This is fairly new printer on the market, and as
yet there are not many companies selling products, other than the original
Epson? Cartridges. Naturally the original cartridges cost a lot more than
compatibles, and at ?9.99 they are not worth the money.
The only way to find out how a cartridge
works is to pull one apart :)
And that's exactly what I have done, taking a used
cartridge apart will reveal its workings, and will show you how it can be
refilled with new ink...
These
cartridges come with a chip attached, it measures the amount of ink used, and
when the ink is almost used up, it reports this to the printer. If you refill
the cartridge the chip will still tell the printer its empty and refuse
to work.
Chip resetter, yes they are available,
however when a new cartridge type is first released, not many manufactures will
tell you their chip resetter will work. Some of them will even tell you the chip
wont re-set on this model. The large amount of rubbish I was told was
unbelievable... So I went out and bought one, although not pacifically designed
for this particular cartridge, the universal Epson ? chip resetters will work just
fine.
The one I purchased was the Jetset R25
UK ( 0800 0282 488 ) ?9.99
As
you can see from this picture, the outlet is catching on its case, so although I
was able to use this to reset the chips, it took a pit of practice to line the
cartridge up so that the pins connected to the chip correctly.
This was most annoying, but when you see the light
stay on, and on replacing into the printer, it now showed full, it made up for
its clumsy use.
I later modified it :) cut away the front
edge, glued on a piece of material at the exact height, then used the useless
bits of plastic supplied as two guides.
The results were amazing, the cartridge slides
accurately into position, and the chip resets first time.
Cost ?9.99, I'm also told they sell them at a UK
supermarket (Morison's) @ ?6.99 but I could never find a store that had any in
stock.
Back to work...
So you reset the cartridge, you could replace it
now and use up what ink is left in there, as when it registers empty, there is
still a lot of ink left in there. However doing this would mean the cartridge
running completely out of ink, this may cause problems later.
I did a few searches, found a few old diagrams,
read a lot of "Old Stuff" it was all mostly outdated, nobody had tried to do
anything with this cartridge before "Until Now" now everyone reading this will
be at it..
The first thing I read was drilling a hole in the
right position, then another hole close by to let out any air as you fill it up.
This will work, but I am puzzled why they tell you not to plug up the hole after
you filled it, as the original cartridge is sealed up anyway, although I have
bought some compatible cartridges which have a hole at the top, but I believe
they are gravity fed, while the original has a valve feed system.
At this stage I have to confess, I
have not yet filled a cartridge up, well not with the right ink anyway. I have
contacted a number of companies about their ink, some are telling me they use
the new Durabright?
Pigment ink, while others are telling me its just Epson's?
photo dye ink, so as yet I have not found anyone with a compatible ink.
The universal inks sold are cheap dye
based inks, I did use some of this ink, but it refused to work, this page will
be updated as soon as a supply of the correct ink is available. You might be
lucky and find some before me.
Looking at the base of the cartridge, you will see
some strong sealing tape, if this tape is removed it reveals two holes. One
large breathing hole, and another small ink jet hole, which I am positive can be
used to refill the cartridge.
< How did he do that :)
Trick photography..
The cartridge holds about 25ml of ink, if its not
fully empty then you will use less filling it. I squirted ink into the small
hole slowly, until it starts to show in the breather hole. Later you would need
to use a strong waterproof tape to cover the holes.
Using the other method above (Drilling a hole) the
ink again is squirted very slowly, the hole is large enough above to let air
out. The holes in the bottom of the cartridge were only discovered by accident
:) and I am now sure these are used to fill the cartridge after its manufacture.
Either method should work anyway, since the
original cartridges have a valve, I don't think the hole needs to be left
uncovered, so use a rubber plug and try it (Supplied with those cheap ink kits)
The
ink flowed perfect from the bottom hole, and quickly filled up the cartridge
with 25ml of ink. There is probably some small values you can buy to be
used in those holes, however the original manufacture is to cover them in tape.
