Refilling a Canon i865 with a little help of....my friends

[Metallo]

Hi guys,

Some days ago, after having spent some time to collect information, I bought the inks from an Italian chain of shops, you can get more info on their website http://www.prink.it/eng/index.asp

I thought it was a good idea to put some info on a EU dealer and tell about my questions and doubts.

I went through many of the posts in this forum and found them very useful to read, particularly for beginners in refilling like I am.
As I said, I have a number of questions and comments before I dare to refill my tanks which most probably are already answered in the forum but maybe worth to be collected in order to create a sort of "best practice" for refilling.

Questions:

1) What is the right time to refill the tanks? Shall I wait till the status monitor of my printer alerts me that I am low of ink or shall I wait that the reservoir is empty?

2) In case I have to wait for the reservoir to be empty (Canon OEM cartridges), how many ml of ink shall I put in the reservoir?

3) It seems that the sealing of the fill hole is a major issue, reading the posts I noticed that you tend to have holes bigger than needed. What I mean is that the hole should not be bigger than the needle, there's no need and therefore it would be easier to seal.

4) How to make the hole in the tank? Why not making the needle incandescent and push it down the plastic? This would avoid any risk of plastic pieces to fall in the reservoir while drilling.

5) What to use to seal? The shop I bought the inks from suggested to simply use white adhesive labels, the ones commonly used to print your friends addresses on a dot matrix Has anybody tried this solution yet? They say that the glue used for these labels is very strong and thick.
Of course, the hole need to be made smooth with a cutter first.

6) I read that the Canon OEM cartridges can be refilled 6 times on the average? And then? What tanks to buy? Sponges are different in non OEM tanks, do they last longer?

7) This is a nice one Can a tank be refilled from the ink exit hole ? OK, it takes longer, maybe 10-15 minutes, but a sponge is a sponge. Question is once the sponge is saturated does the ink go through the prism into the reservoir? Has anybody made this test?
The pro would be "no fill hole".

8) Is it true that with refilled cartridges you are more or less obliged to print daily in order to avoid clogging? Or is this a legend?


Well, I think I'm running out of questions right now, but I hope to generate many replies and possibly getting closer to "the solutions".

My target is indeed to get to a sort of "best practice" to be used as a refelling workflow.

Have fun

Alex

 

[fotofreek]

Good questions! I'll try to answer them.
1) best to refill before the warning. I pull the carts out when one or more have the reservoir 3/4 empty.
2) The quantity of ink - since Canon carts are transparent you can just refill until they are not quite full. Don't overfill as that can cause problems. Leave a few mm. of space at the top. I haven't measured, but I think that 5 to 8 ml. usually does it.
3) You need a hole larger than the needle as air has to escape as the ink goes in. There are several methods. Hot paperclip wire is one. The sealing technique I am presently using is stainless steel sheet metal #6 1/2 inch cap screws with tight O rings. These screws cut their own thread in the plastic after making a hole somewhat smaller with the hot paperclip wire. Any way that gets an absolute seal is OK, but consider convenience for removing and replacing the seal when refilling again.
4) I would not bother to refill from the exit port for two reasons - If you displace the sponge at the exit port it won't contact the printhead intake and won't work, and it would be very slow as well.
5) Keep refilling the OEM carts until they don't work. There are some techniques for restoring them on this forum. You can also buy aftermarket carts to refill. I don't know what your access it to ebay, but the carts that hobbicolor sells are reputed to be good, they come with a refill kit that inlcudes ink that has been reported to be good ink, and they have a plastic screw to seal the fill hole that is very convenient. And - the price is right. MIS makes empty carts that are very good. I have used them. They are a bit more expensive and have tiny fill hole plugs that are a nuisance. I replaced the plugs with the screws I noted above.
6) I don't know if aftermarket inks cause more clogging and require more frequent printing. Some people say so. The good news is that you will print more often anyway because the ink cost is so little compared to using OEM inks! The key is to use good quality inks that others have used successfully. DO NOT USE any ink that claims to be universal for several brands of printer. I use MIS inks, others report successful use of Formulabs, available at Alotofthings and Hobbicolors, available on ebay. I don't know what is available in Italy. I have read that the most widely used ink in Europe is German made with a brand that has three letters - OPC??? I don't remember the name.

You will develop your own workflow. Neil Slade's technique is explained on his website. The link is at the top of the home page on this forum. If you decide to do his technique remember that you don't want the carts out of the printhead any longer than it would take to replace them as the print head intake ports can dry and clog. You can read and printout instructions on how to fill the carts on sites for MIS, Alotofthings, etc. I wear rubber gloves and work over a shallow plastic tray, NOT because it it so messy, but because it is easier to contain the little bit of mess than to clean it up afterward. I use separate syringes for each color to speed up the process and clean everything up afterward. I keep the ink containers in a plastic food container that they all fit in with no extra space so they can not tip over accidentally when one is opened.

