The Best CIS ?

[Chester1971]

Only since late November 2005 so no long term data I'm afraid, although it has been used regularly (at least every other day)

My installation was NOT how they recommend it, mine is a real fudge, but hey! it works.

I can't actually remember how much I paid for it, it was about a ten quid less than the website price including shipping, but I'm in the UK. You would have to ask the guy about shipping to the US.

...not sure about a pump tool kit...there's a syringe, does that count

[born2blove]

Shester911
If right now I buy Epson R220, will the JLwsale for R200 can be use with R220

[Denvers Dawgs]

Yes the Version 6 CFS system from JLW will work with these Printer Models:
R200, R300, R320, RX500,RX600 (also R210, R310). I am assuming that My older CIS would work on all these as well.

Here is my setup on my R200 with the JWL CIS Kit. It's been on for over 2yrs or so.

Front view


Inside view


Zip tie mod. Everything still closes fine, it doesn't get in the way of the cd tray in the up position. Ignore those two holes on the left edge. I miss measured the first time I tried it.

[habs01]

Here is my setup on my R200 with the JWL CIS Kit. It's been on for over 2yrs or so.

Wow! are you saying you've been using your CIS kit for 2 years now? That's very good news.

Any clogging?

Small, medium large Workload?

Do you do anything special maintenance or prevention wise you would like to share?

[Denvers Dawgs]

No clogging, small to medium work load. Probably like 6-12 cds and 6-10 paper prints on a busy week. Only maintenance I do is run a test pattern every so often and do a head cleaning if necessary. I also leave the printer on24/7 so it doesn't waste ink by doing head cleanings everytime you turn it on (wastes too much ink)

[Denvers Dawgs]

***UPDATE***

I recently bought the refill ink from JWL after a shipping problem(ink leaked everywhere) I finally got all my ink. I just went and add my yellow to the remaining yellow in the tank and to my dismay the inks seem to be totally different. The new yellow has turned an orange tint when add to the old yellow? Did I just totally ruin this CIS Kit now? Nowhere on the JWL site did it say that I had to somehow completely clean out the carts & tank of previous ink? This totally sucks

[born2blove]

Denver
I read your post , it mean JWLsale system for R200 will not work with R220
I just got emial from JLwsale, he said if i buy R220 he will sale me the new chip to replace the chip on r200. but I look at cartridge from epson seam like thay has 2 model of cartridge not the same.
today I look at the JLWsale cartridge look like it can not remove.
you guy know any play it has intruction how to replace the chip

thank you

[Denvers Dawgs]

***FINAL UPDATE***
I figured out why the ink is a different color, it's pigment, and the original ink was dye! So now I have ruined my CIS by mixing the 2.......that's what i get for not paying attention. Although it doesn't seem that JWL even sells refills of the dye ink? So even if I hadn't mixed the two I was screwed, since I can't get replacement ink for his kit.........damn!

Keep us posted about being able to use the r220 with his kits, since I may need to either buy a new R220 or hope I get lucky and have no problems with this new version 6 kit

[habs01]

Dye ink is the most common type of ink. You can get it in a number of places including Sam's Club and Costco and a number of online stores.

Best of luck.

[Denvers Dawgs]

but would it be ok, if the if there was still ink in the CIS kit, and then add new dye ink from some other supplier? What I'm asking is are all dye inks the same color? Or would I somehow have to completely flush out the ink that is already in the CIS kit before I could add the new ink?

[Denvers Dawgs]

In response to born2blove'a post

I just got this reply from JWL

My e-mail to JWL: Do any of your CIS systems work with the Epson R220? Also, I see the dye ink system is $85.50, but can't find any dye ink refills on your site? Can you send me a link for the refills?

JWL Response: Please see auction #5881895044 which is for dye ink refill, we will send R220 system, thanks

[habs01]

You would have to flush it out. I don't think the two types of inks get along very well.

Easier said than done. I'm not sure how I would go about doing that if I had to. If it's only in one color, you might try to empty the tank with a long needle syringe. and finish off the cartridge with a printing pattern (a pure yellow for yellow cartridge). Search this forum I'm pretty sure methods have been suggested before.

[Denvers Dawgs]

If I were to buy a set of refill inks at the sametime as the CIS kit, would the refill inks go bad or dryout if they just sit in their bottles for a year or so?

