Refilling the new Canon PG-40, PG-50, CL 41 and CL 51

[alexandereci]

Whoa. I've been refilling, and have not had it fade yet. So maybe I'm refilling too early? I get to put in about 3-6ml of ink though, but as I see it soak the bottom part (my cart is inclined), I stop, withdraw about 0.5ml, then move on to the next color.

Since the foam gets wet, but isn't really sloppy, soaking wet, I imagine there's no worry about contamination here, since the foam can hold it anyway and theres a bit of plastic over the foam (plus the cover) --- the cart can take a lot of shaking before the ink from one compartment will cross over to another compartment. Have you experienced cross-contamination during use?

 

[headphonesman]

Whoa. I've been refilling, and have not had it fade yet.
Have you experienced cross-contamination during use?

Please ignore my remarks about fading, I am not referring to the printed ink strength fading, only the ink that dries on to the sponge, which is of no consequence.

Yes i have experienced cross contamination sometimes on one cart after prolonged use, but I am unsure as to the proper cause or causes. this has been resolved by major cleansing of the sponge, but it may be an (occasional ) leaking rubber gasketin the head section.

Your reference to "theres a bit of plastic over the foam (plus the cover)" has me mystified. In the carts I have done there is no "bit of plastic " . just the cover which has projections (plastic vanes) to press down onto each sponge. I am sure as time goes on you will perfect and understand (for you ) the best way to re-fill your carts consistently and successfully.

 

[alexandereci]

Please ignore my remarks about fading, I am not referring to the printed ink strength fading, only the ink that dries on to the sponge, which is of no consequence.

Yes, I was referring to it "fading" into the sponge

Your reference to "theres a bit of plastic over the foam (plus the cover)" has me mystified.

What I meant to say is that there is a bit of plastic barrier rising over the the level of the foam. For ink to slosh around in one chamber and "jump" into another chamber, it has to be really sloshing around, and it has to overcome both the "plastic vanes" of the cover (which I also suspect would stop excess ink from excessive "sloshing around"), and the height of that plastic barrier. This is assuming the cart is upright and in the printer. Storing the cart sideways or in any other position might make it more prone to ink contamination, but I don't think contamination would occur under "normal" circumstances. Can you tell me more about your contamination issues? Does it happen "randomly" or is one cart more prone to this than others?

 

[fotofreek]

The plastic wall between the sponge compartment and the ink reservoir has a small opening at the bottom where ink can soak into the sponge and then go through the outlet port on demand from the printhead.

 

[alexandereci]

Yes, but that's at the BOTTOM, I seriously doubt contamination would occur there.

 

[mikling]

alexandereci, when you mention crosscontamination, is this during print or visible on top of the sponge?
It indeed seems unlikely to jump over the top. So I suspect that you may be overfilling the sponge and your description of what you do leads me in that direction. You should refill it only to the point you see the color coming up again and you have to slow down as you approach that point. Overfilling will lead to ink dripping out down at the printhead or having an excess during print. If it drips, or has drops remaining, it could get absorbed by neighboring nozzles of a different color and get cross contaminated. This is a frequent problem with overfilled sponge cartridges. So it is better to underfill if you're not sure. With the limited capacity of the Canon cartridge in question, the temptation to get it full as can be is there.

 

[alexandereci]

@ mikling:
I am talking about cross contamination, and under what circumstances MIGHT they happen. I have not had one occur to me yet, but it's nice to know how it can happen so as to know how to AVOID it. I personally don't overfill, I put the cart on a stack of papers, it inclines due to the jutting printhead, and I fill until ink "appears" and soaks about the lower 1mm of the sponge. Returning the cart upright will result in an ink level LOWER than if filling was done with the cart totally horizontal and filled until the ink "just shows under the sponge" (which is hard to discern, btw).

 

[gogo]

I have a MP 180. I had a PG-40 cartridge refilled but now i get a "black ink low" error flash up on the LCD. I have gone into my printer perferrences and tried to "turn off" the ink cartridge level infomation. but cant find such a button.

 

[headphonesman]

I have a MP 180. I had a PG-40 cartridge refilled but now i get a "black ink low" error flash up on the LCD. I have gone into my printer perferrences and tried to "turn off" the ink cartridge level infomation. but cant find such a button.

This sounds like the cart has not been officially declared "dead" yet by the printer. It doesnt know (or care) that you have topped up the cart. Soon it will say that the ink has run out , but if you want to finish printing , press the reset button, but you will then lose ink monitoring on that colour until it is replaced with a proper new Canon cartridge.

You will press the button , override the warning, lose the ink monitor on screen facility, have a flashing yellow panel light on that color (everytime you print, but not when the machine is on standby)

In short , you cannot turn off the ink level info until the machine is ready to carry out that action......i.e when it has counted the maximum number of nozzle fires for that colour.
Remember to have carts topped up on a frequent basis, dont run until dry if possible.

 

[gogo]

cheers!! headphonesman you are a legend!