Make ink thicker?

[pharmacist]

Lin, the saturation degree in your cartridges looks OK to me and not oversaturated. See my pictures of the PM cart in my post about the Durchstichmethod.

 

[Tin Ho]

The only possible cause that is not ruled out is the quality of ink. Although I doubt it but but it is easy to prove it. Just buy new ink and give it a shot.

 

[lin]

Lin, the saturation degree in your cartridges looks OK to me and not oversaturated. See my pictures of the PM cart in my post about the Durchstichmethod.

pharmacist, Thanks for verifying whether if my sponge was overfilled.

The only possible cause that is not ruled out is the quality of ink. Although I doubt it but but it is easy to prove it. Just buy new ink and give it a shot.

Tin Ho, I know you have doubt the ink could really be the cause of the 'runny ink' issue but why not. Afterall ink from different China manufacturers could varies slightly? I have read some ink viscosity could be off. Even Grandad post on measure ink viscosity which canonfodder had linked mentioned there had been references.

I wonder if Grandad could help take a look at my pictures at post #6 and provide some input if the inks doesn't look a bit runnly (or low in viscosity).

By the way, Smile, if you ever do vacuum refill in your next refill when your cartridge goes empty, would you be kind enough to update this post again with picture of a 'Before and After' result of your vacuum refill. I am excited to see the 'Before and After' effect of refilled cartridge by vacuum refill method.

 

[Grandad35]

I am excited to see the 'Before and After' effect of refilled cartridge by vacuum refill method.

This link shows some early attempts at vacuum refilling, including a few video clips of the process (toward the bottom) that you might find of interest.

I wonder if Grandad could help take a look at my pictures at post #6 and provide some input if the inks doesn't look a bit runnly (or low in viscosity).

Your carts look normal, as far as can be seen from the photos. I dont know of any way to judge the viscosity by looking at a photo.

I use the search engine to find if there is any solution to my problem with ink being too diluted and runs out from nozzles too readily

You started with a statement that ink was running from the nozzles based on the photos in this post. If you have a black ink formulation problem, it wouldnt be the viscosity that would cause leaking nozzles it would probably be a low surface tension problem. The surface tension would have to be close to zero for the nozzles to drip, which is highly unlikely. Are you sure that the sponge under the black head isnt saturated with ink? There are numerous posts in this forum on this subject and its cures.

 

[lin]

You started with a statement that ink was running from the nozzles based on the photos in this post. If you have a black ink formulation problem, it wouldnt be the viscosity that would cause leaking nozzles it would probably be a low surface tension problem. The surface tension would have to be close to zero for the nozzles to drip, which is highly unlikely. Are you sure that the sponge under the black head isnt saturated with ink? There are numerous posts in this forum on this subject and its cures.

Hi Grandad, Thanks for your input.

When I said ink was running from the nozzles, I meant -----> During printing, ink comes out from the nozzles during printing as it's supposed to (so this is normal). But just look at the base. Don't the ink looks runnly (a bit more liquidity) such that it spread across the surface area of the printhead base. I wouldn't say it drip out of the nozzles because it's not dripping. See the pictures from post #6 again.



And I don't know which sponge under the black head you are referring. Are u referring to the filter at the printhead inklet hole or the sponge inside the black pigment cartridges?

If it's filter at the printhead inklet hole, then see this picture at post #8. There is some ink on the filter but it does not run across the printhead inklet hole such that it cause sany pool of ink anywhere nearby.



If it's the sponge inside the black pigment cartridge, the bottom sponge has sufficient ink saturation.

 

[Grandad35]

The sponge that I was referring to is shown in the first photo in this post. These sponges are pushed up against the print head when it is parked at its "home" position to keep the nozzles from drying out. You can also see the wiper blades that are periodically scraped across the bottom of the print head to clean those surfaces.

These sponges can become saturated with ink, especially if the "cleaning pump" malfunctions or if the suction tubing becomes blocked.

 

[lin]

The sponge that I was referring to is shown in the first photo in this post. These sponges are pushed up against the print head when it is parked at its "home" position to keep the nozzles from drying out. You can also see the wiper blades that are periodically scraped across the bottom of the print head to clean those surfaces.

These sponges can become saturated with ink, especially if the "cleaning pump" malfunctions or if the suction tubing becomes blocked.

Hi Grandad35, thanks for the clarification. The absorber pad at the right side where the printhead usually parked itself during power down is damped with ink. I could pick up inks with my fingers from the absorber pad. As for the sponge right underneath the printhead when the printhead slide across during printing, it's dry. There is no ink found at this big rectangular sponge.

Sorry I couldn't produce any new pictures for the absorber pad and sponge at these moment. I could produce the photos only a week or 2 weeks later maybe.

 

[Tin Ho]

Lin, your last photo in the post #26, a catridge above a glass cup, shows that the sponge was fully saturated. It seems you are ruling out overfilling as the cause of your problem yet I see overfilled cartridge in the photo.

 

[lin]

Lin, your last photo in the post #26, a catridge above a glass cup, shows that the sponge was fully saturated. It seems you are ruling out overfilling as the cause of your problem yet I see overfilled cartridge in the photo.

The cartridge above a glass at post #26 is also the same cartridge at post #20 (which is this picture below).



Try to see the color at the top and bottom sponge of the cartridge that was placed the glass. You will notice there the sponge at the bottom is saturated with ink. The color is darker and it look denser while the top sponge is of a different color. The top sponge looks more gray.

 

[Tin Ho]

There are two layers of sponge in Canon OEM ink cartridges. I think the upper half of the sponge always look lighter even if it's over saturated. The cartridge on the top of the glass has little or no white. So it looks oversaturated to me. I think we can sit behind the screen forever trying to determine if the cartridge is overfilled. But you can also determine that in seconds by using the trick I suggested. Why not just take the cartridges out and simply blow air into the vent to expell some ink out of the sponge then try some printing again? You can blow out all the ink in the sponge if you want. The print head will stop its running nose instantly. It fixed my printer that way. I never have the problem again.