Refill Brothers?

[CakeHole]

Yep do not think the Brother refillables are like that....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZL-o8jQAc

FIRST of all id point out its hard to tell but i think those carts only have 1 spring rather than 2...

The 2 min mark the valve and spring is at the top of the cart, the last place ink will touch. The valve in turn operates that large black plastic lever inside the cart allowing ink to flow through a outlet at the bottom which is normally closed when the spring in not compressed.

Look at 2.44 and the yellow cart and you can see ink does not touch the spring or the chamber the spring sits in.

At 3.40 when he fills the magenta he does not even fill it all the way to the top where the spring is and says after that it is full enough to be used.

At 8.20 he explains you do not have to remove the carts to refill.

Its hard to tell but i think these carts only have a single spring.

Its possible with some original Brother carts ink makes content with the spring though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmthWIhloX8
They have 2 clear springs and although it is a bit hard to tell as they may have previously vacuum filled that cartridge, which obviously introduces ink into what looks like a separate spring channel ink has made contact.

Could vary cart to cart or maybe those that have refilled with rusty springs, refilled using a vacuum method.

Either way if you look at further youtube vids the springs are not that hard to remove so id just shove the original brother springs into the refill carts if needed. Id also guess you would not be removing those large carts that often so the spring if you had to hammerite paint it would not be constantly under expansion and contraction stress to chip the paint.

 

[Smile]

I have same LC980 / LC1100 carts, the bottom spring is submerged in ink. There may or may not be a top spring. Top springs aids in cartridge removal if refillable cart has feature.

 

[Smile]

I will make my post about this spring problem I think but I decided to post my images here too.


As you can see from this image when it's made in china they can put any springs in your carts they have on hand. These are from same seller same order carts.

One is chrome plated, the other plain zinc plated.
The silicone seals are all the same, but some carts use glass ball, some plastic thing to seal. Again they put whatever they have on hand. So it's really better to remove the springs then risk damaging the printer.

Here is the photo of my modification:


The close up of the ink port:


The modification was rather easy if you have the tools. I first cut away the OEM tape seal and removed the silicone grommet.

Then I put back the silicone seal and fused some plastic rings prepared in advance:

The closeup of the singe cart modifications:


I also made plugs for carts by using some compressed air plastic tubing and a lighter
(you rotate and melt the tubing until you get this):

 

[Smile]

The important thing when using such carts, is to first install them, then fill with ink.
Also unplug them when they are full, so small amount of air is in them, seal both holes to avoid leaks, have paper towel handy.

Also I use aluminum tape on air hole not silicone plug.

 

[john3322]

Try any product of Brother. All printer are refilled. Personally i recommend you Brother HL-3140CW. It is multipurpose printer. These the best one.

 

[Smile]

Try any product of Brother. All printer are refilled. Personally i recommend you Brother HL-3140CW. It is multipurpose printer. These the best one.

This laser or should I say LED toner printer, not inkjet. It's A4 only. While laser printers have it's pros, the inkjet that brother sells are piezo head. They are cheaper to run than a laser if you know how.

 

[wilko]

I'm using these larger refillable carts (the ones that stick out of the printer) I thought they would work like CISS, but no. The printer doesn't seem to recognise the print levels in these carts. These oversize carts contain about 80ml of ink but the printer doesn't seem to monitor ink levels and shows the carts as empty when there is still loads of ink still in the carts.

Presumably the printer is programmed to monitor ink up to xl cart levels and you have regularly fiddle about with a little bit of plastic to fool the door sensor into thinking that the ink cartridge door is open, reinsert the ink cart and fiddle about with the door sensor to fool the printer into thinking that the door is closed. On my printer, DCP-j4120dw, I can't seem to override the ink out warning so I have to keep fiddling about with the door sensor etc.

I like the Brother refillable carts because there is no sponge involved but I would recommend getting the XL refillable carts and keeping the ink cartridge door closed. More refilling but less hassle.