Refill oem carts Epson 277xl for the XP-970

[Phill ODonoghue]

Hi,
I am hoping to refill OEM carts for my XP-970. I have pulled apart a used cart and have identified where i might be able to drill my inlet port. I can purchase chip resetter from InkOwl so I assume that refilling is possible on this late model cart.

I understand that I need to keep the carts 20%+ full as there is a clear plastic window at the bottom of the cart which will detect if the cart is empty and kill future opportunity of refill.

I had purchased a China refill cart but I don't like the way that it is made. It is just a tank with a piece of foam covering the outlet port. It has an auto resettable chip which caused me issues with my R3000 previously when it ran dry.

I dissected the OEM cart to learn about its construction and it is a hi-tech bit of gear. There is a brass spring which pushes against a plate which pushes outward against the diaphragm. The outlet has a very thin piece of foam covered by a well constructed micro filter. this is also under pressure from another brass spring clip. There is also a spring valve in the top left corner. I assume that this controls air pressure but it is a long way from the air breather hole.

My intention is to refill with Epson OEM Dye ink from the ET7700/7750 range.

I am after advice from anyone who has successfully filled this type of cart before I order the chip resetting tool.

Thanks
Phill

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The cartridges are sitting on top of the nozzle level, so there would be some constant pressure by the ink slowly sipping into the cleaning unit. You need some retention force keeping the ink in the cartridge, and you can do it by some different ways - you keep the ink in some foam, and you need some light underpressure to pull the ink, or you install a valve - a membrane valve as Epson is doing it - even if you open the spring valve at the ink outlet the ink won't flow, you need some slight underpressure as well to open this membrane valve, the membrane reacts to the pressure difference - ambient vs. the underpressure by the nozzles, these differences are very small, but that system is supposed to work at all air pressure levels - at any low/high pressure weather condition, at sea level or at 3000m height. Epson got several patents for this construction at the beginning of this millenium. Refill cartridges don't resemble this construction and are less sophisticated, e.g. they may feed the replenishing air through a maeander or use some foam in the ink reservoir.

 

[Phill ODonoghue]

Thanks for that.

So do you think that it is it worth attempting to drill a hole in the top of the cart and attempt to refill the OEM unit or should i just use the generic carts with the foam in them.

Several people have commented in past posts that refilled OEM carts are better than the refill carts. My concern is will this work on late model carts and has anyone had experience in doing so.

Thanks Phill

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Your image shows another type of cartridge than most of the Epson models, refill cartridges have the advantage that they are made of transparent or translucent plastic and you directly can see the ink level, and they are equipped with autoreset chips so that you don't need a separate resetter. I see various offers for such cartridges of the T24 type- empty and as well sets with inks and refill cartridges together.

Several people have commented in past posts that refilled OEM carts are better than the refill carts.

Such general statements are of no help - there so many different cartridge types on the market - and more by Canon, HP , Brother so as long as you don't get any specific details it is just redundant. A range of such OEM cartridges can be refilled, some do not allow you to reset them so you need alternate ones - or you need some one-time chips for other models or you can use resettable ones in Europe but not in the U.S.
Let me just give you one example - I can reset the 3rd party cartridge of a T16 type for the WF2010W, I reinsert it , the status monitor shows it as full for 1 second and then drops the level again to the previous level before I took it out. I'm not refilling them anyway, but this illustrates some tricks the firmware plays with the user, and if I plug this cartridge into another printer it shows full and stays at that level.

 

[Phill ODonoghue]

Thanks,
Aware that some OEM carts can be refilled and some can't - my question is has anyone had specific experience in refilling this type of cart Epson 277XL from a XP-970 printer, as per my photo, and or is it likely to work ?

Regards Phill

 

[maximilian59]

Have a look here: https://www.octopus-office.de/info/...tions-for-epson-24-epson-26-cartridges-color/
here in Germany we have the 24 series carts for these six ink printers.

 

[The Hat]

Would one of these methods work for refilling the Epson 24 /26 carts ? ..
click to enlarge..

 

[Phill ODonoghue]

Have a look here: https://www.octopus-office.de/info/...tions-for-epson-24-epson-26-cartridges-color/
here in Germany we have the 24 series carts for these six ink printers.

Thank you for this link. Yes appears to be exactly the same internal design as the OEM 277XL carts and the article gives me the confidence to buy some chips and start experimenting. The article states that there is very little room on the side of the carts so it will be a tight squeeze and I have a concern that there is very little room between carts but it is worth trying.

I have so far experimented with drilling in the top of the cart and I can get a 4mm hole if drilled exactly in the centre of the top. The risk is that the design of the cart has void areas in about 3.5mm in from the side. I have built a rough 3D template to ensure that the hole is place exactly where it needs to be.

Having read your link I will now build a 3D template to fill from the side.

Thank you so much for helping with this.

 

[Phill ODonoghue]

Would one of these methods work for refilling the Epson 24 /26 carts ? ..
View attachment 10377 View attachment 10376 click to enlarge..

Thanks for that
I think that this method would also work on the 277XL carts and could be a safe way of avoiding damage and leaks. I will also try this method and report back.

Regards
Phill

 

[Phill ODonoghue]

Thanks for that
I think that this method would also work on the 277XL carts and could be a safe way of avoiding damage and leaks. I will also try this method and report back.

Regards
Phill

This method of filling by bottom of cart works in physically filling the cart!
I have not yet tested with the chip resetter as I am waiting on this.

A couple of observations so far.
1. Using the Epson Eco Bottle T512 (Australia) inks which are designed for the ET7700/7750 printers produce indistinguishable results from my naked eye. So I am so far extremely happy with this method. I might have to wait 50 years to say that i am still happy but color-wise I am rapped.
2. I notice that refillable carts from Rihac (Australia) have a black tape covering the prism on the bottom of the cart. I assume that this is to allow the cart to go empty without killing the chip. This process might be replicable on OEM carts however you run the risk of running on empty if you forget to top up the cart.