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InkRepublic i-INK System Installation & Operations
R1900, R2880, R260, R280, R380, RX580, RX680, C120, 1400 Continuous Ink System
Document v.20081101
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InkRepublic Bulk Ink Kit (CIS) Installation & Operations
Lifetime E-mail Technical Support
We offer lifetime email based technical support for the product as long as you own it by contacting [email protected]
Disclaimer - Important Information, Please read! Our warrantee only covers the CIS units sold through our web site. We are not responsible for any damages to your printer, whether they are or are not related to the CIS unit. Please contact the store where purchased or the manufacturer for any problems or questions related to the printer and its operation. If you are not satisfied with the ink (color balance, compatibility with the paper you wish to use, printability/performance etc.) or it clogs the printer or CIS unit, it is the customer's responsibility to buy the parts needed to switch to another ink. * We can only unconditionally guarantee our own products, and that our CIS system will deliver ink just as well as a normal ink cartridge. We will not accept returns of systems filled with third party ink that the customer later decides does not meet their specific needs. It is your responsibility to make sure the ink you install in the CIS system is exactly what you want. U.S. Federal and International Patent Law protect all of our products. Any Unauthorized making, using, or selling of our Ink Kit will result in lawsuits and is committed Federal crime. Brand names such as "Epson" is used for descriptive purposes only, and remain the property of their respective owners. They are not associated in any way with InkRepublic.com.
• Only start work on the installation once you have read the instructions fully!
• Please note that the bottle tray or ink carrying case MUST at all times be on the same level as the printer or ink will dump to the printer easily.
Copyright © 2008 – 2009 InkRepublic.com
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This document explains how to install and operate the InkRepublic’s R1900, R2880, R260, R280, C120, 1400 Continuous Ink System. The special features of this system are:
• Ink travels to the printer head continuously. • Compatible with dye ink, pigment ink, sublimation ink and other types of ink. • No need to take out, raise up or re-seat cartridges to trigger ink resetting. • Less streaks or missing colors in printout, and less printer clog. • The best 3rd party inks if you purchased the whole system with inks from us. • High capacity bottle up to 100ml / 3.4 oz.
Check Printer Condition Before installing the system, your printer has to be functioning normally. If you have a brand new printer, follow the Epson instructions for setting up your printer. Use the Epson cartridges that came with the printer. Follow normal installation instructions for the software. Test the printer by printing pictures. Learn how to use the Epson utilities to run a Nozzle Check and to run a Head Cleaning. If you have been using the printer in the past, just make sure it produces a perfect nozzle pattern before proceeding with the I-INK installation. If the Nozzle pattern has any gaps whatsoever, then run cleaning cycles until it prints perfectly. Note that you should not do Head Cleaning continuously, it will damage the printer head. Make sure that the printer can produce a perfect nozzle pattern before proceeding with the i-INK installation. If after several cleaning attempts, the clogging problem is still there, you have to consult printer’s manufacturer for help. On the printer’s LCD or LED, make sure that there are no flashing red lights on your printer panel.
DO NOT INSTALL THE i-INK IF YOUR PRINTER IS NOT FULLY FUNCTIONAL! KEEP THE SYSTEM UNTIL YOU FIX YOUR PRINTER.
Installation
The installation contains 3 steps:
(1). Install the i-INK chipset and chipset bar. (2). Ink Priming. (3). Print test picture.
(1). Install the i-INK chipset and chipset bar.
Your printer has to be functioning properly before you install the i-INK chipsets.
1a. Turn on your computer, and then turn your printer to the status of ink cartridge replacement. Usually you have to press the ink button that has an ink drop sign on it. Unplug the printer power cord and gently move the cartridge house to the position of changing cartridges.
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Note: When print head is in “ink” position, unplug your power cord and you can freely move the print head left and right. Otherwise, the Power Off sequence will lock it in position and installation is much harder.
1b. Please wear gloves to protect the chipset. Remove all the manufacturer’s cartridges one by one from printer’s cartridge house. 1c. Insert i-INK’s chipset to the printer. The chipset for some printer models is attached with a small “Reset Button” with a double-sided adhesive (glue) strip. If the chipset for your printer contains switch, please fix the chipset switch to the printer so that you can easily access to the switch.
