Changing Inks -
Refilling a chipped cartridge with a different ink will not work. The sponge filled cartridges
retain about 1/3 of the ink in the sponge. Putting a different ink, like MIS Quadtone or Archival
ink in a dyebased 1270 or 870 cartridge will result in an ink mixture, 1/3 old, 2/3 new. This
is not going to work. Prints will constantly be changing color balance until a 100% change
over is achieved. This can take from 5 to 7 cartridge loads. This is a lot of paper and
a lot of printing, not to mention a lot of wasted time.
Virgin Empties -
At the moment there are no virgin empties available. If there were, you could load up a virgin
empty and load pure 100% ink of any type in it. There are a couple of potential sources for
virgin empties. To the best of our knowledge, they are not for sale. The Chinese have them,
but they are not for sale yet and may not be for sale for a year or longer. If you don't want
to wait, you can create your own virgin empty.
Creating a Virgin Empty -
Assemble the Flushing Manifold as shown in the above photo. You will need to purchase the
following parts.
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MIS-MANIFOLD |
Manifold, Fittings & Tubing Included |
19.50 |
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MIS-DRAIN |
Drain Assembly w/5 Bottom Fill Adpt |
5.75 |
Drill (5/32) and
tap (10-32) the vent holes in the T008 or T009 cartridge. These are the ones closest to the
electronic chip. Install the miniature 90 degree fittings. You do not have to glue them
in, just make sure they are tight. Point them all in the same direction. Removing the blue
label on the cartridge is optional.
Next put Port Plugs in 6 of the
Manifold ports, leaving 6 open. Install the miniature 90 degree fittings into 6 ports. Point
them all in the same direction. Now attach the 6 tube ribbon tubing between the manifold
and the cartridge. Attach a barbed fitting with 1/8 pipe thread on one end to the manifold.
Then attach a piece of 1/4 inch ID tubing to this fitting. This is the water inlet.
(All of these parts are included in the above MIS-MANIFOLD)
Now, the hard part. Make a trip to your local hardware store to find the fittings you need to
attach a 1/4" barbed fitting to your water faucet. There are so many different water faucets
out there that we can not tell you exactly what you need to do this. Just tell your friendly
ACE Hardware clerk that you need to attach 1/4" plastic tubing to your water faucet, they will
help you.
Install the MIS-DRAIN Assembly, which puts 5 MIS Bottom Fill Adapters into the bottom of
the cartridge. Use a rubber band to keep them it place. Make it tight enough to activate the
poppet valve inside the cartridge. If the poppet valves are not held open, you will not
be able to flush the cartridge.
Drain Assembly
OK, ready for the water. Make sure all your connections are tight. The 1/4" clear tubing
coming from you faucet is now going to the brass manifold. The brass manifold has small 1/8"
tubes coming out of it (ribbon tubing) going to the cartridge. The cartridge has fittings
installed in it where the ribbon tubing is attached. Turn on the water slowly, just a little
bit. Ink and water should start flowing from the bottom of the cartridge (see photo). You
should have one tube (the sixth one) not attached to anything. Use this as a guide on how much
water pressure to apply. Set the water flow so that a stream of water about 6 inches long
comes out of the unused tube. You don't want to apply full water pressure to the cartridge,
it may damage it. Once you have the water flow adjusted, let it run for about 45 minutes or
until what comes out of the cartridge is perfectly clear. The water temperature should be
lukewarm, not hot or cold. When it runs clear, you are finished with the water flushing.
Now you have to get the water out of the cartridge. Use compressed air to blow out the water.
Apply the air to the tube that was your water inlet. Keep the cartridge attached to the
manifold so you can blow out all chambers at the same time. Be careful not to apply too much
pressure. You will have to do this several times. Give it a rest for 10 minutes or so, then
apply the air again. When you feel there is no more water coming out, you are done. You can
bake the cartridge at 150 degrees to further remove the water. We found that this did not help
us get any additional water out. You could also spin the cartridge on a bicycle wheel or taped
to the side of your washer during the spin cycle. This will centrifuge the water out of it.
A dry T009 cartridge will weigh about 75 grams when empty and dry. If you are close to this
weight, you have achieved Virgin Empty status.
Remove the fittings, and put tape over the vent holes. Use a straight pin and put a hole in the
tape for each chamber. The cartridge must be vented to atmosphere or it will not work. You can
alternatively puncture the center fill holes to vent the cartridge. You don't want to leave
a large hole here, or there will be too much ink evaporation.
That's it, you are ready to load in the ink of your choice. Always fill from the bottom using
a syringe and one of our MIS Bottom Fill Adapters. Keep adjacent vents covered to prevent
cross port contamination when filling.
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