Updated: August 2nd 2022:
This guide has received a LOT of attention over July/August 22 and we’re pleased to now share our support guides below as well as directly on YouTube as part of this full playlist.
Please share your feedback on the new resources and let us know if you’re struggling with any other part of refilling and printing with your Canon Pro-300.
Refill Kit
The recommended kit for this process is as follows:
- 2x sets of PFI-300 cartridges (OEM/Original) with at least one set of caps!
Preferably used but capped once removed from the printer. - SquEasyFill cap system x10 with 18G 1.5″ needles and scabbards (needle covers)
- Full set of refill inks
- 4x flush clips*
- 4x 50-60ml syringes*
- Digital Scales with max capacity of at least 100g (200g recommended)
Hurdles and Considerations
The PFI-300 cartridges used in the Canon Pro-300 cannot (at time of writing) be reset and it’s unlikely this situation will change so refilling these cartridges means that ink monitoring must be disabled for refilled cartridges before the printer will allow a user to continue to print.
Given that Canon bubblejet printers like the Pro-300 use ink as coolant for the printhead nozzles, it’s important to ensure that the cartridges do not run out of ink to reduce the potential for damage to the printhead or individual nozzles.
The Solution?
So, our proposed solution to this is to borrow the full-set-swap approach we’ve previously suggested (for reducing waste ink in Canon printers).
To give you the summary of this process:
You have two sets of cartridges, one set is installed in the printer, and the other set is already refilled, capped and waiting to be used. As soon as you decide it’s time to do a lot of printing or you’re reasonably confident (or worried) that you’re running low on ink in the installed cartridges, you remove the installed set and replace it with your ready-to-go set of full cartridges.
Why? Well, because this means you know that all your cartridges are full AND because the printer will now run just ONE priming routine for the whole set.
Normally you might change one cartridge at a time and this would waste ink in all the other cartridges with each change because the printer would prime everything with each change. So, you’re saving 9 cartridge swaps and priming routines.
When To Change Cartridges?
We will be trying to work out some guidelines on when to change cartridges but it’s important to note that this will not be an exact science as everyone has different usage patterns. If you print green landscapes you’re going to use more cyan and yellow inks than someone who is printing Gothic art who will use more black and greys for example.
So, we’re going to suggest you keep a log book near your printer where you can record the following information:
- What files were you printing (or just the type of prints landscape/portrait/seascape, etc..)
- Size of prints (Letter/A4/A3, etc..)
- Quantity of prints
- Weight of installed cartridges
- Printhead cleaning routines (if applicable)
… and when you go to change your cartridges you make sure you weight each cartridge and calculate how much ink has been used vs’ how much is likely left.
Assuming you want to do the calculations you should be able to identify if your switching out cartridges a lot earlier than required and if there’s more room for leaving them in longer.
It’s important to note that this is not an exact science as the printer will run maintenance cleaning routines and it’s unlikely you’ll be printing the exact same images so allow a healthy margin of error to avoid running out.
Early Swapping?
Okay… if you’re now wondering about swapping all the cartridges early and won’t that waste ink, then it’s important to note that full set swapping already saves you a lot of waste ink so while you’ll want to be swapping relatively early it won’t waste as much ink as you would when you switched out individual cartridges when they read as empty.
The Actual Refill Process
The PFI-300 cartridges are all designed exactly the same way as a PGI-72 and use the same refill process for those and also the PGI-9 type. As such our existing video resources on force-filling and dribble-filling still apply and will work just as well.
Installing Refilled Cartridges For The First Time
Other Tips
We’ve done some testing using PGI-9 and PGI-72 cartridges and confirmed that the Pro-300 will accept these physical cartridges so long as you have removed and replaced their chips with OEM/Original chips from PFI-300 cartridges. So, if you want to be able to see roughly how much ink is in your cartridges you can use chip swapped PGI-9 cartridges instead.