Wanting to tap the forum's collective wisdom

[fotofreek]

I am absolutely (and by choice!) ignorant of refilling the very newest carts. my experience is with bci-6 and cli-8 carts. These are basically the same except for the addition of a chip on the cli-8. From my reading of nearly every post on the forum since its inception there are now Canon carts made of opaque black plastic. As I understand it, the problem is to know when they are adequately filled without overfilling. From what I've read, one can transfer the chip to a different ,transparent OEM cart that also functions properly in the printer in question. Otherwise, it is my understanding that refilling carts from bci-6 to the black carts is pretty much the same. The newest Pro printer carts appear to have different internal structure that may require a different technique. I would never offer any advice on the carts about which I have no experience or reasonable knowledge.

Since you have experience with 225/226 printer OEM carts I would be interested in knowing how the process is substantially different from the older bci-6 and cli-8 carts.

 

[MiniMe]

This is the problem, you can't see the level of ink. You can buy old 220's but what are you getting? They need to be purged and that means plugs. They have already been ball pulled, did they nick the seat? The plugs need to be low profile for most of the new models. During my years of refilling my only catastrophic failures have been the result of plug seal failures. The refillables have nice molded bore that provides a positive seal, something that a drilled hole in 1/16 ths plastic or a plug in a hole meant for a ball can't ( ).

 

[fotofreek]

This is the problem, you can't see the level of ink. You can buy old 220's but what are you getting? They need to be purged and that means plugs. They have already been ball pulled, did they nick the seat? The plugs need to be low profile for most of the new models. During my years of refilling my only catastrophic failures have been the result of plug seal failures. The refillables have nice molded bore that provides a positive seal, something that a drilled hole in 1/16 ths plastic or a plug in a hole meant for a ball can't ( ).

Thanks for the advice. This is basically the same advice I've read since these carts were introduced. Are there people who have surmounted these problems and successfully used OEM carts? If you were to be able to get "virgin" 220's they would not have had the ball pulled or drilled out. I've read of techniques for purging carts without creating a top fill hole so that the German technique can be used. Also, aren't there low profile top fill plugs? Fortunately, I don't have to deal with these problems as I've laid in a supply of printers that are less problematic.

When I first started to refill Canon carts I was told to push the ball into the cart. It did work well, except that one of my carts ended up with a sllightly damaged fill hole when a little plastic chipped at the bottom of the ball-seat. That cart wouldn't hold the otherwise excellent plugs that had a little tab for easy removal. A little tape over the plug solved the problem. I subsequently found it much better to use stainless screws with O-rings. Never a leak - ever. I don't know if that might be adapted to the printers with less clearance.

So- as I said in my last post to you a few minutes ago on the other thread, If there is an aftermarket refillable cart that improves on an OEM cart for refilling it makes sense to go for it.

 

[MiniMe]

I am using the cart that improves on the 225/226 cart now 15 refills. I have outfitted 2 others with the same carts...only 2 refills...no issues or flooding.

 

[The Hat]

I am a new member and have refilled both refillable and OEM carts many times. My question to the hat is have you ever used any refillable carts yourself? Or are you just biasing your opinion on hearsay?

I like many other good members are here to help newbies who have for one reason or another
run into trouble attempting refilling by making a pigs ear of it.

This thread was started by Venom because of his experiences and his willingness to
seek help to resolve his problems for which well endeavour to resolve for him.

I dont know why you have called my refilling experience into question is it just because
I also recommend the use of OEMs for refilling and frond upon the use of compatibles.

This obviously differs from your experiences which no one has questioned your own success at refilling, you're entitled to your opinions and so is everybody else and we welcome debate as much as possible on this forum.

If Venoms experiences with compatibles cant convince you that OEMs are just about the safest way to refill then nothing can so lets disagree on this one but not continue to argue about it.

Fotofreek has covered just about everything that need to be said about good refilling practices and I completely agree with him and this forum also strongly promotes the same message constantly to everyone, ONLY refill OEMs for the safest and best results every time.

SO Happy Safe Refilling..

 

[barfl2]

MiniMe Before I found this Forum with its great spread of experts I was trying to refill HP364XL carts which are totally opaque and had great difficulty to get consistent results plus the HP 5380 has some pretty advanced software/warning messages to put you off using anything but their very expensive carts.

