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We will spend most of the time on the negative refill method which
I believe it's the best for this type of cartridge. But we can discuss
about the passive refill, too cause there must be somebody who would
never thought about installing the filling port or just can't find
the tubing like that. As you've already known, there are 2 main
chamber, upper and lower and you have to fill both. For the neg
refill, one single port will do all the job.
1) Passive Refill.
I have tried many different ways. I found the best
and easiest way is
-Fill the lower chamber
first (because it's easier). Look down the bottom and
open the left hole (the one that closer to the exit).
Pay extra attention not to ruin the the other hole,
o/w it won't suck any ink up.
-Try to use the plastic
needle/catheter. You should be able to get at least
7 ml in. With my clear cartridge which I can see thru,
I could get anywhere between 7.5-8 ml (noted that the
negative pressure filling will fill this space up to
8.5 ml). Anyway, just tilt the cartridge left and right
the air may lodge in the right corner (tilt the cartridge
rt/lt few times) or underneath those septa. But these
septa of the lower chamber are not complete like the
upper. So, filling this part is extremely easy.
-Then
plug the hole. I used the Tac'n Stik . You have to make it flat
enough so the cartridge can sit on it and not lumpy
and won't interfere when it goes into the printer. Sure
enough, this material will have a physical contact with
the ink, do we worry about the chemical reaction ? (Will
talk later) |
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-Then we will fill
the upper chamber. Again, very important - use only
the plastic catheter. If you can't find one and must
use the metal needle try the blunt one which is available
here.
Try hard to keep the tip away from the membrane. If
you make a hole in it, the lower chamber ink won't get
to be used.
| -You should
be able to get 5-6 ml into the upper chamber.
You can see that I cannot fill the E and F at
all. Even under vision (clear cartridge and extensive
tapping/tiling/turning (next time, we'll call
TTT maneuver). The
only problem is you cannot do TTT
too much because the system is not seal. The excessive
TTT will make a mess
and you can hold the hole with your finger because
it's double wall. Contrary to a neg filling which
can do an aggressive TTT.
-You can spend hours try to accomplish
this but since you don't see it any way (with
the real cartridge) , why bother ! The good news
is after, I spent nights tapping the cartridges,
the E and F seems to fill up a little bit. Move
your cursor over the picture to see how are they
like after nights of TTT
behaving.
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Now you have to plug the filling hole. This
is a must and it has to be a complete seal. If there is a
leak that air can enter the cartridge this way. This refilled
unit will use only the upper chamber ink (even though you
activated the cartridge's air-vent) because your hole is bigger
and has less resistance than the original air-vent).
When you become good at this, you can refill the upper chamber
first. I just feel that the lower chamber is easier to do
so, we'll do it first.
You can also check the weight. I can get 42 gm with the
clear cartridge but it's a suspicious 42 gm because clearly
the E, F wasn't filled completely. May be it's the Tac'n Stik 's weight, too. |
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2) Negative Pressure
Refill. (or Vacuum Refill)
Yes, this is my way. It is very easy to do. Just
requires a little work at the beginning (filling port installation,
which actually take < 5 mins). Later, you will need < 5 mins
to get 42 gm. And if you can make a tight seal filling port, your
project of making your own CIS is not too far away.
You'll need the glove only for the first few time.
When you become more comfy, you can do this without gloves and you
won't get any dots of ink (contrary to method 1).
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I cut the filling port in a slant
fashion and put a piece of bigger tube (this is to prevent the
kinking from the wire). Mark the end of tubing at 2-3 mm. Insert
the tubing until you reach the mark. Do not leave the tubing
too long inside the cartridge (it may leave some room for the
air). The hole should be just about the size of the tubing.
The hole that is too big will allow the glue to go inside the
cartridge. And also do not make the hole too close to the non-sticker
side cause you may damage the inner membrane. If you stay in
the middle or slightly to the sticker side, you'll be save enough.
Look at this picture to see how much space you have left before
you can reach the membrane (at least 3 mm.).
