Dmax Ink™
All Black Ink System for Canon Pixma Pro-100 – Refill Tutorial
Learn by watching the video, or review the written transcript. If you still have questions submit a tech ticket, or reply back to your technician in an open ticket.
Video Transcript
As the first install of the DMax All Black Ink Refillable System runs low you may receive warning lights from your Canon printer but the truest sign it may be time to refill cartridges is when the density of prints becomes lighter.
Let’s get to know your Canon printer warning lights:
Warnings will appear as a yellow flashing light on the lower button located on the front of the printer called the Resume Button. The number of flashes conveys the message.
4 yellow flashes is a soft warning that the ink cartridge chip is running low. Press the flashing Resume button once to continue printing. You may continue printing until the first sign of lighter density prints.
13 or 16 yellow flashes warns that the printer cannot print or that the cartridge chip has expired. Press and hold the flashing Resume button for 8 seconds to dismiss the warning. All cartridges drain evenly, generally within 1 milliliter of each other. Now is the time to check actual ink levels, we’ll go over this process in detail shortly.
The goal is to get the printer to a state when yellow warning lights on the printer and red cartridges lights on the print head no longer flash or illuminate. At that time the printer will allow the ink cartridges to be refilled and run indefinitely. This is the point that the All Black refillable system delivers its greatest value.
Once ink warning lights no longer illuminate, you’ll simply print until the prints display lighter density, then it’s time to check two things: ink levels and nozzle clog status.
A clogged print head and low ink can look very similar. It’s best to check first that you have an ample amount of ink. If yes then check if the print head has a clog using the Maintenance feature in AccuRIP Ruby. Load plain paper into the printer, click the Gear icon in AccuRIP Ruby, then click Nozzle Check. If clogged, clean the printer using the Clean feature or soak the print head in a bath of Amaze-INK liquid inkjet clogbuster for 30 minutes or longer. See our video “How to properly clean a Canon print head.”
There are two ways to refill ink cartridges.
The first and recommended way is to refill the tanks while still installed in the printer. The eight installed clear gaskets prevent leakage. This avoids having to address future warning lights and is the fastest method of refilling.
The second way is to remove the cartridges, filling them outside the printer to help you visualize the filling process. The printer will accept the expired chips but you may have to address some flashing warning lights on the printer by pressing the Resume Button as described earlier.
Here’s how to refill cartridges while still installed in the printer:
Open the printer to reveal the print head and ink cartridges.
You may notice that some slots are flashing red lights, others may display a steady red light while others may have no light on at all. There is no need to worry about this, the printer is simply trying to tell you the cartridge chips will soon report as expired or have already expired. This can be ignored at this time.
With the print head in the centered maintenance position, remove the power cord from the back of the printer to ensure that the print head does not return to its inaccessible standby position while you are refilling the cartridges. Without pulling the power cable you have 10 minutes to complete the task of refilling.
Now remove the injection hole plugs from the top of the cartridges.
Using the supplied syringe with the blunt needle wiped clean, insert the needle vertically into the insertion hole using it as a “dip stick.” If no ink appears on the needle tip it is safe to add 4 milliliters of ink to the cartridge. Check each tank. Tanks should be the same or have close to equal ink levels. Fill all tanks evenly for the best performance.
Draw ink into the syringe then slowly and carefully refill each cartridge with 4 milliliters of DMax filmmaking dye ink. Fill slowly allowing the internal sponge to absorb ink as you fill while watching out for bubbles or over filling. After filling with 4 milliliters let the tanks sit for one minute the repeat the dip stick test. If no ink appears on the dip stick you may add up to another 4 milliliters. It is not recommended to attempt more than 8 milliliter refills.
Once all cartridges have been refilled replace the injection hole plugs.
Close the printer lid, plug the power cord back into the printer, then power on the printer. It will now prepare for printing.
Load a sheet of paper to print a nozzle check ensuring all tanks are printing properly.
Open AccuRIP Ruby, click the Gear icon, then click Nozzle Check.
A good nozzle check should look like this with no gaps in the grey areas.
If you do have gaps you may have a slight clog or the print head needs help charging the ink. Run a cleaning routine using the AccuRIP Ruby cleaning feature then print another nozzle check to ensure the clog is removed.
You’ve now completed the cartridge refill process, your Dmax All Black Ink refillable system is a true continuous fill system that will run indefinitely saving you huge ink costs while printing thousands of films.
If you are having difficulty with any step of this process please go to solutions for screen printers dot com, go to Support, then click “submit a support ticket.” Freehand’s fanatical support team will help you get things right.
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