Digital BW, The Print

Yesterday I had my first experience filling empty cartridges for my 1280. This is something I have previously managed to avoid since I started with Piezo ink in preloaded cartridges for my 1200 and then moved to a continuous inking system and on to MIS VM inks with a CIS on a 1280.

This is very doable but would not become a favorite occupation. So I have some thoughts, tips(?) and questions on the operation.

I loaded two sets of cartridges with MIS FS Neutral and two sets with MIS Sepia VM. (You will not find these bulk sets on the MIS website but if you call them you can place an order.)

Filling most of the chambers with the vacuum top load system went well. This is the preferred method as with the previous bottom load method you were pushing ink through the exit port screen in the wrong direction.

On three of the chambers I could not get a vacuum or worse only got a small amount of vacuum so that only a tiny amount of ink was pulled from the syringe into the cartridge. Once there is ink in the cartridge you cannot pull a vacuum on it without sucking ink into your vacuum pump assemble. (The vacuum pump one-way valves can be cleaned by forcing water through them with a syringe so don't worry if you do accidentally get ink in them.) Fortunately I had a bottom loading adapter for the syringe and some exit port rivets and was able to load these three chambers using the bottom fill method. In case of problems I suggest you spend a few cents and have these fittings on hand.

If you do bottom fill put tape over any open fill holes on the top of the cartridge of the chambers you are not bottom filling. You are likely to over fill the partially full chamber and you do not want ink running into the wrong chambers.) 

I believe that the loss of vacuum was due to an incomplete seal of the yellow tape over the vent holes of the cartridges. On one of the black cartridges the tape was visibly loose and I replaced it with a piece of Scotch tape which worked just fine. I think that in the future I may simply remove the yellow tape and replace it with Scotch tape to make sure this is well sealed before I start.

Remember to order enough of the small black rubber balls to seal the fill ports on all the chambers you plan to load (plus some extras to drop and have roll under the refrigerator.).

I got tired of taking the blue plastic clip on and off the vacuum line. I found that you can insert the needle through the fill septum and still have plenty of time to pinch off the vacuum line with your thumbnail and forefinger before the ink can flow into the vacuum pump. This makes for less wiggling of the tube going into the cartridge fill port and I think reduces the chance of accidentally losing vacuum.

Getting precisely the right amount of ink in the syringe and all the air out was also difficult since the ink tends to foam a bit as you pull it into the syringe and the foam is difficult to get back out. So what I did was to overfill the syringe by about 10cc and stand it up on the point of the needle with the body of the syringe leaning against something solid while I pulled a vacuum on the chamber. When I inserted the needle into the septum I kept the needle end of the syringe pointed slightly downward to be sure any residual air was at the plunger end away from the ink entering the cartridge. After the plunger quit moving I pulled the needle out. The problem with this is that it seems to overfill the cartridge chambers a bit and on the first couple of prints (purge file images) there were a few drips. These cleared up quickly and the cartridges worked just fine.

I also found the chip installation a bit difficult. Be sure you follow the directions carefully on this. Some were very stiff going in and once I got the lower notch in the chip started over the tab on the cartridge, levering it into place with a very small screw driver was helpful. Some snapped over the upper pin easily and some didn't snap at all and took a lot of force to get in place. This seems to be due to variations in sizing of the holes in the chips and the tabs on the cartridges. If all else fails, you might want to have a sharp knife and super glue handy to remove the tabs on the cartridge and to glue the chip in place.

Can these chips be reset with the QB7 chip resetter or is that for original Epson chips only?

I did have one chip fail after a few pages and reinstalling it did not help. I installed another chip and was back printing so you might want to order an extra chip with your cartridges.

Nothing I have said should put anyone off giving this a try, especially if you want to try out different inks before committing to a CIS or want something special for one or two prints. With practice this would get easier (and less messy!). The cartridges loaded into the printer just fine and with a few nozzle checks and nozzle cleanings were running shortly after filling. No overnight wait required. (I may not be so lucky next time and a wait might be required for air bubbles to clear.)

Buy enough rivets so you can seal the cartridge openings if you decide to take them out and use a different ink set. (Or are the MIS virgin carts self sealing like the Epson carts?) I also put some tape back over the vent holes when I took the partially used set of cartridges out. It seems like switching ink sets might not be too difficult. I wouldn't want to do it multiple times during a print session but to switch in a special ink set or go back to Epson color doesn't look like too much trouble. 

