Four Ways of Front Chamber Refill for HP 902

Today we'll be going over the second part of a series I did a while ago regarding how to refill an HP Twin Chamber Cartridge. For non-XL cartridges, the rear chamber (intended as an ink reservoir in XL cartridges) is separated from the front section. This is the main difference between XL and non-XL cartridges. Without a hole in the dividing wall, the ink won't flow to the front chamber from the rear compartment. Therefore, we must refill the front section in non-XL cartridges.

Ink Refill Method #1

The first refill method is to flip the cartridge upside down and add ink until it starts to overflow. If you do this correctly, you should be able to turn it over and set the cartridge down without ink getting left behind when you pick it up again. If the ink does come out, the pressure within the cartridge is not balanced.

Ink Refill Method #2

The second method is the one that refill stores like Costco usually use. Therefore, I chose to use a Costco-refilled cartridge as an example. If you watch along with the demonstration, you'll see that Costco has drilled a small hole near the air hole, which they use to add ink to the cartridge. After that, they close the hole with a bandage of sorts. This seal doesn't need to be airtight, so a simple piece of Scotch tape will work fine.

We will perform this method on a cyan cartridge with a visible air hole hidden under the letter C. We want to drill our hole between the air hole and the HP symbol. Then we fill the ink in through that hole until it starts to overflow and cover it with a piece of tape.

Ink Refill Method #3

For the third method, we'll need a refill pedestal, which you could order off of eBay for around $10 per color, but the black pedestal works for all cartridges, so I recommend buying that and reusing it. The company that makes this pedestal designs them to be used with an adapter and their specific brand of ink. You can't use a needle to get ink into the syringe and then replace that needle with the adapter. Like all other methods, add ink until it starts to overflow.

Ink Refill Method #4

One last method is like the previous one, but cheaper. If you go to my website, BCHTechnologies.com, you can find a protective clip under the accessories tab. Each clip has a silicone pad on the bottom to prevent ink from leaking out of the cartridge, which makes it great for storing cartridges. It could also be used to hold a cartridge during the refill process.

You'll want to use a utility knife to enlarge the bottom hole. Then you can cut a hole in the silicone pad or use a hot paper clip to burn a hole through it. After the hole is made, mark the syringe to ensure it doesn't go too deep into the hole and poke the cartridge. Fill the syringe with ink and inject it into the cartridge until it overflows.

Jan 20th 2023

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