New technique to clean BCI-6 carts

[billcf]

This works for me

http://underside.110mb.com/Carclean/

 

[lin]

Hi Grandad35 & billcf, thanks for sharing what are the alternatives to these tubing that I could explore.

Btw, Grandad35 & Defcon2k, thanks for sharing on how to clean these cartridges. It's very helpful. And I saw Defcon2k's youtube video on cleaning these cartridge as well , though I don't understand a single words on the video.

 

[Nifty]

This works for me

http://underside.110mb.com/Carclean/

That is amazing in its simplicity and obvious effectiveness! I love it!!

 

[pharmacist]

The problem is when you want to clean the chipped versions (CLI-8 + PGI-5) without staining the chip (water, ink) with the shower method. Does someone know how to clean those carts without a drop of water on the chip ?

 

[stratman]

This works for me

http://underside.110mb.com/Carclean/

I have a one of those attachments but none of the spray outlets fits snuggly into/over the exit port of the cartridge.

How are you maintaining a tight seal?

 

[canonfodder]

The problem is when you want to clean the chipped versions (CLI-8 + PGI-5) without staining the chip (water, ink) with the shower method. Does someone know how to clean those carts without a drop of water on the chip ?

Pharmacist,

If you use Grandad35's cartridge purging method, http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=311, you can be a bit cautious and not allow water to flow over the chip. You just have to manage how you hold the cartridge to be sure that the exiting water flows away from the chip.

I have not had any trouble with chipped carts when I let the chip get wet, but I do make sure that I blow out the water from behind the chip and allow a good long drying period before using the cart. The drying period for the purged cartridge is necessary anyway as the sponges need to dry out or you will have ink dilution.

 

[lin]

Hi I tried washing the canon cartridges. I dried them for a couple of days, now the Black PG5BK & CLI-8BK sponge have difficulty absorbing the inks. May I know if anyone here have suggestion on how I can get the ink into the sponge. I tried pressing the sponge area inside the cartridge as suggested by member but still not couldn't get a lot of ink soak up by the sponge.

Thanks.

 

[Tin Ho]

What is the ink you are using? Maybe the ink is the problem. Try to wet the sponge with water. The sponge does not need to be totally dry before being refilled.

 

[Smile]

Hi I tried washing the canon cartridges. I dried them for a couple of days, now the Black PG5BK & CLI-8BK sponge have difficulty absorbing the inks. May I know if anyone here have suggestion on how I can get the ink into the sponge. I tried pressing the sponge area inside the cartridge as suggested by member but still not couldn't get a lot of ink soak up by the sponge.

Thanks.

This is a phenomemon if you use hard water to clean the cartridges IMO. If you use tap water (who doesn't) you need to use ditilled water to clean them from any minerals. And if your water is very hard this becomes a problem.

It happened to my black cartridge a year ago, and using distilled water fixed the problem, now I use vaccum fill method to avoid purging altogether, I also use distilled water for purging.

 

[fotofreek]

I would guess that our San Francisco water must be fairly soft. I've used hot tap water for three years to purge Canon carts (dye based) and have just retired some that I've refilled for three years. Lin - you need to really dry the carts out before refilling. Slight moisture over the top of the sponge seems to be ok, but the sponge has to be as dry as you can get it. After purging I put my mouth up to each opening and blow out as much water as I can. I then use as wet/dry vacuum to pull as much water out as possible. I then put the carts on edge in front of a small fan for a few days to dry the carts as much as possible.

sometimes, when refilling a purged cart the first time, the sponge saturates very quickly, and sometimes I have to tap the cart on the table to get the ink to saturate the sponge farthest from the fill hole. Doesn't seem to make any difference as they all work well after purging/refilling. Eventually you do need to retire some carts after several cycles. I think the feed problems I've encountered with carts that have been purged several times and look extremely clean are caused by dried ink getting into the little maze air channel and slowing air return at the air vent which in turn limits ink flow for printing. The reason I think so is that I had this happen last week, used a push pin to open the air vent hole directly and avoid the maze, and then it printed perfectly. Not bad for an original cart that came with my printer over three years ago and has been refilled countless times.