It got rather tedious cleaning up the vacuum tube, syringe and needle between each chamber. Things would go a bit faster if you had a needle and syringe for each ink position so you could do all the clean-up at the end. Each syringe and needle set is $2.00. Separate vacuum fill tubes would be nice too but they are $10.00 each.

BTW, the cost of filling these four sets of cartridges was less than four sets of 1280 Epson cartridges and I have ink left over.

I assume these inks are tolerant of some moisture since it is impossible to get all the moisture out of the vacuum tube assemble after cleaning. Canned air is a big help on this but still some will be present when you move to the next chamber.

If you do not want ink on your fingers, wear latex gloves.

Have lots of paper towel handy.

WEAR BLACK! (Maybe black with rust colored spots for the Sepia VM <G>)

Martin Wesley



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Martin Wesley" 
<mwesley250@e...> wrote:

> I believe that the loss of vacuum was due to an incomplete seal of 
the yellow tape over the vent holes of the cartridges. On one of the 
black cartridges the tape was visibly loose and I replaced it with a 
piece of Scotch tape which worked just fine. I think that in the 
future I may simply remove the yellow tape and replace it with Scotch 
tape to make sure this is well sealed before I start.


Interesting that has never happened yet to me with this procedure. I 
suggest using black electrical tape though.

How many times did you pull the pump back? I do it about ten times...

> 
> Remember to order enough of the small black rubber balls to seal the 
fill ports on all the chambers you plan to load (plus some extras to 
drop and have roll under the refrigerator.).

In a bind you can also put electrical tape over the fill holes, or buy 
an O-ring that is METRIC- 4milimeters in x-section. Cut it up and 
stick in holes- looser than the balls but it does go in.

> 
> I got tired of taking the blue plastic clip on and off the vacuum 
line. I found that you can insert the needle through the fill septum 
and still have plenty of time to pinch off the vacuum line with your 
thumbnail and forefinger before the ink can flow into the vacuum pump. 
This makes for less wiggling of the tube going into the cartridge fill 
port and I think reduces the chance of accidentally losing vacuum.

I forgot to pinch the tube twice and both times the vacuum was so good 
the ink was heading straight for the valve. I had to pinch the tube at 
the last moment by doubling over between fingers...I pinch the tube 
with the blue clamp by pressing with fingers on either side of clamp- 
right up against both sides of clamp. It works better this way.

> 
> Getting precisely the right amount of ink in the syringe and all the 
air out was also difficult since the ink tends to foam a bit as you 
pull it into the syringe and the foam is difficult to get back out. So 
what I did was to overfill the syringe by about 10cc and stand it up 
on the point of the needle with the body of the syringe leaning 
against something solid while I pulled a vacuum on the chamber.

I never had this problem either. Even after shaking the bottles up a 
bit, and leaving them for 15 minutes to settle, I insert the needle 
deeply into the bottle, well past the foam, towards the bottom of 
bottle. I draw up about 5 ml then squirt it back in, then redraw. This 
gets most of the air out, I only draw an extra ml at most. BTW, I also 
use 20ml syringes instead of the 30 ml syringes...more accurate, fit 
in bottle better, less bulk. 

 When I 
inserted the needle into the septum I kept the needle end of the 
syringe pointed slightly downward to be sure any residual air was at 
the plunger end away from the ink entering the cartridge. After the 
plunger quit moving I pulled the needle out. The problem with this is 
that it seems to overfill the cartridge chambers a bit and on the 
first couple of prints (purge file images) there were a few drips. 
These cleared up quickly and the cartridges worked just fine.

I wait a couple of hours with the fill holes unstoppered (I use small 
cheap corks from Ace Hardware to initially stopper during chamber 
filling). I find the sponges expand a bit and esp at beginning, ink 
will dribble out a tiny bit. I catch this by pulling out one cork at a 
time and sticking a towel twisted into a "finger" into the hole to sop 
up the discharge before it gets messy. Thern I uncork the next hole. 
When the second hole is unstoppered the first starts to bleed again, 
so be prepared to catch it again from first hole. After two hours I 
insert the balls.
> 
> I also found the chip installation a bit difficult. Be sure you 
follow the directions carefully on this. Some were very stiff going in 
and once I got the lower notch in the chip started over the tab on the 
cartridge, levering it into place with a very small screw driver was 
helpful. Some snapped over the upper pin easily and some didn't snap 
at all and took a lot of force to get in place. This seems to be due 
to variations in sizing of the holes in the chips and the tabs on the 
cartridges. If all else fails, you might want to have a sharp knife 
and super glue handy to remove the tabs on the cartridge and to glue 
the chip in place.

