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My magical
solution for refilling
Epson cartridges
successfully....
Thanks to James who wishes to remain anonymous.
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Vapor lock or air bubbles were
found to be the problem preventing the printer from doing
its thing. This was not associated with filling to quickly but
because the Epson cartridge has two chambers separated by a stop
leek valve which generally get
s
air
trapped.
I tried using a B-fill
exactly according to instructions and got mixed results. I now
use a syringe with much better results every time! The
following steps are taken from existing ideas on filling ink
cartridges, with a few added tweaks of my own.
These were the steps I used to
refill my Epson cartridge.
1) Remove the chip (if
one exists) and
reset as you would normally. Keep to one side to place back on
the cartridge later.
2) Remove the label on top of the
cartridge or alternatively (I think is better) Leave the label
on, but open the two vent holes on each color
chamber with a skewer or other sharp object. These
holes will be used to drain the remaining ink out of the
cartridge.
3) Remove the residual ink
from the cartridge. I did this by putting the cartridge in a
plastic bag with a sponge placed on the top of the cartridge (
Where the open vent holes are). I then placed the cartridge,
bag and sponge in my top loading
washing machine with one side of the cartridge facing down and
the top of the cartridge facing the outer wall of the drum.
4) Run a spin cycle. Spin cycle
only... not wash! The spin will centrifuge the remaining
ink out through the top vent holes of the cartridge. Do until
no more ink appears to be coming out of the cartridge. Rinse
the sponge in fresh water between spins.
5) clean the cartridge with damp
sponge and dry toilet paper.
Now to Refill the cartridge. It is
important not to trap any air between the cartridge outlet and
the ink chamber above. There is a small space between the
outlet and the main chamber above which must be filled with
ink. I have named this
small space a chamber also.
1) Doing each color
at a time. Temporarily tape the vent holes that were opened
using a skewer in previous steps of emptying the cartridge.
This will prevent ink from entering the main chamber of the
cartridge while filling the small space under the rubber
seal on the bottom of the cartridge.
2) Turn the cartridge upside
down. Use a toothpick to pull the rubber seal out of the
bottom of the chamber of the color
you are working on. The plastic tape that originally sealed
the outlets and that hold the rubber seals may need removal
first. There is a small key hole on the side of the valve from
which the rubber seal was removed. Slide a syringe to the bottom
of this key and slowly fill the lower chamber (Small space
between rubber seal and main chamber) to nearly full. This uses
only the tinniest amount of ink (Probably a 1/2 a ml), but is
necessary to remove the air between seal and main chamber
above the valve.
3) Push the rubber seal back into
the outlet being careful not to trap air behind the seal
and ink underneath. The ink placed in this small
part of the chamber should not drain through to the main
chamber because of the anti leek valve (On original ink Epson
ink Cartridges). However the tape covering the vent holes will
also maintain a back pressure (as a backup) and will also
prevent all ink draining past the valve into the main chamber.
Tapping the cartridge during ink filling may help ink
distribute around the valve mechanism also.
4) Quickly clean outlet with dry
toilet paper and place a small amount of tape over the outlet.
This should prevent ink falling into the main chamber while filling
the other ink chambers if leaking of the valve does occur.
5) Still working of the same color,
turn the cartridge the right way up and inject 5 ml of ink
through the breather hole on the top of the cartridge above the
outlet. The syringe must be angled toward the outlet and to
the side of the chamber to get past the valve
mechanism ( The valve mechanism is above the outlet and
centrally located). If the needle is not placed past the
valve, an air bubble may be left around the valve mechanism.
This will stop ink flowing if not done correctly and probably
practice is the only way of getting this right. If in doubt,
measure the length of your needle when inserted in the cartridge
and compare it's length on the outside. This will show how much
penetration you're getting.
6) Do not put more than 5 ml in
each chamber. Refilling should be done as slowly as your
patience allows. All ink should get soaked up by the
sponge inside. Ink should not overflow to the outside.
too much ink causes ink to feed under gravity which will not
help the quality of printing. Printing
is helped by a small back pressure to retain and
control ink flow to the printer head. The black (larger)
cartridge can take 8- 10 ml of ink.
7) Wipe top
of cartridge after filling and place tape over the breather holes
of the chamber you have finished working on.
8) Continue steps 1 to 6 for each
chamber until you have finished the cartridge. For those who
chose to remove the blue label at the beginning, a wide
tape will be needed to simulate the blue label that was
removed. The whole area that was covered by the blue label
must be covered with tape. This is because the tape and the
molded plastic below forms a series of canals that restrict
airflow into the cartridge ink chambers during use.
9) Finally
place tape over the holes at the rear of the cartridge. These
are the holes which were covered originally by yellow tape
which you pull off before installing the cartridge into the printer.
These same holes are connected to the other end of the chambers
that control airflow into the cartridge. Hence, blocking these
holes prevents ink to drain out the bottom of the cartridge
under gravity.
10) Replace chip on cartridge. I
used a bit of Blue tack (A bit like plastic putty or playdough)
to help retain the chip on the cartridge. Leave for 24 hours on
the shelf the correct way up just in case some air needs to
escape the inside sponge of the cartridge.