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| The mark stay outside, the
wire loop around the big tube. |
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| Notice how far the tubing
enter the cartridge. Also the distance away from
the membrane. |
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| The filling port with
the short segment of the bigger tube and the mark at the
end, ready to insert. |
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Next is to make a complete seal. I use the
Epoxy glue. There are many types of them. The one that I used
before is 2ton, 30 min working and 2hr handling. It made me
feel like forever. Currently, I'm using the fast one 1.5 ton/5min/15
min. The fast one, even though, dry quick but gave you shorter
working time and it's less stronger (1.5 Ton - is actually
more than enough for providing this seal).
To test the seal. After the glue completely harden, just
connect the cartridge to the syringe and simply pull the plunger
and let go. The plunger should go back to the same (or almost
the same spot). You do not have to do anything with the air-vent
system. Leave it closed just like that. |
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Now, we're ready for the refill. You can use
10 ml or 20 ml syringe (10 ml is more gentle while 20 ml is
more convenient). Thank Epson for making the large cartridge.
The 7600's cartridge's exit fit perfectly on the syringe without
the leur lock (the 5500's won't).
To have some idea, I always weigh the cartridge
before I refill. Normally it would be 28-30 gm (occasionally
32) and then I know how many cc I would need (calculate from
42 gm-full cartridge). For example, if I got 28 gm empty cartridge
- then I'd need 14 ml for refill. Later, I'm getting greedy
and I know that I can over refill easily. So I draw the difference
cc of 42 -X +1 cc e.g. instead of 14 ml, I would take out
15 ml.
To get, let's say, 15 ml in, it means that you
need 15 ml of air out. The syringe that you use either 10
or 20 ml won't handle 30 ml of volume at one time. You need
to disconnect the syringe and purge the air off the syringe
during the mission. I don't feel this is the problem. I have
30 ml syringe, but the bigger syringe, the more resistance
of the piston/syringe's body and the small -ve pressure created
inside the cartridge will not overcome this. The 10 ml give
the best feeling and very gentle but requires many disconnection
to purge the air out. You can also use the stopcock but..
this is easy enough. |
The filling strategy is - fill the lower chamber first and
then the upper chamber.
But, since the lower chamber connected to the
upper chamber (chamber D - to be precise) and
the filling port connected to upper chamber. So you can not
fill the lower chamber without filling the upper chamber (D) first.
So, the final plan will be - fill the upper
chamber (doesn't have to be complete) just to get enough ink
in D to completely fill the
lower chamber. After the lower chamber filled completely,
then we'll completely fill the upper chamber.
Sound complicated ? Well, I'll tell you something.
Before I made the clear wall cartridge, I have no idea which
part I'm filling. What I knew is I just suck out the air,
let the ink go in for few times while turning the cartridge
up/down. In less than 5 min, I can manage to get all 14 ml
in and a fresh like-new 42 gm cartridge in my hand. And that
make me happy enough. But since I have made the clear cartridge
and it has shown me how the ink enter each chamber precisely.
So I now, have improved my skills. I can get extra 1-2 cc
in and I just want to show you all of the tricks that I have
learnt. If you aren't interested, you then can skip this part
because you can get 42 gm without learning all these techniques
anyway. This is fun though. |
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| Tricks
for a perfect negative refills
In this Document, this is how we
called each side of cartridge ->
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Step 1
| Click on the picture
to see the bigger and the description. |
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Objective
: to fill chamber D in order to get the ink
down to lower chamber (A).
Procedure : First, lie cartridge
flat with the non-sticker side up (to make the
communications between each chamber (upper) stays
at the highest point). Then suck out ~ 6-7 ml
(volume of B+C+D+E) of air. Hold the
syringe upright - the air will float to the top
and let go the plunger, the ink get sucked in.
At this step some ink will go to the lower chamber,
too. You may have to turn the cartridge from flat
to upright with to get the air to move closer
to the filing port and repeat again. If your filling
port connect to D you can stay upright.
But if you filling port connected to B, you have to turn the
cartridge with Lt. side up, sucking air out, let
ink go in. |
Step 2
Objective : To
fill the lower chamber.
Procedure
: When the lower chamber is empty, you can
get the air out by just lie the cartridge flat (non-sticker
side up). But when it becomes partially filled.
