blank cartridges for canon

[ray]

I just got my blanks in for my I850 from inkjetgoodies.com
all i can say is WOW...

the exit port clip is very nice. It comes with rubber plugs that fit
snuggly and easily removed for refilling. This is a very nice , high
quality blank. I am really amazed.

No tape, no glue, no screws, no ball seals, just a small rubber cork
to fit the molded fill hole. No tape to hold the exit port seal
either. This has molded dimples that the clip seal locks in to.
Top notch stuff. Refilling sure is a breeze now and no mess from a
lose exit cap.

These are worth every penny.

I am going to order another set and dump my canon cartridges when they
run dry. Im not fooling with rubber bands or tape for that exit port.
These clip locking seals are great.

 

[Ron Cohen]

Those cartridges sound like a good alternative to using one of our do it
yourself methods. The price isn't bad either, but it really isn't much of a
problem using rubber bands or tape. They're definately an improvement on hot
glue or set screws. I'm not concerned about what the tanks look like. I
only care about the printed output. One thing to be aware of when refilling
is that your ink monitor will not show a full cartridge once you have done a
refill unless the low ink warning has come on. That's the only time the ink
monitor will be reset and then it's only for the one tank that generated the
low ink warning. If you refill before the tanks are empty which is what most
users do, especially if you keep two sets of tanks and swap all at the same
time, then the monitor won't reset to full. This isn't a problem as the only
real use for the monitor is to show when the ink is running low. As Taliesyn
noted there is a prism in the bottom of the tank which a light source shines
through. If there is enough ink in the tank to block the light then the
warning, and the resulting reset, will not appear. If having the ink monitor
reset to full is something you want to do, the process of resetting is
simple. Take one of the old cartridges you no longer use, remove as much of
the sponge material from around the outlet hole as possible. If desired, you
could cut the top off enough to get all the sponge out. Rinse the cartridge
to remove any ink that could cause cross contamination of colors. Prior to
installing the freshly refilled tank, put the empty tank in and close the
cover. At that point the sensor will detect an out of ink condition. Install
the refilled tank and the monitor will now show full.

 

[ray]

Those cartridges sound like a good alternative to using one of our do it
yourself methods. The price isn't bad either, but it really isn't much of a
problem using rubber bands or tape. They're definately an improvement on hot
glue or set screws. I'm not concerned about what the tanks look like. I
only care about the printed output. One thing to be aware of when refilling
is that your ink monitor will not show a full cartridge once you have done a
refill unless the low ink warning has come on. That's the only time the ink
monitor will be reset and then it's only for the one tank that generated the
low ink warning. If you refill before the tanks are empty which is what most
users do, especially if you keep two sets of tanks and swap all at the same
time, then the monitor won't reset to full. This isn't a problem as the only
real use for the monitor is to show when the ink is running low. As Taliesyn
noted there is a prism in the bottom of the tank which a light source shines
through. If there is enough ink in the tank to block the light then the
warning, and the resulting reset, will not appear. If having the ink monitor
reset to full is something you want to do, the process of resetting is
simple. Take one of the old cartridges you no longer use, remove as much of
the sponge material from around the outlet hole as possible. If desired, you
could cut the top off enough to get all the sponge out. Rinse the cartridge
to remove any ink that could cause cross contamination of colors. Prior to
installing the freshly refilled tank, put the empty tank in and close the
cover. At that point the sensor will detect an out of ink condition. Install
the refilled tank and the monitor will now show full.

The blanks do have the prism at the bottom. They are identical to
original canon cartridges except they have molded fill holes, not
drilled or removed ball plugs. The exit port has molded dimples to
allow the cap to latch which is very nice. I fooled with the rubber
band method and made a mess with one cap as it was not seated just
right . The cap was original to the cartridge as I mark each cap with
the proper color.

As far as the ink monitor, that is no concern and yes the blanks do
show low ink when I put one in to test it. I will be refilling well
before the low ink monitor comes on as well.

As far as quality of the output, I see no leaks and use formula labs
ink. I can easily read text in all colors down to 2 font. 1 font is
about 50 percent readable. (standard mode) That would be the output
of the heads and ink of course but the cartridge is very high quality
and easier to deal with.

