Cartridge-Clips{47}Holders-[Canon].html . Although not stated on the website, the clips are also suitable for the BCI-3/6 cartridges.

They hold the cartridge firmly in place and give a good seal. It is nice to get rid of the rubber bands used in my previous design.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/6881_freedom_adapters_new.jpg

Nice job peter and well done to you.
I have a but

Is the hot wax good enough for a long term solution, I mean all of your pieces are flexible
and therefore liable to move independently of each other?

I used the heavy duty Araldite Adhesive on mine instead of the hot wax because
I reckoned the wax would let go after a short while and lose its grip.

Question:- What do you use to seal the air maze during refilling..

 

[PeterBJ]

The Hat wrote:

Is the hot wax good enough for a long term solution, I mean all of your pieces are flexible
and therefore liable to move independently of each other?

The hot melt glue I'm using bonds well to the clip and the blue plastic tubing. I think the clip is polypropylene, the tubing a different material. The hot melt glue is Topcraft brand from ALDI. It is a universal grade suitable for wood, plastics, ceramics, cardboard, textiles and leather.

But there are many types of hot melt glue, each suitable for a different application. Maybe it's just luck this glue works well with the plastics involved? Another no-name brand didn't work well, after it had cooled it could easily be peeled off.

The clip is a bit flexible, material thickness is 1.5 mm, that is the reason I used the large amount of glue. That adds strength to the setup. With a cartridge in place the whole setup seems very solid.

It is recommended to roughen the surfaces with abrasive paper or other before gluing to improve adhesion. The glue gun should also have reached proper operating temperature. If not hot enough adhesion will not be good.

The glue is flexible as is the blue tubing and the clip, so I think clip + tubing + glue work well together. Time will tell.

I vaguely remembered having answered a similar question about the hot melt glue, so I went back in this thread and found this link in post #132: http://www.gluegunsdirect.com/index.php?module=advice_10 This shows properties of different hot melt glues.

I've tried using super glue/10 second glue, it didn't work. I've also tried a quick setting epoxy, but that did not bond well. I guess the Heavy Duty Araldite is the slow setting type. There are many types of epoxies, with different properties. Testing will show what is best.

The Hat wrote:
Question:- What do you use to seal the air maze during refilling..

I use a double sided adhesive tape from ALDI. It is intended for sticking posters to a wall. The tape is approximately 0.8 mm or 1/32" in thickness and 19mm or 3/4" width and is a dark grey color. It comes in two versions, one intended for permanent use and one that is easily removable. I use the permanent version. It works very well. The aluminium tape from websnail also works very well, but I reserve that tape for sealing cartridges after refill only, such as extra seal on top of low profile plug, sealing a hole after a German refill and sealing the vent if the cartridge is to be stored, as the tape is not locally available, but must be ordered online.

 

[The Hat]

I am with you on the two-sided tape I use a similar one from Sellotape but I think the jury is still out on the hot wax holding.

I also use the Topcraft brand wax which I find great but I was still worried about the longevity on my own clips
that why I settled on the Araldite (90 minute setting time) and a small metal washer to give it more strength..

 

[PeterBJ]

The Topcraft hot melt glue has worked well for me so far. But I admit that with your PGI-9 method when injecting ink into the cartridge a break of the bond could be an inky disaster, so I understand your concern.

The Araldite is of the slow setting type. I guess it is the good old standard type in the white tubes with blue lettering? These epoxies seem stronger than the quick setting (5 or 10 minutes) types.

Good idea with the metal washer to reinforce the setup, I think it makes it less flexible.

Even if the araldite has set after 90 minutes, it takes days before the bond has full strength. This is normal for epoxies, polyurethanes and similar products.

 

[Bertil]

Why not sell the necessary equipment to those of us who for different reasons are not able to find it ourselves.It shouldnt be sooo expensive.I would be interested anyway.
Bertil

 

[The Hat]

Why not sell the necessary equipment to those of us who for different reasons are not able to find it ourselves.It shouldnt be sooo expensive.I would be interested anyway.
Bertil

Which equipment are you referring to and for which printers, why dont you list some of the items youd be interested in..

 

[Bertil]

Sorry!I made a stupid mistake.I meant another method where you use a kind of vacuum refill method.I dont remember who it was,though.I do apologize!

 

[PeterBJ]

Bertil wrote:

Why not sell the necessary equipment to those of us who for different reasons are not able to find it ourselves.It shouldnt be sooo expensive.I would be interested anyway.
Bertil

I guess you want a commercially made adapter for The Freedom Refill Method ? The demand is much too small to justify development and tool costs.

If you would like to try this method of refilling you will have to make your own adapter. You will find many different adapters in this thread. The easiest one to duplicate is the one made by ghwellsjr. All you need is some bits of hoses for use in cars.

I wanted to make these adapters, but I couldn't find the proper sized hoses here in Denmark. I could only find metric sized hoses. As far as I know, there are many enthusiasts in Sweden who drive American Classic Cars, so you might be able to locate the properly sized hoses. Maybe "Biltema AB" has these hoses? If you find a Swedish supplier online please post a link, as I would like to try ghwellsjr's adapter.