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Refilling Tips For Lexmark
Cartridges
by Barry
Shultz
Lexmark color
cartridges like the 12A1980 or the 15M0120 and similar foam filled
multi-chambered cartridges typically exhibit the same problems after
refilling. They might have streaking, missing colors, no colors and wrong
colors. These problems can usually be fixed by removing the sponges and
washing them out. This may be easier said then done because the clear
plastic cover over the sponges is a bugger to remove. After removing the
colored top you will see a clear plastic cover over the sponges. The best
way to remove it, in my experience, is to use a sturdy pair of needle nose
pliers, available at any hardware or department store. Pry off the clear
cover using the pliers. You will absolutely destroy it in the process but
that's ok because the cartridge will work just fine without it. When you get
the clear cover off take notice which color is in which chamber and write
it down. Do the next part in a sink or somewhere safe from ink stains.
Remove the three sponges and wash them out thoroughly with warm soapy water.
Squeeze out the excess soapy water from the sponges and rinse them again
with clear clean water. Squeeze out the water and put the sponges aside for
now. Take the empty cartridge body and rinse out the cavity thoroughly with
hot water. Hot, not scalding. Put the sponges back in the cartridge in the
correct chamber. Refill the cartridge making sure you don't over fill the
chambers. Make sure the cartridge is dry before you insert it in the
printer. Dab the copper foil contacts with a soft cloth or tissue if they
are wet or dirty. This procedure should resolve 90% of the problems with
refilling this cartridge type. BS Refilling Lexmark Color Cartridges
by John Anderson
I don't know if I had an unusual
cartridge, but I think not, so here's one for your knowledge base.
To open my Lexmark 1980 color cartridge, I simply took a small
utility knife (razor blade knife) and worked it in between the
cartridge and the cartridge cover, and pulled it through the slot a
few times. You can actually feel each side release when it
separates, as it is glued on. There was no need to remove the clear
cover, as it did not become dislodged, and kept the ink in the
correct well, even when it bled out of the top. If it separated from
the top of the wells it should be removed or the ink could travel
across it's face into the wrong well.
I've just ordered a second injector,
which I'll remove all or most of the needle from, because I believe
If you draw a suction on the top of the sponge as you're injecting
the ink, you should be able to remove air from the sponge, and
achieve maximum absorption of the ink into the sponge.( I haven't
tried this yet, but Lexmark punctured the sponge through both holes
on the initial filling, and only one has an ink stain on the
puncture. I'll get back to you after I try it.)
I also had a problem getting the ink
to flow from the color which ran out during printing. I had taped
over the nozzles with the tape you sealed the ink bottle with. By
working the ink in the stuck chamber (pulling foam from the top of
the sponge and re-injecting the ink back in the bottom of the
sponge) till it started to bleed out of the nozzles. Wiped off
excess ink and ran the nozzle cleaning part of the printer program
till the cross bleeding of color at the nozzles stopped. Once they
begin firing the cartridge leaking seems to stop on it's own.
Hope some of this is helpful.
John Anderson
Portions of this FAQ were paraphrased from the book THE INKJET MANUAL
by Sandy Kouvaras.
MGT: Thanks John for a very useful
article
Refilling Tips For Lexmark
Cartridges
by
MLG from our Refilling
Discussion Board
When you have cross-contamination with your inks... lets say your blue line is printing green (just an example) that means that yellow is overloaded. I have created a page in one of my "paint" programs where I print out a solid block of only yellow. I print off the excess yellow until a test print would show a perfect blue. The same with yellow printing orange... print out a page of red until the excess red is printed off. If red is purple, print off the excess blue. It shouldn't take too long to normalize the cartridge this way. I use paper from the "recycle" bin so that I am not wasting paper while doing this. This is an easy problem to fix. I'm still working on clogged
print heads...
To add to my above comments. I have been fairly successful getting a clogged cartridge to get back into shape by soaking the
print heads in a warm to hot solution of diluted Mr. Clean. Let it soak for a good while and then blot the cartridge and see what colors are "opening up". Red was pretty easy, blue took longer to soak. I reheated the solution in the microwave. It didn't seem to hurt the cartridge. In the past, I have taken to smashing one of these cartridges open just to see what made them tick. The sponges are HUGE compared to the compartment that they are in and once they were dry, it took a long time to rewet the sponge. A soapy solution helped. The worst part of the sponge as far as drying out was concerned was right where we need it most--at the printhead end. Think of that as you add ink. Work the needle around in the sponge at the
printhead, compressing the sponge to move the ink around at that end, and it may revive an old cartridge. Water is NOT enough to soak the printhead in to unclog it. You need some type of surfactant to break up the dried ink.
On last tip... This worked for clearing the blue and getting the cartridge, at last, working perfectly. Can you tell what I have been doing today? Anyway, after the Mr. Clean treatment, which worked fabulously for the red, but only so-so for the blue, I tried a hot diluted solution of a very mild jewelry cleaner. I figured it couldn't hurt and may even clean the contacts of the
printhead. The blue started working immediately. My test print page was beautiful after I got rid of a small excess of magenta. The true test will be how it holds up in the next day, but that is how long I usually wait for the cartridge to equilibrate with itself, anyway. I used a jewelry cleaner put out by
Connoisseur's, an easy brand to find. I had it on hand and it is relatively cheap.
MLG |