Oh the plugs, the plugs are quite short and moulded to fit the fill
hole percisely. There is no danger of inserting it into the tank as
the end of the fill hole is rounded and slighly tapered as the plug.
It inserts easily with finger pressure and removed easily with a small
object such as a jewlers screwdriver.

I definately recommend this blank set just for ease of use and
guaranteed no mess.

 

[Tony1that matters]

Sounds like a good copy of the JetTec design at www.inkylink.co.uk which
comes filled of course

the same criteria applies as with the BCI-6 in that the JetTec cartridge has
an appreciably larger ink side size containing 50% more ink, with the sponge
reservoir feeder side being smaller than the Canon design The Black is a
Hi-Spec dense black for improved text printing. They are also easier to fill
than Canon and other design because the ink snap off protection snaps back
on again to seal the delivery system until you load it into the printer.

 

[Taliesyn]

Those cartridges sound like a good alternative to using one of our do it
yourself methods. The price isn't bad either, but it really isn't much of a
problem using rubber bands or tape. They're definately an improvement on hot
glue or set screws. I'm not concerned about what the tanks look like. I
only care about the printed output. One thing to be aware of when refilling
is that your ink monitor will not show a full cartridge once you have done a
refill unless the low ink warning has come on. That's the only time the ink
monitor will be reset and then it's only for the one tank that generated the
low ink warning.

In other words... when you swap a set of colors when one cartridge reads
"low", the monitor automatically resets to "full" for that cartridge.
The others hadn't reached "low" yet so there was nothing to reset, they
will read "full" as previously. This is what happens on my i850.

-Taliesyn

 

[Bill]

That's correct. If you want to force a reset, just insert a blank cartridge
in place of the new one. Close the cover, let the sensor detect an out of
ink condition and then put in the refilled cartridge.

Why would we need to force a reset?

The status monitor does not affect whether the printer will print a page
or photo, it only shows the known status of the cartridge. There is no
counter/timer that affects the number of pages or prints that can be
produced per cartridge.

When I get the low ink warning for the yellow cartridge (it always runs
out first out of the three colours), I refill all three cartridges as
the other two are usually close to hitting the refill mark anyway. I
have refilled several times and I've never had any problems with the
cyan or magenta tanks giving a low ink warning - I just top them up each
time and the printer has never complained about it.

 

[Ron Cohen]

Did you read this?

If you refill before the tanks are empty which is what most

users do, especially if you keep two sets of tanks and swap all at the same
time, then the monitor won't reset to full. This isn't a problem as the only
real use for the monitor is to show when the ink is running low

or this?

If you want to force a reset, just insert a blank cartridge
in place of the new one.

In my first posting I specifically said the only real use for the monitor is
to show when a tank is running low.
In my follow-up posting to a specific question I replied "If you want to
force a reset". I believe the operative word is 'want'. That would mean if
the user so chooses to do so.

Why does it bother you so much if a user wants to reset a monitor? As to why
a user would want to force a reset, I have no idea. Why does one person want
a Canon printer when another wants an Epson? I prefer Canons, but I'm sure
those who favor Epson's can be quite persuasive in their arguments. All I
was doing was pointing out something that has come up on this newsgroup
several times in the past.

 

[Ron Cohen]

This is getting ridiculous! I'm putting my responses inline and I hope you
will then be satisfied.
--
Ron Cohen

Yes I did...see below.


What you've said seems to be an oxymoron.

That isn't an oxymoron. I clearly stated that the monitor will not reset to
full when a replacement or refilled cartridge is installed and that it isn't
a problem - but if someone does want to reset the monitor to reflect the
status of the newly installed cartridge it can be done. All a user would be
doing is tricking the printer into thinking it was out of ink so that the
status monitor would reset to full when the refilled cartridge in put in.

How can you reset something that hasn't yet been triggered?

If the ink tank is replaced before the reservoir is empty, hence not
triggering a low ink warning, then there is nothing to reset - the
monitor continues to show the tanks as being "full".
Conversely, if the reservoir in the tank runs empty, triggering a low
ink warning, replacing or refilling it will reset the status monitor to
show a full ink tank.