I was gluing with silicone RTV but have since switched to a soldering 
iron with a 0.8mm tip to melt the two nibs after chip is pushed on.
> 
> Can these chips be reset with the QB7 chip resetter or is that for 
original Epson chips only?

No, I use this method.

> 
> I did have one chip fail after a few pages and reinstalling it did 
not help. I installed another chip and was back printing so you might 
want to order an extra chip with your cartridges.

Yes this is good advice.

> 
> Nothing I have said should put anyone off giving this a try, 
especially if you want to try out different inks before committing to 
a CIS or want something special for one or two prints. With practice 
this would get easier (and less messy!). The cartridges loaded into 
the printer just fine and with a few nozzle checks and nozzle 
cleanings were running shortly after filling. No overnight wait 
required. (I may not be so lucky next time and a wait might be 
required for air bubbles to clear.)
> 
> Buy enough rivets so you can seal the cartridge openings if you 
decide to take them out and use a different ink set. (Or are the MIS 
virgin carts self sealing like the Epson carts?)

No, unfortunately.


 I also put some tape 
back over the vent holes when I took the partially used set of 
cartridges out.

My own opinion: I wouldn't tempt fate too much reinserting a used cart 
unless it was an Epson with real poppet valves.

 It seems like switching ink sets might not be too 
difficult. I wouldn't want to do it multiple times during a print 
session but to switch in a special ink set or go back to Epson color 
doesn't look like too much trouble. 
> 
> It got rather tedious cleaning up the vacuum tube, syringe and 
needle between each chamber. Things would go a bit faster if you had a 
needle and syringe for each ink position so you could do all the 
clean-up at the end. Each syringe and needle set is $2.00. Separate 
vacuum fill tubes would be nice too but they are $10.00 each.

I have separate sets and it goes fine. I clean up with final distilled 
H2O rinse and later run compressed air through tubing.

> 
> BTW, the cost of filling these four sets of cartridges was less than 
four sets of 1280 Epson cartridges and I have ink left over.

I estimated that doing a set of 1280 carts with VM is roughly $26, 1/2 
of pre-filled carts. Does not include re-usable items like chips, 
resetter, tubing, syringes, needles, etc.

> 
> I assume these inks are tolerant of some moisture since it is 
impossible to get all the moisture out of the vacuum tube assemble 
after cleaning.

No problem with a 3 gallon air compressor set to 60 psi and an inline 
dryer.<g>

 Canned air is a big help on this but still some will 
be present when you move to the next chamber.
> 
> If you do not want ink on your fingers, wear latex gloves.
> 
> Have lots of paper towel handy.

I have incontinent pads, green things that lie flat (bought for an old 
cat with bladder problems). It soaks up spills ammazingly. I just put 
it down and use it as a working surface.
Jim H.

> 
> WEAR BLACK! (Maybe black with rust colored spots for the Sepia VM 
<G>)

> 
> Martin Wesley
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Martin Wesley" 
<mwesley250@e...> wrote:
> Yesterday I had my first experience filling empty cartridges for my 
1280. 

Sorry Martin, I didn't mean it to sound like I was razzing on you in 
that last message. It's my nature to pull things apart and find out 
what's going on with a procedure or an object.

I had another thought. If you were not tightening the needle into the 
luer-lock syringe enough, it would cause you to have less vacuum AND 
foamy ink no matter how deep you drew from the bottle.

I use the needle sheath over the needle as a wrench and I carefully 
and firmly hand tighten the needle, twisting it into the syringe end. 
I also use the sheath to unscrew the needle. I only use finger 
pressure on the sheath, but I tighten/untighten it with a bit of 
force. You can test this by dipping just the needle end into H20 and 
drawing up the plunger- if you get lots of air, the luer-lock isn't 
tight enough.
Jim H.