Do-it-yourself CIS repair

In detail: do-it-yourself CIS repair from a real wizard for the site my.housecope.com.

This is another article on the intricacies of using a continuous ink supply system at home. Previous articles in this series:

In this article I will talk about my recent manipulations to restore the efficiency of the Epson Stylus T50 inkjet printer equipped with CISS after 2 years! just me. The reason for the downtime was that at one point the printer refused to see the cartridges (including my relatives!), I thought that the patient was more likely dead than alive. Relatively recently, a sporting interest woke up in me and I decided to try to bring the printer back to life. Surprisingly, it succeeded! The utility Printhelp helped, which resets the counters inside the printer and returns its "escaped brains" to its original position. So, the printer saw the cartridges and even tried to print a test page, but it failed because 90% of the nozzles did not work. Now there was a "hemorrhoid" with the revitalization of CISS.

The most important problem of CISS is that air bubbles appear in the trains and cartridges during prolonged downtime. Not because the system is leaky (although it may be because of this), but because microscopic air bubbles can be present in the ink. Under conditions of immobility, these bubbles tend to grow over time - the liquid that forms the basis of the ink evaporates inside the bubble and it grows from this. Such bubbles are the main obstacle to the normal operation of the CISS.

So, air bubbles have formed in the trains and cartridges. There is only one way to get rid of them - by manually pumping the system. In general terms, this procedure was described in the article "Using an inkjet photo printer and CISS at home", but in this case there are certain specifics, so let's dwell on the procedure in a little more detail.

Video (click to play).

Rubber gloves to avoid getting your hands dirty

Absorbent wipes just in case something spills

The procedure is as follows:

We transfer the printer to the mode of changing cartridges. The print head slides out.

The cartridges have a silicone plug on top. We take it out with a thin flat screwdriver. We insert a syringe (without a needle) into the resulting hole and slowly pull the piston up. First, air comes out of the cartridge, then ink begins to flow. Pour the ink back into the jar (don't mix up the colors :). We do this until all the bubbles are pulled out of the trains.

When the syringe is removed from the cartridge, close the hole with a plug.

We rinse the syringe and do the same with all the other cartridges.

We turn on the printer and wait for it to enter the ready-to-print state.

We print a test picture and see that there are more gaps than strokes on it 🙂 This is normal - when we pulled air out of the system, we created low pressure in the cartridge and some of the ink left the print head back into the cartridge, and the air pumped head. To return the ink back, you need to start the ink pumping procedure and leave the printer to settle for a day.

In a day, the situation will improve (the number of gaps on the test page will decrease), but, most likely, not completely. We repeat the cleaning procedure again and leave the printer for another day. And so on until the head is completely “soaked”. This procedure took me 3 days, but now the printer prints like new.

The continuous ink supply system is a great way to save money on regular refills of regular ink cartridges. But, like any other elements of printing technology, CISS can fail or start to work unstable.Moreover, there are a lot of reasons for this, these are malfunctions in the operation of the printer itself, incorrect computer settings, and others.

Is it possible to do the repair of epson CISS with your own hands? In some cases, you really don't need to seek professional help. Next, we will consider the main problems arising with the CISS system and how to eliminate them. It is quite possible that the above method will suit your case as well.

There are several possible reasons why the printer does not print:

no ink in the flex cable and CISS cartridge;
you did not fill the ink cans correctly (filled the air compartment with ink);
the train is pinched or clogged;
not working filters;
the CISS cartridge sucks in air;
the print head is clogged.

The ink feed tube is pinched, causing poor ink flow to the print head.

The problem can be easily solved. Inspect the ribbon and arrange it so that there are no kinks preventing ink flow. Pay attention to the place where the ribbon cable is attached to the cartridges. During transportation or long-term use, the ribbon holder may come off. You can re-glue it with glue.

A vacuum is created in the containers and the printer is unable to pump ink. This case can occur when the printer is used for a long time in a very dusty environment (which in itself is unacceptable in accordance with the operating instructions for the printer) or if ink gets on the air filters and then dries up. Periodically inspect and clean the ventilation openings on the donor containers. Rinse the air filters with distilled water and dry thoroughly.

