Release date: April 29th, 2008 News source: Guangzhou Xinzhicai Printing Consumables Co., Ltd. Number of visitors: 394.
I believe, what is the eternal pain of using inkjet printers? More than 90% people will say in unison-can afford it, can't afford it! Ink-jet printer cartridges are different, exclusive operation, high printing cost; Domestic general-purpose ink cartridges can only be original, which always seems a little difficult. A series of tangible and intangible constraints make the development of refill kit more and more difficult. Faced with such a high price of ink cartridges, users who are using inkjet printers hope to further reduce the use cost. What are the options? Next, let's learn what is the continuous ink supply system of inkjet printer. Continuous ink supply system is also referred to as continuous ink supply system for short.
1. An inkjet printer that can use a continuous ink supply system.
Theoretically, all inkjet printers can use continuous ink supply system, but a few years ago, due to the limitations of some printers' own conditions and the development and application scope of continuous ink supply kit, continuous ink supply was mainly concentrated on all models of Epson before 2004. The continuous ink supply kit of Canon split cartridge printer is very similar to that of Epson (Figure 1), but it is developed slowly for various reasons. For printers that integrate nozzles and ink cartridges, such as HP, Lexmark, Lenovo, etc., ink cartridges are getting smaller and smaller. At present, many models are limited by their own conditions, such as the narrow internal space of the machine, the difficulty of moving the ink cartridge and the service life of the nozzle, which increases the difficulty of modification. There are not many manufacturers who can modify the continuous ink supply system. In 2004, many manufacturers were helpless about HP ink cartridges, but the new talents were ahead of their peers. With advanced technology, HP printer was successfully converted into a continuous ink supply system, which attracted global attention for a while. Let's take a look at our early continuous ink supply system.
Little knowledge:
In principle, the continuous ink supply of inkjet printer is based on the phenomenon that the ink box of the printer continuously delivers ink to the nozzle during the printing process, and at the same time, it is necessary to automatically suck the same volume of air into the ink box to supplement the balance, and the air added from the vent hole of the ink box becomes ink. In this way, the amount of ink delivered by the ink cartridge to the nozzle can be replenished in time. This supplementary ink is connected to the ink container outside the printer through the hose, so that the ink box in the printer always has enough ink for printing. The continuous ink supply of inkjet printer is a component made by using the above principle, also known as the continuous ink supply system, which is mainly composed of four parts.
1. External ink box: a large container for storing ink outside the printer. We call it continuous external ink cartridge, which can use boxes and bottles of various materials, glass bottles or even soft plastic bags or tin foil bags. At present, the corresponding plastic injection boxes are mainly used.
Generally, the placement height of external ink cartridges is on the same plane as the printer, and the ink level is required to be slightly lower than the printer nozzle (it must not be higher than the printer nozzle, otherwise the pressure will be too high, and the ink will flow into the waste ink bin inside the printer through the print head), so the external ink cartridges are generally made wide but not high. When using an external ink cartridge, the liquid level drops with the consumption of ink, so it is necessary to raise the placement height in time, otherwise the ink will be replenished in time. For this reason, some continuous ink supply adopts color separation and pressure regulation, and a spring with more accurate positioning is installed under each external ink box, so that more ink will be heavier and the spring will be pressed down; When there is little ink, the ink cartridge is pushed up by the spring, which actually adjusts the pressure of each color according to the amount of ink in each color. However, for some cases of continuous ink supply, the vent hole extends all the way to the bottom of the ink cartridge as a balance bin. Based on the principle of atmospheric pressure, the pressure at the ink outlet of each color ink cartridge is basically the same. This method is simple and practical, and has been adopted by many manufacturers. Based on the principle of atmospheric pressure, the external ink cartridge is not affected by the amount of ink, and can be "slimmed" to increase its height, so that the external ink cartridge can be directly attached to the printer shell with adhesive tape, which is convenient to move. Some external ink cartridges are equipped with control valves to control the ink flow in the exhaust pipe (Figure 3). In order to make the external ink cartridges more beautiful, some manufacturers put all kinds of ink cartridges in a beautiful large ink cartridge, which is also very fashionable (Figure 4).
2. Exhaust pipe and exhaust pipe bracket (including exhaust pipe clamp): External ink cartridges deliver ink to the printer through hoses, and hoses of various colors are glued into a row according to the number of colors used by the printer, which is called exhaust pipe. Four-color printers use four tubes and six-color printers use six tubes. On both sides of the exhaust pipe, one end is connected with the external ink box and the other end is connected with the internal ink box. In order to ensure the normal movement of the ink cartridge in the printer, it is necessary to use the exhaust pipe bracket or clip to fix the exhaust pipe. Some brackets for fixing the exhaust pipe are horizontal, some are vertical, and some are directly clamped (Figure 5). The exhaust pipe adopts a hose containing silica gel, which is elastic and not easy to age, and generally there is no problem.
