T007/T009 Spongeless Refillable ink flow problems

[crenedecotret]

The carts -may- have been damaged a bit by the vacuum created by not having pulled out the air vent plugs.

Looking at the instructions from MIS for those carts, it seems that these cartridges will leak if the ink refill plug is not in real snug. Looking at your purge pattern, it seems that only the black ink is leaking. I would remove the plug, make sure the fill hole and plug are real clean and dry before putting it back in. Make cover it with a piece of aluminum tape to make sure the seal is good.

Also, I might be wrong about this, but there shouldn't be any ink in the breather hole. Make wick a bit of it out with a paper towel.

Any chance that the cart may be overfilled a bit? Maybe take a tiny bit more out using the bottom fill adapter

 

[Clinton]

The ink in the top was due to a filling mishap where I fumbled the cartridge when filling Cyan and Yellow, and some spilled out into the void between the top of each reservoir and the top of the cartridge. I wicked out as much as possible, and let the rest dry there before continuing.

I'm wondering if I did damage the cartridge somehow. The instructions I received with the cart had no mention of removing the air plug before using, so I did try fairly hard to draw ink out with the bottom fill adapter. Probably my own brute force and ignorance damaged something.

I'll try pick up another set of these from the internet and see what happens. I wish I hadn't damaged something, but hey, live and learn. Any other suggestions for how to verify whether I've banjaxed the cartridges I have before I throw more money at the problem, and find it doesn't solve it?

I'll also try checking the seals on my cartridges to see if anything is otherwise obviously broken. I wonder if putting a hot needle through the rubber air plugs and replacing them (to restrict but not eliminate airflow) will take care of any of my leaky cartridge issues or not. Any thoughts?

*EDIT* Missed a thing -- Pretty sure they're not overfill. They've only got about 6mL of ink in each.

Thanks!

-C

 

[crenedecotret]

I wouldn't tamper with the air vents... leave them as-is they were designed that way. If you restrict them in any way, you might have the same problem you had in the beginning with ink starvation. Definitely try some aluminum tape over the ink refill plugs to make sure no air is getting in.

Just out of curiosity, where did you buy the carts? Ebay? the 1280 is kind of old and those are getting harder to find.

If you're not in a rush to get the replacements, you might want to look on aliexpress.

There are instructions for these types of carts here http://www.inksupply.com/instructions/instructions_epson_1270_1280_1290_spongeless.pdf

 

[Clinton]

I bought them from MIS, so they're the same as the ones documented in the instructions.

It'll be difficult to seal with aluminium tape, since the cartridge design is kind of funny. There's a layer of plastic over top of the ink tanks, and a gap between the top of the ink tanks and the top of the cartridge, so I'm unsure if that seal would do any good. The plugs all have a "well" in the middle of them, so I'm going to try and stick a blunt probe down in to the well to give me some more leverage and press the ink fill plugs more tightly into the holes.

When I did prime via the bottom fill adapter with the cartridges, I drew some hefty vacuum at first (since I hadn't removed the air plugs). I then removed the ink fill plugs and repeated the procedure, and drew a couple of mL of ink out of the bottom of each tank, then replaced the plugs. I did notice that in some cases I had to press fairly hard up into the ink ports with the bottom fill adapter before I could draw any ink out, in some cases having to wiggle it a bit. Is it possible I could've damaged the cartridge that way? I get no leaks out the bottom when the cartridge is sitting out of the printer, so I don't think I obliterated the one way valves or anything.

Should I try a re-prime with the ink holes closed and the air vents open?

-C

 

[crenedecotret]

I was thinking that whatever air was escaping from the refill plugs might be "kept in" by a layer of aluminum tape over the plugs. By your picture I see that the fill plug holes are lower than the top of the cartridge itself. Just tape over the top/gap. MIS in their docs mention leaking can be a problem if air is escaping through the refill plug. If you don't have aluminum tape, you could try with packing tape (temporarily).

Canon does something similar with OEM carts... there is a sealing "ball" in the factory fill hole, and the cartridge label itself completes the seal.

I don't think you need to reprime the carts. they are feeding plenty of ink

After taping over those gaps where the plugs are, put the carts back in and print a few pages. If you get a smear on the first couple of pages, it could be that ink buildup that was mentioned before... If after 5-10 pages this is still an issue, then your carts are leaking for sure. If you bought them from MIS, maybe you could try contacting them for a replacement.

 

[Lucas28]

I had the same problem with a T008 from Linexports.
You should contact MIS and ask for another T007. The T009 seems to be all right.

 

[crenedecotret]

I got a message from Clinton.. he pushed down on the plug a bit more and it was fine after that.

 

[Clinton]

Getting some leaking today after it's been sitting overnight. No longer leaking through the colour cartridges (was previously) but getting some dribbling from the black on my first print of the day after letting it sit overnight. Forgot to post last night that I'd pushed the plugs in and had a bunch of successful prints. Guess there's still a slow leak in my black cart, since I'm getting dribbling there as of today.

I can't really tape over the gap, since that'd re-plug the air holes again, causing the same problem as before, with ink starvation. Going to play with it some more and see what I come up with, if I can't make it work, I'm on the edge of scrapping this idea, cutting my losses, and seeing if I can find something more modern.

-C

-C