The most likely reasons for air entering the print nozzles are long-term storage of the printer without ink in the cartridge, clogging of the feeder, when some nozzles simply do not receive ink, and careless replacement of containers.

To remove air, it is recommended to adhere to the following sequence:

The first and most obvious one is to clean the print heads using the utility that comes with the device driver. It is necessary to do 2-3 cleanings and leave the printer alone for 10-12 hours to allow the ink to fill the empty nozzles of the head by gravity itself.
The second method allows you to save ink, which in the first method will be consumed very actively, merging into the so-called "pampers" in the printer's parking area. It is necessary to take the used cartridge, pre-rinse it with distilled water and fill it with liquid for head flushing. Further, all actions are similar to cleaning with standard means.

Foaming can be observed even in the original cartridge. This may be due to hot climates or prolonged use of the printer. In order to eliminate this drawback, you will have to dismantle the CISS and pump out the problem ink from the cartridge. It would be nice to pump 10-20 ml of ink.

The popularity of CISS (continuous ink supply systems) even at home makes the topic of self-diagnosis and, if possible, elimination of typical malfunctions of these systems by means of “improvised” means relevant. Of course, this economical printing technique can drastically reduce the cost per page, especially when a large number of color prints are being printed. But it also happens that it causes a lot of difficulties for owners due to the fact that the usual troubleshooting methods that worked perfectly with replacement cartridges no longer work here.

All problems with printing devices usually boil down to the banal "does not print" or "prints with defects", however, the root causes for this may be different.

Pinching the ink tubes. This is possible with inattentive laying of the loop when installing the system or replacing ink tanks. As a result, not enough ink is supplied during printing, and unprinted areas (stripes) appear on the paper.Perhaps as a result of long-term storage or careless transportation, the plume has come off its seat, and as a result, individual tubes may be pinched.

Clogged air vent, clogged air filter in ink tanks. As a result, the printer stops printing altogether. because of the vacuum in these containers, ink simply stops flowing into the print head. To eliminate it, it is necessary to rinse the filters in distilled water and make sure that ink does not get on them, because they are the first to cause such a malfunction. Another reason is increased dustiness in the room, for example, during repairs, etc.

Foaming of ink in cartridges. As a result, streaks appear on the paper when printing. The most likely reason for this is prolonged printing during hot seasons. To eliminate it, it is necessary to pump out 10-20 ml of ink from the cartridges with a syringe without a needle and carefully drain them back into the containers. This must be done with each color.

Defective cartridge. First of all, the electronics fail, due to a short circuit when ink gets in, overheating, etc. True signs for this are the complete absence of one of the colors, despite head cleaning, etc. You can check the cartridge by pumping ink out of it with a syringe, if they are not pumped out, then the cartridge is faulty. Of course, before replacing it, you need to make sure that the ink supply tube is not clogged or pinched.

Air is entering the print head. This is possible when replacing ink and malfunctioning rubber seals in the parking area of the cartridges. This can be corrected by pumping ink, which should push all the air out of the nozzles. The sooner such an operation is performed, the more chances there are for a complete elimination of the problem. To improve efficiency, a whole cycle of operations can be carried out, significantly increasing the chances of head recovery after air ingress.

To remove air, it is recommended to adhere to the following sequence.

The first and most obvious one is to clean the print heads using the utility that comes with the device driver. It is necessary to do 2-3 cleanings and leave the printer alone for 10-12 hours to allow the ink to fill the empty nozzles of the head by gravity itself.

The second method allows you to save ink, which in the first method will be consumed very actively, merging into the so-called "pampers" in the printer's parking area. It is necessary to take the used cartridge, pre-rinse it with distilled water and fill it with liquid for head flushing. Further, all actions are similar to cleaning with standard means.

With such simple actions, you can bring a seemingly faulty printer into working condition and continue its successful operation.

I'm sure every person who uses an inkjet printer, when it runs out of ink, thinks to himself: “Well! Again! Now change the cartridge again! Clean the nozzles again. I'm tired of it already. "

Nowadays, the NPC system has become widespread, or in its full version - a continuous ink supply system, when ink is supplied to the printheads not from cartridges, but from rather capacious jars.

Why is this system good? There are several answers. Let's list:

Actually, in this article I will tell you a story about how to assemble the CISS yourself.

