Modifying Canon inkjet cartridges for Top-fill refilling 

+JoAnn77PL Hi, glad it has been useful. Regarding the MG5750, unfortunately the x50/x51 and later x70/x71 cartridges are not particularly refill friendly with clear differences between the setup cartridges and those sold as XL types. Unlike earlier models you can't refill the setup cartridges beyond the sponges as the spongeless section is completely sealed off, unlike XL types. Throw in issues with the chip design and materials being a lot harder to reset or replace and original cartridges are not as refill friendly as earlier models. We've switched to using third party refillable cartridges instead for the x50/x51 cartridge printers as they avoid most of the above. We've not looked at the x70/x71 versions yet but those may be out now through aliexpress or similar.

Actually you can but it's not as easy as just pushing ink in, because the ink will take the vent channel exit before anything goes near the spongeless reservoir part of the cartridge. So, the way to refill the cartridge via the outlet port is to use the Vacuum fill technique which is basically pulling the air out and allowing the ink to replace it. Video pending on that.

Assuming you mean the Pro-100S in which case you definitely can reset and refill the CLI-42 cartridges in those. We have a full refill bundle as well as pre-modified cartridges that are ready to refill with our version 2 inks: www.octoink.co.uk/pid/740

kath tarawa The 650/651 cartridges are a very different design to the earlier types. The general premise may apply but the starter/setup cartridges are deliberately limited to stop you using the spongeless section. We've opted to use third party refillable cartridges for those types instead of OEM but there are other resources about the x50/x51 types out there.

That does work but be careful to wait until the need has cooled before levering the ball out or you can melt a channel into the side of the fill hole and create an air leak even with the plug installed.

You would need a compatible chip resetter (eg: a REdSETTER) for your specific cartridge type to retain ink level monitoring. It is still possible to refill a cartridge without a chip resetter, but you would be forced to disable ink monitoring when the printer detected the cartridge was being refilled.

The larger PGBK cartridge contains pigment black ink, while the thinner CLI-?BK cartridge will contain the dye ink or photo black. You can potentially use dye black ink in a pigment ink cartridge but definitely do not put pigment ink in the dye ink cart.

We're updating our guidance on this so a new video will follow soon-ish. The ball itself won't come out if you drill it and I honestly wouldn't try drilling through the label but once the label has been excised and ball removed then drilling the original fill channel, with a 4mm (5/32") drill bit, does provide a much cleaner and more reliable plug hole. We now have the longer 4mm diameter plugs available too.

Mark Nolan We actually sell them individually or in bags of 10 and 25 including lipped and low-profile variety... www.octoink.co.uk/categories/Inkjet-Refilling/Tools%2C-Spares%2C-Parts/Plugs-%7B47%7D-Seals/

You would need a compatible chip resetter (eg: a REdSETTER) that could reset the 570/571 cartridge types to retain ink level monitoring. It is still possible to refill a cartridge without a chip resetter, but you would be forced to disable ink monitoring when the printer detected the cartridge was being refilled.

+QuickTips Mechanical You can't reset the chips on the PGI-650, CLI-651 original carts so might want to look for compatible refillable carts or similar. Given you appear to have an Australian model, try contacting Rihac.com.au to see what they have.

Hi, would the MX860 (PGI-520/1) have the same problem?

If your cartridges use the PGI-520 and CLI-521 chips then we have the compatible chip resetter (known as REdSETTER) on our OctoInkjet store: www.octoink.co.uk/products.php?productid=216

The CLI-751 cartridges are the same as the 551's here in the UK.. the fill ball is under the little 2D barcode but yes the process is much the same. A new video will be on RU-vid (soon) that shows the whole refill process for your cart type.

The new video is now up here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UQHPBADjxTw.html

Not something we've played with so can't help with this one but you may find some useful info or willing collaborators on the PrinterKnowledge.com forum.

The video here is a better guide for your printers cartridges: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UQHPBADjxTw.html

edward coggins Good point. Key requirements are that the blade is sharp and you are patient. Blunt blades and rushing the process, are sure fire ways to recreate a Magenta style ink effect and a lot of unnecessary swearing.

