There is a type of cartridge specially designed for easy refilling. This cartridge has two holes on top, one for refilling and one for air vent. The refill hole initially was designed to allow the use of a syringe to inject ink into the cartridge. This type of cartridge is fitted with auto reset chips that reset from 20% to 90%. Some believe this type of cartridge should not have the auto reset chips fitted on it. But from regular use of this type of cartridge, I do not see a problem with it. Only it needs a bit of attention to make sure the cartridge doen't get empty. When used with pigment inks, this is particular important. Pigment inks tend to be more difficult to clean. But for regular office dye ink printer, this refillable works just fine.
The idea orginate from an end user, the cartridge manufacturer decided to take this idea and make it a new product and make the refilling easier. There is no need to remove the cartridge from the printer, even the chip will reset automatically. Some CIS users has pulled out the cheap problematic CIS and replace it with this refillable cartridge.

But personally I perfer a CIS over the refillable cartridge becasue I can install it and forget it for up to months. It takes more understanding of how the CIS works, but if one is careless, refillable cartridge could be problematic too.

Follow instructions carefully on the installation and learn how to maintain the system is key to the trouble free use of these gadgets.

The CIS ink tanks needs to be at the same level as the cartridges . The refillable needs to have the plugs installed and only a pin hole is allowed for air vent.



Last edited by easyrefill on Tue May 30, 2006 1:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Printers: Epson R1800, R800, 2200, R300, R200, C88, C84, CX3200, easyrefill cartridge, Ink System Pro Bulk Ink System

http://www.efillink.com
http://www.inkfillshop.com

easyrefill wrote:

The CIS ink tanks needs to be at the same level as the cartridges. The refillable needs to have the plugs installed and only a pin hole is allowed for air vent.

Actually for any CIS the ink tanks (reservoirs) need to have ink levels no higher (and preferably lower) than the level of the print head..

You could in theory have a large tank of ink that held a liter of ink so long as the ink level within it was lower than the printhead (perhaps a low profile wide body bottle)... It's impractical but you get the idea...

If you ignore this rule, you tend to find that your ink sets up a syphon or free flow effect and empties the ink into the printer as if you'd turned on a tap and couldn't turn it off... For this same reason you should never move your printer around by placing the ink reservoirs on top of the printer... Big, huge no no!


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

You are absolutely right. It is better that the ink tank is lower than the cartridge than the other way around.

A little back flow is easier to deal with than finding a pool of ink under the printer.


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Printers: Epson R1800, R800, 2200, R300, R200, C88, C84, CX3200, easyrefill cartridge, Ink System Pro Bulk Ink System

http://www.efillink.com
http://www.inkfillshop.com

I have done some compatibility testing using one particular type of refillable cartridge. So far everyone I know using this cartridge with dye ink has been very happy with it. A realtor I know regularly print large amount of documents and post cards for his business. He uses R200 with this cartridge and there could be 500 - 1000 prints on one setting. For someone using refillable to this extend, I feel a CIS might work better. But he is perfectly happy with it.

I have people tell me that pigment ink in these cartridge have a leakage problem and requires a tape to be put over the cartridge air vent hole. This prompted me to do some testing of my own.

I use an archival ink made in the USA for this test. The comparison is made to the an ink system. The CIS has been installed with this archivel pigment ink and the photos comes out perfectly, even when I place the system at the same level as the printer, which is 3 -4 inches lower than the cartridges. The system should be just slighely below the cartridge, about 1 - 2 inches.

After it is established that the ink is working well with this printer. I use the refillable with this same ink. The test result is that I cannot get a good auto nozzle check with my R1800. I finished 2 refills, running so many auto nozzle check is not what I like to do, but I am trying to prove if the cartridge is compatible with the ink. Unfortunately, the result is not good.

I am not saying all refillable cartridge will have this problem. I know the 2200 refillable does not, at least the one I use does not have this problem. I will try to use a different R1800 refillable at a different time but now I know each cartridge must be tested for compatibility with the cartridge, or the CIS for that matter. Although I regularly run test in my test lab, I have to say, this is one I have missed.

I plan to continue to test other refillable and CIS for compatibility with the different inks. I will document each test and collect the nozzle check pages for future reference.


