My Canon manual says I shouldn't refill. How objective is that?

[PenguinLust]

Not that they say that, exactly. What the manual says is:

Use new ink tanks for replacement. Installing used ink tanks may cause the nozzles to clog. Furthermore, with such ink tanks, the machine will not be able to inform you when to replace the ink tanks properly

In another part of the manual it says:

Please be advised that Canon shall not be liable for any machine malfunction or damage caused by refilled ink tanks.

Unfortunately, this new printer has 6 tanks and some of them are already half way down! (Crikey!) I figure it must be well over 100$ to replace them all. What kind of trouble am I looking at by ignoring these warnings?
It's an MG6120 and most of the tanks are the CLI-226 variety, except the pigment which is PGI-225

 

[gigigogu]

With good quality ink, proper refill technique and normal usage pattern (printing at least weekly), none.

Let's look from costs angle.
A new IP4850 price is 350 monetary units. One OEM 525/526 cartridge is 50 units. After replacing one time all 526s and 3 times the 525, with OEM cartridges, I would pay again the price of printer.
On the other hand,
Bulk ink set is 60 units. A resetter is 150 units. So after refilling just one time all cartridges I "paid" the ink and resetter. After refilling two more times all cartridges I "paid" the printer. From this point forward each refill is net gain. Is very unlikely, with good quality ink and proper refill technique, not to pass 3 refills of a cartridge.

 

[PenguinLust]

I don't think I know what you mean. What is "none"? I also got lost in "units", "resetter" and I don't know what it means to "pass" a refill.

I've gotten pretty good at the German technique with my last Canon. I still have some of the inks left over (BCI-type) but they probably aren't usable, are they? In that case, someone should tell me what environmentally friendly ways I should dispose of them.

 

[gigigogu]

The joys of communicating in a foreign language....

What kind of trouble am I looking at by ignoring these warnings?

It is unlikely to encounter any kind of trouble if you use for refill a dedicated, proven, good quality ink, if the refill technique is right, and you do not let the printer unused for a long period.

The whole thing with "units" was just an example to do the math that shows, if you are able to refill and re-use at least 3 times each cartridge in your printer without damaging the printer, you save enough money compared with buying OEM cartridges, to cover the price of a new printer, the bulk ink and the resetter, so if the printer is damaged after these refills, it still worth to refill and not to buy OEM cartridge replacements. The exact calculation may differ for your case, depending on the prices for of a new printer, OEM cartridges, bulk ink, resetter and so on.
However, if you print only about 300 pages in a year forget the whole refill thing and go with OEM replacement cartridges.

A "resetter" is a device that modify the information stored in a cartridge chip, in such way the printer will consider the cartridge being full of ink. If you are making the transition from a BCI 3/6 printer to a 225/226 printer a nasty surprise awaits... small, opaque and chipped cartridges...

"Pass" was used as in "to go beyond" - a cartridge being refilled and re-used more than 3 times (currently for my IP4850 the numbers are 25 for 525 cartridge and 10 for each 526 cartridge, and still no "troubles" yet).

Your BCI type ink is not good for a 225/226 based printer.

 

[PenguinLust]

Oh, I see. You're saying that by refilling I'll have saved myself the value of an entire printer if I manage not to do any damage before 3 refills. I know, it must be a matter of an awful lot overhead for cartridges that printers have come down in price so much, but ink is still way up there.

The thing is, 300 pages per year doesn't sound all that far off, but then again, who's counting? (I can't seem to figure out how to get a report on the total number of pages printed in the device's lifetime) Nevertheless, what I've printed so far has about half the ink from some of the tanks on it. I seem to be consuming ink rather quickly. Do you still think I should buy new ones? I'd like to solve this soon, because I have rather a lot of things to print and don't want to be stuck w/out ink. Thanks.

 

[fotofreek]

Oh, I see. You're saying that by refilling I'll have saved myself the value of an entire printer if I manage not to do any damage before 3 refills. I know, it must be a matter of an awful lot overhead for cartridges that printers have come down in price so much, but ink is still way up there.

The thing is, 300 pages per year doesn't sound all that far off, but then again, who's counting? (I can't seem to figure out how to get a report on the total number of pages printed in the device's lifetime) Nevertheless, what I've printed so far has about half the ink from some of the tanks on it. I seem to be consuming ink rather quickly. Do you still think I should buy new ones? I'd like to solve this soon, because I have rather a lot of things to print and don't want to be stuck w/out ink. Thanks.

It isn't that the price of the printers have come down so much. The model they use is to provide the printer at a low price and they then have you "trapped" to sell you the overly expensive ink cartridges over and over again. They catch you, financially, on the consumeables. It is also a "rule of thumb" that the least expensive printers end up having the most expensive consumables! Some of the low cost printers cost little more than the cartridges they come with.

The best strategy is to have a spare set of ink carts always full so that you can replace one when the ink is low or out and you are involved in printing several things. Better than having to stop to refill a cart in the middle of a printing session. Also, you can buy enough refill ink to use over a two year time or less as these inks are regarded as having a two year shelf life. Although the temptation is to buy more ink due to a better price per ounce, refilling is so inexpensive compared to OEM carts that your savings are substantial, even with purchasing lower quantities of ink at a time.

As mentioned in other responses to your questions, only buy good quality ink that is specifically formulated for your brand and model of printer. See which brands of ink are reported on this forum to be safe for the printer and a close color match for the original inks.

 

[PenguinLust]

Ok, so fotofreek seems to think I just do the refill thing again. I used Precision Colors for the BCI ones, because someone recommended them, being Canadian. Searching on "CLI-226", PC is the only name I've come across. (I guess I can still find my old syringe kit) So is that what I should do? What about the resetter? I've a bit of confusion about that. Some talk about proceeding by disabling the ink level testing, which sounds awfully dangerous to me.

 

[msmart]

Get squeeze bottles, much easier than syringes. Forum member "mapsy" sells 226/225 resetters: http://www.inkjetreset.com/Cli-226-Resetter.html

 

[gigigogu]

... because I have rather a lot of things to print ...

All right, then go on for refill.

IS ink was reported here to be very good, so is ok.

A resetter is not mandatory but simplifies a lot the refiller life. There are workarounds to estimate the ink level but in all of them one have to take out the cartridge from printer to gauge the level, resulting in a lot of ink being wasted (every time a cartridge is took out and reinserted the printer will prime the printhead) and the waste ink pad filled faster (thus shortening a bit the printer life).
So my advice is to buy and use a resetter (designed to work with 225/226 cartridges).

There are other things you can consider, like chip swap with 220/221 empty OEM cartridges, and a second set of cartridges as fotofreek said, each thing giving an advantage over just one set of opaque 225/226 cartridges.

 

[PenguinLust]

Squeeze bottle? I suppose they are simpler, but if I were to try using a squeeze bottle to perform the German method, I'd get far more ink on me than in the tank. I'm guessing you are thinking of the top fill method. I'd rather not deal w/the headaches of trying to maintain a seal.

It looks like a resetter will save me a world of misery.

One last question: can I get a tutorial on how to perform the refill for a CLI? I'd look for it myself but couldn't be sure if I'd found what was authoritative.