How long will Canon Sponge cartridges in a CFS?

[ocular]

One of the limitations of refilling Canon cartridges seems to be that the sponge fails.

How long will the sponge cartridges last in a CFS? I have been told that they will last a lot longer because they are always full of ink. Is this true?

Those that have had a CFS for some time may be able to answer this question.

 

[tyamada]

You might want to look at Colrobat web site, I seem to remember seeing a post about the sponges not lasting that long in their CFS. They had a problem with ink not feeding properly after awhile.

 

[Nifty]

I read somewhere... can't remember where, that a company had problems with the number of times the carts could be refilled, so they got the sponges from another manufacturer and this made them more durable and lasted longer for refilling.

I too am under the impression that a constantly wet sponge lasts longer in a cartridge than one that goes from dry to wet to dry to wet. Personally, I think it is the constant changing of this wet / dry state that really effects the sponge, but that is just a guess.

Anyway, this is why I'm a believer in topping off my cartridges instead of waiting until they run dry.

 

[ocular]

I gather that many of the Epson CFS are now "spongeless" to try and overcome cartridge failure. Interestingly enough there doe seem to be some spongeless canon cartridges around - see colorbat,
The refill instructions look easy and they suggest that that it is not important for the plug to seal completely. It sounds as though removing the tape opens the air maze to allow some resistance to ink outflow.
I haven't heard of these being modified for CFS. Bit it sounds as if the air maze comes sealed with the tape in place and for a CFS it would be just a matter of putting the ink inlet tube straight into the filler hole.

Anyone tried these spongeless cartridges?

 

[BlasterQ]

the spongless canon cartridge at colorbat isn't really totally spongeless. there is still a small sponge right at the area where the printhead takes the ink from the carts. if the sponge is the same quality as that of the sponge used in a regular cartridge, i don't see any reason why a smaller amount of sponge will solve the 'sponge degration' problem.