German Durchstich refill method for Canon carts with pictures

[bryan9]

...use a syringe attached to a needle to make the first pass into the sponge. This can be done without any ink in the syringe. Your experience may be different since I use 18 guage needles, but the hole I make with a push pin has a tight tolerance and takes some pressure and wiggling to get the needle in the first time. After that, the needle passes fairly easily with the needle passing through and on top of the sponge like a train on rails during subsequent refills.

Very much appreciated. This is what I'm planning, based (again) on experience related in this thread. I can see how trying to do this with the bottle attached would be frustrating.

--B.

 

[jimbo123]

first much thanks for all the info out here. been refilling for over a year using the German Durchstich Method now thought i'd share. used syringe method for the first 12 months, just switched over to squeeze bottles.

refills over the past 12 months:
- filled orig PGI5 for 18 times before it started streaking and needed to be replaced
- still using orig CLI8's with 5 refills on each of them.

agreed with the comments to use a sharp needle for first time into the sponge, after that the blunt needles work fine. as other have pointed out to avoid ink messes do not overfill. have used the squeeze bottle approach once but looks to make things even easier. i store fully loaded squeeze bottles upright with scabbards in one of those plastic coffee(maxwell) containers that have a handle with some Styrofoam pieces in there to keep things snug.

so far things have been working great. have even passed on this refill info to others.

will update my experiences using the squeeze bottles over time

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Printers: Canon Pixma MP830, IP4500, MP830(spare in box)
Method: German Durchstich Method using Canon Cartridges
Ink: Hobbicolors, great guy to deal with
Misc: Squeeze bottles, needles, scabbards from Howard Electronics

 

[SpartanWarrior]

This sounds great i received hobbicolors for my iP 4500, what made you decide to go with the German method and not hobbicolors manual? also when i make the small hole how far in is the needle supposed to go i don't know what a prism is? also when setting the cartridge back in the printer doesn't ink leak out at all? thanks

 

[jydog]

1) If I have it straight, I am to try to run the needle between the sponge and bottom of case and not through the sponge, correct? (It sounds as if many are going through the sponge.)

2) I have seen where flushing can move the sponge away from the bottom and outlet port (which is bad). Does running the needle between the sponge and bottom tend to separate them?

3) Is that an ink channel formed in the case bottom from the prism half way into the sponge chamber? (At least on the CLI8 carts) That would help guide the needle to the opening.

Thanks.

 

[pharmacist]

jydog,

even if you pierce through the sponge only locally, you will not have problems. The original Canon cartridges have a very tenacious sponge structure, which is not easily destroyed and it will not affect ink flowing properties noticably (if any). If you want to avoid this as much as possible then bend the syringe a bit down when entering the cartridge as to force the needle lifting upwards, so the needle will travel on the inner surface of the cartridge as much as possible.

To relocate the sponge after flushing one can give af few ticks on a elevated sturdy surface (a piece of wood). This will do the trick.

 

[bryan9]

An advantage of using the squeeze bottles, which I have not seen discussed here, is that it almost automatically helps you avoid overfilling, which can result in a mess. My squeeze bottles, from Howard Electronics, are 4 oz in capacity and equipped with Luer locks. I use 20 gauge syringes on these accessed through an 18 gauge hole in the classic Durchstich manner. After projecting the ink into the open tank area, I squeeze a little more to make sure that the open area is completely filled. Then, relaxing my grip on the bottle, I draw it backward out of the cartridge. As it passes through the sponge, it draws excess ink back into the bottle. Using this technique, I have gotten to the point that I do not spill a drop of ink, period, when filling as many as 8 cartridges at a time.

--Bryan, Charlottesville, VA

 

[Deptacon]

Pharmacist,

Is it possible that you could post detailed photo instructions like these on your purge/flush method that you use with this refill method? Thanks a lot for the instructions here...I just ordered a refill kit and I am going to give it a try.

 

[bikerjim]

Is it possible to use this method on the Cannon PGI 220BK (USA) PGI 520BK (EUR)?

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Bikerjim,

yes you actually can: even the german printer forum druckerchannel.de is recommending this technique to refill the cartridge.

See this link:

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2192&seite=6&t=schritt_3_tinte_einspritzen

 

[pharmacist]

Deptacon,

I soon have to flush some cartridges and I will make pictures of it.