From what should be

From what you need to buy

Personally, I bought straws on the market in a stall of radio components ... I took with a margin - five tubes, one and a half meters each. It cost me 50 rubles.

I was lucky with the paint, because right next to my house in a supermarket, a department was opened that sells exactly ink for printers.This is the most overhead part of the venture, because four jars (for four colors) cost me 1,150 rubles. But I didn't really bother, because one branded cartridge for my printer costs even more!

In the picture above: tubes on the left, a color cartridge on the right, old syringes for refilling the printer in the center ...

This is what paint cans look like.

So, when everything is found and purchased, the fun begins - the assembly process. In my example, I will experiment with a color cartridge for the EPSON Stylus C60 printer. So, the first thing to do is to wash the tubes under warm water and soap, both outside and inside. Then they should be put on the battery so that they dry completely and so that condensation evaporates from the inside.

I am sure every person who uses inkjet
printer, when it runs out of ink, thinks to himself: “Well!
Again! Now change the cartridge again! Clean the nozzles again. Tired of
already. "

Now the NPC system has become widespread,
or, in its entirety, a continuous ink supply system when ink is
printheads are fed not from cartridges, but from rather
capacious jars.

Why is this system good? There are several answers. Let's list:

Actually, in this article I will tell you a story about how to assemble the CISS yourself.

From what should be

From what you need to buy

Personally, I bought straws at the market stall
radio components ... I took it with a margin - five tubes, one and a half meters each.
It cost me 50 rubles.

I was lucky with the paint, as right next to home
a department has opened in the supermarket that sells ink for
printers. This is the most overhead part of the undertaking, because I have four jars (under
four colors) cost 1150 rubles. But I didn’t really tense, because
one branded cartridge for my printer costs even more!

In the picture above: tubes on the left, a color cartridge on the right, old syringes for refilling the printer in the center ...

This is what paint cans look like.

So, when everything is found and bought, the very begins
interesting - the assembly process. In my example, I will experiment
above the color cartridge for the EPSON Stylus C60 printer. So the first thing
what needs to be done is to wash the tubes under warm water and soap like outside,
so inside. Then they should be placed on the battery so that they are completely
dry and so that condensation evaporates from the inside.

So, after drying, the next stage begins -
sticking! Yes, now you have to stick the pipes into the filling stations
cartridge cover holes. Filling hole on EPSON-ovsky
cartridges - this is a hole approximately in the middle of the lid. If the tube
too big, then we take some Phillips screwdriver and
We dig a thicker hole. We pick until the pipe is
will begin with difficulty, but crawl through the hole.

We carry out this operation for each color. Now we insert the tubes. V
in principle, it does not matter how deeply you push them, but every
stuck somewhere 5mm. When inserted, we glue it with a very high quality,
to achieve tightness in these places.

Now, if you disassembled the cartridge, take the foam rubber, insert it on
place and also very high quality glue the lid with tubes to
cartridge (ATTENTION. If the cartridge is color, then it is necessary to glue
it so as to seal each ink compartment, i.e. inflict
glue on top and on the partitions of the compartments. I didn't do it right away, and then
I had to disassemble everything!).

There shouldn't be a single place left from where I could
air is sucked in, otherwise the system WILL NOT work! But not
glue the factory air ducts for now (these are such small holes,
towards the top of the cartridge cover). We are waiting for everything to dry completely.
Now we choose the desired length of the tubes (I have about 60-70 cm) and
cut off the excess from the free ends. Here, now we have it ready for
the beginning of operation of the working part of the CISS.

We take the structure, go to the printer, remove
clamping mount from the carriage and put the cartridge in its place, gluing
it with scotch tape, or better by securing it with a clamp. He must stand to death, i.e.
don't move at all.

This is where the dirtiest work begins. It is necessary to submit
ink into the cartridge and at least partially fill the hose. For this we take
syringe, suck ink into it and start pouring it into the tube,
first lifting its end above the printer. ATTENTION! Do not confuse
colors. Otherwise, you will have to do everything all over again!

