How do I purge German filled cartridges?

[OM2]

How do I purge German filled cartridges?

I've seen a few videos on YouTube that show how to do for top filled cartridges
But I haven't seen any yet for German filled ones

ALSO... I have purchased some old genuine empty cartridges from ebay
This was 2 years ago! I've never needed to try and use
Is it worth me spending time and effort purging these?

The videos I've seen on youtube involve flushing water down a cartridge - ok if done one at a time!
But I've got loads of cartridges that I've purchased
So, this is there a way to mass purge altogether?

Thanks


Omar

 

[pharmacist]

Close the vent hole with strong sealing tape and fill a large syringe with ordinary tap water. Push water into the ink chamber as you would refill using the the german durchstich refill method, but keep pushing water into it so the sponge will be oversaturated and at the end the water will be pushed out from the ink outlet hole. Repeat this process several times until the sponge is almost completely white (not possible with the pigment black cartridge, which will be stained grayish black). The last "refill" must be done with destilled water to clear out any minerals present in tap water.

Now: remove the tape sealing the vent hole and put your mouth above it and blow, so the water will be pushed away from the cartridge (watch out: water will escape from the refill hole too horizontally, so take your precautions). It should be almost ready for refill now.

You might want to recondition the sponge (when it is completely dry) to increase ink absoprtion capacity, by injecting the following solution into the cartridge:

-3 % propylene glycol
-20 % isopropyl alcohol/ethanol
-destilled water up to 100 %

Again after soaking the sponge: blow away the solution from the sponge with our mouth over the vent hole. You can now let it completely dry so the moisture will be completely removed from the sponge. The propylene glycol will be left on the sponge material causing a tiny layer on the internal sponge cavities like a lubricating and moisture attracting layer, so ink will penetrate much more deeper in the sponge, enhancing ink absorption degree.

 

[OM2]

@pharmacist, thats an awesome reply

You might want to recondition the sponge (when it is completely dry) to increase ink absoprtion capacity, by injecting the following solution into the cartridge:

-3 % propylene glycol
-20 % isopropyl alcohol/ethanol
-destilled water up to 100 %

can you say a bit more about 'might'?
it's definitely a 'might' and not a 'must'?

distilled water upto 100%? i didnt realise u could get 50% distill water?
i thought distill water was just distil water?

getting the ingredients together is a problem for me - i've looked into it before and getting them in quantities that make it economical doesnt really make sense for me + i dont like keeping such ingredients int he house with kids running around!

also: i've bought a cleaning solution for print heads from ebay
will this solution be ok to use instead of the formula u suggest?
i dont want togo advertising the seller of the solution - if u search on ebay, there's quite a few last time i looked

thanks

 

[pharmacist]

up to 100 % means: if you take 3 ml propylene glycol and 20 ml isopropyl alcohol then add destilled water up to 100 ml. 100 % does mean to the total volume. Substitute % by parts and you may understand it.

Propylene glycol is completely potable and safe, but you can substitute it with glycerol. Propylene glycol is not to be confused with the dangerous and toxic diethylene glycol.

You can use commercial cleaning solutions, but these are more for printhead cleaning and despite you can use it: I think it will be much more expensive than mixing it yourself.

 

[cls]

I mixed 10 Liters of cleaning solution so far and sold even a Set of "purging" DIY cartriges to a customer of mine, acutally is a partner, he prints wide format >44" for me when I need them since my printers are all limited to 17" (epson 3880 and 4000).

He has an Epson 9800, I bought a set of refillable cartriges from aliexpress for less then 90 shipping took only 5 workdays.
Now he has 5 Liters of cleaning solution, each cartrige filled with 300ml solution.

His printer went clogged after 5 weeks of absence due to hospitalisation, they called in Epson service it did cost 500 since the printers was out of warranty. Now He only paid me 100 for the cartriges and solution he had two major cloggs with magentas and photoblack.

It even flushes out the dampers very very good and the whole Ink-transport system.

 

[crenedecotret]

A quick question for pharmacist.. I have 99% isopropanol and pure glycerin that my wife uses to make home made "clear" soap. Seems close enough to propylene glycol... do you think it would work? I have a couple of bone dry PGI-5 i'd like to condition before I try filling

thanks