You need to turn the cartridge upside down with
some tilting (the right-bottom part up). In this
position, apply the -ve pressure (no needs to draw
back > 5 ml, because the volume in D is only 2 ml, so 5 cc
is excessive enough). While holding the plunger
steadily, turn the cartridge upright and draw a
little further (so the air can get off the duct
and enter D) and then let go the
plunger. The 2 ml of ink in D will then enter the lower
chamber. You then have to go back to step 1 to fill
D again and repeat step
2. |
| This picture is when
the lower chamber is almost filled. To show
the trick how to get rid of the last air bubble
in the lower chamber. click on the picture
to see the bigger version and the description. |
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Then you keep repeating Step 1 and 2
about 2-3 times. Since you can not see the inside and
you will have no idea how full of the lower cartridge.
But at this point, you should get at least 12-13 ml
in already. Small bubbles in the lower cartridge is
totally benign because it's the farthest from the ink
exit. Actually, if you open the sticker (just peel off
the sticker - but leave another plastic layer intact)
at the bottom hole of the new cartridge, you can see
a small bubbles (from the factory). With the clear cartridge,
I can completely fill the lower chamber - I mean 0 air.
But with the regular cartridge. I just gonna leave it
like that knowing that this is already much better than
a passive refill.
To get the last 1-2 ml in, you have to
make sure that the lower cartridge is almost perfectly
filled. And the only way to confirm that is repeating
step 1 and 2 !
Step 3
Objective : to completely fill the upper
chamber (assumed that lower chamber is already completely
filled)
Procedure
: When you lie the cartridge flat ( non-sticker side
up) the small air bubbles in each chamber (B,C,D,E) will float to
the membrane. You have to take the air off from E first. This can be done
by holding the cartridge with the right side up while
apply the small -ve pressure (draw back 2-3 cc) and
let the ink go in. Then we have to get the air off every
chamber (B,C,D) To do that, we
lie cartridge flat (sticker-side up), you then applied
a -ve pressure ~2-3 ml (slowly, steady) and while holding
the plunger, just turn the cartridge upright (with the
filling port connection at the highest) and then draw
the plunger back about 2-3 ml further. The air bubbles
will then gather into the same chamber that next to
the filling port (depends on it's B or D). Now, with the cartridge
upright (top up) you can suck that last half ml of air
of and replace it with the ink. You may repeat this
step until you have no ink left in the syringe. Click
on each pictures below to see the details
If you can't seem to get all the ink
in (I assume this amount of ink is the cc that calculated
from weighing the cartridge), you have to go back and
repeat Step 1, 2, 3. Most of the air lodge is in the
lower chamber. You may do some tapping to move the air
the lodged and repeat step 1/2 and then 3 over and over.
Like I mention before, if you're not
greedy (like me) draw only the amount that need to make
42 gm. You'll get it in a snap. To get extra 1-2 ml
- you need to be a master ! and of course need time
and knowing that it's all unnecessary - just for a pleasure. |
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After you're done and get all the ink in,
you just disconnect the syringe to let the cartridge resume
a neutral pressure). You may find that the ink that remained
in the tubing get sucked in when you disconnect. This happened
because the remaining negative pressure from your refilling.
This force cannot overcome the resistance between the plunger
and the syringe's body. If this is too excessive, some air
will get sucked further into the cartridge too. So, you may
actually, at the end, help pushing another 0.1-0.2 ml of ink
before disconnect (too much will make a mess). The best spot
is when you still see some ink in the tubing, that can be
used as the indicator to tell whether or not the filling port
is tight seal. Don't leave the ink too much, especially up
to the hub because the accidental uncapping will result in
a big mess! and cap the filling port tight. If the air can
enter filling port, it will serve as a new air vent hole and
this refilled cartridge won't suck the ink from the lower
chamber.
It's easy to get 42 gram even with your first
time. Later, many times you got 44 gm cartridges, occasionally
46 gm !.
Now, you have done it. For both refills method.
It is always wise to leave the cartridge rest in peace for
a while. So that if any bubbles/foaming happened, it will
have time to settle down.
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| I do not want to believe that I
can get extra 4 ml in this cartridge. This weighing is
actually blinking between 44 |
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Don't forget to reset the chip before use.
And read more in my Precaution ! This may not be it ? Is it
totally safe. Can we stop worrying ?
There are plenty of space that you can manage
for the tubes' arrangement. All the hubs of the filling port
can be hidden on the top before the lid closed.
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