I’ve been refilling ink cartridges for 14 years, it’s extremely cost effective but can be a little messy. I first heard about CIS around 7 years ago and last year I decided to get one. I had some problems with the cheap Chinese system I bought and I contacted an Aussie company who were extremely helpful, even though it was not their system. More on that after the video.

The cheap chinese copy that I originally bought was not recognised by the printer. I spent 3 ink covered days trying everything to make it work. I rang the supplier and he tried to help, but he didn’t know why it wouldn’t work. In desperation, while searching the net for some clues, I filled in the contact form at Rihac, asking for help even though it wasn’t their system. I got a quick reply, they asked for a photo of my system and once they saw it, they directed me to a chinese website where it was available for $12 (I paid $155). They told me why it wasn’t working -  the supplied cartridges were too low and going under the beam that reads the chips on the cartridges, it wasn’t a system for my printer. They also told me that the ink was not good quality.

They really knew their stuff, I was impressed. I got a full refund for the dud system and bought a system from Rihac which I am really happy with. Rihac also advised me to get a new printer rather than a CIS for my old Canon, because the Canon CIS might not be suitable when I replaced the printer.

I had read that the new version of my Canon Ip4200 had smaller cartridges and the reviews were not very good. Rihac advised me that the Epsom TX700 used less ink and had better longevity, so I bought an Epsom TX700W from Harvey Norman and ordered the Rihac CIS for that printer.

I’m really happy to put in a good word for Rihac  http://www.rihac.com.au  they helped me out and really know printers and ink. Their ink is high quality, the system comes with a coloured booklet of instructions, syringe, screwdriver, caps etc, the cartridges are already connected, there is a reset button on them to reset the chips when they think they are empty, if air gets into the carts there is a silicone plug through which a syringe needle is pushed and air is easily removed. The ink container is already full of 600mls of ink- all for around $160.

 The instructions are clear, I had my new CIS working within 5 minutes. Refill ink is cheap and sent promptly. This system has been faultless for me.

The Mayo clinic have several pages of  information on DISH -

“Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is calcification or a bony hardening of ligaments in areas where they attach to your spine.

Also known as Forestier’s disease, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis causes stiffness in your upper back and may also affect your neck and lower back. Some people experience diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis beyond the spine in areas such as their heels, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows and hands.”

The Symptoms may include – Stiffness, Pain, Loss of range of motion, difficulty swallowing or a hoarse voice

Risk factors can include – long term use of retinoids, possibly excess vitamin A, being Male, age over 50 and having Diabetes II/raised insulin levels.

More at the mayo clinic -

I was diagnosed with D.I.S.H a few years ago, I have stiffness in the neck and back, heel, shoulder and groin pains. Unfortunately there is no cure , exercise is recommended to maintain as much movement as possible and pain treatment includes anti inflammatories, hot & cold packs and painkillers. I get a lot of relied using Voltaren anti inflammatory cream – http://shed.robhealey.com.au/health/back-pain-relief/

If you have been diagnosed with D.I.S.H I’d like to hear from you and we can share info. Please fill in the comment form below -

I’ve always thought I was extremely lucky to be alive in the 1960’s. It was an exciting era and relatively free compared to the restrictions we now have in every area.

As a Musician and also a Car nut I completely agree with Rob Forrester of the Go-Betweens when he said,

“I wish I’d been in San Francisco in 1965-1966″ -

“All the major players were there, bands were forming but hadn’t made their first albums yet and there was a lovely feeling of shared ideas, shared houses. The Hippy world was coming on, people were enjoying it but it hadn’t been on the front cover of Time Magazine yet.

It was that world where men started to grow their hair down on their shoulders, people were getting into Eastern religion, adventurous fantastic Rock n roll was being made. For a couple of years in 1965-66, that was a fantastic world”

(conversation Hour, Richard Fidler 18 Nov 2009 )http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/local/brisbane/conversations/200911/r471934_2364525.mp3

What year & Date would you choose for your Perfect Moment in time?

Agree or Disagree, but let me know by posting your year and reasons in the comments box at the bottom.

Music, Cars, Peace and Love – they were all there in 1965.

Here’s more on what it was like, the Atmosphere, the Cars, the Music -

ATMOSPHERE

In 1965 San Francisco became one of the liveliest cities in the US. The poets of the “Beat generation” moved there; the “Diggers” turned the Haight Ashbury district into a “living theater”. Mario Savio founded the “Free Speech Movement” at the University of California at Berkeley, where sit-ins and marches were supported by the likes of Country Joe McDonald.

