Packing Your Inks
If you want to use your own material when printing with NOVA or change the piston type, you'll need to fill an empty cartridge. Follow the instructions below for a smooth experience!
Filling the Cartridge
The easiest way to pack a syringe is to transfer from a larger cartridge with a luer-lok fitting, like a 10cc or 30cc EFD cartridge, using the female-to-female luer coupling. If your material comes in one of these, great!
If you don't have such a cartridge, the next best way to fill a cartridge is to do so manually with a spatula. Simply put a tip cap on the tip of an empty syringe and transfer material by hand. Insert the white piston into the cartridge, and push down, allowing trapped air to flow past the edge of the piston.
Trapped Air & Centrifuging
Trapped air is compressible, and may lead to undesirable side effects - these include leakage, and gaps in printed features.
If you have a centrifuge, we recommend starting at 2200 RPM for 2 minutes, up to 3500 RPM for 5 minutes for thicker materials to separate out the air (with both end cap and tip cap on the cartridge). Afterwards, simply remove the end cap, and push on the piston to allow trapped air to flow past.
Transferring Between Cartridges
It can sometimes happen that the seal within a cartridge will break, causing ink to leak past the piston. To resolve this issue, you'll need to transfer the ink to a new cartridge. To do so, follow the instructions below:
Screw a female-female luer coupling on to the tip of the filled cartridge.
Insert a piston into the empty cartridge and push all the way down.
Screw the empty cartridge onto the other end of the luer coupling.
Gently apply pressure to the filled cartridge, allowing the material to flow smoothly into the empty cartridge.
Once bottomed out, remove the now-empty used cartridge and the luer coupling, and screw a tip cap onto the end of the newly filled cartridge.
Gently apply pressure to the piston in the filled cartridge to push out any air around the piston.
Maximum Fill Level
The maximum fill level for a cartridge is 2mL. If the cartridge is too full, you risk spilling out your material when putting together the dispenser - the best way to avoid that is simply to load the excess into another cartridge!
We've also put together a 3D printable fill gauge that can help you fill to the right point every time:
Last updated
Was this helpful?