Question about used cartridges

[Guigui]

Hello,

Yesterday I did a PK->MK ink swap on my 7900 printer. My MK cartridge was showing 1% so the printer told me to insert a new MK cartridge to perform the swapping.

I did that, and put back the old cartridge back in the printer afterwards in order to use every last drop of it for printing.

So now I have an almost empty cartridge in my printer, and an almost full one on my hands. What should I do about it to store it safely so that it doesn't dry or something ?
Are there any recommandations you could share about this ? Is there some kind of risk that my cartridge might be unusable because I have not kept it in mint condition ?

Thank you !

[Wayne Fox]

Hello,

Yesterday I did a PK->MK ink swap on my 7900 printer. My MK cartridge was showing 1% so the printer told me to insert a new MK cartridge to perform the swapping.

I did that, and put back the old cartridge back in the printer afterwards in order to use every last drop of it for printing.

So now I have an almost empty cartridge in my printer, and an almost full one on my hands. What should I do about it to store it safely so that it doesn't dry or something ?
Are there any recommandations you could share about this ? Is there some kind of risk that my cartridge might be unusable because I have not kept it in mint condition ?

Thank you !

I usually put them in a ziploc bag, roll it up so I get as much air out as possible, and seal it.  Probably not necessary if it's only going to be a few days, but that's what I do.  I've done this for several months and used them again without any problem.

[Guigui]

I usually put them in a ziploc bag, roll it up so I get as much air out as possible, and seal it.  Probably not necessary if it's only going to be a few days, but that's what I do.  I've done this for several months and used them again without any problem.

Thank you Wayne. I'll do that, I also put a little bit of tape on the small valve to prevent leaking, although if it is indeed a valve, it shouldn't matter.

[leuallen]

Instead of Ziplock, how about using one of those cheap vacuum gizmos you can get at Walmart in the Ziplock section. They are hand held and remove air from a Ziplock type bag. Less than $20.00. Might have a problem with it pulling the ink out of the cartridge. It might or might not work. Anyway the purchase is not a loss as they are very handy in the kitchen.

Larry

[Wayne Fox]

Instead of Ziplock, how about using one of those cheap vacuum gizmos you can get at Walmart in the Ziplock section. They are hand held and remove air from a Ziplock type bag. Less than $20.00. Might have a problem with it pulling the ink out of the cartridge. It might or might not work. Anyway the purchase is not a loss as they are very handy in the kitchen.

Larry

I thought about that once, and have a unit, but decided it was overkill.  I'm not even sure the ziploc is necessary.  I do it more to protect from ink getting on stuff.

The cartridges (at least the newer Epson ones) are pressurized ... vacuum packing may result in sucking ink out as you mentioned, or even exploding the cartridge.

[Alan Goldhammer]

I usually put them in a ziploc bag, roll it up so I get as much air out as possible, and seal it.  Probably not necessary if it's only going to be a few days, but that's what I do.  I've done this for several months and used them again without any problem.

I have a 2880 (much smaller ink cartridges) and will go several weeks printing with either MK or PK black.  I just put the swapped cartridge back into the original small bag it came in and tap over the opening (pretty much the same thing as using a Ziplock bag).  Longest I've gone between swaps has been five weeks and I didn't have any problem with the stored cartridge.

[Per Ofverbeck]

Instead of Ziplock, how about using one of those cheap vacuum gizmos you can get at Walmart in the Ziplock section. They are hand held and remove air from a Ziplock type bag. Less than $20.00. Might have a problem with it pulling the ink out of the cartridge. It might or might not work. Anyway the purchase is not a loss as they are very handy in the kitchen.

Larry

Seems to me that lowering the air pressure would increase the rate of evaporation from the ink instead of protecting it...

I know a lot of people use these on half-empty wine bottles, too.  While it retards oxidisation, it must be an efficient way to suck the bouquet out of the wine!

Ideal would be to replace the air with, say, nitrogen at a higher pressure.  Not very easy to do in am ordinarily equipped home...