Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Stefan Trethan"
<stefan_trethan@...> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 05:04:51 +0200, fenrir_co <fenrir@...>  
> wrote:
> 
> >
> > I should have posted the numbers, yes, I need the T060x series of
> > chips from the C68/88/3800/4800/etc. I've sent you an e-mail. If
> > anyone else has any from empty cartridges, let me know. I'm 
> > looking to
> > keep one or two extra sets around just in case. Thanks!
> >
> 
> 
> I'm not sure you considered this, so here you go:
> 
> If you use manual reset chips you need to remove the cart from the 
> printer  
> each time you refill, introducing air and requiring some waiting and  
> cleaning. If you never ever take the cart out you do not have this 
> problem.

After much experimenting and the destruction of a C88 I've found that
refilling in the printer can cause the carts to flood ink into the
printhead, making you have to run a cleaning cycle anyway to make the
squeegee clean off the head.

> 
> A workaround is to remove the chips from the carts, remove the small 
> PCB  
> with the contacts, split off the ribbon connector, and mount the 
> chips in  
> a more reasonable place than the head. I soldered them all together.
> 
> But in the end i got the automatic chips with the spongeless carts 
> so i  
> put it all back for simplicity.
> 
> ST
>

Not being that technically inclined myself (I do copper and brass
decorative etching, not PCB work, but since the process is nearly
identical this group is very useful for me), and having had massive
disasters getting a printer running with refill inks (after the
destruction of a HP 1100D, due to either bad inks, old age, or both,
and a new C88 due to bad, leaking empty carts), I'm not doing ANYTHING
to risk ruining things now that I have my C88+ running.

I'd use the Auto-Reset chips I already have, but they are the type
that will not reset without either turning off the printer, or hitting
the replace-ink button (SSC utility allows you to put the printer head
in the ink replace section without triggering the cartridge exchange
purge), so they do not save anything in that regard. They sometimes do
not even reset after doing this, making the printer go down to 0% and
creating a 'defective cartridge, please use Epson originals' error
which requires several power on/offs to reset them. Apparently the
auto-reset chips that MIS carries now do the same thing, not many are
still available that will reset just by taking them out of the
printer. Also, using Epson Genuines seems to make the printer purge
less ink than with compatibles. I wish I could just use SSC and reset
the Epson chips, but the printer keeps its own record of the ink
levels until you use the ink replace function. So there's really no
good way to avoid having to power cycle it without, as you tried,
doing something like creating your own chip emulator. It seems that
the chips are easily damaged by static, so I'm starting to get worried
that I'll have to keep finding discarded ones or buying replacements.
I may wind up being forced to use the auto-reset chips, whichh,
despite being abused a lot at this point, still work fine. The last
two Epson Black chips I used only reset once each before refusing to
work. I've ordered a different chip resetter, just in case.

On a whole I've found the whole refilling business to be more hassle
than it's worth, except for the fact that the last run of prints I did
would have cost $156 taking them to Staples for 39c copies, or near
$300 in OEM cartridges. If you are /not/ doing massive print runs of
color copies, it's more trouble than it's worth (buy a Canon IP4200
which has nice, big ink tanks, or a HP Deskjet that takes 96/97 carts)