Your own vacuum-refill-tool for less than 20 dollars

[Smile]

I used 50cc syringe with 15ml ink in it to refill CLI-8 cart, two strokes was all that is needed for full refill. I used aluminium tape on vent hole.

After refill remove the aluminium tape pull the syringe slightly to clear ink air maze. Thats it.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

I have had a vent clogged, as have other people on this forum--and I was being careful. It might not happen very frequently, but it's not a problem we're just making up.

 

[Nochwas]

I have about 30 refilled cartridges waiting on my shelf. Your postings made me curious. So I controlled them all.
I could not find a single cartridge that has ink in its vent. - Really-not kidding.
Perhaps you will build my refill-tool and then try to clogg the vent. I was not succesfull up to now.
So I think this issue concerning "clogged vents" is a bit theoretical...

 

[Nochwas]

in the meantime I produced a video with voice-over in english:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tliAhiQfzpE&feature=youtu.be

The video documents how to build the refill-tool...

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

So I think this issue concerning "clogged vents" is a bit theoretical...

I don't think so. At least a couple of people (ghwellsjr and me) have confirmed it. What's interesting is why you (and apparently quite a few others) can get away with it. I think it's either because you have a leak in the vent, or because your particular brand of sponge holds air in the upper part when you evacuate. I wouldn't assume that it works for every type of cartridge. If you watch the original video on this ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxtu7ZhZDPc ), you'll see that there's virtually no chance of getting ink where it doesn't belong unless you grossly overfill the cartridge. That's a method I can recommend.

It's not necessary to turn the cartridges upside down when vacuum filling, and I still recommend against it. It doesn't mean your device is not good. If you just use it as GHWellsjr does, it will work a lot better.

EDIT: Oops, I forgot, that device would have to be modified to fill the cartridge right side up.

 

[CakeHole]

I do not think getting ink in the vent maze will matter as long as you pull on the syringe to remove it once the refill is done (as @Nochwas has explained) If you have ever seen some cheap aftermarket carts they often have the sponge fully saturated and ink up in or near the maze, yet most of the time they work fine.

If you fill with his method and do not clear any ink that gets in the vent maze before use then yes i imagine it would be an issue but i personally (although freely admit have not tried) using his method off pulling on the syringe before disconnecting should draw any ink that entered the vent maze out and back down into the sponge and or ink reservoir, you are basically pulling ink through doing that.

George wells video aka @ghwellsjr is a cleaner solution both in terms of build and use, but i personally see no major issues with @Nochwas rig either. Both to me look like they would work fine and both when performing the procedure you need to follow some simple rules to make sure it is successful.

Personally i still think german method or top fill is still the more idiot proof way off filling but im temtped to give vacuum filling a go.

 

[The Hat]

When I can get a hold of one of these clamps that @Nochwas used then I plan on having a go at making up one like in his video. (Provided)

I found most if not all of these refill methods do work to a certain degree but not all of them are successful enough to work in the printer, I tried to make a similar gadget before that wasn’t quite 100%, so I couldn’t recommended it, maybe I’ll have more success with this one.

 

[Smile]

I don't know what's wrong with western Europe prices for syringes that they sell for 3Eur etc, they should be no more than 0.28Eur

 

[CakeHole]

When I can get a hold of one of these clamps that @Nochwas used then I plan on having a go at making up one like in his video. (Provided)

I found most if not all of these refill methods do work to a certain degree but not all of them are successful enough to work in the printer, I tried to make a similar gadget before that wasn’t quite 100%, so I couldn’t recommended it, maybe I’ll have more success with this one.

Im considering being even cheaper using 2 long carriage bolts and 2 bits of wood for the bracket

 

[Smile]

I dont use any "2 long carriage bolts and 2 bits of wood for the bracket" the cart holder and syringe is all that is required.