So, as soon as the ink began to enter the
cartridge, we close the hole with some kind of plug where we just
poured paint. Ordinary chewed gum can come off like a plug. Only
do not overdo it! Remember that later it will have to be removed from there and
not a single piece of the plug should remain inside the tube.
We do these steps for all the other tubes. As a result,
I ended up with three ink-filled tubes with gum on the end.
Now we take more chewing gum, or better some small rubber bands and
we close the holes of the air ducts with them, which I asked above in the text not to
glue. For reliability and tightness, we water the newly closed
place with the same glue "moment".

Here, well, now it remains to do in the lid of each
ink cans with two holes (one for the tube, the other for
air) and, after removing the gum, insert the tubes into place, pushing them
almost to the very bottom of the can. I advise you to make an air hole
as follows: take a needle from a syringe, pierce through the stopper, and
from above into this green plastic thing on a needle you shove
a little bit of foam rubber, or just a small piece of napkin, as
air filter.

Everything! The assembly work is complete. Now just
it is vital to reset the chips of the cartridge. For this it is worth downloading
utility SSC Utility, which you can find at
Next, install it, it should collapse to tray. Then click
right-click on the program icon in the system tray and select "Reset
counters -> reset all counters ". All actions must be performed
when the printer is on. After the appearance of a window with the inscription "Done!"
press "OK", turn off the printer for a couple of seconds and again
turn on. Should be reset to zero.

Now all that remains is to pump the system by cleaning
nozzles and print, print, print. By the way, now you can not
skimp on cleaning! Enough ink!

This is what my final printer looks like with a fully installed and configured device:

And this is how photos, pictures and test pages look like,
printed after adjustment (barely noticeable banding can be traced
in blue, but it is easily eliminated when cleaning the heads):

P.S. I also have to write more
small addition to history ... I made my system without instructions and
based only on the picture seen on the net. Therefore, I made a very
there are many mistakes that, I hope, thanks to this article, you will not make.
But, for reliability, I will once again clarify the mistakes I made:

P.P.S... It goes without saying that,
if you take up the creation of a similar device, you must
realize that after such experiments your printer may not survive, and
Before starting work, you must mentally prepare for this and convince
yourself that the author of this article, i.e. i, no responsibility for
what you have done does not bear! But let's hope it doesn't, and
Your printer will get one more life - a new, better life! =)

Good luck in making such a device, and simply, good luck!

Comments left: 1857

Active: 6 December 2015

Date of registration: 19 october 2018

Today we will tell you how to independently eliminate such errors in the Panasonic KX-MB1500 MFP as: "Call service 17", "The drum is worn out"

Today I will tell you how the homemade products for the printer are arranged, namely the CISS!

The main income of printer manufacturers such as Epson, Canon, HP ... is not the sale of the printers themselves, but the sale of consumables.

Capsules for homemade CISS can be bought on the website of CISS manufacturers (the cost is low, about $ 1), or you can do it yourself, which we will now do.

In this article we will tell you how to make a homemade ribbon cable for CISS with your own hands.

To make a homemade continuous ink supply system, you will need some tools and consumables.

Anyone can make a CISS for a printer with their own hands!

In this article, we will tell you how you can independently check the performance of the CISS donor.

Master class on how to create your own homemade CISS for canon i250 - pixma ip1500

As already mentioned in the first part of the article, the CISS cable should not interfere with the passage of ink, and the CISS cable should not interfere with the passage of the print head of the printer during the printing process.

You are a happy owner of a quality inkjet printer (or an even happier owner of IFIs). You print photos, texts, prints come out clear and vivid. How much do you spend on them a month? And in six months? Do you refuse to print "extra" ten photos because it is too expensive?

Users who use original cartridges often refuse to print. Indeed, if one cartridge is enough for only 100 photos, then 10 prints is really not cheap. Only oligarchs (or their children) can afford to continuously print large (and even medium) volumes on an inkjet.

Just count! For one cartridge you need to pay about $ 19. With an average load in six months, change cartridge 13 times. It turns out that in 6 months the user gives 13 * 19 = 247 $. This is just one color. Printing on a six-color photo center will cost 247 * 6 = $ 1482. One and a half thousand dollars only for cartridges! In just six months.

Help reduce printing costs continuous ink supply system (CISS). This device saves you budget and lets you print as much as you want. CISS does not need to be changed as soon as the ink tanks run out. It is enough to refuel it.