[born2blove]

any one in this forum using this kind of CIS from this guy
http://cgi.ebay.com/Epson-Continuous-Ink-Supply-CIS-R220-R320-RX620_W0QQitemZ686372390...QQcmdZViewItem

[DavidEC]

While this question might be off topic...

I had purchased 100 brand name discs just before I purchased my Epson injet printer.
Is there any way to top coat these discs so that I can use my Epson inkjet to print the top of these standard sliver topped retail discs?

[Chester1971]

There's no way I know of to "coat" the discs but you can certainly buy stick on labels. I know some of the folks here think they can interfere with playback, but I have certainly never had any problems.

You can buy "pressit" labels from most stationary stores, cheaper clones are also available.

[DavidEC]

There's no way I know of to "coat" the discs but you can certainly buy stick on labels. I know some of the folks here think they can interfere with playback, but I have certainly never had any problems....

I use to be one of the ones that thought that 'Press-On-Labels' were OK to use [and they played great the first time played] till I started going back to play some of my year+ old DVD's only to find that the labels once they were heated up in the player would wrinkle/bubble and create play-back troubles till removed using 'GOO-BEGONE' (or the like) and once the paper label was removed the DVD would play back just fine... Which was the reason for me to purchase my Epson R220 and in turn the re-fillable / auto resetting cartridges... did not like having the hose hanging out of my printer or I would of gone the full "CIS" route..

--David

[Chester1971]

I can see how that might be a problem...

I could be way off the mark but it seems to be more to do with the make and model of DVD palyer rather than the labels themselves. I've got press on labeled DVD's of old home movie footage going back 3 years, still with no problems.

...but then the discs don't get any more than faintly warm in my player.

[FreeDiver]

Hey Macro;
Haven't seen you for awhile, and I haven't posted in awhile. Just thought I would check up on this forum and see if there was anything cool on it and voila I saw the Sith lord of CiS systems return.
Just for your info, I went with the following refill carts and have since had ABSOLUTLEY NO PROBLEMS.

http://www.printforless.tk/

I have to say that after using the way to print cis systems and having problems with Stratitec ink from Sams club, I am totally happy with this setup. I believe have had it for a few months now with ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS. Have I said that before? I iniitall bought th refills for kicks and giggles but am totally happy now, and wish that I had never went the CiS way to begin with...sigh...wish I had listened in the beginning to the others.
I won't say that the CIS systems suck, they just didn't work for me. My friend has a Way to print one, and he had major problems for a while, but since using Printforless ink and using the windex cleaning method on a regular basis, he has had no problems. As for the green tube mod. I did it for about 2 months, never had a problem, but since switching to the refills, I haven't bothered to disconnect it anymore. I just turn my printer off when not in use (the longest was for two weeks) and I turn it on and yes it does suck up a little ink, but overall no problems. Even after my printer was off for two weeks, it printed up just fine.
But hey, everyone has their pluses and minues. Since you gave so much good advice before, I thought I would steer you clear of the CiS systems for now.
AS for the Pixma, it sounds good, but there aren't any Cis or refills for it yet, so it will still cost you more than a R200 but oh well, like I said, everyone has their preferences.
Anyway, good luck on your choice!!!

[gumby]

R220 and CISS


I'm sorry for taking so long to get back but here is my result with the Nexxtech CISS kit. After finding the required Auto Resetting Chips from Print on a Dime.com for my R220.
Most of the images have notations indicating points of interest.

I have not had a chance to put this to high production tests but from what I have observed so far I believe this setup will endure much work without a tubing issue. The routing I was able to use was possible mainly by the fact the cartridges are only about one half the height of the OEM cartridges as well as most of the other designs I bumped into. (There are a few others) image
http://tinyurl.com/mgdpx

I fashioned a tubing support from bits of plastic I had on hand, attaching with hot melt where applicable and fastened it to the underside of the left housing, ending up with the mount nearly flush with the top surface. I used one of the originally supplied clips but turned it upside down so in the event I want to remove the tubing I can easily reach the release tabs on each side. image
http://tinyurl.com/prsdf

The maximum height of the tubing is reached near the half way point. I first thought of laying the top down to give it a runway backing but since have found that just leaving it open causes little or no interference and it flexes to and fro very nicely. image
http://tinyurl.com/qjut4

