CIS air lock?

[Tris]

Hia sorry I haven't been about for a while,

I am having problems with my cis my yellow and blue both have what I assume to be very large air locks in them despite trying I am unable to draw it out with a syringe has anyone got any hints or ideas where I should go from here?

[Glen]

New ciss i think mate as had same problems here to..but if you can find the leaks and seal with a glue gun.. :roll:

[bms]

Why can't you get rid of the air lock when you reprime the cartridges? Does ink flow from the bottles, through the tubes and refill the cartridge? If so they why doesn't the air lock just move through? If it is returning then it sounds like you might have an air leak in the system allowing air back into the CIS. Make sure the carts are FIRMLY inserted before you re-prime.

[accdave]

Slightly off tangent but relevant. If a Sawgrass CISS goes faulty is it not possible to buy an empty one if you have plenty of ink already ?

[bms]

You can purchase new cartridge and tube assemblies for fitting to your exiting bottles of inks.

[accdave]

Thanks Martin

Are they dear ? And how easy to fix ?

I had real problems with the last one I had, so much so I went on to refillable carts, but thats a real pain. I've been reluctant to go back down the CISS if it meant shelling out for a full set of inks every time.

[bms]

Cart & Tube assemblies are around £50 +vat. Pretty simple to fit - you just unscrew the lock nuts near your bottles and fit the new tubes to them.

[Justin]

I know many CIS look then same but build quality varies. Just having a quick look around and there seem to be some very similar to the Sawgrass supplied units. For example.....

http://www.cheapprinterink.co.uk/cheap-ciss-ink-systems/epson/b1100/b-series/empty

[Justin]

Just heard back from this supplier who has told me that units are made by same manufacturer Sawgrass use. They sell empty CIS for 1400 & B1100 amongst others.

[bms]

Not sure why anyone would buy an empty CIS if you're starting out. A new Easyflow comes with ink, fully primed, icc profile and support - if, for instance you bought the B1100 Easyflow (RRP £219 +vat) then the ink alone would cost you £208 +vat to buy to fill it so the Easyflow system, ready primed, with icc profile and support only costs £11 +vat (much cheaper than buying an empty system).

Likewise with the new cart & tube assembly - these are primed with ink and you get something like 75ml of ink in a 5 or 6 cartridge system (each cart and tube hold around 15ml of ink). So for £50 +vat not only do you get the part but also primed and filled with approx 75ml of ink (and support if a problem). The ink alone would cost around £30 and then you'd have to prime it yourself and from experience air leaks are all too common.

If not convinced that buying an empty CIS saves much (if anything) in financial terms and only adds to potential grief when priming it yourself and dealing with potential air leaks. If the air leak is in the last cartridge you refill then you also have the problem of trying to drain all that ink out again from the other cartridges to reuse it. Too much hassle in my mind - and this isn't because we're a supplier but I've made CIS's in the past and know the frustrations that can occur! (not too bad if you have an large box of replacement parts but if you're buying for yourself then it won't come with a bag full of spare parts, a hot glue gun and problem solving hints...)

[Justin]

Martin, I was just pointing out that you can buy full CIS the same quality if you need one as per above post. Didn't realise that the kit you mention was primed with ink, obviously this makes it better value :D