I think this is where you may be confused. While the status monitor doesn't
actually show the exact amount of ink used, the display can indicate
partially full after some amount of printing - although it is an inaccurate
reading. On some Canon models such as the s820 the display drops in
increments, whereas on others like the i850 it seems to hold on to the full
reading much longer and then drops suddenly. The display will not reset to
full unless the low ink warning has appeared. Installing a full cartridge
will still result in a display of partially empty. As I said earlier, this
isn't a problem since the only real concern is when the low warning comes on
which means put more ink in now or burn out a printhead. If you are
installing new or refilled cartridges when the the low warning appears, then
this whole discussion is pointless. However, lots of users who refill
replace all the tanks at one time. Some of them want the monitor to be reset
although I see no reason in doing so. But that's the nice part about living
in the USA or Canada. People are free to make their own decisions.

I completely agree with that...


But I'm asking specifically WHY a user would want or need to "force a
reset" of something that has not yet occured...since the monitor has not
yet been triggered to show a low ink warning?

How am I supposed to know? This discussion isn't about when a low ink
warning has popped up. It's about a partially empty indication when a refill
is installed but without a low ink warning. If the low ink warning has
appeared, then reinstalling a new or refilled tank will reset the monitor to
full. Hint: next time you refill, only put in about 1/3 the amount of ink
needed to fill the reservoir. If you do so, the indicator will still show
full, not 2/3 empty.

For example, I always run low on yellow ink before cyan or magenta, and
replacing or refilling the tank resets the monitor. However, the other
two have never given a low warning and have consistently shown as full
all the time, even though I've replaced or refilled them several times.

Were they low enough to have triggered a warning? If so, you may have a
problem with the light sensor.

Are you suggesting there is some sort of page counter in the Canon
printers that we're not aware of that will affect printing?

I don't know of any software counter Canon uses for the ink monitor to
indicate partially used. However, since the status monitor drops in
increments, there must be something in use to give an approximation of ink
usage. The only accurate and/or positive indicator is the low ink warning
which is triggered by reflected light through the prism in the bottom of the
tank. FWIW, I had a Lexmark 5700 several years ago which used ink at a rapid
pace and at extremelly high $$$. I found the .ini file where the ink usage
was actually updated based on how many droplets of ink were ejected. I
created an Excell spreadsheet to convert this usage to the number of CC's
per color to refill. It was a totally useless exercise since my refills
usually didn't live very long after refilling. I've not seen any file
comparable to that for the Canon models.

Perhaps I'm missing something, perhaps I'm a moron or my IQ is lower
than yours, but some parts of what you've said doesn't make sense.

Sounds a little defensive on your part, but I think you are trying to read
more into this than necessary. The whole point is that if a user wants to,
for reasons known only to them, they can reset the status monitor. A user is
free to reset or not reset. That is their choice - not mine or yours. Why
should it make any difference? It sounds to me like you are opposed to
someone doing a reset. I think it's a non-issue. Perhaps a better mechanism
for Canon to use would be an idiot light mechanism similar to warning lights
on autos. Nothing is shown unless the tanks are about to run out of ink.
Some drivers prefer gauges, while others rely on warning lights. Maybe
that's why my Mazda has both - to prevent useless newsgroup discussions such
as this. Please don't try to read something else into the comparison of a
gas gauge to the ink status monitor. The comment is only made for purposes
of illustration since the status monitor isn't the same, nor does it have
any form of accuracy as would an automotive gauge. If you go back and check
old newsgroup postings, you can find a few trying to make that comparison.

 

[Bill]

That isn't an oxymoron.

Well it is from my perspective, and it isn't from yours.

See below.

I think this is where you may be confused. While the status monitor doesn't
actually show the exact amount of ink used, the display can indicate
partially full after some amount of printing - although it is an inaccurate
reading. On some Canon models such as the s820 the display drops in
increments, whereas on others like the i850 it seems to hold on to the full
reading much longer and then drops suddenly.

Ahh...this is the problem!

I have a Canon i850, and a friend has an i550. On neither of them does
the status monitor show a gradual drop of the ink levels. It's either
shown as completely full, or a warning pops up when the reservoir is
emptied and it shows as almost empty.

So on your S820 the status monitor shows gradual changes which can be
reset, while on my i850 there is nothing to reset - it's either full or
it's not.

Sounds a little defensive on your part, but I think you are trying to read
more into this than necessary.

Not defensive...just very confused since we were talking about two
entirely different types of status monitors.

I now know what the hell you were talking about.