Today, I will review three different methods of refilling the LC101 and LC 103 cartridges. For a video accompaniment of this explanation, feel free to click here and watch the one I posted on my YouTube channel. These cartridges are known as brother cartridges, and there’s a very straightforward way of checking and refilling them.

Start by checking to see if the cartridge chip is functional. If your chip passes the test, the printer will ask you if you have changed the cartridge. If the chip works, press yes; if the chip is faulty, press no. The printer will then ask about the previous cartridge’s information. Otherwise, your printer will read the chip and attempt to determine the cartridges’ ink levels.

The printer can determine the ink levels of your cartridges by shining a light into a little window embedded into them. Inside the cartridge is a piece of black plastic. The printer determines whether or not the cartridge is empty based on the positioning of this black piece of plastic. All of this means that the refilling process will be pretty straightforward.

We already have a cartridge with a working chip, which means the only thing left that we have to do is refill the ink. If you take a look inside the cartridge, you’ll be able to see something called the bladder. This bladder contains and controls the little black piece of plastic. When the cartridge has ink, the part will float and block light from the window. When it’s empty, it won’t.

The ink-on light is on the bottom of the cartridge, which has a spring-loaded valve above it. When refilling the cartridge, we’ll use a tube to push in on the spring, thus allowing the ink to be released. On the top of the cartridge is an air release valve regulating how much air flows in and out of the cartridge.

Method #1

The easiest way to refill the ink in this cartridge is by using a plastic adapter (available for order at BCHTechnologies.com). I also sometimes refer to this as a quick ink transfer tube. For this next part, you’ll need a needle, a syringe, and a bottle of ink.

Start by filling the syringe with ink. Push the needle into the air intake valve and angle it slightly. After that, the pressure inside the cartridge will be pretty high. If we don’t do anything about it, it can cause issues with the printhead down the road.

To resolve this issue, we need to let some air out of the cartridge. You can do this by pressing the air valve a few times. You don’t need any fancy tools to do that. You can use a regular pen, but I recommend wrapping it in paper towels first so that you have something to absorb and ink that may get discharged.

Method #2

That was the first method, so let’s move on to the second one. This method is primarily for people who don’t have access to or don’t want to use an adapter. This method will allow you to use a regular needle instead, but be aware that we will break it. Bend the needle back and forth until you can break most of its length off. Now you can essentially use this as an adapter and repeat the process I went over earlier. Inject the ink into the bottom and release the air from the top.

Method #3

For the third and final method, we’ll assume that you have no access to needles, nor do you have access to an adapter. Instead of those, we’ll use a 30 mL squeeze bottle of ink that you can also order from BCHTechnologies.com. These bottles come with a transparent casing on the tip, so start by removing that, but save it for later so you can reseal the bottle when finished.

You’ll see a black plug on the end of the squeeze bottle. Using a pair of regular, everyday scissors, cut off the tip of that black plug at an angle. Just like that, you have your makeshift adapter. From here, the process is the same as it was for the last two methods.

I hope this blog helped!

URLs:

0:15- Testing the Cartridges

1:07- Inside the Cartridge

1:49- Supplies

2:03- Refilling