I got fed up with this and bought via E-bay some OCP Ink and a set of clear refillable carts. Great joy I thought you can see exactly the levels. But in use I soon had ink flow problems and ended up blowing the printhead. I then switched to Canon and started learning how to refill. I use all 3 current methods topfill/German/Freedom and now only use OEM carts. Lots of users like compatibles but they were only intended for single use. The OCP ink was great and I used that up in BCi-3 carts

There is probably a lot more choice in the USA but I learnt my lesson the hard way. The printer manufacturer spends a lot of time and money on developing their carts. which is why they are more reliable and the preferred choice of most of the members of this forum.

However every individual can make their own choice, my venture was painful and expensive.

 

[MiniMe]

MiniMe Before I found this Forum with its great spread of experts I was trying to refill HP364XL carts which are totally opaque and had great difficulty to get consistent results plus the HP 5380 has some pretty advanced software/warning messages to put you off using anything but their very expensive carts.

I got fed up with this and bought via E-bay some OCP Ink and a set of clear refillable carts. Great joy I thought you can see exactly the levels. But in use I soon had ink flow problems and ended up blowing the printhead. I then switched to Canon and started learning how to refill. I use all 3 current methods topfill/German/Freedom and now only use OEM carts. Lots of users like compatibles but they were only intended for single use. The OCP ink was great and I used that up in BCi-3 carts

There is probably a lot more choice in the USA but I learnt my lesson the hard way. The printer manufacturer spends a lot of time and money on developing their carts. which is why they are more reliable and the preferred choice of most of the members of this forum.

However every individual can make their own choice, my venture was painful and expensive.

I can see where you are coming from, and I don't know much about the HP XL carts only that the construction is very similar to the canon design, maybe the advanced EPROM firmware ruined your day. Also I don't recommend Ebay but retailers with years of proven results and thousands of satisfied users. In my experience with Canon refillables is you always need to refill after the first color flags low ink, usually cyan. It is like this with OEM carts too....you can't trust the prism. You need to print a nozzle check before a print run.

In the USA printers are $99 and a set of OEM carts are $99 so we might be tempted to take a chance on something that allows you to monitor ink levels visually (225/226) and top fill with a positive seal recessed plug. For the older models I always used OEM but not since the newer 225/226 carts.

 

[MiniMe]

I am a new member and have refilled both refillable and OEM carts many times. My question to the hat is have you ever used any refillable carts yourself? Or are you just biasing your opinion on hearsay?

I like many other good members are here to help newbies who have for one reason or another
run into trouble attempting refilling by making a pigs ear of it.

This thread was started by Venom because of his experiences and his willingness to
seek help to resolve his problems for which well endeavour to resolve for him.

I dont know why you have called my refilling experience into question is it just because
I also recommend the use of OEMs for refilling and frond upon the use of compatibles.

This obviously differs from your experiences which no one has questioned your own success at refilling,
youre entitled to your opinions and so is everybody else and we welcome debate as much as possible on this forum.

If Venoms experiences with compatibles cant convince you that OEMs are just about the safest way to refill
then nothing can so lets disagree on this one but not continue to argue about it.

Fotofreek has covered just about everything that need to be said about good refilling practices and I completely agree with him
and this forum also strongly promotes the same message constantly to everyone,
ONLY refill OEMs for the safest and best results every time.

SO Happy Safe Refilling..

I respect your refilling experience and the helpful advice that you have provided to many on the forum, but from your response to my questions I would assume that the answers are no, and yes.

If you told me that Coca-Cola tastes terrible and I asked you how often you tried it and you said never.....what should I think?

I believe in safety first so all my refilling is done safely

 

[The Hat]

I respect your refilling experience and the helpful advice that you have provided to many on the forum, but from your response to my questions I would assume that the answers are no, and yes.

If you told me that Coca-Cola tastes terrible and I asked you how often you tried it and you said never.....what should I think?

I believe in safety first so all my refilling is done safely

I like many others came to this forum for guidance and help with my printer problems and got it in spades
and so I now like to return these same favours to anyone else finding themselves in a similar position.

You dont have to be an expert to give friendly advice just as long as its good advice, does no harm
and above all is helpful to the OP that asked in the first place.
So far your assumptions about Coca Cola and me are way off the mark..

 

[FussyBob]

I own both the Canon IP4700 and PRO9000 MK II and have top filled the OEM cartridges countless times and zero problems with leaks, ink flow, etc.

I personally think that this is one of the easiest things to do on earth. Takes me about 10 minutes or less to refill the 8, CLI-8 cartridges.


Bob P.