1d. Insert chipset bars. Although the picture below shows 4 bars, some printer model needs only 2 bars, some needs 3 or more bars.
1e. Plug in the printer power cord and turn on the printer. Your computer should automatically recognize the printer in a minute. Launch the printer software utility, and go to the status monitor. If the Ink Level box displays error signs (the second picture from the left below), gently press the “Reset Button”. If the error signs disappear (the right picture below), you have successfully installed the i-INK chipset. Congratulations! If your printer cannot recognize i-INK chipset, repeat step 1a to 1e to re-seat chipset and chipset bar. For R260, R280, R380, RX580, RX680, RX595, C120, 1400 printer please visit our knowledge base: http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R280Chipset.asp
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1f. Some printer models, like R1900 or R2880, need two reset buttons. Press the “two reset switches” on the chipsets simultaneously (one to two seconds), then again push the “ink” button on printer. Cartridge house will be moved to the printing position. If you see any orange lights indicating missing cartridges or incompatible chipset, please push ink button again, and re-seat the chipset bars or turn off printer, then turn it back on and re-seat chipset bars. The chipsets have to be placed exactly in the right position. This may take a couple of times to get right.
1g. Close-up pictures of chipset installation.
Note: After several attempts, if you printer still has difficulty to read our chipset, please contact us: [email protected] for the replacement. Do NOT process the i-INK installation before you receive the replacement chipset.
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1h. For R1900 and R2880 printers - Press “ink button” and unplug power cord again so you can freely move print head in order to remove the factory Epson cartridge cover and replace it with i-INK’s cartridge cover. If facing the front of the printer you will remove the left side first. It has a shorter tab on the left than the right (See the following first picture). Take a medium size flat head screwdriver and place it in between the cover and the print head tab, slowly turn screwdriver while lifting on cover. It will pop out easily. Install I-INK’s cover onto printer’s cartridge house (see the following pictures). You can take two tissue papers, fold them to the proper size (see picture 1h-7 & 9) and place them inside the printer. This can prevent new cover’s components from falling down to the printer. Remove the issues after you fix the tip. After printer recognizes the chipsets and print head cover installation, remove the paper strip from the bottom of the “reset switches” and attach them to the cartridge house as shown. (Last 2 pictures)
1h-1 1h-2 1h-3
1h-4 1h-5 1h-6
1h-7 1h-8 1h-9
1h-10 1h-11
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1h-12 1h-13 1h-14
Note 1: If your printer is R260/R280/R380/1400/1390, you will need to install this cover after step (3) - Install the dampers and tubes. Note 2: For R2880 system, it has 9x tubes/dampers, but you can only use either MK or PK during printing job, hence you can store the extra damper (either MK or PK) in the new cartridge lid. You can place the extra damper in lid after step 2c.
(2). Ink Priming.
2a. Next attach the bridge (see the first picture) to hold the extra tubing off of the moving print head. Make sure your printer is off-line and you can move the print head freely to the right and left hand sides. Now you will attach tubing to the dampers and ink bottles. The easiest way to do this is to route the tubing just like in (see the third picture, different printer may have different tubing direction). The tubing will have to go back under the chassis crossbar. Once under that, attach the dampers to the end of the tubing. Path them out carefully when installing these tubes.
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For R1900 printer, please install the bridge bracket as following: (1cm to 1.7cm from lower panel. Parallel with your printer.)
Final R2880 tubing pictures. (Not parallel with your printer)
For R2880 printer, please install the bridge bracket as following:
• Please use a ruler to measure the distance say 5 cm from the edge of tubing down
to the lower panel, then install the short bracket on the side panel. (The first picture). The second and third pictures show there is about 3 cm away from the edge of tubing up to the upper panel.
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• R2880 Long Bracket position Please use the 3M tape to attach the bracket on printer’s middle bar; 5 cm from the right edge of tubing to up the upper panel and 3 cm from the left edge of the tubing down to the lower panel.
