# Epson with CIS clogs?



## sewon (Sep 4, 2007)

I have been reading really good things about the Epson Workforce 1100 with the Cobra CIS and was thinking about getting one with inks installed for sublimation. Yesterday a sales lady from Conde told me to stay away from bulk ink systems and that they are notorious for clogging. Is that the case with this system also? ARe the good reviews for the 1100 with CIS mainly for the ones with the pigment inks? The sublimation would be a sideline for me, so it would not be used on a daily basis which can be, I gather, a factor in the clogging problem. Would I be better off going with the Ricoh 3300 for sublimation?


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

You have two issues with an Epson and CIS. The CIS will not directly cause the clogging but it in the vast majority of CIS system they do not hold the presure needed to keep a continous flow of ink going to the print head. The clogging is a separate issue. Although you will read that Epson's clog understand this has nothing to do with the printer and everything to do with Sawgrass forcing you to use poor quality ink. To make matters worse they not only force you to use poor quality ink they add insult to injury by charging you 10 times what it should cost and does cost for people in the large format market. Think about it - what other company can sell you an inferior product than turn around and say, "by the way since we are selling you poor quality we are going to jack it up 10 times?"

There does seem to be a positive following behind the Cobra system. Report back what you find out as we are looking at doing vinyl stickers in-house and looking at the best ink delivery system on a desktop printer.


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## sewon (Sep 4, 2007)

Is Sawgrass the only distributor/manufacturer or sublimation inks?


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## Rayco (Jan 1, 2009)

sewon said:


> Is Sawgrass the only distributor/manufacturer or sublimation inks?


To my understanding, sawgrass has somehow cornered the market on sublimation inks. I have an Epson 1400 CIS w/Sublijet inks. I had a lot of issues for awhile. Finally figured out (w/mine at least) I needed to plug in a heater close to the printer and warm up the area for about 30 min b4 turning on the printer. If I did that, then the ink would not retreat back into the bags causing an "empty" cartridge(s). Also need to print something about once a week even if I not needing to, to keep everything working good. 

I have a wf1100 w/Cobrainks pigment ink CIS installed. I love it. I've heard that their "high temp" inks is used for sublimation. I don't know for sure. I will probably send my other 1400 to have cobrainks install their CIS and put high temp ink in it. Then try it out. If it doesn't work, then all I'll be out is the ink. I'll just clean it out and put pigment ink in it and use it as an office printer. 

Maybe someone here has experience w/cobraink's high temp ink. 
Hope this helps


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## spiderx1 (Oct 12, 2009)

Forgive my jumping in here. I had a epson 3000 using carts for sublimation and had problems with it clogging if not exercised regularly. But my real reason is I read all the time and see the ciss ink containers at a considerable lower level than the print head. In the DTG world this container elevation is critical to insure continued ink flow. Maybe raising the in bottles up until you get ink droplets forming on the print head then lower it a bit might help with the ink pressure problems. 
Just a thought.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Glad to have read this post. 

It is my understanding that Pigment Ink will clog if not used regularly. In fact, someone sent out a free utility to allow your printer to print once a day or so to help stop this from happening. 

I need to try your tips this weekend so my Epson WF 1100 doesn't clog. 

One of my customers said a transfer I sent looks like it might be clogged. Anyone know how to clear the lines for that? 

Also if you don't get a CIS, especially with the Epson WF 1100, you'll be buying new cartridges every 25 pages or so. The cost $15 each, and you need 4. They actually have a fifth one but it's filled with black ink. I.E. two black ink cartridges. 

Also, if one cartridge goes out, you can't print. Even if you have two black ink cartridges. They both have to have ink in them. UGH!


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

to prevent clogs to go dtginks.com and buy some clog protection solution (cps) and put it in the capping station. 

the vendors want to sell you the gel printers from ricoh but they have their own set of problems along with an ink cost double the bulk systems for epson. 

if you want to get away from the sawgrass inks you can buy a large format printer you will spend about 6 grand min but the ink is 10% the cost of the sawgrass inks.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

I'll check out that solution. 

The guy I buy the CIS from wholesale, sells a solution too. I'll check both. Also at one time people suggested Windex with no additives. Probably have to go to a Dollar Store to get the old Windex.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

selanac said:


> I'll check out that solution.
> 
> The guy I buy the CIS from wholesale, sells a solution too. I'll check both. Also at one time people suggested Windex with no additives. Probably have to go to a Dollar Store to get the old Windex.


Windex is for windows, not printers.


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## spiderx1 (Oct 12, 2009)

I use the old formula windex to clean with but I would not leave it in the printer for to long. If I did I would water it down. Full strength can damage the head if left in for a period of time, say overnight. Also if you get the wrong one it may contain a wax or silicon that hurts the head. Most cleaning solutions are made from a mixture of glycols and water, ethylene and propylene, and 80% distilled water. These glycols actually keep things moist vs an alcohol that will dry up the head. So yes the safest thing is to get some from the manufacturer and put in the capping station. However caution if you fill the capping station with fluid it may start a syphoning action and dump your ink or cross contaminate, so just a few drops. No standing fluid.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

I sell CISS units, and one of our Products is a Cleaning Solution. I have to sell to myself too. 

I ordered it today.


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## uncletee (Feb 25, 2007)

refillable carts are the way we have gone, less hassle, just have to refill once and awhile. less expensive. just bought the 1100 and have some new ink coming, will keep you posted on the quality of it and let you ALL KNOW> have a nice day uncletee.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

I finally installed my CISS in the WF 1100. It works great. At first the Ink light stayed on solid, and the video really wasn't specific on how to fix all the ink errors. He said, hold for 5 seconds to clear one. So as the WF 1100 starts up if you have an ink error the cartridge holder goes to each color that has an error and stops. 

So I just did a 5 second reset on each one. After the last color, the light went away. 

Since I have an external CISS you have to put a piece of paper in the cover switch to make it think the doors closed. 

Also I had a problem with one customers printout which I noticed before I installed the CISS. He has a oval picture with a seal in the middle. With like a oval band around the seal. The whole picture has like lines of missing ink vertically I think. Either way it's in one direction. Every half inch or so there's missing ink. He seemed to think it was a clogged head. 

After installing the CISS we printed something came out fine. I ran the Head Clean test. Said I needed to run the Clear Clogs or something like that. Ran that, and the head clean test came out perfect. 

I printed the picture again, and same thing. 

I went and bought ink for my HP and will try printing to that printer to see if the image has an issue. 

Found some better tests for the inkjet printers on www.inkjetcarts.us they seem to think instead of doing clog clearing, which spits ink into your capping station, you should print out Charts. They even have sample charts for Macs and Windows based computers.


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## apipromo (Nov 4, 2010)

I Have a WF 1100 with a CISS installed. I have sublimation ink I purchased on ebay for far less than Sawgrass. The system works great, colors are great with no changes. I installed a program called Harvey Head Cleaner to keep it from clogging. 3 months of non-daily use and no real issues.


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