The action over the Disk Tray position seems natural with little sign of any stress or tension placed anywhere. image
http://tinyurl.com/rxk7m

In the far left position where I found the original orientation of the tubing cause a slapping in the corner of the printer, no matter how I tensioned the tubes is now a non issue as the tubes feed directly off the cartridges towards the right side of the printer. image
http://tinyurl.com/m79sa

So when the carrier goes home to park there is just enough clearance at the right side to allow a gentle bend of the tubing while at rest. It didn't take long to determine just the right amount of tension needed to keep it all in place without being too tight. I had considered double strapping the tubing to the cartridges but when I watched it work figured there was not enough force on it to bother. The cartridges are held securely by the original carrier hold down clamp. What is nice about this is that as the carrier travels to the left the hoses just make a natural curl upwards out of the way. image
http://tinyurl.com/mnnfp

So far this setup seems to be working fine for me. When I first opened my pre-filled kits they had a lot of empty spots in the tubing. I was cautioned to make sure the air was removed before I started the machine. However when I did start the machine, in the initial purging of the cartridges it all disappeared, giving a perfect nozzle check and test print.The ink quality issues and clogging and all the rest of the complaints are something I will be discovering in the future but so far......so good!

I hope my findings can help others make some good decisions.

And a big thank you to all who helped me out with their posts and suggestions. They were all very much appreciated.

Gumby

[zanos]

Anyone know if a compatible cartridge will work alongside original epson cartridges?

[pixiemom]

Hi everyone!

I haven't been around lately because my CIS system has been working perfectly. However, today I found that, all of a sudden, I have air trapped inside each of my tubes. ALL of them.

Does anyone have a clue as to:

WHY did this happen?
HOW can I fix it?
There must be a way to get all that air out.

Thanks for any ideas.

[Idle]

Unless there's a LOT of air, it's quite likely nothing to worry about.

The system I use at the moment does exactly the same thing -- sometimes the tubes can have up to 3" of air in them, then it will disappear again a few days later, but the ink level in the tanks keeps going down just the same (I'll need to refill my tanks for the third time quite soon) and there's only one place it can be going.

It just means that there was some air left in the carts after they were filled (it's virtually impossible to get it all out) and it keeps moving in and out of the tubes.

Remember that even 3" of air in a tube is still a very tiny amount, given the small diameter of the tubes.

Just keep an eye on ink consumption for a while and you'll see what I mean.

[pixiemom]

Hi thanks for the reply.

Alas, I now have a more serious problem going on. My CIS system is now refusing to print at all. No matter how many cleaning cycles I run, nothing prints. Nozzle-check prints come out blank or nearly blank.

I know a CIS system is supposed to have a life of about one year, but I also remember that several people on this forum managed to extend this life or even repair their CIS systems. Unfortunately I am not able to find the posts I need to find this information.

If anyone could point me in the right direction so I could get this CIS system repaired/cleaned, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Idle]

Pixiemom:

It's highly unlikely that all your carts would run empty at the same time, even if the CIS wasn't feeding ink to them at all, so I'd be looking for another reason for the failure to print (you haven't let your supply tanks get less than about 10% full, have you? -- if they run empty you'll lose the syphon and have to re-prime.)

First off, make sure the cartridge chips are making proper contact -- particularly the black one, which appears to control all the others (try lifting them up and re-seating.)

Check that the carts do have ink in them (their weight should tell you) -- if they do then there may be air leaks at the point where they seal onto the feed spikes.

If it's sucking air at that point then no amount of cleaning cycles are going to restore ink flow until the air leak is fixed (priming might work for a while, but the trouble will come back.)

If you still have the OEM carts and they're not empty, I'd put them back in and check if the printer works then -- this will tell you if it's the CIS or the printer that's at fault.

Should you need to bleed air out of (prime) the CIS carts, you do it with a clean needle-less syringe inserted into the ink outlet -- make sure you push the nipple in far enough to lift the valve, hold the cart so the outlet is the highest point and suck ink through until you see no more bubbles (the ink can go back into the CIS tanks.)

If none of the above helps, you may have to seek hands-on assistance -- it's pretty hard to see what's happening from here...

As to the service life of a CIS, it really has no wearing parts and if it's properly made and fitted (unfortunately, too many are not...) it should easily outlast the printer.