Let's calculate how much the operation will cost to the user CISS... We fill one tank with a capacity of 100 ml with paint for $ 6.24. A 6-color photo center will require 6.24 * 6 = $ 43. Everything. Of this gas station CISS enough for six months of productive work.

What do we get? Original cartridges for six months of use cost the user about $ 1,500. Cartridges - about $ 45. Divide 1500 by 45 - and we get the savings that provide CISS... The system reduces costs by more than 30 times!

More than a thousand dollars is a good present just for installation CISS... Just imagine what you can afford for the money saved! Printing with a continuous ink supply system is truly profitable.

Savings at the highest level doesn't mean you have to say goodbye to print quality. It is enough just to fill in the tanks CISS quality ink (which can be inexpensive, by the way) - and print beautiful photos and crisp text.

Should you deny yourself the "extra" ten printed photos, if there is already a way to print 30 times cheaper? Thousands of users have already experienced savings. Enjoy printing and CISS will take care of the safety of your budget!

How to install a CISS system on a printer with your own hands, see a step-by-step master class with a photo.

I think many turned to the help of the wizard about refueling the printer, and especially if it was a CISS system. In this article I will show you a step-by-step instruction for installing a CISS system on a printer with your own hands.

The instructions are suitable for all printers, the difference can only occur when removing the cartridges. The preparation of the CISS system is identical.

To prepare the installation of the system, we need: 1. CISS (we have HPC ColorWay Canon MG-2140/3140 V2_2. Disposable medical syringe for 10 ml. - 6 pieces. 3. Ink (we have 4 x 100) (MG3140CN-4.1) 4. Tweezers 5. Rubber household gloves

We first turn on the printer, then open the lid. In automatic mode, the cartridge head moves to the central part.

Press the button with the drop, after which the head moves to the right side of the printer. Now you can remove the cartridge, turn off the printer from the outlet.

We remove all cartridges from the printer (for those who do not know how to do this, read the instructions for the printer, I think this should not be a problem).

In the tank of the small ink compartment, you need to insert an air filter, about 6 pieces.

Now we take a syringe without a needle, and instead of a needle we put on a piece of a plastic tube (I took it from the medical system, you can buy similar tubes at any non-food store).

We draw out the ink into the syringe, after which we check the ratio of the color of the ink to the sticker. I have the first (from right to left) first color - CYAN.

Here you can clearly see what part of the system I cut off.

Now we inject the ink from the kit into the appropriate container and close the compartment.

I recommend using a separate syringe for each color so that the ink does not mix. I had one piece of tubule and I rinsed it under running water after each time.

I poured the water from the glass into a plastic bottle.

When you have finished filling the ink containers, you will see that the plastic tubes connecting the cartridges and the container are empty, they also need to be filled.

Using tweezers, remove the rubber stopper from the cartridges. We are waiting for the cartridge compartment to fill up to 70-80% with ink. We close the stopper, and so on with each compartment.

Now we turn over the cartridges, stick the syringe into the hole and suck out the air. Do not be afraid to poke a hole, it is always covered with a transparent film and serves as a seal, this is not a big deal.

Well, now we can install the cartridge block by moving the head to the central window.

We check that all six tongues clicked and fell into place in the groove.

Now we glue the bracket for the flat cable with the tubes in the center.

As a result, we move our head to the right side, insert the train to the approximate depth of the tube 23 of the tube. But this is not over yet.

We move the head to the left side, adjust the length of the train so that there is no tension.

There are now systems of continuous supply of inkjet printers (CISS).
We do not sell these. But there are cans of ink on sale, and the rest of the accessories - tubes and thick needles are easy to get. I have a Canon i320, which I fill in the old fashioned way with a syringe.
Has anyone CAM made such systems? Please share your experience.

search on the Internet - you will find it. some company sells CISS, and there is a description of how to do it yourself. The fool has the right thought - time is money. plus nafih my dirty hands.
And so - you need to rinse the old, empty cartridge (the ink mixture can give an insoluble sediment that clogs the nozzles) to make a sealed connector from the tube to the cartridge, from the ink can to the tube. In the jar, make the correct drainage tube.
Then make the correct pumping of the cartridge with ink (there should be no air in the cartridge and the tube!)