3. Built-in ink cartridge: In the continuous ink supply system, in order to distinguish it from the external ink cartridge of the printer, the ink cartridge installed in the printer of the ink truck is called the built-in ink cartridge. Built-in ink cartridges include original ink cartridges and special ink cartridges. Original ink cartridge refers to the original ink cartridge and ordinary ink cartridge transformed into built-in ink cartridge for continuous ink supply, and special ink cartridge refers to the ink cartridge specially made for continuous ink supply, mainly including non-cotton ink cartridge and ink bag. At present, most non-cotton ink cartridges are used. With the special ink cartridge, the exhaust pipe and the external ink cartridge can be integrated at the factory, filled with ink, and users can install them directly. The transformation with original ink cartridges is only a hardware saving, but the use effect is always unsatisfactory. Because of the limited manual connection technology, the service life of original ink cartridges is shorter than that of seamless ink cartridges.
The inner ink box has a row of tubes inserted on it, which can't cover the cover of the original ink car. The earliest method is to bind the ink cartridge to the ink cart, or remove the cover of the ink cart and replace it with a shelf made of iron wire, so that the ink cartridge inside can be fixed (Figure 6). At present, there are several better methods:
① It was replaced by a special cover with a special plastic cover suitable for different models.
(2) Some built-in ink cartridges adopt black and color covers, and the exhaust pipe comes out from the left side of the ink cartridge, so only the black ink cartridge cover needs to be removed, and the color ink cartridge cover can completely play the role of the original two covers.
(3) The cover of the original ink cartridge can be removed without using the concealed wire exhaust pipe on the inner ink cartridge; While reducing the height of the distance when the exhaust pipe is inserted into the ink cartridge, adjust the position where the exhaust pipe is inserted to avoid the pressing point of the ink carriage cover, so that the original ink carriage cover can be removed (Figure 7).
Almost all Epson printers have installed IC smart chips on the ink cartridges to record the ink usage, so the printers will stop working after the ink runs out. To make it work, the IC smart chip must be restored to its initial state. At present, the recovery method is to use recovery software, such as the most influential Russian SSC Service Utility software, which has been upgraded to version v3.7 1 (download address: /epson.shtml), take the ink cartridge out of the printer and refresh it with a decoder. These two methods are more troublesome, because the software does not support all printers, and it is even worse to take out the ink cartridge and refresh it. Therefore, another method is used for an internal ink cartridge that continuously supplies ink-directly loading a permanent chip. The size of the permanent chip is almost the same as the IC smart chip on the original ink cartridge, but the recycling method is different: after the panel indicator flashes or the computer prompts "ink is exhausted", some printers turn off the power for a few minutes and then turn it on again, and some use the "formalism" way of replacing the ink cartridge to operate the panel button, and the internal ink cartridge does not need to be taken out at all; Have a plenty of unplug the printer, power failure can restore the permanent chip. At this time, check that the remaining ink in the computer will be "full" and the printer can continue to work.
4. Ink: Strictly speaking, ink is not an integral part of the continuous ink supply system, but ink is very important in the continuous ink supply system. From this perspective, it must be listed separately as a component. Continuous ink supply mainly uses dye ink. It should be noted that dye ink is developing rapidly at present, and its adaptability to paper is more extensive. Domestic bulk dye ink has not been favored by everyone because of its price and quality problems. However, in July this year, with the launch of the new smart color "nano ink", it set a record of printing 500 pages of pictures on ordinary paper for 7 hours (Figure 8), which confirmed the breakthrough in the quality of domestic dye ink. The sales price has dropped, which is accepted by more and more consumers. Thermal transfer ink, solvent-based ink, etc. It can also be used for continuous ink supply, but the number of users is small and limited to some specific ranges.
Summary:
Environmental protection: no need to buy new ink cartridges, no waste of ink, more complete and scientific publicity of environmental protection.
Non-blocking: American high-quality ink is adopted, which is compatible with the original ink 100%, without blocking, color cast, smudge, bright colors and outstanding photos. The metal elbow is connected with the ink box, and the ink is durable and smooth, which makes the system more durable, stable and reliable.
Uninterrupted line: automatic ink supply, supplemented by intelligent permanent chip, no need to replace the ink cartridge, always keep the ink cartridge system full.
Low cost: the large-capacity ink supply system with each color 100 ml can reduce the cost by 20-30 times compared with the original ink cartridge.
Convenience: no need to change ink cartridges, no need to inject ink, no need to plug in wires and no need to disconnect wires. Once installed, it will always be smooth.
The high-quality, high-definition and low-cost continuous ink supply system of various desktop inkjet printers can be widely used in advertising design, digital imaging, PVC business card printing, computer portrait, license plate, office printing, printing proofs, thermal transfer and other industries, and has been favored by the majority of users since its advent.
Advantages: 1, no damage to printer 2, no need to replace ink cartridge 3, solving the problem that printer with chip can't fill ink.
Applicable model: Epson full range printers can be modified to continuous ink supply.
Scope of application: computer portrait, wedding photography, advertising decoration, prepress proofing, color printing, portrait card design and production and other industries.