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Ink left in cartridges

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StopSignGraphics

New Member
I remember reading somewhere that a Mimaki cartridge tends to have a little ink left when the printer thinks it's empty. I cracked open an empty cartridge and sure enough there is some ink left.

I seem to remember there was to get the printer to use that last little bit.

I've tried searching the site and googling it but I haven't had any luck.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris
 
C

Case

New Member
if someone has a way to do this, it is risky.... i wouldn't want to take the chance of sucking the ink cartridge dry and get air in the lines and then having to do cleanings or ink fills to get my head firing properly again...........you will probably wasted the ink out of a new cart that your were trying to use out of the old cart...........

not worth any hassle to me..........

case
 
bob

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
If you were adventurous you could extract the ink from the old cartridge with a syringe and inject it back into a more recent cartridge.

I extract fluid from cleaning cartridges this way all of the time. It's cheaper to buy a cleaning cartridge than a quantity of cleaning fluid. I use a 35cc syringe, available at any farm supply or feed store, and a large needle with the tip cut off square.

I've never injected anything back into a cartridge but it certainly would work, that's no doubt how they're filled when they're made. Just try not to inject any air into the thing. Moreover I have no idea what this would do to whatever mechanism, if any, that's keeping score of ink usage on your equipment.
 
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StopSignGraphics

New Member
I don't know if I'm that adventurous... what I remember reading was something to do with giving the printer a command to use that last little bit of ink.

I think its something like 4% to 5% ink left in the cartridge when the machine thinks it's empty. Basically you could calibrate the machine sensor to use that last bit.

I never really worried about it but I'm doing a big job thats using a lot of yellow. I'm guessing I'll need 20 yellow cartridges to finish it. If there is 5% left in a cartridge, I would be throwing out basically an entire cartridge by the end of the job.
 
Rooster

Rooster

New Member
Well you could buy some bulk ink bottles and when you have enough to fill an empty cartridge you could try it out.

I've been thinking about scavenging the remaining ink in my carts just to have around for doing little touch ups. I don't have the volume to fill an entire cartridge though. Nor the patience to deal with filling up cartridges. Heads are too expensive to mess around with sketchy ink that might clog them. I've been down that road before.
 
Vinylman

Vinylman

New Member
StopSignGraphics said:
I don't know if I'm that adventurous... what I remember reading was something to do with giving the printer a command to use that last little bit of ink.

I think its something like 4% to 5% ink left in the cartridge when the machine thinks it's empty. Basically you could calibrate the machine sensor to use that last bit.

I never really worried about it but I'm doing a big job thats using a lot of yellow. I'm guessing I'll need 20 yellow cartridges to finish it. If there is 5% left in a cartridge, I would be throwing out basically an entire cartridge by the end of the job.
Click to expand...


My philosophy on "THIS" particular job.. If you are going to run through 20 yellow carts + what ever other ink, you should make more than enough money to not have to concern yourself with what may or may not be left in the carts.
If you are pricing your work so closely that you are concerned about that 4%-5% I would reevaluate my pricing.
 
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Case

New Member
Vinylman said:
My philosophy on "THIS" particular job.. If you are going to run through 20 yellow carts + what ever other ink, you should make more than enough money to not have to concern yourself with what may or may not be left in the carts.
If you are pricing your work so closely that you are concerned about that 4%-5% I would reevaluate my pricing.
Click to expand...


I agree with you big time on this............


Case
 
MachServTech

MachServTech

New Member
Case said:
really? never have seen it... strange...

I wouldn't do it anyways......too risky for air in lines...


case
Click to expand...

Yes ....you are correct, it is a very bad idea, but if someone wants the info....... BTW it may not work that way on all firmware versions.

Any method of defeating the ink end flag or chip could result in a deprimed ink line and head. If you are comfortable with fixing this situation, or if you would like to pay me to fix it....please continue to get that last 2% of ink out of those carts.
 
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StopSignGraphics

New Member
Vinylman said:
My philosophy on "THIS" particular job.. If you are going to run through 20 yellow carts + what ever other ink, you should make more than enough money to not have to concern yourself with what may or may not be left in the carts.
If you are pricing your work so closely that you are concerned about that 4%-5% I would reevaluate my pricing.
Click to expand...

My pricing is pretty descent on this job but I still don't want to throw a $100 in the garbage if I can help it.

Think about it like this, if on average I'm buying $1500 in ink a month, I would throwing close to $900 a year in the garbage.

I'm not prepared to go to great lengths or risk damaging my machine to use the last bit of ink but if it's just a matter of pushing a couple of buttons to save myself some money, why not?

Like I said in my original post, I remembered reading something about this, If there is any risk involved I'm not interested. I was just trying to find out more about it.

~Chris
 
MachServTech

MachServTech

New Member
I have seen people recreate their inklines with fish tank tubing. Damaging your machine is a somewhat relative thing.......relative to how good you are at fixing it.

Mosh sounds like he can fix machines with bailing twine and used shotgun shells. Not everyone is so mechanically inclined.

The only thing you will "damage" in this case is depriming your machine, which could be resolved by reprime with a syringe and knowhow.

Good Luck and Have Fun :smile:
 
G

gnemmas

New Member
Is the chips estimating the amount of ink passing through, or "sensing" the inkbag is empty?

I believe it is estimating the ink passing through. As we are using re-fillable 200ml cartridge with 400ml chips, when ink is visually low, we fill them up, while cartridges are still full, the printer will alert ink empty after 400ml of usage, we just put new chip, remove and reinsert the cartridge to let the printer know a new 400ml is inserted.
 
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RippinPC

New Member
Mimaki's keep track of cleanings and printing to estimate usage from full (display reads 9) down to approximately 10% left (display reads 1). From there, it is up to the tab that sticks out from the side of the cartridge to hit the lever for 'ink end'. Therefore you may see the machine show empty after the reading said 2, never seeing 1. Or you may see it sit on 1 for a long time. The tab is located on the right side of the cartridge near the bottom and towards the back (as viewed from cartridge insertion). The tab is manually activated by the deflation of the bag. The system is designed to allow for some remaining ink to be in the cartridge. Think of the trade off, if you suck air into the system, you are more likely to waste more ink than you will save because you will need prime the system with ink (manually with syringe or using cleanings/fill up ink cycles on the pumps). Don't think of it as waste, think of it as a necessary part of printing. You aren't going to stop the self cleaning cycles either, or you risk having your heads dry out. Granted we all know that the waste ink bottle contains liquid money, but it is necessary.
 
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