German Durchstich refill method for Canon carts with pictures

[lin]

Sorry for the off-topic here, but haven't seen Defcon2k for sometime. So I hope there is a way for him/her to see my msg.

Hi Defcon2k, I sent you an email some time back. But I guess you didn't see my email. I wonder if you do see these cartridges around on offer?
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4204

 

[Defcon2k]

Do you have any idea who it was that came up with the German method of refilling Canon carts? That has to be one of the most brilliant ideas I have ever heard of.

I'm wondering about this for myself.
As mentionend above, I saw this here for the first time, where "Ritchman" told us what he has seen at a supermarket, and "gurl" experimented with it a little bit.

Ritchman wrote:

Perhaps a new method.

I was at the entrance of "Praktiker" (a hardware store where you can buy wallpapers, electric drills, wood etc.) where there was a refill booth. We had a conversation and I left laughing. First, I asked him about the CLI carts. He said: no problem, just refill, click "ok" when you see 4 warning messages and that's it. I asked if there is something new about the ink level monitoring. He looked at me and said, the ink level monitoring doesn't change, the cart says it's full. I said, you're the first person who says that. He said he already refilled 12 printers, and it was like he claims. I did not reply, but I had a look at a Canon cart. The needle was in the cart like you can see on this picture. The arrow shows the entry point. The needle reaches the reservoir chamber and so you can refill it nicely. He said you don't need to seal the refill hole: if there is no ink leak at the bottom of the cart, there also won't be any ink at the small refill hole. Sounds logical.

Interesting.

So, did this unnamed refill guy came up with it? Or did he hear about it somewhere else? I don't know, but I think it was a nice idea, whoever came up with it.


@lin: Sorry, I've never seen these carts before. And I'm not that excited about buying stuff and shipping it to other countries, but I guess your could just write an email to the guy who put them on ebay.
They appear to be spongeless carts, and I think spongeless carts where not terribly recommended, but perhaps they are better now. I have a look at printer related internet sites/forums only very infrequently.

 

[lin]

@lin: Sorry, I've never seen these carts before. And I'm not that excited about buying stuff and shipping it to other countries, but I guess your could just write an email to the guy who put them on ebay.
They appear to be spongeless carts, and I think spongeless carts where not terribly recommended, but perhaps they are better now. I have a look at printer related internet sites/forums only very infrequently.

I am well aware of the spongeless carts issue. I am looking for these specific cartridges for my experimentation purpose. I haven't found these anywhere else apart from the European countries. I understand if if you are unwilling to help purchase and shipping oversea. It's okay. However if anyone has found this on offer and could help, I hope you can keep me posted. I shall not divert off the topic on the German refill method any further, so back to the topic.

 

[tsu3000]

Hi.

I'm about to refill my first OEM cart using this method and have some questions. I am using ink from HobbiColors. I've also got a chip resetter and plan to reset the cart chips.

1) Are there any precautions I should take to ensure the heads do not dry out when I take the cart out of the printer? Since this is my first time I may take longer than normal to do the refill.
2) Is there a recommended order when resetting the cart chips? Should the reset be done before or after the refill?
3) The cart I plan to refill is not entirely empty. At the moment I am getting low ink warnings. Should I refill now or wait until there is no ink left in the cart?
4) Can I still refill the cart while there is still a little Canon OEM ink left in the cart?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dougsewell]

I am assuming that you are refilling Canon carts.
Refilling should cause no drying out problems provided the carts are not left out of the printer for long periods of time (say over an hour or two) therefore I cannot see you having any problems.
It is best to remove, refill, reset and replace one cart at a time.
Resetting can be done before or after refilling. It makes no difference although whatever procedure you adopt, you should practise every time you refill.
Refilling a part empty cart can cause a slight colour difference due to the mixing of two different inks although if a good quality ink is used (Hobbicolours is one of these) there should be no problem. Some refillers however like to flush out the cart before the first change from OEM inks and instructions for this can be found in these forums. If you were to keep an eye on the ink quantity in any part filled cart and wait until the ink tank is empty (the sponge gives you a safety buffer) before refilling then this is perhaps a good method on the first ink change. Thereafter it does not matter how much ink is in the tank before refilling provided you use the same ink. It is good practice to refill while some ink remains as there is then no risk of burning out your print head.
Good luck and take your time injecting the ink.

Doug

 

[tsu3000]

Thanks for the reply.

I have successfully refilled 2 Canon CLI-8 carts and here are my observations.

1) The sponge is quite dense and takes quite a bit of force before the needle goes through. I used the included 22g (black) blunt needles that came with the HobbiColors refill pack. I will probably use sharp needles for my unfilled OEM carts next time.

2) On one of the carts, the sponge started to move towards the ink tank when I inserted the needle. Please see the attached photo. This created 2 creases which I have highlighted. The sponge is now misshaped. Will this cause any problems with regards to ink flow or even induce a leak sometime in the future? I've examined the print head for this cart and there is no sign of excess ink. So hopefully this will be ok.

Any thoughts on my findings?

Thanks.

 

[pharmacist]

Did you try making rotating movements to facilitate the needle moving up the sponge more easily and to decrease friction ? This is very important: just sticking the a blunt needle into the sponge and trying to push it with force will cause your problem. Even I using a very sharp needle must make rotating movements when I enter the needle through the sponge when I experience the slightest resistance from the sponge...

 

[tsu3000]

Alas I did very little rotation on the needle.

Will these creases cause problems with ink flow or leakage? If there is a risk, I'd rather get a new OEM cart and start again once its depleted.

Thanks.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I make the hole as close to the bottom of the cartridge as possible, just above the thickness of the plastic. My blunt needle slides very easily under the sponge along the top of the bottom piece of the plastic cartridge. Why would you try to pierce the sponge material? Am I doing it wrong? I thought this was the way you were supposed to do it.

 

[pharmacist]

ghwellsjr,

you are doing right: but sometimes it is inevitable to encounter sponge material and then the trick is not the press the sponge together, but to pierce through it (the hole is quickly sealed by surrounding sponge material filling up the cavity, so you will not experience any problems). I try to avoid sponge material as much as possible, but sometimes no luck...