Injector needles

[stratman]

Nomad8u:

If you are from Pennsylvania, as your info suggests, then you do live in one of those "nanny states" per Joe from alotofthings.com. I'm in Ohio and our idiot legislators have passed prohibitive laws too. According to Joe, most of the Eastern US have passed prohibitive laws.

But "ink junkies" being a shrewd inventive bunch will always find workarounds like the one from Pharmacist!

Necessity - The mother of all invention.

 

[billkunert]

I took the 3 inch 16 guage injectors and honed them at an angle of about 30 degrees on a diamond hone. It gives a very sharp tip and will go through the sponge in a CLI 8 with no difficulty so my problem is solved.

 

[pebe]

I tried the German method and only got the needle into the right place after three attempts. I thought that if I had the same problems at each refill I would end up with a ruined sponge.

So I have tried a variation of the idea. I took another cart and drilled in from the side at an angle of 45 from the foam side to meet the opening from the tank. On a BCI-3BK the path is about 1/2" and it only needs a short needle to fill.

I've filled the tank OK, and it doesn't leak. I'm now waiting for the present cart to need replacing, then I can see if it works OK.

 

[nomad8u]

Nomad8u:
If you are from Pennsylvania, as your info suggests, then you do live in one of those "nanny states" per Joe from alotofthings.com. I'm in Ohio and our idiot legislators have passed prohibitive laws too.

Stratman: Thanks for the leg work. I am from PA and yes we have idiot legislators too. It's nice to know we're being protected from all these dangerous thing in life :/. I won't bother Joe with the question. I see you were trying a 50mm needle. that comes out to about 2" vs. the 3" I was shooting for. (I haven't ever refilled a cartridge yet let alone tried the Dursich method..) So if you've tried the 50mm injectors, are they long enough? I king of had the impression from one of the posts I read that 2.5-3" (6-7 centimeters) was going to be necessary. I guess I'll have to pull a cartridge and measure before I buy. I have a local pharmacy that I'm going to try for the "spinal tap" syringes. I'm looking for the smallest diameter possible to keep the damage to the sponge minimal.

 

[pharmacist]

I tried the German method and only got the needle into the right place after three attempts. I thought that if I had the same problems at each refill I would end up with a ruined sponge.

So I have tried a variation of the idea. I took another cart and drilled in from the side at an angle of 45 from the foam side to meet the opening from the tank. On a BCI-3BK the path is about 1/2" and it only needs a short needle to fill.

I've filled the tank OK, and it doesn't leak. I'm now waiting for the present cart to need replacing, then I can see if it works OK.

To steer into the desired direction just rotate the syringe a bit: don't pierce to fast, if necessary retract a bit and go again. If you use a sharp needle it is unlikely you will ruin your sponge. I happened to me too before: I had to pierce several time before I got to the ink chamber.

Very nice you found an alternative to the "classical" method.

 

[mrelmo]

i have also been concerned about the availabilityof the needle that i would need, so i purchased 2 different sizes from alot of things 2.5" 18Ga and a 3.5" 22Ga they both are blunt when i received them i took the 2.5" and put it on a bench grinder and ground a point on it that works great also the 18 Ga fits very nice in the hole i made just by using a push pin i think the 22 Ga is much too thick, and at 32 cents each you can't go wrong

 

[Beetlenut]

Okay...Please correct me if I'm wrong, cuz this got me a little confused & I may be mistaken but, I thought that the higher the gauge number, the thinner the needle? Wouldn't a 22g needle be thinner than a 18g or 16g?

I only ask because at the time I ordered a bunch of needles, I ordered both 22g and 18g not knowing what size would work best. I'm using the thinnest size, of course, which I was sure was the 22g. When I reorder in the future, I want to be sure.

Sorry to steer this thread off course a bit :/
Thank's

 

[stratman]

I see you were trying a 50mm needle. that comes out to about 2" vs. the 3" I was shooting for. (I haven't ever refilled a cartridge yet let alone tried the Dursich method..) So if you've tried the 50mm injectors, are they long enough? I king of had the impression from one of the posts I read that 2.5-3" (6-7 centimeters) was going to be necessary. I guess I'll have to pull a cartridge and measure before I buy. I have a local pharmacy that I'm going to try for the "spinal tap" syringes. I'm looking for the smallest diameter possible to keep the damage to the sponge minimal.

I have not tried the Dursich?German method of refilling yet. I was trying to gather the necessary needles to try it. I read in a recent post that someone was using 50mm length needles and so I began my enquires with that as the smallest length usable. I agree that an extra centimeter or two would be optimal (2.5-3.0 inch total length). Unfortunately in my state the longer "spinal" needles (length greater than 1.5 inches?) are not available with a sharp tip due to dumb laws.

With needles, the higher the gauge number the smaller the diameter of the needle. (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/Area_of...ces/Technical_Library/Needle_Gauge_Chart.html) For example, an 18 gauge needle has a larger diameter (and therefore is easier to push liquids through) than a 23 gauge needle. Viscous fluids, such as pigmented inks, will take longer to push through a larger gauge (smaller diameter) needle. Those that ride a motorcycle will have an advantage in pushing ink because of their kung fu grip of death!

 

[mrelmo]

hmmmmm, i was also confused about needle gauge that's why i ordered 2 different sizes, the needles i ordered from alotofthings are 2.5" 18g, 3.5" 22g the 18g actually will slide into the 22g, to avoid confusion my receipt shows that the 18g is 2.5" long and the 22g is 3.5" long i'm not trying to add to the confusion this is just what i have recieved

 

[Beetlenut]

Thank's, Stratman. As I thought.

2.5" x 22g is what I'm using. Thin enough to be a nice tight fit through a push pin hole but large enough to allow free & easy passage of ink without restriction.

I only use the blunt tip so I can't be of any help with the law restrictions you may have to deal with. I'm not gonna deal with a bunch of sharp tips I will indeed stick myself with, , when a blunt tip has proved to work well and not damage the sponge. See the original German method introduction thread, by Defcon2k, http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=719&p=2 (page-2 post #15). Also where he gets his needles, (page-4 post#37).

A lot of concerns were brought up including sponge damage by Canonfodder, (page-7 post #65), until Defcon2k pierced his cart sponge some 300 times with no noticeable deterioration of the sponge. (page-7 post #68)

The sponge will move no matter what needle you use...It's always a good idea to tap your cart to make sure the sponge maintains tight contact with the ink exit port.

Another thread to check out: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2184

My opinions, of course, use whatever method or equipment thats comfortable to you. This is what has worked with great success for me. My OEM carts on my ip6700D have been refilled over 10-times each so far, with no noticeable signs of failure or quagulated ink.

Thank's for your time & all who I've learned from here!