Oops: Refilled LLK cart with LK. What next?

[J.Emmett Turner]

I bought a complete set of OEM T58 empties with resettable chips for my 3880 but the only OEM ink I have at the moment that isn’t already inside a T58 is a 700ml UltraChrome LK cartridge from one of Epson’s industrial printers. I ended up accidentally putting it into my LLK cart. Oops!

I went ahead and extracted more to fill up the proper cartridge but now I’m wondering what I should do with the LLK cart that’s filled with LK. It was bone-dry before refilling so the amount of LLK would be negligible. The cart was 59g so there wasn’t even 1mg left inside.

I stupidly loaded the cartridge into the printer before I realized my mistake but I did not print. Still, the cart was pressurized while connected to the line and I’m sure this means there was a little mixing at the port. I switched back to my other LLK with the proper ink so I’m sure that the contamination will be barely, if at all, noticible.

Now, if I extract the contaminated LK from the LLK cart, would it still be useful as LK? What if I put it back into my 700ml cart to further dilute it (now down to about 550ml)? Of course, that means even more LLK-contaminated LK (~640ml), but I imagine the residual LLK from the empty cart would be negligible. Putting LLK into the LK-contaminated LLK cart after emptying it would be a much bigger concern. Would that be ill-advised? Perhaps I can fill and drain the LLK cart and dilute that LK-contaminated LLK in 700ml of LLK, but I gotta buy one of those 700ml carts first.

What would your advice be for recovering from this error without wasting too much ink? I am not a professional or a perfectionist. I don’t rely on ICC profiles since I don’t print from anything fancy (Irfanview and GIMP, not Lightroom and Photoshop ).

It seems to me that using any product or chemical to flush out the cartridge would just contaminate the LLK with residuals of whatever I use to flush it since these things can’t exactly air out. If anything, LK is closer to LLK than any cleaning solution and diluting with more LLK sounds like the best way to restore normalcy to me. If I’m way off base, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I just would get the LLK ink out of the cartridge and fill it up again with the proper LK ink, I think that contamination from small differences in pigment concentration are that small that they are not visible in your prints. And I wouldn't flush the cartridge either - you didn't mix up yellow and cyan .

 

[J.Emmett Turner]

Thanks. Would you also use the LLK-contaminated LK in the correct cartridge after extraction from the LLK cart? I assume so. I can make it even less of a concern by mixing with the rest of my LK in the 700ml cart that I’m using as a storage reservoir but I’m not sure if the one-way valve can be defeated the same way as the T58 carts.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I’m using as a storage reservoir but I’m not sure if the one-way valve can be defeated the same way as the T58 carts.

What can happen if you give it a try ?

 

[J.Emmett Turner]

What can happen if you give it a try ?

Well, Jose Rodríguez has some horror stories about internally-punctured ink bags and leaky valves if you do it wrong. Perhaps it would be better to transfer to an intermediary container.

When I switch to my premodified T58 carts I’ll get some practice when I modify my others. Still not sure if the valve on my 700ml cart is the same internally but I know can’t squirt ink back in after I extract it.

The amount of LLK in the LK seems really negligible, as you say, but 610ml+ just seems like an awful lot of ink to to risk without asking if it’s a potentially bad idea to mix LLK-contaminated LK with so much LK. Probably just going to do it once I have a path (modify 700ml cart or get a container). Thanks!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I know can’t squirt ink back in after I extract it.

Just use a separate bottle then for intermediate storage

 

[FinalProof]

Why not swap the LK and LLK chips?

 

[J.Emmett Turner]

Why not swap the LK and LLK chips?

I thought about it and then I thought about whether or not I should be letting it in the lines at all when there would be some residual LLK in the PK. Then I wondered if it would be better to extract it and mix is back with the LK so that any residual LK would be even more dilute. Of course, the LLK cart would then have residual LK if it were ever refilled with LLK, so the question about whether or not I should use that cart at all remained.

Obviously, I was over-thinking it. I’ll get a 700ml LLK cartridge when it comes time to replace those then I’ll fill the cart with LLK, drain it back into the 700ml, mix, and refill again. The residual LK in the LLK should be even more negligible.