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Printers: Epson R1800, R800, 2200, R300, R200, C88, C84, CX3200, easyrefill cartridge, Ink System Pro Bulk Ink System

http://www.efillink.com
http://www.inkfillshop.com

easyrefill wrote:

After it is established that the ink is working well with this printer. I use the refillable with this same ink. The test result is that I cannot get a good auto nozzle check with my R1800. I finished 2 refills, running so many auto nozzle check is not what I like to do, but I am trying to prove if the cartridge is compatible with the ink. Unfortunately, the result is not good.

I'm guessing you did use the same printer in both circumstances but something that springs to mind with this is that the cartridge design itself may not be the problem so much as the lack of a decent seal around the ink post.

Also, the problem you described would also happen if there's no air getting into the cartridge to replace the ink being used so if you tested this out with tape over the air hole I'd remove that OR just prick the tape over the hole so there's a tiny hole for air to enter.

I've no idea why you should need to cover the air hole though and if the cartridge doesn't work with dyebase unless that's done I really wouldn't be using the cartridge at all.

Just my 2 penneth worth.


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

[quote="Martin"]

easyrefill wrote:

I've no idea why you should need to cover the air hole though and if the cartridge doesn't work with dyebase unless that's done I really wouldn't be using the cartridge at all.

You are missing the point. This cartridge works great with dye ink but seems to require a tape over it to have somewhat decent print with pigment. A tape is not likely to have an air tight seal but it does restrict air intake. With dye ink the test is done with R200 since the printer is designed for dye ink. No plug or tape is needed for the air intake hole.

Just started testing a cartridge from a different supplier. So far the result is better than the first.


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Printers: Epson R1800, R800, 2200, R300, R200, C88, C84, CX3200, easyrefill cartridge, Ink System Pro Bulk Ink System

http://www.efillink.com
http://www.inkfillshop.com

easyrefill wrote:

You are missing the point.

To be fair your post wasn't all that clear so it's hard to understand what you're doing with which printer, when or why..

Quote:

This cartridge works great with dye ink but seems to require a tape over it to have somewhat decent print with pigment. A tape is not likely to have an air tight seal but it does restrict air intake.

That's a "how long is a piece of string" type statement.. Different tapes will have different qualities so it's important to note what kind of tape was used. For example, electricians tape and especially aluminium tape will create a near air tight seal if you do it properly whereas masking tape will allow gas to permeate through.

Quote:

With dye ink the test is done with R200 since the printer is designed for dye ink. No plug or tape is needed for the air intake hole.

To be fair the printhead in the R200 is not designed for pigment ink so it's interesting to see if pigment ink will work for a little while but I somehow doubt it'll work for more than a month or two before the head needs a full cleaning routine or you need a replacement printer.

And on that note I'm not entirely sure why people want to try and install pigment ink in low end models designed for dyebase when the C8x series printers will do an excellent job for a whole lot less expense and difficulty.

Quote:

Just started testing a cartridge from a different supplier. So far the result is better than the first.

Always worth knowing what works.. but in this instance it'd be worth some kind of image of each cartridge tested as, at the moment we've no idea what the differences are.


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

I have been doing a lot of testing lately. I have been away form Continuous Ink.info for a while.

A Canadian friend has shed some light on the cartridge design I was not aware of. The intake is controlled by 2 - 3 round tiny disks inside the no sponge cartridges commonly used today. These disks tiny and difficult to keep it the same. But it is critical in the air intake. If the disks are not sealing correctly, ink could drain from the cartridge.

So Martin is correct when he favors CIS over refillable cartridges. CIS is more reliable, but this is true only if the manufacturer has a quality control that test the system before the product is shipped.

The same cartridge, when fitted with an external ink tank, air control is improved. It is much less likely to leak. I have done testing over the past two months and confirmed this is true.

Quality comes from continue testing and regular using of the product with the ink of choice to make sure the two are compatible.


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Printers: Epson R1800, R800, 2200, R300, R200, C88, C84, CX3200, easyrefill cartridge, Ink System Pro Bulk Ink System

http://www.efillink.com
http://www.inkfillshop.com

easyrefill wrote:

Quality comes from continue testing and regular using of the product with the ink of choice to make sure the two are compatible.

Couldn't agree more..


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680