Replacement CLI-221 carts for refilling

[rrreinig]

I have a Canon MX870 printer that has served me well for several years. I don't do a lot of printing - a few pages of text and occasional photos or sometimes grandkid's art (they use a lot of ink). I have been refilling some aftermarket cartridges for years but have experienced various problems such as banding and streaks. Now that my refill bottles of ink are exhausted I am ready to try a better way.

I spent several hours this weekend reading this forum and have learned an immense amount about cartridge construction, air passages, sponge design, tapping, filling and plugging cartridges, etc. Thank you all very much for the wonderful research and sharing.

I intend to start with cleaning my print head as described in this forum and then using Canon cartridges with either the top fill or German refill method. The German refill method seems interesting to me but I don't particularly like the German flush method that I've seen described - where a needle is driven completely through the bottom sponge. I would rather pull the cartridge ball, flush through the top and plug.

My MX870 uses four CLI-221 CMY/black carts and one larger PGI-220 black cartridge. I should tell you that the clearance between the top of the cartridges and the printer is very small so I will need to use recessed plugs when I flush and if I top fill.

My questions are:

1) My old CLI-221 cartridges are mainly opaque (except for the ink tank) so I cannot see the condition of the sponges during flushing. Can I peel off the black mask on the cartridge to make it transparent? The mask appears to be raised from the cartridge surface making me think it may be removable.

2) Are there better cartridges than the CLI-221 and PGI-220 that will work in my MX870 printer if I move the chips over to the new carts? I use a chip resetter and I like the original Canon chips better than the ARCs because they tell me when the ink is getting low without me needing to lift the printer hood and look. I've heard that some older Canon carts are sturdier than the newer ones and they are already transparent.

Thanks in advance for your advice,
Bob

 

[PeterBJ]

...1) My old CLI-221 cartridges are mainly opaque (except for the ink tank) so I cannot see the condition of the sponges during flushing. Can I peel off the black mask on the cartridge to make it transparent? The mask appears to be raised from the cartridge surface making me think it may be removable...

The cartridge is a sandwich construction, but the bonding between the two layers is so strong, that it is impossible to separate the two layers without damaging the cartridge. I tried this with a cartridge I had cut open to investigate an ink flow problem.

...2) Are there better cartridges than the CLI-221 and PGI-220 that will work in my MX870 printer if I move the chips over to the new carts? I use a chip resetter and I like the original Canon chips better than the ARCs because they tell me when the ink is getting low without me needing to lift the printer hood and look. I've heard that some older Canon carts are sturdier than the newer ones and they are already transparent...

No, the Canon OEM cartridges are the best for refilling. Fully transparent after market cartridges do exist but often cause problems with ink flow, as you have experienced.

It might be possible to use the fully transparent PGI-5/CLI-8 cartridges with PGI-220/CLI-221 chips attached. This will involve a lot of surgery on the printer, and due to clearance problems this might be best suited to printer-only models. Tudor and the Hat succesfully did this conversion, see this thread: http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/cli-8-and-cli-521-526-swap.7705/

I recommend refilling the OEM PGI-220/CLI-221 cartridges and using a resetter. You can get everything needed for the refilling here: http://www.precisioncolors.com/C5C.html .

 

[pearlhouse]

Flushing carts is something that right now is being hashed out on another thread called "has this happened to you"
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/has-this-happened-to-you.8600/page-3#post-68211
So stay tuned at that link for the latest.
If you use a sharp needle and gently push it in being careful to keep the needle straight and parallel to the sides its not that hard to do. I have even honed the tips of my needles to make sure they stay as sharp as possible. Ive also started a new thread showing a new device I have put together for flushing the easy and fast way.

 

[rrreinig]

PeterBJ and pearlhouse: Thanks for the help. I have visited the precisioncolors web site and found it to be very well organized and easy to get what I need. I had originally visited their ebay site but the web site is much better.