Hole under label of 521 cartridge?

[MP640]

I removed part of the label on top of a cyan 521 cartridge. It looks like there's a hole underneat it (part of the air vent system?). Can I leave this uncovered or should I stick some tape over it again?

Sorry for the poor picture quality, but I think t shows what I mean.

 

[PeterBJ]

The hole is part of the vent maze. It not a hole into the sponge compartment, but an air reservoir. There are two such reservoirs in the vent maze. If you know electronics you can compare them to decoupling capacitors, and the thin air channels to resistors. The air channels plus reservoirs then could be compared to two RC decoupling or smoothing filters in cascade.

Even if the uncovered reservoir will not cause the cartridge to leak, it should be covered with a suitable tape, else you are bypassing the vent maze. One of the purposes of the vent maze is to minimize vaporisation from the cartridge.

 

[MP640]

Thank you, I have covered the hole with tape again.

Today's lesson is to be carefull with removing the label when uncovering the refill hole.

 

[websnail]

Thank you, I have covered the hole with tape again.

Make sure it's aluminium tape to be sure it's properly sealed

Today's lesson is to be carefull with removing the label when uncovering the refill hole.

Mine was "don't get out of bed!"

 

[printermayhem]

How are you finding the top fill method?

 

[MP640]

How are you finding the top fill method?

Works very well for me, especially with Websnails SquEasyFill bottles and lowered plugs. I used the German Durchstich method for a while but came back to top filling.

 

[PeterBJ]

I refill the BCI-3e/BCI-6, PGI-5/CLI-8, and PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges. For the two older cartridge sets the German refill method is my preferred refill method, but I have had problems with the newer PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges refilled by the German method, so for these cartridges top filling is now my preferred method.

When top filling, sealing of the ink chamber after refill is essential. A bad seal will cause the cartridge to leak. I recommend using low profile silicone plugs plus aluminium tape for sealing the cartridges.

With this sealing method the top filling method works very well for me.

BTW printermayhem, did you mean how to find instructions for top filling? Here are a couple of links: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6264 and: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8430