Issue #0513/1 - One way to reduce the number of printer interventions is to increase the volume of ink/toner. Many large format printers and some business inkjet printers utilise large ink tanks with a continuous feed to the print head. This approach can be applied to some models of desktop inkjet printer, all helping to reduce the Total Cost of Printing for users willing to buy third party supplies.
Ever felt that the ink supply from a single ink cartridge in your desktop inkjet printer is just too small?
Do you have to change ink cartridges too frequently, especially when printing photographs?
Although it is possible to buy ink in quantities of up to 200 litres, refilling standard ink cartridges or ink tanks is a fiddly and potentially messy operation.
But how would it be if you could fit up to 135ml of black ink in your printer that usually takes a maximum of 42ml – that’s more than three times the volume, meaning more than three times the number of prints? Or, how about a continuous feed system for your printer that offers large ink capacity in up to seven colours, with refill capability?
Several companies are offering continuous feed ink solutions for desktop and large format inkjet printers.
Continuous ink systems are of particular interest because they are a break from the accepted methods of replenishing ink systems on desktop printers.
Mega Legend, a Hong Kong based specialist ink company, is marketing continuous feed black ink adapter kits for a small range of Hewlett-Packard models of DeskJet and colour adapter kits for most Epson desktop inkjet printers. Bulk inks in six colours plus pigment black and photo black are also available for traditional refilling of ink cartridges for Brother, Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and Lexmark printers.
In addition, continuous feed ink systems are available for a range of Epson wide format printers, offering up to 520ml of ink per colour in configurations up to 8-ink, and bulk inks in six colours available for most brands.
Not every printer is suitable for fitting with a system of this nature. This is partly down to the volume sales potential of the cartridge in question. Hence, the Hewlett-Packard No. 15 and No. 45 ink system is currently the only traditional integrated print head system to be serviced.
However, cartridge configuration of the device is the more significant factor in determining which printers are catered for. This is the reason Epson has been specifically targeted for the CISS kits – SaveInk has kits for almost any Epson printer released. The Epson permanent print head, fed by independent ink tanks, is the ideal scenario for a continuous ink feed. One may expect that systems will also be introduced for Canon single-ink printer models and for Hewlett-Packard Business Inkjet models in the future. Brother’s printers are also potential targets.
Indeed, another company, TM(Xiamen) Technology Co. Ltd., already has continuous ink systems available as replacements for the Canon BCI-21, BCI-24 and BCI -3e 4-ink systems and for the BCI-3e and BCI-6e 6-ink systems as well as for certain Epson 6-ink systems.
Furthermore, Shenzhen MicroTec Technology Co. Ltd. has solutions for a number of Canon, Epson and Hewlett-Packard ink systems.
Essentially, the ink tank(s) located inside the printer is/are replaced with a modified snap-in tank set, which is fed by tube from a set of much larger bottles that can be positioned beside or behind the printer. These large reservoirs can then easily be refilled from bulk supply bottles without removing anything from the printer or even interrupting a print job.
Within the Epson range in particular, one of the benefits of using a system of this nature is specifically that the ink tanks never need to be removed from the machine, meaning that the number of priming cycles that the printer has to undertake is reduced, meaning less ink wastage.
Although neither retail outlets nor retail prices for these adapter kits have yet been identified, these systems will represent a cost saving for high volume inkjet users. Savings will be in three main areas: firstly, the cost per millilitre of ink is lower when buying a higher ink volume; secondly, fewer ink replenishment units will be required over a period of time (meaning lower order processing administration costs) ; and, thirdly, the replenishment process will be less frequent and should be faster.
To date, the only location discovered in Europe and the US for CISS systems is EBay, where Epson 6-ink systems (100ml of each ink) can be purchased for £52 plus £12 postage – high volume for about the same cost as a single set of ink tanks! In the US, Epson kits (110ml of each ink) can be bought for $79 plus $25 postage.
Of course, a balance has to be struck here. Printer manufacturers warn against the use of third party inks of any sort in their printers and manufacturers of integrated head cartridges warn that print quality will be reduced by reusing the single-use cartridge.
As has been said on many occasions previously in TCPglobal, most of this warning is a sales protection mechanism designed to deter users from looking elsewhere for ink supplies. However, because inks, print heads and print media are all designed as a balanced ecosystem, it would not be at all unreasonable to expect a degree of deterioration of the system in some shape or form by using materials that are not part of the ecosystem.
Whether this deterioration is significant enough to cause the average user a real problem is not easy to determine. During the typical life of an inkjet printer, any damage may never reveal itself, thus being largely irrelevant.
Of far more significance is the danger of reduced print quality from third party supplies, especially photo print quality. Any user who prints on various different glossy photo papers, for instance, will be familiar with the variable print quality that can be achieved.
At the end of the day, it is the users’ responsibility how they manage their printers. For those who print high volumes on inkjet devices, the CISS approach may be very well worth considering as a means of simplifying ink replenishment and reducing the cost of printing.
Note: the companies mentioned here are a sample of the suppliers of continuous ink systems and do not represent a comprehensive list.
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