As I mentioned in my other thread, I want to add a CIS system to my Canon PIXMA MP170. Its a scanner, printer, copier for those that arent familiar with it. Its a low dollar 2 cart unit, but I am impressed with its abilty to make quality color copies, and the scanner resolution is good too.

I'm still at a total loss as to understanding how these carts, as well as the ones in all my HP printers are vented. They are shipped with tape over the print head, but nothing seems to vent on top, or at least not enough to leak during shipping. My guess would be the sponge allows the ink to escape, by collapsing, and then air enters thru the print head maybe?

Hopefully someone can answer that question for me


C-ya, Jimbo.

I don't have one of those units and in truth I'm not likely to get one but there's bound to be someone on one of the other forums who has an idea on this score..

I'd suggest asking the same question on nifty-stuff forums as they're a bunch of canon officianados and will likely have some clues if not outright answers that would help.


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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

Jimbo64 wrote:

As I mentioned in my other thread, I want to add a CIS system to my Canon PIXMA MP170. Its a scanner, printer, copier for those that arent familiar with it. Its a low dollar 2 cart unit, but I am impressed with its abilty to make quality color copies, and the scanner resolution is good too.

Hi Jim,

Given that my MP750 attempt has bitten the bullet with the whole printer dying I'm curious about this printer now.

Is there any chance you could take a slew of photos of the cartridges for the MP170 in high definition and email them to me then I'll see if I can understand how these units work. If you've gone further and taken one of the carts apart that would be even more useful..


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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

If you'd like pictures for your own use, I'll be glad to remove the top from the carts once they are depleted.

They have been refilled a fair amount of times, but nowhere near the life I used to get out of HP carts. These leave print lines regardless of what I do now, and I can only conclude that either I ruined the print heads or they are worn out. But at 50+ dollars to replace them, I wont be bothering, as I only paid 55 for the printer (Part of a special deal)

I'm so impressed with the Epson running CIS, that I am going to buy another R220, and purchase a seperate scanner. I like the copy function, but the modern scanners are so fast now, I can scan and print almost as fast as this canon takes to fire up from sleep mode. (Or where ever it goes when its on, but not printing)

Another thing about this Canon, IT IS NOISY! It even has a "Quiet mode" which I find funny actually.

C-ya, Jimbo.

Hmm... I didn't realise the MP170 was one with a throwaway printhead and that in itself makes it pretty useless for CIS considerations.

Good job I didn't get the refurb was bidding on ebay for then

I was also able to find some useful info via google images that will doubtless help refillers: here


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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

It's under the label. There is a hole into each ink compartment, and a maze-like air labyrinth (sp?) covered by the label so that only the very end is open.

If you've overfilled, ink can get into this, dry, and cause partial air blockage. This can cause the symptom of banding, especially if you find it gets worse down the page.

For the HPs, it depends on which one you are talking about. The HP carts that look the same as the MP170 carts work the same way. Other HP carts work differently. The #15 and #45, for instance, have a flexible foil/mylar bag inside that collapses as ink is used up. Some others like the #29 have air bags inside and a valve system that lets in air as the ink is used up.