Inkjet Printer Forum / Ink Jet Refill Forum

barfl2 wrote:

From ThrillaMozzilla comments he has already tried it on the HP Carts, but from your comments it looks as though the restricted flow through the clip might be the problem.

No, the flow is fine.  I would go ahead and use the clips as long as you have them.  But see my previous one or two posts.

barfl2 wrote:

Do the little nibs on the ink outlet play any part in locating the cart in the printer? or are they something to do with the moulding process ? If the latter presumably they could be cut off to get a better seal, as the contact area of the outlet port is pretty small 0.146" depth on my carts.

Those four little orange dots?  Those are what held the cap on the outlet of the new cartridge until you broke the cap off.  Go ahead and trim them.

EDIT:  I see you had problems due to lack of vacuum.  I just tried with a dry cartridge, and it briefly holds a satisfactory vacuum, which will pull back the plunger part way.  An ordinary syringe fits the clip and will hold a vacuum.  I don't recommend using the InkTec syringes for this, as they have no handle that you can use to pull a vacuum.  Make sure you have the vent well sealed.

Last edited by ThrillaMozilla (07/05/2011 10:48:50 am)

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

barfl2 wrote:

Do the little nibs on the ink outlet play any part in locating the cart in the printer? or are they something to do with the moulding process ? If the latter presumably they could be cut off to get a better seal, as the contact area of the outlet port is pretty small 0.146" depth on my carts.

Those four little orange dots?  Those are what held the cap on the outlet of the new cartridge until you broke the cap off.  Go ahead and trim them.

No, he's talking about the four nibs around the outlet port that prevent a piece of tubing from making a really good seal. Maybe the HP carts don't have them. They were a real problem with vinyl tubing because it is rather slippery and doesn't deform well but with the rubber hoses that I'm now using, I don't think they are any problem at all.

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

ghwellsjr wrote:

This has been a point of confusion for just about everybody. I should probably go back and edit my first post and put in bold red lettering, "Never push on the plunger".

I wouldn't say "never", but it's probably preferable not to, for reasons that we discussed.  I don't understand, though, why people are getting ink explosions.  Even with a needle, you have to exercise some care not to use excessive pressure and blow everything apart.  It's not that difficult, really.

If the system is not completely vacuum-tight, you may find yourself with a syringe full of air, with no way to draw back on the plunger.  In this case, it may be tempting to resort to pressure, but it's easy enough to remove the syringe and reset the plunger.  But if the system is just too leaky, it's tedious to do this.  That's one reason I like your system.  I would think it's easy to seal the system fairly well.

I happen to have the InkTec clips, and I like them.  But I sure wouldn't buy these or another clip system without trying tubing first.

I still would say "never", as long as the tape is on the air vent and as long as you have ink in the syringe. I have also used the apparatus to purge a cartridge with water when there is no tape on the air vent and even then, you have to hold the cartridge up against the adapter and syringe or it will pop off and you never want this to happen with ink. Like I said, you'll have a squirt cannon and it can eject ink across a room. At least with water, it won't be so bad.

I will be the last one to to bring something new down, but I don't see any advantages over the German methode to be honest. If you know how much ink an empty cartridge needs, you just inject that amount ( or a bit less ) and you are done.

* faster
* no new stuff needed
* keep on using the squeeze bottles we all bought
* nothing to clean in between if you have 2 empty carts or more ( so no waste ink as well )
* no risk - fool proof

For opaque cartridges we might need to rethink this a little.

ghwellsjr wrote:

It seemed to me that this method would be ideal for the opaque cartridges because it is essentially self-limiting. You can repeat the process as many times as you want and it only tops off the reservoir. It doesn't usually saturate the sponge any more then it did on the first cycle and it doesn't usually get ink into the air vent.

Are you sure?  If you keep going, can you fill the space above the sponge?  I suspect you can.

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

And there's more to it too.  As long as the system is vacuum-tight and you don't push on the plunger, friction in the syringe will leave a slight vacuum in the cartridge until you remove the tape or the syringe.  That means that the cartridge will be filled under a slight vacuum, and the sponge cannot be oversaturated.

I won't bother to state the reason, but I think this is wrong.  I'll bet you can oversaturate the sponge.

Can you check this on one of your transparent cartridges?  Can you fill the space above the sponge?  And can you fill it so full that the cartridge drips?  This may depend on the quality of the vacuum you can get, but for transparent cartridges it may be necessary to modify the procedure a little.  For example, one could fill it full and then withdraw a small, measured volume of ink, depending on the specific cartridge.