Going to take a chance and try refilling HP Designjet 3000cp

[polymorph]

Since the HP CP series print heads get replaced when buying a new set
of inks/heads, I figure the worst that can happen is I clog the heads.

I'm going ahead and refilling the dye ink cartridges, using Encad GA
dye ink. It was made for a slightly different HP print head, since that
is what the Novajet Pro 36 it was for uses. So although I'm crossing my
fingers, I'm expecting no more than slight differerences in shades.

I just installed a T fitting with a luer lock on it, and using a 35mL
syringe I just put in 8 syringe fulls, about 260mL. Wow! That's a lot
of ink. I'm used to the 110mL cartridges on an Epson 3000. I suspect I
could have put in one or two more syringes, but I don't want to end up
pressurizing the ink bag. I carefully sucked all the air out.

Now it remains to be seen if the printer will recognize how much ink is
really in there.

Anyone know, do the HP 3000CP series print heads have chips in them?
Does it just assume it's full if you tell it you are replacing
everything? Or is it doing something more complex like weighing the ink
tanks?

I'm not going to retrofit and refill the other colors until I see how
it responds to the refilled yellow. I have plenty of Encad GA dye ink
to use up, 500 to 1000mL of each color.

Steve Greenfield

 

[measekite]

Since the HP CP series print heads get replaced when buying a new set
of inks/heads, I figure the worst that can happen is I clog the heads.

That is the first thought but there was one poster who had a cart leak
inside the printer and basically ruined the printer as he tried to clean
it in vain.

 

[TJ]

Since the HP CP series print heads get replaced when buying a new set
of inks/heads, I figure the worst that can happen is I clog the heads.

I'm going ahead and refilling the dye ink cartridges, using Encad GA
dye ink. It was made for a slightly different HP print head, since that
is what the Novajet Pro 36 it was for uses. So although I'm crossing my
fingers, I'm expecting no more than slight differerences in shades.

I just installed a T fitting with a luer lock on it, and using a 35mL
syringe I just put in 8 syringe fulls, about 260mL. Wow! That's a lot
of ink. I'm used to the 110mL cartridges on an Epson 3000. I suspect I
could have put in one or two more syringes, but I don't want to end up
pressurizing the ink bag. I carefully sucked all the air out.

Now it remains to be seen if the printer will recognize how much ink is
really in there.

Anyone know, do the HP 3000CP series print heads have chips in them?
Does it just assume it's full if you tell it you are replacing
everything? Or is it doing something more complex like weighing the ink
tanks?

I'm not going to retrofit and refill the other colors until I see how
it responds to the refilled yellow. I have plenty of Encad GA dye ink
to use up, 500 to 1000mL of each color.

Steve Greenfield

Let us know how it works out for you. Most of us that refill have had
great success. Like anything, there's a learning curve on how to do it,
and some carts are more difficult than others. But once you're through
the curve, great savings can be had. There was one poster a while back
that had a leaky cart, but just one. One out of thousands would be
pretty good odds, don't you think?


TJ

 

[polymorph]

That is the first thought but there was one poster who had a cart leak
inside the printer and basically ruined the printer as he tried to clean
it in vain.

Because of the layout of this printer, if the T junction leaks it will
just suck air back into the bagged cartridge. I'd have to poke a hole
in the aluminized mylar bag to have it leak. Or have both a leak in the
T junction -and- put way too much ink in the mylar bag. I think it can
take over 300mL, so that'd be an awful lot of ink.

So far:

Apparently the printer is not telling me yellow is empty. The "empty"
symbol means either/or: a lot of ink has passed through the head,
and/or too many nozzles are not firing. Since the other three heads
show either 4 bars (fine) or 3 bars (good), I suspect the printer has
decided there are too many clogged nozzles. The Yellow and Cyan show
some clogged nozzles, Yellow more than Cyan. Cyan shows 3 bars. So I'm
going to try cleaning the Yellow.

I hit the "change ink" button and faked replacing all four heads, but
when I closed the lid it -didn't- prompt me to replace the cleaning
stations. Which might mean it is somehow telling that I just put the
same print heads back in.

If I'm refilling the ink tanks, I really need to empty out those
cleaning stations. So I'll have to go through again and see if there
was something I missed doing.

The cartridges look like the HP #45, except with a special inlet on the
top corner. So no surprises there. I ran a "Refill" on the heads and
they all feel very full, so my report is that so far refilling the
yellow seems to work fine.

Steve Greenfield

PS I hope you are not building up to telling me that refilling is going
to burn my house down, seek out my relatives and assassinate them, and
start ugly rumors about all my friends.

PPS I've refilled a -lot- of desktop printers of my own, none has quit
working or caught fire. I currently have or had working (until sold or
outmoded): Canon BJC 610, BJC 3000, BJC 5000, BJC 5100, BJC 6000, Epson
600, 800, 820, 850, 900, 1200, 1280, 1520, 3000, 5000. I've also built
a few bulk ink systems for many of those printers.