How to refill Canon PRO-1000 ink tanks (PFI-1000)

There are two ways to refill PFI-1000 tanks. Both reuse your original Canon tanks. Decide which path you are on before you go further.

• No-Drill path. The tanks are not modified. Let a tank run until the printer reports it empty, refill it with one 82 ml bottle and fit a new one-time chip. Each chip works for one refill. This path has the least to set up.
• Low Ink Warning System path. Install the sensor system, drill a refill hole in each tank once, and disable the printer's ink level detection for that tank when the printer offers it. From then on you top off a tank whenever its warning light comes on, and you never buy a chip. This is the favored route for long term economy.

Steps marked with a path badge apply to that path only.

These Squeezy caps are three parts: the cap, the needle and the red needle cover (scabbard). Every bottle keeps its own needle, so nothing needs washing between colors.

1. Slip a red needle cover over the tip of the needle so it seals the needle. On the first install, fit it on and off a few times to break it in so it slides on and seals the tip.
2. With the cover on, place the needle over the cone on the cap and turn it clockwise until it is secure. Check that it is firmly attached.

2 oz bottles: remove the silver seal from the bottle, then screw the cap on securely. Peel the seal off, or cut a small X in the middle and peel outwards.

Caps with an O-ring (the No-Drill kit caps, and caps for 4 oz and larger bottles): place the O-ring on the mouth of the bottle and screw the cap on tight. Remove the cap and check that the O-ring has been pushed up into it. Then pierce the seal and put the cap back on.

1. With the needle cover on, squeeze the bottle gently. No air should escape.
2. Take the cover off, keep the bottle upright and squeeze gently. You should feel air leaving the needle tip. Do not squeeze so hard that ink comes out.

When you finish a refill session, put the red needle cover back on to seal the bottle. There is no need to wash the caps. Store the bottles upright.

The package holds a USB to round plug power cable, two bags of six sensors, the prewired left and right boards and a small self-adhesive hook. You supply the power: a 1 A USB charger (preferred) or a computer USB port.

1. Check that the blue connectors holding the joining wire have not come loose in shipping. Retighten them with a small screwdriver if needed.
2. Plug the round plug into the left board (the one with the blue light in its top left corner) and the USB end into power. All the white lights should come on. Unplug the round plug again.
3. Stick the small hook to the middle of the front of the output tray, with the tray closed and up, about 2 cm above its bottom edge.
4. Peel the red backing off the gel tape on the back of each board. Center the boards just above the bottom edges of the left and right panels and press them on.
5. Lay the connecting wire in the hook, then plug the round plug into the left board to power the system.

Plug in one sensor and test it: touch the taped surface with a finger and the red light on the sensor comes on. Take your finger away and it goes out.

1. Peel the red backing off the sensor.
2. Stick the sensor to the face of the tank with its cable entering at the bottom. The light on the sensor is not the top of the sensor, so do not use it as a reference.
3. Place the sensor a little off center. The tank faces are not perfectly flat, and off center gives the gel tape the most contact.
4. Plug the sensor cable into its board. Each board takes six colors: the PBK sensor goes in the rightmost connector on the left board, and the Blue sensor goes in the leftmost connector on the right board.
5. Repeat for the other tanks.

The door closure defeat is an insert you cut from stiff material, using the outline on the Door Closure Instructions sheet. Packaging cardboard works. Plastic from a drink container lasts longer: if it is semi-transparent, black out the end that goes into the printer with a permanent marker.

1. Slip the insert into the printer on the left side of the hinge, between PM and R.
2. Slide it down to the bottom of the printer with a rotating motion until the printer screen stops warning of an open door.

Remove the insert each time you refill. The printer expects the door to be open when a tank is changed.

• Blue on: the sensors have power. You can leave the system on all the time. It uses less than 1 watt.
• Green on, white off: there is ink in the tank. Nothing to do.
• Green and white blinking in turn: the low level is getting close. No need for concern.
• Green off, white on: the tank is low, with about a quarter of the ink left. Top it off when convenient.
• Green and white on together: sensor failure.

The white light also comes on if a sensor falls off its tank or its cable is unplugged. Handling a sensor makes its green light come on, because the sensor detects your finger.

Modify a tank once the printer has shown the yellow low ink warning (!) for that color, or when the printer reports it empty. By then the tank has room for a 2 oz bottle of ink.

