The tech manual tells you to empty the machine of ink before changing the dampers but that is a big waste of ink. Instead I do the whole procedure with the ink still in the machine. The ink lines for each color are connected with a y connector so when you take the first one off it drips slightly but when you take the second one off it will drop a fair amount of ink. If you just take 1 off at a time and put the new one on before moving to the next one, that should cut down on ink leakage. Have a good wad of paper towel ready because ink will still drip and you don't want it to get everywhere. Wear gloves because the ink is bad for you. Once you get all of the dampers in, you can just run a couple strong cleanings and it should fill right up. Sometimes the ink will recede back to the cartridges if you take too long changing the damper and it will require more than a couple strong cleanings. You can also run an ink charge cycle but that will waste a good amount of ink.