Look into Silicon plug or equal to refill by the orginal filling ports

[oiaohm]

There has been a lot of inkjet cartridge refill over the years. Pushing hole repeatedly though with a needle with the one way membrane is going to cause it to fail lot sooner just like push the ink back though the foam with printer cartridges.

On inkjets you have the refill/factory fill port on the other side of the cartridge to the outlet normally. From what I have see of videos/photo of the bob cassette the two factory filling ports that are now fully plugged are in fact on the other side of the cartridge to the one way membrane and the electronics right out on the corners well away from the electronics. I know its kind of scary to have to drill 2 holes to put in refill port plugs. Yes from what I can see of the bob cassette when sitting in the machine the original filling ports will be up so leakage if plugs are not perfect is highly unlikely if they are converted by drilling into refill ports with silicon plugs inserted.

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32841417076.html Yes the refill port plugs for inkjet cartridges are mass made. Yes its possible that if you have a inkjet refill store near that they would do the fitting of the plugs into a bob cassette. Not like its going to need different drilling set up. Just they will need to know where on the cassette are the valid locations to put the two holes and unless the cartridge has changed since the photos I can see the locations are really clearly marked as they did not even bother colour matching the closing ports plastic.

Other thing you will find is a cartridge will most likely have a max refill count before some part of it comes a risk to crack or other wise fail. This is why its important to use refill ports and the like in attempts to make this as many cycles as possible. Yes the refilling ports are likely to have a stronger band of plastic around it so when filling in the factory if the machine was a little off don't have a breakage.

The cassettes are similar to inkjet cartridges<< Yes the i2c DRM on these cassettes are the same as early drm inkjet cartridge. Some early inkjet cartridges also do use the one way membrane before changing to foam. So these cassettes are very much early drm inkjet cartridges just filled with dish-washing chemicals. To be correct inkjet cartridges where the tanks are split from the printer head. Yes the filling ports of the factory also being really simple to spot is another thing of historic thing of early inkjet cartridges latter generations of inkjet cartridges where they started getting smart with their chips and hiding the correct refill ports.

This could turn into a wacky side job for a shop that does inkjet refills making bob cassettes properly refillable.

[lechercheur123]

Hi everyone !

I also have a Bob dishwasher (in France ;) ), and I'm not very fond of poking through the silicone plug with a syringe.

I looked at my Bob cassette, and the silicone plugs can be easly removed with fingers (and maybe with gloves for safety) :

So I guess you do not need to use specific silicone plug to do what you want

I also found 2 other ports (maybe original refill ports ?), but I broke my nail trying to open one of them :) :

[dekuNukem]

Nicely spotted, I didn't realise that the one-way membrane can be taken off. This certainly makes refilling the cassette easier, although I feel that the same part probably won’t survive many times of removal and insertion, so keeping it in place might make the cassette last longer.

Just a side note, in your photo, it seems that you put the detergent (yellow) in the left tank and rinse aid (blue) in the right, I think it's supposed to be the other way round, or maybe the colour of your detergents is just different? 🤔

[lechercheur123]

It's very easy to remove the silicone membrane. I don't think removing it hurts the membrane very much. But you are probably true. This membrane can't last forever. but I think it can last at least 20 or more refilings.

It's an unmodified Bob cassette, so 2 possibilities:

• They use differents detergents
• They mixed things up...

[lechercheur123]

Side note:

After each wash, the detergent left white stains everywhere in Bob. Do you have the same thing ?

If no, it can be caused by the Bob cassette if detergent and rinse aid are switched

[dekuNukem]

I just tried taking the membrane off, it was pretty easy, but I did use a pair of pilers to get a better grip. Taking it on and off does seen to put a lot of stress on it though, so I still feel that it won’t last as long compared to “needle poking through membrane” method. The dishwasher itself has hoses poking though it, so it should handle a much smaller needle.

I looked at a brand new unmodified cassette and drew out some liquid with a syringe. It was indeed a thick blue gel in the left tank, and a clear liquid detergent in right. You can even see the blue colour through the memberine. Not sure why your cassette is the other way 😅 maybe check the others if you have more.

As for the water stains, I have some on my lid too after a wash, I think it’s just from hard water.

[lechercheur123]

I just tried taking the membrane off, it was pretty easy, but I did use a pair of pilers to get a better grip. Taking it on and off does seen to put a lot of stress on it though, so I still feel that it won’t last as long compared to “needle poking through membrane” method. The dishwasher itself has hoses poking though it, so it should handle a much smaller needle.

I will try both methods when I will have to refil my cassette (I ordered your "rewinder" ;) ). I don't have a syringe yet to "evaluate" the stress it can cause.

I looked at a brand new unmodified cassette and drew out some liquid with a syringe. It was indeed a thick blue gel in the left tank, and a clear liquid detergent in right. You can even see the blue colour through the memberine. Not sure why your cassette is the other way 😅 maybe check the others if you have more.

I only have one cassette. I will send a little mail to Daan to be sure :)

As for the water stains, I have some on my lid too after a wash, I think it’s just from hard water.

You are probably right, I have a quite hard water here (588 µS/cm)

[lechercheur123]

I looked at a brand new unmodified cassette and drew out some liquid with a syringe. It was indeed a thick blue gel in the left tank, and a clear liquid detergent in right. You can even see the blue colour through the memberine. Not sure why your cassette is the other way 😅 maybe check the others if you have more.

I only have one cassette. I will send a little mail to Daan to be sure :)

Reply from Daan Tech : It's normal, we changed the formulae

[oiaohm]

lechercheur123 Yes those white hard to remove ports on the back I would suspect would be the original designed location for refilling. Because that is exactly where they would be if you were using the patent for the early printer cartridges mirrored to make this cartridge. This item does not look like a new design to me but a old design reused.

It's normal, we changed the formulae <The common translation to that with ink-jet cartridges was: "We buy what ever we think is the cheapest that works for us" I would suspect the same. Yes this was bad with ink-jet printers when the swapped ink resulted in the complete print fading out of existence in 3 months because of the change. So refilling yourself may be way to getting more dependable results here.

Yes removing the silicone membrane will shorten it life.

I would be guessing when Daan Tech refils they remove the silicone membrane refill and throws it away and gets a new one. Not that environmentally friendly. The fact the design has those extra ports sealed off if they are drill able and plug able that could be the better refill point.

dekuNukem I would say if they are drill able and plug-able would be testable on the cartridge you have already cut up so far.

Yes if filling by the silicone membrane by needle or by pulling them out will need new membranes sooner than if you are able to open a the two back ports and turn them into refill ports.