• Print head and Tubes traveling in printing area. It is very important to arrange the tubing to the best position and the proper length to prevent tubing jam. Please hold the tubing by left hand, straighten up the tubing then pull the tubing to the right hand side by your right hand. You may want to add or remove slack to find the proper position.
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Slide the print head from left to right and left to right several times and make sure tubes and print head can travel easily and smoothly. If ink tubes or print head can’t travel freely, it is because either the tubing is too long or the tubing is too short.
For R260 printer, please install the bridge bracket as following:
For R280 printer, please install the bridge bracket as following:
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For RX680 printer, please choose one of tubing methods as following, or find your own tubing position. RX680 Tubing #1:
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RX680 Tubing #2:
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For 1400/1390 printer, please install the bridge bracket as following:
Note: The Tubing and Bridge bracket may very upon the printer you have. For example, you may find the best way to route the tubes in R380, RX580 …etc and their bridge brackets.
2b. Next, you’ll need to replace the ink bottle lids on the bottles with the ones that have the tip on the cap. In other word, you will need to open the ink bottle cap, and replace the white cap to the correct colored cap which has one small hole, one ink outlet and sturdy tube. Repeat this step for the remaining ink bottles until you finish up with all bottles filled with the correct colored caps.
Note 1: Before installing the colored cap, please ensure all the plastic pipes / sturdy tubes are firmly located and pushed. Also, ensure that you screw the colored cap firmly; but DO NOT over tighten as this will skew the bottle cap. Note 2: If you receive the ink bottle that has a seal film to prevent ink from leakage during transportation, you will need to remove it before installing the colored cap.
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2c. Once colored caps and tubes are installed and in place, you can begin the damper filling process. Attach each tube to the tip on the ink bottle cap (the first picture below) then release each ink stopper (tubing clamp) on the tubing and begin the filling process of the dampers. This is best accomplished with 2 people. One filling the dampers and the other closing the ink stopper. Take the vacuum bottle, give it a squeeze, and place it on the hole in the damper. Release the squeeze and the ink will begin coming through the tube. Keep pulling the ink into the vacuum bottle until the air bubbles are removed from the tube and damper and then close the ink stopper (see the 4th picture). It’s fine for a tiny bit of air to be in there. Once ink stopper is closed , place that damper in the print head just as you would do on a normal ink cartridge. You may need to push the damper all way down to the print head in order to fix itself on top of print head. Go in order of color from left to right. Make sure to rinse/wash the “Vacuum Pump” after each color. You do not want colors mixing in the dampers. Once the ink stopper is closed on the tube, you can put the ink from the vacuum bottle back into the ink bottle if you desire.
After all dampers filling with inks are in the print head, You will need to move the ink bottle tray or ink carrying case to the LEFT hand side or right hand side depends on the printer model and tubing direction. Please note that the bottle tray or ink carrying case MUST at all times be on the same level as the printer or ink will dump to the printer easily.
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Note: After you connect ink tube to ink bottle and fill damper with inks, please always close ink stopper before you move or raise up any ink bottle or entire carrying case or ink will dump to the printer right away and may damage your printer.
2d. If your printer is R260, R280, R380 or 1400, you now can install I-INK’s cartridge lid. You will need to use the tapes to fix the lid. You can also attach the “Reset Switch” on top of the lid (the last picture).
For R260, R280, R380:
For 1400, 1390:
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2e. Next, measure the length of the ink tubes (give it enough slack) in such a way that when the print head moves from right to left, it glides along with the movement of the printer head. Make sure that the ink tube does not obstruct with the movement of the print head. Slide the print head as far as it will go both left and right to make sure that none of the tubing or any part of the CIS system touches the printer. You also need to put the print head right beneath the bridge and make sure the tubing does not hang down enough to touch any of the internal workings of the printer.
2f. Insert the small "washer" on the printer. Without installing this washer, printer will not print. (Red Light Flashing or tell you cover is not closed).
2g. When you are confident that the CIS system will not interfere with normal print head movement, push the print head to the far right (the parked position), release all ink stoppers then connect the power cord back and turn on the printer.
(3). Print test picture.