I was hesitant at first and it was a bit more messy and took longer than now. You have the benefit of this forum which I did not have, so you will find it easier than I did.

 

[Mickey]

Just to reinforce Foto's comments, all good answers. We both use the same ink and paper. As for cloging, was away from home for a few days, 5, and when printing yesterday, results were same as if it had only been a few mins since last used. Even did a couple photos and nary a flaw in the prints. Can't comment on how other brands of ink perform but from some of the comment we've all read, all inks are not created equal.

Oh, I push the ball in the original fill hole into the chamber and seal with the push in "rubber" plugs. This has been working for me for about a yr now.

 

[fotofreek]

I've purchased blue plugs from Computer Friends to use int the factory fill hole of the OEM carts and they work well. Easy as they have a pull tab on them. They aren't listed separately in their website, but you can buy them. On my latest OEM carts (came with my second i960 printer) I left the factory fill hole alone, melted a hole with a hot paperclip wire, and used the screw/O ring seal. Mickey - I know that the info for the plugs you use was posted some time ago. Can you either give the link or reference the posting?

 

[Metallo]

Thanks a lot for your replies.

1) best to refill before the warning. I pull the carts out when one or more have the reservoir 3/4 empty.

What about the first time, when the original Canon ink is still in, isn't that better to wait that the reservoir is empty in order to avoid mixing the two different inks?

3) You need a hole larger than the needle as air has to escape as the ink goes in

Even if the top air vent is left open?

I push the ball in the original fill hole into the chamber and seal with the push in "rubber" plugs

What do you exactly mean by pushing the ball??

Why is not "generally" recommended to use the original fill hole to refill?

Where should I make the hole, is it between the original one (covered by the label) and the little round groove at the very top?
BTW, what's the function of the round groove ?

Is there any counter indication to make the hole on the top side? That would be a much smoother surface to stick the while label to seal the hole.

Thanks guys

Alex

 

[fotofreek]

difference of opinion on using all of the OEM ink before refilling with aftermarket inks. Neil Slade said to just go for it - That is what I did and it worked out well. Even when the cart show "empty" in the printer software, there is still some ink in the sponge area. Granddad has a technique for totally evacuating a cart and drying it out before refilling but that was suggested for a cart that had been refilled several times and wasn't working properly any longer. The other issue is that if the inks are substantially different from OEM your colors will be off from the mix and you will also not be able to establish a printer/ink/paper profile if you are interested in doing that. this is why I went with MIS inks that were reccomendded by Neil Slade on his website. He showed scans of pictures side-by-side and they looked very close to OEM colors. After I find that my OEM carts will no longer function I will use empty carts so I can have a uniform color output as long as I use the same batch of ink. The vent hole is extremely small and functions to let enough air into the sponge area as the ink is used for printing. If it were larger the carts would leak. Very precise balance of internal pressure in the carts maintained this way. You will be adding several cc's of ink in a very short time and need to let the same quantity of air escape. Thus, the need for a hole considerably larger than the needle. The plastic ball that the factory forces into the fill hole for a seal can either be pulled out or pushed into the reservoir area. Pushing it in does no harm. Mickey has used plugs from one firm and I from Computer Friends to reseal the OEM factory fill hole. It works well. People have used a hot glue gun, various tapes, clay, etc. As far as I'm concerned, the latest approach with the screw/Oring looks like the neatest. I'm trying it now, but several people on this forum have been using this technique successfully. I make the hole between the factory fill hole and the end of the cart nearest the fill hole on the top of the cart. Look through the cart and you will see a plastic tab or baffle hanging down from the inside of the cart in that area. I made the holes near, but not through it. DRC023, a participant, used to make two small holes on the side near the top. One for the ink to go in and the other for the air to escape when refilling. He has now gone to some small plastic (nylon?) bolts with Orings that, in carts with a small fill hole and plug, require a hole drilled and tapped before inserting the bolt. I believe he selected a diameter bolt that fit the OEM fill hole. BTW, several companies sell a little tool that you can use with a tap from a hammer to drive the plastic ball seal into the cart . I've also used a nail set. Are you confusing the actual air vent hole with the factory fill hole? The fill hole looks like a round "groove" over the end opposite the ink exit port where the reservoir is located. The vent hole is covered by the label, is over the sponge, and has a channel that runs out past the end of the label. The air can come in through the channel but having the label over the channel and the actual vent hole into the sponge area probabaly functions to cut down evaporation so the ink can't become more concentrated and dry up. You definitely want the fill hole on top over the reservoir, and you need a system to effect a compete seal or the cart will leak.

 

[Mickey]

Foto, don't actually recall where I purchased the plugs. I've only bought ink from MIS and I had all the other stuff needed to refill. In the back of my mind I seem to remember getting these plugs from somewhere else than MIS. The plugs I have are green, large,flat, mushroom head, no tab. They are quick and easy to use and have never had a leaker in many refills this past yr.

See you answered Metallo's Q's