German "Durchstich" refill method for the PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges

[ThrillaMozilla]

Oh, the picture isn't mine. I took it from here and added the arrow: http://freedomtoprint.com/2010/06/25/review-hp-564-564xl-ink-cartridge-cracked-open-chips/ . A great Web site. The picture was posted without copyright notice, but I guess I should cite it anyway, since it's a commercial site.

 

[martin0reg]

Just ask yourself: why does the ink not leak trough the ink outlet hole ???

I agree - it is really that simple. The durchstich hole is not relevant compared to the outlet hole.
A printhead only works with negative pressure from the ink outlet, it has to suck the ink, otherwise the ink would leak on the paper without printing. This depression is achieved by sponge (canon) or mazy pipes and chambers (epson) or inner vacuum pouches.
For the same reason I think you must not place the reservoir of a ciss higher than the nozzles of the printhead...

 

[PeterBJ]

Thrilla Mozilla Wrote:
For that matter, has anyone tried the InkTec kit? The advantage of that is you don't puncture the cartridge.

By going back and reading older posts in this thread, I found that Pharmacist in post #17 had a link to druckerchannel.de describing how to use the durchstich method on the 364 XL carts. The carts are very similar to canon carts and the procedure for refilling them is the same as for canon carts.

The site is in German. If you don't read German You could try a Google translation or just check out the pictures.

There is a picture showing a side view of a cut open 364 XL cart showing the same two sponge design as canon uses. Link to the picture here : http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2191&seite=3&t=die_patronen_im_detail You can click the pictures to enlarge them and click just outside the enlarged picture at the upper right corner to close the window. Fenster schliessen means close window.

So it seems that the bottom filling method for these cartridges is not suitable, stay with the tried and tested Durchstich Method.

For the smaller non-XL cartridges druckerchannel.de recommends filling by slowly dripping ink at the outlet drop by drop and waiting for each drop to be absorbed until adding the next drop, and stop adding drops when when the sponge becomes saturated. Link here: http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2191&seite=5&t=nr_364_nr_920_befuellen To me this also rules out using the bottom fill method. Injecting a fixed amount of ink would easily oversaturate the sponge.

martin0reg wrote:
A printhead only works with negative pressure from the ink outlet, it has to suck the ink, otherwise the ink would leak on the paper without printing.

Thank you! I think I'm beginning to understand: Air can only enter the ink chamber through the vent and through the sponge. For air to pass through the sponge a pressure difference equal to or greater than the capillary force that keeps the ink in the sponge is needed, so if you could measure the pressure in the ink chamber, it would be below atmospheric pressure ? This explains why a not properly sealed top fill hole causes leakage, on the other side: air entering the durchstich refill hole has to pass through the sponge like air from the vent and so causes no leakage.

Doing a Google search on "capillary force" I found this : http://science.jrank.org/pages/1182/Capillary-Action.html

In the last paragraph read sponge instead of soil and read ink instead of water. You would then get :" As more ink enters the pore (in the sponge) , the capillary force is reduced to zero when the pore is saturated." To me that explains why an (over)saturated sponge cannot hold ink and starts dripping.

Do you guys think this sounds plausible ?

Peter

 

[meimnothere]

German method is flawed.

I love this forum.. Its the blind leading the blind..

I needed the pick me up .. thanks.

 

[Nifty]

If using the German Method is wrong... I don't ever want to be right!!!

 

[slocumeddie]

meimnothere

Please, oh please enlighten us regarding the "flaw" in The German Method.

And please help us blind ones by imparting your obvious wealth of knowledge about inkjet

printers and refilling. I know that I can speak for all the forum members......please bless

us with your wisdom !

 

[RMM]

German method is flawed.

I love this forum.. Its the blind leading the blind..

I needed the pick me up .. thanks.

Lol... I guess that after filling 50+ cartridges without a problem related to the filling method that it is flawed...

Oh well, I'll keep on doing it because it is FAST, CLEAN, and EFFECTIVE!

 

[stratman]

nobodyinthere is off to the races in its first post.

A genuine troll has appeared from under his rock to grace Nifty-Stuff. How special.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Don't feed trolls, guys.

 

[Redbrickman]

Splash