I like cjm's cleaning device - He subscribes to the KISS principle. Keep It Simple, Stupid! I always manage to make these things more complicated than they need to be. Here's a photo of the purge device I made recently.
It consists of a quick connect adaptor that screws onto the sink faucet spout, 6 inches of reinforced hose, an adaptor to attach to six inches of smaller diameter hose, and hose clamps to secure all the hoses. The red hose is 200 pound air compressor hose material. I used it because Granddad mentioned that his poly hose ends became stretched from the hot water plus repeated use and had to be trimmed down to a place where the hose had not been deformed. The red hose fits tightly on the cart's ink outlet port. It still has to be held onto the cart, however, and Granddad's addition of a cart holder is much better.
After purging the carts Granddad vacuums as much water out as possible and either puts them in the sun to dry or into an oven at low heat as described in his most comprehensive instructions. I added a simple "forced air" system which worked quite well. I left all ports open, rubber banded them together in groups of six, and stood them up in the path of a small room fan for several hours.
The carts I purged were a dozen Alotofthings Arrow carts that were prefilled with ink I decided not to use and a set of six OEM carts that have been in use with many refills for more than one year. They all filled very easily and the sponges fully absorbed the ink almost immediately. For those of us who have refilled OEM carts you know that the upper sponge area doesn't accept ink well after a few refills. After purging and drying the upper and lower sponges drank the ink perfectly.
After purging and refilling the Arrow carts worked flawlessly. I haven't used the OEM carts yet, but I'm sure they will work as new. Great technique - thanks Granddad!!
It consists of a quick connect adaptor that screws onto the sink faucet spout, 6 inches of reinforced hose, an adaptor to attach to six inches of smaller diameter hose, and hose clamps to secure all the hoses. The red hose is 200 pound air compressor hose material. I used it because Granddad mentioned that his poly hose ends became stretched from the hot water plus repeated use and had to be trimmed down to a place where the hose had not been deformed. The red hose fits tightly on the cart's ink outlet port. It still has to be held onto the cart, however, and Granddad's addition of a cart holder is much better.
After purging the carts Granddad vacuums as much water out as possible and either puts them in the sun to dry or into an oven at low heat as described in his most comprehensive instructions. I added a simple "forced air" system which worked quite well. I left all ports open, rubber banded them together in groups of six, and stood them up in the path of a small room fan for several hours.
The carts I purged were a dozen Alotofthings Arrow carts that were prefilled with ink I decided not to use and a set of six OEM carts that have been in use with many refills for more than one year. They all filled very easily and the sponges fully absorbed the ink almost immediately. For those of us who have refilled OEM carts you know that the upper sponge area doesn't accept ink well after a few refills. After purging and drying the upper and lower sponges drank the ink perfectly.
After purging and refilling the Arrow carts worked flawlessly. I haven't used the OEM carts yet, but I'm sure they will work as new. Great technique - thanks Granddad!!
