Say "Continuous Ink Supply System", five times, real fast.

That's about as difficult as typing out that entire phrase every time I refer to it in this article. For the sake of simplicity, lets just call them "ink systems" or a "CISS".

So, what is an ink system?

An ink system is a very simple device that can help you save money on printing. There's a lot of hype on the internet about them and I'm going to be the one guy that just tells it straight.

So here goes...

You've got cartridges in your printer. Those cartridges, regardless of the printer brand, dispense ink. They either dispense ink into the printhead that is built into the cartridge or they dispense ink into a separate printhead. Regardless, cartridges dispense ink.

Now that that is understood...

As ink is dispense out of one "end" of the cartridge, one of two things will occur depending on your printer design...

1) Air comes in through a very small "air vent hole", typically on the top of the cartridge...

or

2) An internal bag decreases in size as there is less ink to keep it inflated. This bag is mylar in the case of HP or plastic in the case of Brother cartridges.

How an ink system works is this...

Rather than air coming in the cartridge or the internal bag deflating, something else occurs...Ink is drawn into the cartridge. This ink being drawn into the cartridge coins the phrase "continuous ink". The ink is drawn in by simple siphon. Like pulling a beverage from a glass through a straw, through tubes from bottles that sit beside the printer. Many ink systems are designed for this to take place by simple gravity.

Now, for details...

Ink System Cartridges...

The cartridges can determine how long your ink system will last. 99% of the ink systems that I have tested from China are made with cartridges that are very prone to leaking. Most aftermarket ink cartridges used in the making of ink systems are solid on one side and a very thin mylar film on the other. This is covered up by a plastic panel that snaps onto the "film" side of the cartridge. If this mylar film has even one small weak spot where it was glued on - it will leak like crazy, down into your printer.

Better made ink systems have cartridges that are solid plastic.

Ink System Tubes...

The cartridge has flexible tubes that are attached to the ink cartridge with simple plastic elbow bends. There is nothing special about the tubes used to make ciss units. (Unless you use syrgical nalgene tubing as we often choose for HP units). Looking around online you'll see it advertised that an ink system is built with "special silicone tube to prevent cracking" or "special silicon tube to avoid jam the printer". This is all nonsense. Every ink system that comes out of Asia is built with the same tubing.

On a humorous note, I've seen it advertised by a dealer of Asian made ink systems that they don't use "PVC tubing" and only use silicone tubing because "PVC tubing tends to crack in cold weather".

Let me ask you a stupid question...

When is the last time you used your printer in outdoors in cold enough weather that plastic would crack? Wouldn't the printer stop printing because the ink would freeze?

I'm sure they have good intentions by making those statements. It's just unfortunate that some people get suckered into a sales pitch that is so misleading.

So that covers the tubes - it's ribbon tubing - small diameter inside, about 1/16 of an inch, all tubes are linked together. The most important thing to know about the tubes on an ink system is simply to make absolutely certain that the way you have them arranged on the printer does not obstruct the motion of the printhead. If it does, that printhead will stop and the gears in your printer will make a loud grinding sound. The tubes are arranged with little plastic brackets that affix to the printer with double sided tape. A good supplier will provide detailed instructions on how to arrange the tubes.

So I've covered tubes attached to the cartridges...

The ink siphoned into the cartridges through the tubes comes from bottles of ink that sit outside of your printer. Did I say that they are bottles?

That's all they are.

Ink System Bottles...

They come in different shapes and sizes - the most common size is 100ml as China uses the metric system. The debate over which bottle design is better than another really gets a little out of hand in some forums where people debate which ink system is the best. When it comes to bottle design, the most important part is whether or not the bottles are made as one solid unit or if they are "glued together".

Yes, they are frequently glued together bottles. I'm not talking about each bottle is glued to the next, I'm telling you that the bottom of an individual bottle is glued on. You need good eyes to recognize this is product offers. Avoid.

Some dealers advertise that their ink systems are "constant pressure".