McLure, Dylan & Ginsberg

There was excitement in the air. In the summer of 1965 a San Francisco band, the Charlatans, and their hippy fans took over the “Red Dog Saloon” in Virginia City (Nevada), and came up with the idea of playing a new kind of music for a new kind of audience. The Warlocks (later renamed the Grateful Dead) got hired by Ken Kesey to play at his “acid tests” (LSD parties), where the band began performing lengthy instrumental jams, loosely based on country, blues and jazz.

The Warlocks- later became  The Grateful Dead

In October of that year, the Family Dog Production organized the first hippy party at the “Long Shoreman’s Hall”. Following the success of that “festival”, avenues for San Francisco’s new bands sprang up all around.

Those acts embodied the pacifist ideals that had been promoted by Bob Dylan, but with less political stance. Theirs was a philosophy of life (”peace , love and drugs”) in direct consequence of what Dylan had preached, but  much closer to Buddhist philosophy.

Hippies gathered not to march, but to celebrate; not to protest but to rejoice. The spiritual experience was more important than political experience. This represented a dramatic change from the times of rock’n'roll, when the music was an (ultimately violent) act of rebellion.

CARS

Cars were every bit as fantastic as the music. The muscle car era had just begun. In 1965-66 the top option V8 engines were around 425 cubic inches, that’s 7 Litres. Cars from this era had character, the designers were allowed to be individuals, and cars didn’t all look the same.

The Pontiac GTO

The Shelby Mustang

The Stingray

The Buick Wildcat

 late in 66 the Chevrolet Camaro

1965 Ford Thunderbird

Carol Shelby built the Cobra sportscar and then the hot Shelby Mustang. The Pontiac GTO is credited with starting the muscle car era and the Mustang for making muscle cars popular. The Buick Wildcat was powerful, sleek for its size and the Corvette Stingray was becoming a legend. Plymouth Fury & Barracuda, Buick Riviera & Toronado, Chevrolet Chevelle, Impala & Caprice – all these cars were large and had options for huge gas guzzling 7 Litre V8 engines. They were classic and they had style.

The movie Bullit, with it’s famous car chase down the hilly streets of San Francisco, premiered two years later in 1968, but it was no doubt inspired by some of these cars and they way they were driven.

MUSIC

The Grateful Dead, considered by many to be “the” greatest rock band of all times, were a monument of San Francisco’s hippy civilization and the psychedelic civilization of the 1960s. Their greatest invention was the lengthy, free-form, group jam, the rock equivalent of jazz improvisation. This became known as ‘Acid Rock’ which came to represent escape from the Establishment, artistic freedom and the alternative lifestyle.

The Grateful Dead

Jefferson Airplane embodied the spirit and the sound of the hippy era and had a formidable group of talents that redefined every part of Rock music. Their early singles, Somebody To Love and White Rabbit, helped establish psychedelic-rock as a musical genre.

The Santana Blues Band, later simply called Santana formed in 1966. Big Brother and the Holding Company formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their lead singer.

Santana

Not so famous bands of the time (Charlatans, Ace of Cups, The Vejtables, Chocolate Watchband to name a few) contributed to an atmosphere of experimentation, improvisation, and ambivalence about the notion of commercial success.

The Charlatans were credited with being the first band to take LSD just before a gig and also producing the first Psychedelic poster.

In other parts of the music world the Beatles had chart toppers with Ticket to Ride, Yesterday, Michelle. The Rolling Stones had a #1 hit with Satisfaction and The Who had a chart hit with My Generation. The Doors got together in California 1965; The Beach Boys had a hit with Help me Rhonda & Do You Wanna Dance –

“It was all happening, Man”

1965-66 in San Francisco would have been an exciting place to live.

Peace Man~!       

Post your perfect year in the box below

Bypassing that old 1980’s circuitry is simple and makes the Yamaha Electric Grand more reliable.

My Yamaha CP70b Electric Grand Piano has been very reliable and it stays in tune for ages. 3 years ago the electronic part of it stopped working. I found the schematics for it at http://www.synthfool.com/docs/Yamaha/Yamaha%20CP-70B%20Operating%20Manual.pdf , and a forum for it at http://www.pianochopshop.com/forum.html and I finally diagnosed the problem to a poor connection on one of the pins.

While searching the net for answers I discovered that the Yamaha can be connected to an amp, UNPOWERED, just like a guitar. This bypasses ALL of the circuitry, which is one less thing that can go wrong, but more importantly,
IT SOUNDS A LOT BETTER!!!

The bypass is so simple it can be done by twisting wires around 3 connectors, no soldering or electrical knowledge necessary. I tested the piano by playing for 10 minutes or so using the onboard pre amp that I had fixed and then using this bypass method. The difference was quite audible, less bass boom being most noticable. The stereo tremelo effect is lost but that is a small price to pay.