As you may recall, I had to scrap my first one at about three months old for exactly that reason -- it wasn't properly made and when I removed it (because of a chip problem that a replacement chip would have fixed) I found the cheap rubbish 'O' rings in the outlets were failing -- the (Hong Kong) supplier didn't want to know about it, BTW.

The current one hasn't quite reached 12 months yet (it sat on the shelf a while before I fitted it, then I found the chips were not recognised by my printer), but since I replaced the chips and got it working it hasn't missed a beat.

Having to buy two units (and the extra set of chips -- the (US) supplier of the second one wasn't greatly helpful either -- did cost me more than I'd bargained on, but I'm still hundreds of dollars better off than replacing OEM carts on a monthly basis (they're about A$120 a set here.)

[pixiemom]

Thank you for the reply!

Well, I pulled out my CIS modified carts and found that they were all completely empty. I don't known why, as I'd had ink in the CIS tanks all of the time and had refilled them several times.

So I put in regular Epson unmodified carts meanwhile, until I can figure out how to fix the CIS. One of the little bitty plugs came out of a CIS cart (the black one) and I can't find it, so now I have to find where to get one. ARGH!

Also, I have never had to prime my carts and don't know how to do it. They came pre-primed and ready to go.

I have found someone local who might be able to help, though. I'll let you all know how that goes if I have success. He makes CIS kits too, and repairs them. Maybe he can fix mine.

(By the way, the eBay seller I bought my kit from never replied to my email for help/suggestions.)

[Idle]

That sounds as though you had air leaks somewhere -- could well be the infamous "O" rings.

If there's a leak anywhere between the tanks and the print heads then the thing will suck air in preference to liquid -- think about drinking something through a straw and how much air you get with the last few drops.

What was the 'little bitty plug'? -- proper CIS carts shouldn't have any plugs, just the nipple the tube attaches to on the top and the outlet that feeds the print head on the bottom (or do you mean the little green printed circuit chip on the front? sometimes they're not properly stuck down in their recess -- if you lose or damage any of those you're in strife.)

If the carts have plugs in them (some CIS makers use refillable cartridges instead of the ones made for CIS, these have removable plugs, of course) and they're loose enough to fall out, there's the source of your trouble -- if they're not airtight there'll be no suction and therefore no ink flow. They would have been airtight when the carts were new, so perhaps they're made from the same stuff as the 'O' rings in my first set and denatured in contact with ink.

If that's the case you don't need a replacement plug, all you need do is seal the hole it came out of (hot glue, for instance, is good) plus remove the same plug from all the other carts and make the holes airtight -- the only hole there should be in the top of a CIS cartridge is the one the tube is attached to, they don't have to 'breathe' like the regular carts (indeed they must not.)

To reprime your CIS, just follow the instruction I gave you in my last post -- use a hypodermic without a needle inserted into the ink outlet of each cartridge as a suction pump to pull ink through until there are no more bubbles coming out, (use the syringe in reverse -- instead of pushing the plunger down to push liquid in, push it down whilst empty, insert it into the cartridge and pull the plunger up -- you may have to do it more than once to get all the air out) then re-install it.

[habs01]

Since I've been posting to this forum for a while, I thought I would share with the community the fact that I just bought a Canon MP750 and will be modifying it to print CD's. I will be using refillable cartridges and bulk ink. So far I like it very much but I haven't done much printing with it yet. But it is more silent and the print quality in draft mode is alot better/darker than the R200.

Just in case anyone was wondering, the old Epson R200 and the JLWSales CIS kit still works though it tends to clog lightly on a regular basis (but usually unclogs itself just sitting overnight). It got downgraded to my GF. It tends to clog during intensive use.

[Geocaris]

So is any one using the Print-Ona-Dime refillable cartridge system? Or is that a dumb way to go? We have a R200 and a R220 and print lots of CDs and DVDs. The retrofit CIS systems just scare me a bit.

Any advise would be appreciated.

[DavidEC]

So is any one using the Print-Ona-Dime refillable cartridge system? Or is that a dumb way to go? We have a R200 and a R220 and print lots of CDs and DVDs. The retrofit CIS systems just scare me a bit.

Any advise would be appreciated.

I use a refillable cartridge from a seller on eBay and they have been working for me like a champ for five months now and many refills.

For half the cost of the CIS systems and don't have to worry as much about ink leakage.. and or something else taking up desk space!

--David