3a. Using the Epson printer utility, print a "Nozzle Check" to make sure that all the nozzles are firing properly. If necessary run a cleaning cycle or two. Using the Epson utility, do a "Print Head Alignment". (You may need to do this several times if the first alignment is off the scale). If there are streaks or missing color in the nozzle check print, wait for one to two hours and let inks settle down in tube and damper, and repeat Head Cleaning. Note that you should not do Head Cleaning continuously, It will damage the print head.
3b. When you achieve a perfect nozzle check, your printer is now ready for printing.
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Important Notes on Operations
• This tool is to remove the dampers if you want to uninstall ink system or re-prim damper.
• It is better to check the ink level in bottle regularly. • For some models, you cannot close your printer cover because of the tubes, this will make the
printer to send a warning, in this case, please make sure you install washer like step 2f, to prevent this warning.
• If you see ink flows back into the ink bottle from damper over time, raise up the ink bottle for 1
inch and re-vaccum the ink, make sure there is no leakage on tube or damper. If this happens frequently, it could be the damper, tube leakage or the defective O-ring that cannot hold the print head tightly. please contact us: [email protected] immediately, we will need to send you a set of new damper.
• It is better to shake the ink bottle to re-mix the inks once a week. This can prevent the banding
problem on the prints. • The printer’s software utility controls the printing process and monitors the ink level. Once in a
while, the utility would give warnings that the ink is running out. Please use the following procedure to get around the warning messages.
– For printer models without reset switch in the chipset If the printer’s utility asks you if you want to change cartridge, answer Yes. The utility will then ask a sequence of questions, you should answer Yes for all the questions. Eventually, the ink level counter will be raised up. If the printer’s utility does not ask you to change cartridge, then you have to launch Head Cleaning or Nozzle Cleaning, the printer’s utility will display a message that ink is running out. Follow the instructions, and answer Yes for all the questions, the ink level counter will be reset.
– For printer models with reset switch in the chipset Press the ink-changing button on the printer’s panel, the cartridge house will move to the ink-changing position. Press & hold the reset switch for three seconds to reset the ink level counter. The ink level will not be reset if you fail to follow above resetting procedure.
• More 1400 and 1390 installation tips and pictures:
http://www.inkrepublic.com/members/JonSmithers/Review.asp http://www.inkrepublic.com/members/Niraj/Review.asp
• More R280 installation tips and pictures: http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R280.asp
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• Installation of the waste ink bottle (For R2880, R1900). The last little bit of business is the ink
overflow bottle. You will need to remove the silver back side panel closest the power plug to install this. You need to push the top back to get the tab out of the chassis (Picture A & B). Then grab a flat head screwdriver and pull back the cover enough to get your fingers in. Once in, pull back and down with slight pressure until the back clips pop out. Do this same procedure for the side panel (Picture C & D). Once off, will see the overflow tubes (Picture E). Take a small pair of pliers and pull the clips back in order for the tubes to be removed easier. Then put the supplied tubes over the printer tubes. These will be the tubes to the left in (Picture E). A light soap and water mixture will help them slide together. Next drill 2 small holes in the panel for the tubes to come out. You can also route the tubes underneath or out through the back panel if you don’t want to drill holes (Picture F). Personal preference here but the holes allow more freedom with the tubes and you don’t have to worry about pinching and the cover will go back on snuggly. Once the tubing is routed outside of the panel, snap the panel back in place in the opposite order that it was taken off. Attach the tubes to the empty bottle and place the bottle in the ink bottle case. Make sure to watch the ink level on the bottle. It can fill up a little faster than you might think.
A B
C D
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E F
For installation of R260/R280 waste ink bottle, please visit our knowledgebase – http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R260WasteInk.asp More waste ink bottle installations are available on our knowledgebase for reference – http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R2400WasteInk.asp http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/1280WasteInk.asp http://www.inkrepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/R800WasteInk.asp
For more information, please check with our Knowledge Base: http://www.InkRepublic.com/KnowledgeBase/
If you have any questions regarding installation or operation of the Bulk Ink/CIS system please email us. Please include your name, CIS model, the type of ink you are using, and how long the system has been installed. If you find any part of the CIS system or instructions confusing or difficult, please let us know so that we can continue to improve the product.