I preferred the bypass sound so I decided to make it permanent. I didn’t cut any wires and the process is completely reversible.

Simply connect the WHITE wire from the piezo’s that goes IN to the board, with the RED and WHITE wires that come OUT of the board. Obviously these wires must be disconnected first from the board. Leave the EARTH wires connected.

INSTRUCTIONS -
At the left end of the circuit board behind the Volume control, these RED and WHITE wires are pushed onto pins in the board. They go directly to the OUTPUT – XLR and Jack sockets.

At the right end of the board the positive WHITE wire and it’s Earth come from the Piezo pickups and go into the board. You can see the pin and the wire connector I have pulled off it.

Disconnect the RED & WHITE Output wires. These are the LEFT & RIGHT output wires and need to be connected together. Solder or wrap them together and join them to a length of insulated wire.

Solder or wrap the other end of the new piece of wire around the connector on the WHITE input end and then tape it up.

The circuit is now bypassed. I take the output from the mono jack sockets to the CD input on a Yamaha home stereo amp and I have about the same volume as a standard piano. I am enjoying the new sound, it hasn’t lost that signature CP70B timbre, but the bass is much clearer and more natural.

Here’s an overview showing the grey wire I used to bypass the old preamp. The Yamaha doesn’t need any power now and I can undo this bypass simply by unsoldering the wires and poushing them back onto their connector pins.

Kudos to whoever invented this simple fix for old electronics. I got my info from John Smithson at the Yamaha CP70B forum. Thanks John!

 Full answer -

You don’t need any software to convert DVD files so that you can edit them.

There are two folders on a DVD  – AUDIO_TS & VIDEO_TS

Inside the VIDEO_TS folder there are .ifo .bup & .vob files. The actual video and sound are on the .vob files.

If you want to edit a dvd, copy the files to the computer then play each .vob file to see whats on it.

Change the file extension of the choosen .vob files to .mpeg and the file can be edited in any video editor.

Before I discovered Voltaren, I was taking Naprosyn tablets, a NSAID, to relieve the pain. After a few years it was causing stomach problems, a well known side effect and in 2003 I had to stop taking it.

Because Voltaren is a cream rubbed directly onto the area, it bypasses the stomach and goes straight to the inflamation that is causing pain. When my back is playing up, I apply Votaren to the area, which can be the upper back, middle or lower back and sometimes my entire back!! I get slow relief that tends to last right through the night, and still feel good the next morning. I have been using it since 2004 and it’s the only thing I have found, apart from pain killers, that gives me relief.

It’s marvellous stuff!!

As with all drugs, they should NOT be used continuously. Save it for when you really need it.

The instructions say you can apply it 2 or 3 times a day and it should not be used for longer than 7 days.

Here’s a bit of technical info -

Voltaren Emulgel is a topical anti-inflammatory gel made by Novartis for the relief of pain and swelling. It is classified as an over-the-counter medicine and you do not need a prescription to purchase.

Voltaren Emulgel contains an active ingredient called diclofenac that is one of the groups of medicines called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics.

Voltaren Emulgel is used to relieve pain and reduce swelling in a number of conditions affecting the joints and muscles

Voltaren Emuglel is used to treat inflammation of tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints due to trauma (eg. Sports injuries, sprains, strains, bruises), soft tissue rheumatism and localized rheumatic conditions e.g.bursitis, and for aches and pains, back, neck, and shoulder pain.

Always consult your doctor before self treatment. Always look at what other drugs you are taking and the possible side effects of combining different drugs.

I have been refilling ink cartridges for over 12 years. Refilling ink cartridges myself, with good quality ink, has saved me heaps of money and never harmed my Epsom and Canon printers, no matter what the printer manufacturers say. I hear that printers are sold almost at cost and that the profit is all in the ink cartridge refills.

Eventually all printheads clog up. Bubblejet ink is water based. If you can remove your printhead it’s possible to unclog it – simply remove the printhead, remove the cartridges and then soak the printhead in hot water to dissolve the dried up residue. I then use a spray bottle and spray through the tiny printhead holes as firmly as possible, then give it another soak in hot water. Dry thoroughly then refit everything and perform a cleaning cycle or two, then test print.

This works 9 times out of 10. If not, then it’s most likely the actual cartridge is blocked.

Eventually the cartridge has been used for so long that the foam pad at the ink exit gets clogged. When this happens, no amount of cleaning the printhead will help. A temporary fix is to blow v hard through the foam pad, but obviously it’s time to buy a new cartridge and start again.

I now run a continuous ink system from http://rihac.com.au/  it’s easy to use, cheap and no more ink stained fingers. Each ink bottle holds 100ml of ink- that’s more than a years average use.