Questions about purging.

[InkFu]

Hi Guys,

After recently purchasing a couple sets of empty 221/220s I took a look at the thread on purging, but still ended up with a couple of questions. One, seeing as the cartridge around the sponge is opaque how can I tell if the sponge has been shifted. Two, is it absolutely required to drill a hole at the top of the ink chamber. Couldn't the water escape out the air maze. I've been refilling my 226/225 carts using the german method. Three, is it still considered okay to use tap water. Lastly, though unrelated to purging, has anyone tried sanding down the sides of the cartridge. While I was inspecting the 221/220 carts I noticed that black part around the window felt like a thin plastic film that I could scratch. I'm curious if it's not just a thin covering that can be removed. Anyhow any help would be, as always, greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
InkFu

 

[The Hat]

Hi InkFu,

Lets deal with in questions in order.

1 If you purge the ink from your replacement cartridges then the sponge will be in the right position, it wont have shifted.

2 No you dont have to drill any holes or remove the OEM refill ball on the top of the cartridge,
however it makes purging that little bit slower.

3 Tap water is ok to use if you live in an area where the water is known to be soft,
if not then use the tap water and finish off with final flush using distilled water.

Sanding down the sides of these partial opaque 221 cartridges wont work
so there is no point to at all as there is nothing to see in there.

If you use the German method of refilling then you can still see the needle travel and direction on the bottom of these cartridges.

There is a couple of new flushing method discussed on an earlier post here that might help you.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59370#p59370

 

[MP640]

I use the top fill method. To create the fill hole I removed the refill ball. For purging, I use a 60 ml syringe (no needle) that exactly fits the refill hole. I takes about 5 or 6 flushes to purge the cartridge. I use lukewarm tapwater and use force on the syringe to flush water through the cartridge. Haven't encountered any problems as of yet.

 

[PeterBJ]

MP640 wrote:

I use the top fill method. To create the fill hole I removed the refill ball. For purging, I use a 60 ml syringe (no needle) that exactly fits the refill hole. I takes about 5 or 6 flushes to purge the cartridge. I use lukewarm tapwater and use force on the syringe to flush water through the cartridge. Haven't encountered any problems as of yet.

May I add: If you are using a luer lock type syringe for the purging then this plastic "needle" makes a good adapter to fit the fill hole: http://www.octoink.co.uk/products/14g-Tapered-Needle.html . Also if you live in a hard water area it might be a good idea using the syringe to give the cartridge a final rinse with distilled or demineralized water.