New weapon of Canon: new carts to replace CLI-221/521 and PGI-220/520

[The Hat]

I would have taught the opposite is the way forward. If we dont buy the newest printers from Canon then how can we expect to crack their latest technology, only then will we be able to show Canon the middle finger..

 

[Parhs]

Nothing new for these?

 

[mrelmo]

i have the mp560 and mp620 which will be xmas presents (they are wireless) and i haven't opened them yet, they both use the 221 carts, resetters are now available and i will use the top fill with rubber plugs. the latest info i heard was the clearance between the top of the cartridges and the case is very little so the printhead will get stuck. the case may need to be trimed to allow the printhead to move from side to side. can anyone confirm this. also as soon as i find several sets of used OEM 221 cartridges i will get them for refilling. it seems that some company is setting up recycle boxes at stores for empty ink cartridges so it is more difficult to get used cartridges. even though these printers have a smaller capacity and need to be refilled more often, as long as they can be refilled and reset i feel these printers are still a good deal as they are wireless all in ones and the 620 does cd/dvds

 

[Jane]

i have the mp560 and mp620 which will be xmas presents (they are wireless) and i haven't opened them yet, they both use the 221 carts, resetters are now available and i will use the top fill with rubber plugs. the latest info i heard was the clearance between the top of the cartridges and the case is very little so the printhead will get stuck. the case may need to be trimed to allow the printhead to move from side to side. can anyone confirm this. also as soon as i find several sets of used OEM 221 cartridges i will get them for refilling. it seems that some company is setting up recycle boxes at stores for empty ink cartridges so it is more difficult to get used cartridges. even though these printers have a smaller capacity and need to be refilled more often, as long as they can be refilled and reset i feel these printers are still a good deal as they are wireless all in ones and the 620 does cd/dvds

I notice you are in the US and I though none of the US Canon printers did cd/dvd printing! Has this 620 been modified?

 

[stratman]

I notice you are in the US and I though none of the US Canon printers did cd/dvd printing! Has this 620 been modified?

List and directions for modifying USA sold Canons to print on CD/DVD's: http://pixma.ulmb.com/?p=105

 

[MP640]

i have the mp560 and mp620 which will be xmas presents (they are wireless) and i haven't opened them yet, they both use the 221 carts, resetters are now available and i will use the top fill with rubber plugs. the latest info i heard was the clearance between the top of the cartridges and the case is very little so the printhead will get stuck. the case may need to be trimed to allow the printhead to move from side to side. can anyone confirm this. also as soon as i find several sets of used OEM 221 cartridges i will get them for refilling. it seems that some company is setting up recycle boxes at stores for empty ink cartridges so it is more difficult to get used cartridges. even though these printers have a smaller capacity and need to be refilled more often, as long as they can be refilled and reset i feel these printers are still a good deal as they are wireless all in ones and the 620 does cd/dvds

I have an mp640 (Europe) which looks similar to the 620. I used to refill the cartridges from the top and used philips screws to seal the refill holes. After the first refill, I almost wrecked the printer because I didn't pay attention to the clearance between the cartridges and the plastic shields that are mounted on the right and left sides inside the printer case. The heads of the screws didn't fit under the shields and the printhead got stuck. I used my Dremel tool to cut out the shields and the issue was resolved. I am pretty sure Canon mounted the shields in an attempt to prevent refilling as they seem to have no other purpose whatsoever.

p.s. this is my first post. I've been doing a lot of reading in this forum and decided to register now to contribute.

 

[mrelmo]

i prefer the rubber plugs as you don't have to worry about o-rings or over tightening and stripping the hole. also the rubber plugs should have a lower height, when i did use screws several years ago on my ip4200 clearence was not a problem but maybe canon has added ANOTHER wrinkle

 

[MP640]

Before I bought the MP640 I had a 4300 that didn't have the clearance problem either.

I can tell that even rubber plugs won't fit, at least not the ones I tried. There's also refillable cartridges available now that have recessed plugs and they will fit. I used these cartridges for a while, but found they were of crappy quality. They also had auto reset chips which turned the ink level detection system worthless as the chips reset each time the printer is powered on. Best thing in my opinion is to use original canon cartridges and refill these.

Getting back to the topic of this post, I will have a huge problem when I cannot reset my chips and have to turn off the ink level detection. I found that my 640 with the ink level detection turned off vastly increases the number and length of cleaning cycles. Another wrinkle that canon has added??

 

[MP640]

I've been thinking about this for a while now. If we can no longer see through the opaque cartridges, would it be possible to rely on the weight? I'm thinking of the following.

You need a scale, not with a display or a pointer that displays the weight (too large deviation) but the balance type that is used to weigh gold or illegal pharmaceuticals. On the one side you place an unused full cartridge. On the other side you put a small plastic bottle that weighs less than the cartridge, like a vitamin shot bottle or something. Fill the bottle with water until the scale is balanced and seal it with its cap (the cap must be on the same side of the scale as the bottle when you fill the bottle).

When you need to refill the cartridge, put it on the scale, now together with an empty syringe and needle, identical to the one that you use to refill. On the other side of the scale, put the bottle you filled before together with an identical empty syringe and needle. You now fill this syringe with ink until the scale is balanced. The syringe will now contain the amount of ink that has been used from the cartridge. This assuming that the refill ink has the same density (specific gravity?) as the Canon ink.

Would this work?

 

[pebe]

Just a thought...... How about a hole and rubber plug in the bottom of the ink container. The cart could then be inverted to fill as for the German method and you could see how much ink was being shringed in.

When filled and plugged and turned the right way up, there is only a slight negative pressure on the plug (or so I understand), so the seal should be less fussy than a plug on the top of the cart.