1. Take the tank out of the printer.
2. Drill a 5/32 in hole about 1/4 in from one of the top corners of the tank.

Use the drill bit made for plastic (preferred) or a 5/32 in bit that you know is sharp. It cuts a clean hole that the plug seals.

1. Put some water into the tank through the new hole.
2. Turn the tank so the hole faces down. With a blunt needle, press in the spring loaded valve in the middle of the ink outlet. The water runs out of the drilled hole quickly and carries any debris with it.
3. Repeat once more if you like, then empty the tank as much as possible.

If the tank still has ink in it: draw the ink out first with a long needle and syringe. Leave the last little bit in the tank, since it may hold debris. Flush as above, then put the saved ink back.

1. Fill the tank through the hole with the matching color, using the Squeezy bottle.
2. Push a silicone plug into the hole to seal it.
3. Put the tank back in the printer.
4. Attach its sensor to the face of the tank if it is not on already.

An empty tank takes one 82 ml bottle. A single 2 oz bottle gives about a three quarter fill, which works fine: the first low warning just arrives sooner.

You cannot disable ink level detection whenever you like, or for all 12 tanks at once. The printer offers it for each color in its own time, on a screen with support code 1753. It always arrives eventually.

• If you refill before the printer reports the tank empty, the printer goes straight to 1753. This can take as long as it took to use up the first tank: the chip allows roughly 30 to 50 percent overuse first.
• If the printer reports the tank empty (red warning) and stops printing, you will see support code 1751 or 1752 first. Open the door or remove the door closure defeat, remove the tank, refill it, put it back, close the door or refit the defeat, then follow the screens. This can happen twice before 1753 appears.

1. When support code 1753 appears, open the door or remove the door closure defeat.
2. Remove the tank, refill it and put it back.
3. Close the door or refit the door closure defeat.
4. The printer asks whether you purchased the ink tank as genuine Canon. Answer No.
5. On the next screen (support code 1730), select Do not detect.
6. Press and hold the lower button (Stop) for at least 5 seconds, then release it.

Detection is now disabled for that color, and its bar in the printer's estimated ink levels is blank. Leave the chip on the tank: the printer still needs a chip present. From here on the Low Ink Warning System is your low ink warning for that tank.

On this path a tank must be empty before you refill it. One 82 ml bottle is exactly one full tank, so there is nothing to weigh or measure as long as you start from empty.

PFI-1000 chips cannot be reset. A used chip is replaced with a new one-time chip at every refill, and the new chip reports the tank as full.

Change the chip before you refill.

1. Take the empty tank out of the printer.
2. Remove the used chip.
3. Fit the new one-time chip for the same color.

The video shows how the chip comes off and goes on.

Refill the tank with the whole 82 ml bottle of the matching color, using the High Pressure Squeezy cap. The tank is not opened or drilled. The video shows the method.

Put the refilled tank back in the printer and close the door. The printer reads the new chip, shows the tank as full and tracks the ink level until the tank is empty again.

When a color's green light goes off and its white light comes on, that tank is down to about 20 ml, a quarter of a tank. There is time to finish your prints and to order ink, so top off when convenient.

A 2 oz bottle is one top-off. A 4 oz bottle is two.

1. Remove the door closure defeat.
2. Lift that tank's sensor cable off its hook so the tank is free.
3. Take the tank out of the printer.

1. Hold the tank upright and pull the silicone plug.
2. Add the matching color through the hole with the Squeezy bottle.
3. Push the plug back into the hole.

1. Put the tank back in the printer.
2. Hang the sensor cable back on its hook.
3. Refit the door closure defeat.

The white light goes off by itself once there is ink in front of the sensor, and the green light comes back on.

Until every tank has been modified, the lights for the tanks you have not done yet stay on. To keep them quiet:

1. Take a bottle of water for each side of the printer.
2. Attach the unused sensors to the bottles with masking tape. Do not use the gel tape for this.
3. When a tank has been modified and installed, move its sensor from the bottle to the tank.

Hang the cables on the sides of the printer, away from the front, with the open end of each hook pointing to the rear.

1. On the right side, start with the rightmost sensor cable (PC). Pull it loosely toward the rear of the printer. It makes the longest loop. Stick on a hook and hang the cable.
2. Next hang the cable with the shortest loop on that side (Blue), on a hook close to the front edge of the printer.
3. Hang the remaining cables in between, then repeat on the left side.

Measured from the first hook, typical hook positions are 23 mm, 48 mm, 83 mm, 124 mm and 170 mm.