New technique to clean BCI-6 carts

[Nifty]

Here is a photo (to satisfy Rob's voracious apetite for photos)

It's funny because it is true!

 

[AlienSteve]

JV,
Since purging my carts I have noted that the refilled carts drip a few drops when they are first removed from the storage clips (as was reported earlier for the Wired Beans carts). This applies equally to OEM, Old IG, New IG and Wired Beans carts. This isn't a problem as long as you expect it, and I take this behavior as a positive indication that the cart is not starving the ink pickup. Since I also switched bulk ink suppliers at the same time as I purged the carts, I can't say whether this behavior is caused by the clean carts and repositioned sponges or if it is because of the new ink. Have you noticed similar dripping with your inks?

That's because you've overfilled them by allowing/forcing the sponge to absorb ink right to the top. I see a lot of people obsessed with removing every last bit of air, even from spongeless cartridges, and this defeats the ink pressure regulation of the cartridge.

 

[Grandad35]

That's because you've overfilled them by allowing/forcing the sponge to absorb ink right to the top. I see a lot of people obsessed with removing every last bit of air, even from spongeless cartridges, and this defeats the ink pressure regulation of the cartridge.

I tend to disagree. After I first purged my carts they tended to drip. This is no longer the case after (on average) 5-6 refills/cart, even though they are still "overfilled" to the same degree as before.

I will soon be re-purging my entire stock of carts, and it will be interesting to see if the dripping returns. At this time, I suspect that the filters have been slowiy plugging up and making it harder for the ink to flow.

Bear in mind that the printer has functioned perfectly throughout this entire time, and that the dripping has not caused any operational problems - it is merely an observation of a behavior that was different from what I saw before I purged the carts.

 

[AlienSteve]

The fact that they drip- and OEMs don't. If any ink does drip through the head because of this, it will only last until it's run down the ink in the sponge a bit. And one night, or a few pages printed will take care of that.

Because the cartridges in the BJC 6000 (BCI3 black and BCI6 color) are so large, I was buying OEMs for many years. All of them had no or little ink in the top half of the sponge. Some seemed to have a different texture of sponge in the top half that tended not to absorb ink easily.

Then for several years I've refilled. I found if I allowed the sponge to absorb too much ink, the cartridge would drip. Since I don't want to have ink dripping into my printer, I simply tape over the air inlet hole before I re-open the fill hole.

The open half of the cartridge is the ink tank. The wall with the opening at the bottom feeds ink at a level roughly equal to the top of that opening, like an automatic dog bowl. The sponge is there to: prevent the ink from sloshing around, to wick ink into the head, and to prevent the ink from just running out when the cartridge is not in the printer and provide sort of a virtual negative pressure. Pour a half-cup of water into your sink, it all runs down the drain. Now set a sponge in the sink and pour the half-cup of water into it. You can get the water out by either sucking it out, or wicking it out.

Now stand the sponge on end and water runs out until it reaches a new equilibrium.

Nonsponged cartridges have essentially the same mechanism in them for regulating ink pressure. Some spaces in them are not meant to be filled with ink. Most people don't notice, because they assume any missing nozzles are air or because they changed cartridges, so they run a cleaning or two and it sucks enough ink out to clear those spaces.

But it's just wasted ink.

 

[mikling]

The sponge properties are matched to the properties of the ink. Thus the OEM cartridges don't leak. However when the OEM is refilled with third party ink with the proper/similar properties of the OEM it does not leak even when filled close to the top. Regardless of the ink, it will find its equilibrium point when it the excess ink drips out with proper ink there is pretty much no drips at all.
The sponge produces a balancing act by adjusting the tendency of the ink to drip due to its weight with the tendency of the ink to wick up and climb due to surface tension. All sponge cartridges work this way.
What one will note is that the residual ink after a few refills will cause the properties of the new ink to change when it is reabsorbed and dissolves with the old ink residue within the sponge. This probably explains why a "purging" or "cleaning" process will rejuvenate the sponges.

 

[panos]

I use rubber plugs to seal my cartridges.

After refilling and sealing the cartridge I place some sticky tape on the air vent of the sponge area and then insert the needle through the rubber plug to suck all air from the ink reservoire. That creates a nice pressure balance between the two areas and the cartridge looks nicely refilled. (I have to make sure that no air comes from the air vent or the exit port while sucking the air, so I hold the cartridge with my fingers from both areas).

Here is a recently refilled cartridge. It doesn't drip, although it's full to the brim.

 

[ghwellsjr]

AlienSteve--thanks for the links at the bottom of your posts. I am trying to unclog an Epson CX4600 for my neighbor and had just about given up but I will try your window wipe technique.

Also, for everyone else, if you'd like to read more about "sponges", read this link from Mick Carlotta:

http://users.adelphia.net/~inkprocessusa/inkprocess/foam.html

It almost makes you afraid to try any refilling process but keep in mind he is talking mainly about cartridges with built-in heads.

Personally, I vacuum fill my OEM BCI cartridges and they come out completely saturated and drip for a while. I blow in the air vent just a little and put tape over the outlet port before storing them. Sometimes when I go to use the cartridges weeks or months later and remove the tape, there is ink on the tape and the outlet port so I have a tissue ready to soak it up. I've never had any problems with the cartridges using this technique.

 

[fotofreek]

GH - There is a participant on the comp.periphs.printer newsgroup named Arthur Entlich who has made up an Epson Printhead Cleaning manual. He will send it to you as an attachment if you email him. Really excellent. I cleared a printhead clog with it. Just describe the problem, printer model, etc, in your email.
e-printerhelp@mvps.org

 

[AlienSteve]

Here is a recently refilled cartridge. It doesn't drip, although it's full to the brim.

But the -sponge- is not full to the brim. Nothing wrong with filling the spongeless tank side to the brim.

 

[panos]

That's right: if the sponge area gets full to the brim then some dripping will occur.

(If you mean that the sponge in my photo does not look homogenously filled, I will agree. I would prefer that it looked better but at least it does work fine.)