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

[barfl2]

I have been refilling BCI-6/CLI-8 Carts with the German Durchstich method with variable sucess but felt I was getting there. On my last refill I thought whilst I had the Squeezy bottles out I might as well refill some spare M/C/Y Carts. which I did and put them into a ziplock bag for future use.

I checked contents today and saw that whilst the ink tanks are full the sponge only appears saturated approx. 1/4-to 1/2 in the lower portion. Am I likely to get ink starvation when I print ?

I must say these refills seem to last ages compared to my previous HP564 Carts


Barfl2

 

[ghwellsjr]

When this happens to me, I just inject some ink into various parts of the sponge to saturate the lower half. See this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ghw_XoBmCo

Also, from my experience, it is very important to seal the refill hole with good tape that will easily conform to the surface surrounding the refill hole.

 

[l_d_allan]

I do believe that the refill setup I suggested will function properly and still welcome comments.

Irv,
I'm trying to understand your technique described in these posts.

* My impression is that you are inserting the needle into the reservoir by piercing the #1916 plug.
* Also, you have the cart upside down.
* Do you seal the vent hole which is "above" the sponge area (when the cart is right-side up)? With finger? Tape?
* Does ink get into the "serpentine labyrinth air maze" that leads to the vent hole?
* Do you have the #1813 outlet cap on or off while the cart is upside down and you are injecting ink?
* About how long does it take to inject the ink?
* Are you slowly injecting, or can you inject rather rapidly?
* Do you have one or more delays/pauses during ink injection to let pressure equalize ... or for wicking/migration of ink from the reservoir side to the sponge side?
* How do you tell that the appropriate amount of ink has been injected?
* Once the cart has been filled, what are the following steps?
* Do you do any extra sealing of the pierced #1916 plug, or does it seal itself adequately once the needle is withdrawn?
* Are you able to place the filled cart directly back into the printer?

Thanks for your assistance. My impression is that you using your Epson 3880 more and more, and may not be doing that much Canon refilling anymore.

 

[barfl2]

ghwellsjr Thank you for your advice. So far I have not covered the refill hole as most users seem to think it is not necessary but will try it in future.

As it is the upper sponge which appears to have dried out where has the ink gone? and if I try to inject more will I then force ink into the labryinth.

Your Video shows the ink going into the cart much faster than my sqeezy bottle with 20G needles which is quite hard work. Those Intec thumb syringes are great because they have so little overhang compared to a conventional one. I assume you cannot refill them?

barfl2

 

[ghwellsjr]

I don't understand your question about "where has the ink gone". Can you provide more context and background?

If you inject just a little more ink into the sponge portion of the cartridge, it should not go into the upper sponge material if you are careful.

The only reason I used the small Inktec syringes is because that was the only way I could buy Inktec ink in the USA for a long time. Now that their local rep also sells 1-liter bottles, I will be using them and, yes, you cannot refill their syringes and I don't know why you would want to.

 

[barfl2]

ghwellsjr. Thanks for reply. My comment "where has the ink gone" refers to the upper half of the sponge appearing dried-out but the ink level is unchanged. From your prevous posts about the 2 different types of sponge in the OEM carts, I believe you indicated the upper one had the ability to pass air and the grooves so clearly shown in Paulcrofts Photo's assisted this. When I refilled these Y/C/M Carts I omitted to seal the refill hole and the airmaze on the top. Perhaps these has led to the lack of ink in the upper sponge. But were placed in ziplock bag

With regard to the Intec syringes I thought they were great and more controllable than standard ones, but realise that they are once use only.

The acid test will be when I install them and see whether I get any ink starvation. The main thing is to keep that precious Printhead in good condition as a replacement will be hard to find. Otherwise I am delighted with my Pixma MP760.

Fot topfilling BCI-6 for European users I have found that a 4mm tap cuts a perfect thread when the ball has been removed. I feel the finer thread has more contact area than the self tapping type and does not distort the plastic. I then fit a 4mm x 6mm flat panhead bolt with a suitable 1mm thick O ring

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm still confused about your question of "where has the ink gone" because in post #251 you said, "the sponge only appears saturated approx. 1/4-to 1/2 in the lower portion" and then in subsequent posts you ask about the upper sponge. Here are some questions:

Are you using the two-sponge Canon OEM cartridges?

When you originally refilled your spare C/M/Y cartridges, how much ink was in the upper sponge and how much ink was in the lower sponge?

Later on, when you looked at the cartridges again, how had they changed?

Just for the record, you should not seal the air vent on the top of the cartridge but you should seal the German refill hole.

 

[Tudor]

Those Intec thumb syringes are great because they have so little overhang compared to a conventional one. I assume you cannot refill them?

I love those syringes too. Here is how I do it:



Insert screw, fill syringe, remove screw and it's ready to go again.

 

[Tigerman]

hi
any know how refill hp 920 caridge afetr i refill it with G-ink korean ink at first its printing but after few papaers nothing appear.
after i do printhead cleanning its print again wirh few number also 10 pages just every time i ckean cartodge its printing for little amount.
what the solution ??? is it ink ? where find good ink ? or problem in printerhead ?????
is the way to refill correct i refill from upper tank.

 

[Tigerman]

wht if u cant see needle as in hp 920 cartidge ????? how i can insert it to tank in another side ?
and why we cant refill into tank immediately ???!!! please i need know.