Digital BW, The Print

Ukko,

Having run MIS carts, their pigment inks and CFS systems for almost 5 years 
in various Epson printers, I now can leave my 1160 and 2200 without printing 
for a weeks at a time and expect to get a perfect nozzle check with, at 
most, one cleaning cycle. Let me give you my observations:

1.) Proper filling of the carts is crucial and not "idiot-proof", as this 
idiot can testify since I had to invent my own procedure back in the early 
days to get reliable fills every time (it's the suction method, bottom-fill, 
now recommended by MIS for CFS systems, more or less). Air in the carts is 
probably the cause of 90+% of the "clogs" reported. I'm still using the 
original-design carts with the plastic foam insert which is/was the cause of 
most trapped-air problems.

In all these years there has been only one instance where I found what was 
observably a clog - the cyan nozzle in an Epson 1200 finally yielded a small 
clot of pigmented material when I pulled the plunger on my syringe after 
slowly injecting isopropyl alcohol directly into the nipple in the print 
head. In all but one other cases where I had a problem printing, clearing 
foam from the cart and sucking plenty of fresh liquid ink through the cart 
solved the problem - that one case was because the pick-up tube in the 
reservoir got pushed against the bottom and was essentially blocked in the 
reservoir - I could feel that it was nearly impossible to suck ink through 
the cart to get it clear of foam.

2.) Storage and handling of the filled carts can cause problems - I am 
careful to make sure that a spare cart (like the matte black for the 2200 
which is not now in use) is stored in the upright position, never shaken or 
otherwise disturbed. It sits in a clamp behind the printer where I never 
have to go for any reason except to swap carts and I am sure that I can swap 
it into the printer with very little liklihood of problems getting it to 
print, as I have done that a half a dozen times.

3.) I think the tubing for the CFS systems is the same old Tygon tubing I 
used to use in the lab all the time and, as I recall, it is not impermeable 
to air, so that, if left to sit for an extensive period, you will get 
bubbles in the tube that will be sucked into the cart when put into use 
(gases dissolved in the ink can also separate and cause bubbles in the 
system). If this happens, sucking a lot of fresh ink through the cart with a 
syringe with a bottom adaptor before installation will clear the air/foam, 
if it is more than the cart can handle.

4.) It has been reported that eventually the filter screens in the carts 
will get plugged and not enough ink will flow to the print head. At that 
point the cart is dead and must be replaced - it takes a few years or a good 
amount of printing for that to happen, it's never happened to me, I only 
print for myself and only do a few hundred super-B prints a year.

From my experience, then, I have to say that Epson carts aren't proved to 
work better than MIS's. Even with the much more complicated CFS systems I 
use, MIS products have been very reliable when handled properly - don't 
forget Epson carts are almost never repeatedly cycled in and out of a 
printer like my 2200 Ultrachrome MK/PK black carts are and its color carts 
and the "7600" inks in the 1160 CFS have been totally reliable as were the 
original ESC-ARC color and black only inks in that machine which has been in 
use with CFS systems for about 4 years (including a period of several months 
when the printer was in storage while I moved). The 1200 had most of the 
problems I've described.

Good luck whith your printing,

Frank