So long at is completely sealed, there should be
no problem
Finally
<left
right>
This cartridge is very complex, compatible
cartridges use a sponge, and work just as well, the blue arrows above show the
possible path of the flow of ink, it arrives at the sponge before finally
entering the tube leading to the outlet, the outlet has a ball valve to prevent
any ink coming out, while removed from the printer. In the right picture you can
see a valve
(see
Epson site)
Updated 23/02/04
Update
Today I got a free sample of black ink, "Epson Photo ink" and injected it
into the bottom of the cartridge (Small hole on right) I filled it up until some
came out of the large hole, resealed the holes with a strong reinforced tape
(Ducting tape) The cartridge is working 100%
At Last ! 23/02/04 a few months after I bought
this printer, I can now refill the cartridges cheaply, you don't need to make a
hole in the top at all, in fact the compatible cartridges are much easier to
refill, as they already have a breather hole at the top, if you want to refill
the original cartridges (Not recommended) then you can refill from the bottom.
Original Cartridges
This
picture shows two holes (Tape removed) the small one on the right can be used to
refill, with the larger one acting as a breather, when ink starts to come out of
the larger hole suck a little back.
1, carefully remove the tape from the bottom
of the cartridge.
2, fill syringe with about 10ml of ink. It
wont take that much as the cartridge still has a lot of ink left inside,
expect to use about 8 ml
3, slowly squirt the ink into the cartridge,
if any comes back, stop then go again until it comes out of the other hole.
4, clean the area with tissue
5, use a strong tape to reseal the holes
6, reset chip
7, refit to printer
Problems The tape I bought was aluminium coloured tape, the type that might be used
in ducting, but its glue strength was not good enough, so I used super glue
on it :) it worked but I think I need to find something better. If it leaks
you will have a mess inside the printer.
Having replaced it in the printer, leave it stand
for a few hours, in fact I found that the next day it worked 100% while a few
hours was not good, with the pattern test fail..
Did I say let it stand !!
Its important to let the cartridge stand, nope it
wont work right if you try to print immediately, the ink that was left in there
is quickly used up then the new ink should replenish it, the compatible types
need to stand a lot longer as they have a sponge.
Don't clean the heads too much, it
uses too much ink !
Compatible cartridges
These are much easier to refill, as there is
already a hole at the top, just make it large enough to get the needle in and
allow any air to come out around the sides of the needle.
As you can see the Cyan above had another hole
made, but that's not needed, that was the first I did, just use the existing
hole and slowly inject the ink like before. When finished let it stand overnight for best results.
1, cover the hole with tape before your
remove from printer.
2, use some tissue on the outlet to wipe it
clean, then cover with sellotape.
3, reset the chip
4, remove tape from top hole then refill with
ink.
5, wipe refill hole clean and recover with
tape
6, refit to printer, remove tape from top
The first time you do this, you need to make the
hole bigger, as you can see at the second cartridge above, the hole is very
small, too small to put a needle in there, and let air escape. Lay the cartridge
on its side and drill the hole bigger by hand, try not to get any plastic inside
the cartridge although there is a sponge that should stop any reaching the
outlet.
There is no valve on compatible cartridges, so
careful how you handle them, if you squeeze them too hard ink will squirt out,
that's why its best to use sellotape on the holes to prevent ink coming out. The
sellotape on the outlet can be left in place, just like the original
cartridges its broken when you push them back into the printer.
Recap
Refill original cartridges from the bottom, re
seal the holes with a tape that is water proof and sticks good, or use super
glue.
Refill compatibles from the top, to stop any ink coming out, reseal the
outlet with sellotape
Next project is to get some auto reset chips, then
you wont need to take out the cartridge at all, in fact it would be possible to
have large ink bottles feeding the cartridges then.
The ink I bought works great, don't know how good
it is for photo light resistant, I guess its not as good as the original
ink, but for general use its just fine, later I will invest in a spray to
protect any photos I have made.
Will update this if I find any cheaper :) but for
now refilling a cartridge for under ?1 is great !
Good quality compatible
cartridges, the best service I have found is from Ink Media who sell a
compatible set of cartridges for ?25.50 !! and only ?1 for recorded delivery.
These
cartridges come with a chip attached, it measures the amount of ink used, and
when the ink is almost used up, it reports this to the printer. If you refill
the cartridge the chip will still tell the printer its empty and refuse
to work.
As
you can see from this picture, the outlet is catching on its case, so although I
was able to use this to reset the chips, it took a pit of practice to line the
cartridge up so that the pins connected to the chip correctly. 
The
ink flowed perfect from the bottom hole, and quickly filled up the cartridge
with 25ml of ink. There is probably some small values you can buy to be
used in those holes, however the original manufacture is to cover them in tape.
<left
right>
This
picture shows two holes (Tape removed) the small one on the right can be used to
refill, with the larger one acting as a breather, when ink starts to come out of
the larger hole suck a little back.
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