Hi Usama, It will work with the CLI-571 cartridges but you might find this video more useful. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UQHPBADjxTw.html NB: The CLI-551/PGI-550 cartridges are physically the same as the CLI-571/PGI-570 carts.

Ref: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xZ53xrfSHlQ.html You can use a screw yes but the rest of your video does a bunch of things that make things harder rather than easier... In the interests of a little constructive criticism: 1. Using Sellotape or similar to seal the outlet means your ink is going to leak everywhere (as you saw)... The adhesive is water soluble so if you need to use tape go with something aluminium tape, a compatible orange storage/transport clip or rubber band the original orange clip on instead. 2. Water soluble adhesive can become a problem at the outlet with residue left over and then getting into the printhead. 3. You need to make sure your screw is not going to react (ie: rust) with the ink or again you end up adding more problems in. Best material is a plastic/nylon screw using that approach but key point... your printer may have little or no clearance above the cartridge so a screw it going to jam against the internal ceiling and stop the printer working. MG/MX printers in particular suffer from this... Understand where you're coming from and the rule; "if works why fix it" applies but there's a few things in there that long and/or short term are going to cause problems so hopefully the above points are useful.

You do need to seal the fill hole so that it's air tight or the ink will leak out the bottom as you've found. Only the vent hole/matrix should be open to the air.

Depends on the cartridge type but for chipped carts you can either use a chip resetter (if available) or disable ink monitoring to all the cartridge to be reused. There’s other videos on our channel that tackle both scenarios.

This video does not demonstrate the whole process of refilling and was never intended to do so. A video that shows how to refill will be completed in the future but isn't currently available. But to cover your points/questions... 1. The chip does need to be either disabled (by accepting the warranty warnings and disabling the ink monitoring for the affected cartridge) or by using a chip resetter. We recommend the second option with the REdSETTER unit as you retain ink monitoring. 2. If you reset (using a REdSETTER) then the printer retains the use of the prism and will warn you that the cartridge is low even if the chip thinks that the cartridge still has more ink left. As I said, this video only demonstrates the process of physically preparing a cartridge to allow refilling (ie: open fill hole) and sealing the refill hole when finished. Hope that clarifies things.

octoinkjet quel redsetter utiliser pour les PGI 550 et CLI 551 ? Merci.

The 550/551 chips are a completely new design and type that no longer uses the old style green circuit boards. Now the chips are a very thin printed type of circuit that is very fragile. My understanding is that it makes the process of resetting nearly impossible or very difficult so no redsetter (or other resetter) is available. We are leaning towards refillable cartridges with Auto Reset Chips (ARC) as the only viable option but those also have some problems that we're waiting for a solution no. Short version... Canon have worked hard to make refilling/resetting more difficult.

The CLI-8 cartridges were transparent... as are the CLI-42's. Sadly, not all of the newer type are, particularly in smaller desktop printers.

Wouldn't recommend that as the electrical tape has water soluble adhesive. If you want to go that route, aluminium tape will do the job.

The technique shown in the video is pretty generic so did you have a particular printer and/or cartridge in mind?

+Ken Pollard : The process described allows you to refill the original cartridges. Granted there are third party refillable cartridges designed to be refilled, but in most cases the original cartridges have a better design and component quality (particularly the various sponges) than most compatibles so it's worth the effort if you're wanting to use bulk ink and refill. Obviously doesn't suit everyone but it's not intended as a sales vehicle, just a tutorial on how to prep' for refilling.

+octoinkjet Not sure this comment deserved a reply, Ken obviously isn't your market. Great instruction but could have done with a video showing how to apply the ink and soak the sponge.

Agreed.. We're intending to focus on the refilling and ink side of things in April/May so resources like that are on the list.

+Ken Pollard Ink is insanely expensive. You can buy toothpaste at the dollar store.

The audio quality is definitely not great and the whole video needs an update. As to the accent. Well...