And finally. We used about 10 CISS. Well, you need to print a lot. And on a roll. The A3 colored lazarus would not completely solve the issue, although it would be partially worth buying it.
so:
- CISS are flowing like stsuki in March. not all, but there are those that have a table around the cans in ink drips (loose connection of the tube and the can at the bottom).
Have you already heard enough revelations about yourself? did you do these droppers ?, no, but refueled)
- the filters sometimes get clogged with possibly unfiltered ink. It is very difficult and dirty to wash the “cartridge” filter. some color disappears, they poke you.for what? for the fact that the boss clamped the loot on the ink? send that boss you know where, as clearly as possible! and get busy.

printer epson c42, epson 1160, epson1290

Briefly speaking,
if there is one printer, then you can have sex with him; there is an opportunity and it is still worth it.
if there are several of them, the IT specialist has more important things to do!

... there was Darkness. light a candle. and the Shadows appeared.

Many have EPSON inkjet printers at home. During the operation of printers, malfunctions of varying complexity can occur. Of course, this article will not solve all the problems, but it will allow you to objectively assess your strengths and capabilities when repairing a printer. Allows you to set the direction of troubleshooting.

Let's start with inkjet theory.

Epson applied the principle of squeezing out a drop of ink; as a piston, the property of a piezoelectric element is used to change its shape when voltage is applied to it.

The advantage of such printing is the ability to place the nozzles very close to each other and get a high print resolution. Disadvantages - very high requirements for the ink used (for fluidity, dispersion of the dye, drying time); as a result, the cost of this ink is quite high. Therefore, users try to use ink from other manufacturers.

To reduce the cost of ink, Epson's competitors are making the technology cheaper; perhaps the parameters cannot be reproduced ("know-how", however!). And the result is "on the face", or rather - in the head (printer): the nozzles are clogged, the ink itself dries up.

Now let's move on to an overview of tips and tricks gleaned from StartCopy.

First advice - the use of an ultrasonic bath for washing the head. I did not use it myself, but here are the conclusions I made from the tips for use: first, you need to find or buy a bath somewhere, then experiment with the printer head (immersion depth, soaking time, liquid composition), and if you have one printer (say, home ), then any unsuccessful experiment leads to the failure of the head (and the printer) permanently. Should I bother ?!

Second tip - washing the head under pressure.

The technique is as follows: fill a syringe with liquid for cleansing the head and, gently pressing on the piston, try to pierce the nozzles. If the nozzles are not very dry, then this method will help; and if not, the piezoelectric elements will burst, and - goodbye, head!

Method three , personally tested. based on the use of the method recommended by the manufacturer itself: using the pump, which is available on all Epson printers.

To begin with, we stock up on a sufficient amount of liquid for flushing the heads (0.5-1 l), since the larger the packaging, the cheaper the unit of liquid volume is. Then we partially disassemble the printer so that you can get to the parking lot. We make the head move to the side and drip the liquid onto the foam rubber in the parking lot, put everything back in place and leave it to soak for several hours. It is better to return the head when the printer is off, so that the pump does not pump out the flushing liquid - it's too early.

Then we turn on the printer and let it carry out a cleaning cycle. We print a control sheet. If the result is unsatisfactory, we prepare several syringes (preferably a smaller one - by 2 ml) and saw off the upper part of one syringe. We fill the syringe with foam rubber, remove the cartridge and put this syringe on the ink intake instead of the cartridge. Pour liquid into the syringe and give the printer several commands for pumping; you can even print; then we return the cartridges to their place.

I sometimes pour liquid into the cartridge itself (2-3 ml., Closer to the intake) - the ink in the cartridge also dries up. Then I give the command to pump with this ink - and that's it, in 90% of cases this technology helps.

If the described measures still did not help, then we take off the head and try to rinse it with a syringe, but we do not focus on squeezing out dried ink (what the pump did), but on sucking ink from the head.If a result appears - say, 70% of the nozzles are printing - we buy original ink: they must finally clean up what we did not succeed in.

And only then we put in compatible ink - and save, save, save (until the problems appear again).

Unfortunately, the original ink is not a panacea for all ills: it dries in the nozzles as well as compatible ones - for example, went on vacation, and hello to the head; the problem is assured for you.