Every ink system is constant pressure because there's constant pressure from the weight of the ink in the bottle pushing down on the bottom of the bottle by force of gravity:) The tubes on ALL Asian made ink systems connect to the bottom of the bottles. GRAVITY is the only constant pressure that you need.

Ink System Air Filters...

On the tops of the bottles you typically see air filters. Nothing to them. They're a penny each. They're simply clear plastic tubes with a piece of air permeable paper in them that lets air in and keeps out dust. More important is that the bottle is clean before adding ink.

Ink System Shut Off Valves...

Some ink system bottles have a "shut off" for the tube on the side that is suppose to crimp the tubes to prevent ink from flowing when the ink system is removed from the printer.

Disregard this as...

1) You'll never use it and

2) It generally doesn't work.

You can remove the cartridges from an ink system leaving the tubes open for ink to flow out and the ink will hardly even drip out a drop. Just close the air vents on the tops of the bottles - no air in equals no ink out.

Ink System Auto Reset Chips...

And last but not least, ink systems have "Auto Reset Chips".

Or at least they are advertised that way:)

What do they reset? The ink level monitor on your computer. Your printer counts how many ink droplets are dropped by the printhead, which is how it estimates how much ink is left in each cartridge. What an auto reset chip does is automatically reset the ink level reading to full. Well, almost...

Another tidbit that you won't find anyone telling you about ink system auto reset chips is that there are six kinds. Some are better than others.

They are...

1) Fully automatic reset chips that will reset the ink level monitor to full without any intervention and even while the printer is in the middle of a document or print job.

2) Auto Reset Chips that aren't actually "AUTO". These chips require you to turn the printer off and back on again OR press the change cartridge button, let the print carriage move into place, press the change cartridge button again, wait for it to go through a printhead cycle and then restart your printjob. Very inconvenient as if you have 6 cartridges, which is the case with most Epson's, you'll have to go through that process for EACH cartridge, each time the chip reads "empty".

3) Auto reset chips that require you to push a switch - these chips are generally for newer epson printers and are good because they allow you to use bulk ink, however, time consuming and ink wasting as the printer goes through yet another needless printhead cleaning cycle. Some of these reset chips require the use of an original cartridge (Epson only) to fool the printer into thinking that it's using oem ink.

4) In the midst of all of these variations of chips are two other options. Chips that work alongside original brand cartridges and compatibles and chips that do not and must be all installed simultaneously. This is more of an issue with refillable cartridges. See my article on those.

5) Auto Reset Chips that simply are not Auto Reset Chips. This is common with ink systems for HP. HP printers generally don't need auto reset chips. They just need chips. I've seen many ink systems for HP advertised as having Auto Reset Chips that actually are just plain chips that would be found on compatible cartridges. There are real Auto Reset Chips for HP - few carry them as they are more expensive.

6) Resettable Chips. These chips require you to remove the cartridges from the printer and use a seperate "chip resetter" - obsolete. Chip resetters are only 3-10 bucks now as they are not in demand.

Of all the variations in differences in ink systems, the most important part that can determine success or failure is...

Drum roll please...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> INK...

You can have the perfect ink system - perfectly made - it can be as good as gold... If you don't use good ink, you'll experience inevitable printhead clogs that will recur and recur.

WHY?

Inks that are produced in small factories abroad and imported into the American online market generally have a very high alcohol content. The alcohol is added to the ink to help it flow with a lower viscosity, speed the dry time of prints and also to function as a cheap biocide. As a cheap biocide, it prevents algae from growing in the ink both prior to sale and as it sits on your desktop. The downside to this is that the alcohol also causes the ink on the printhead to dry too fast. As the printer sits between print jobs, the alcohol evaporates from the ink on the printhead leaving a crusty residue that builds, causing clogs and in many cases inevitable printhead failures.

Which is the reason that many distributors of inks made abroad recommend using your printer at the least, once a day to keep ink from drying on the printheads.

If you use good quality inks in a continuous ink supply system or CISS, you don't have to be bothered by those issues.