I've recently opted to buy in a large number of parts that are essential or just plain useful in creating CIS kits/waste ink tanks. Needless to say, this stuff costs a lot in small amounts so I've decided to buy in bulk.

My own particular needs are limited so I'll have a large surplus available so, I'm organising myself to start selling small amounts for anyone else who wants to start building their own kits, especially those with who are looking at ways to get around the new Canon model printers.

Parts will include:

• Threaded -> barbed elbows
  Needed to connect tubing to cartridges
  
  
• Barbed elbows
  Useful for the waste ink tank modification
  
  
• Barbed connectors
  Allow easy connection, disconnection of external ink tanks to tubing
  
  
• Y connectors
  Limited uses but primarily I'm using these to provide external ink tank facilities on my Canon printers

I'm also looking at sourcing bottles (as reservoirs) and tubing for re-sale but as these are higher cost or bulky items I'm only really going to consider it if there's any demand... Things like auto-reset chips are something else altogether but hopefully the community will find and share good suppliers of that sort of item.

If you're interested, keep an eye on this thread and a price list, with images will appear shortly..


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Martin,

Found this company ( http://www.freelin-wade.com/default.asp) in US that makes the type of polyurethane ribbon tubing required for CISS. Don't know the costs involved yet, but I will email the sales team to get more info. Their online catalogue is a 17Mb download and makes interesting reading. At least a US company will understand English !!

I know that importing from the US is more of a pain than UK sourcing, but I found that there is also an distributor in UK as well (Preston), so I will drop him a line as well. This could be the start of something useful?

Peter

Peter_G wrote:

Found this company ( http://www.freelin-wade.com/default.asp) in US that makes the type of polyurethane ribbon tubing required for CISS. Don't know the costs involved yet, but I will email the sales team to get more info. Their online catalogue is a 17Mb download and makes interesting reading. At least a US company will understand English !!

I know that importing from the US is more of a pain than UK sourcing, but I found that there is also an distributor in UK as well (Preston), so I will drop him a line as well. This could be the start of something useful?

Well, if nothing else it'll be interesting to do some price comparisons..

I already have one supplier for bulk (well bulk-ish) tubing in 12's (so I can split according to my needs) and the price is pretty darned low. Also worth noting the tubing is the Tygon brand which is chemically inert and very high quality stuff..

Like I said though, always worth having more than one option..


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

What are you building - are these going to be pressurized or something?
Sorry, I do build CIS units currently and do have a shop full of parts, I find that as long as your parts are good quality (and the right sizes) you really don't need barbed or threaded anything. this will only drive up your cost of parts.
I use silicone ribbon tubing, (I have it available in 4, 6 and 8 channels - but I only keep the 8 in stock (except for some 6 that I got in error once) and use compression fittings on the for connections - one piece is a small silicone collar that fits into the hole in the cartridge and the second is a elbow fitting that slides into the collar.
If I am shipping these I sometimes augment the friction fit with a small dab of glue from a 10 watt glue gun, but have never had a leak yet.

What size reservoirs are you guys looking for? I have 40ml, 80ml, 100ml and 120ml - but honestly find that my 80ml one is the best size and the best design for refilling.

I also do fill small orders, but obviously, am not in the UK.

Cheers!
Jeremy
www.canadianinkjetsupply.com
jeremy@canadianinkjetsupply.com

cdninkjetsupply wrote:

What are you building - are these going to be pressurized or something?

For myself I'm not planning on anything pressurised but I do prime my CIS kits using a vaccum pump.

Quote:

Sorry, I do build CIS units currently and do have a shop full of parts, I find that as long as your parts are good quality (and the right sizes) you really don't need barbed or threaded anything. this will only drive up your cost of parts.

I guess that's fair comment but based on experience I prefer to have a solid elbow mount for the tubing to connect to.

Quote:

I use silicone ribbon tubing, (I have it available in 4, 6 and 8 channels - but I only keep the 8 in stock (except for some 6 that I got in error once) and use compression fittings on the for connections - one piece is a small silicone collar that fits into the hole in the cartridge and the second is a elbow fitting that slides into the collar.

Just out of interest, how versatile and flexible do you find the silicone ribbon tubing?
The elbow and silicone sleeve sound like an elegant solution and I guess that's what's starting to appear in some CIS kits now.. It would certainly reduce the problems with glue compatabilities although I wonder about the overall (long term) life span of the silicone too.

Quote:

What size reservoirs are you guys looking for? I have 40ml, 80ml, 100ml and 120ml - but honestly find that my 80ml one is the best size and the best design for refilling.

Personally I use 100ml and 250ml reservoirs but that's because they tend to be used in heavy use environments and need to last 2+ months until I can get in to refill.

Quote:

I also do fill small orders, but obviously, am not in the UK.

Just a thought Jeremy but if you could put together a price list and parts list page then pop a link into the Links section that would be useful. It's an area that isn't really covered so it'd be useful for those considering DIY..


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Sorry, the pressurized thing was a joke.

I love the silicone tubing, it's inert, and in my experience is unaffected by heat/cold/age and even abuse. I've tried to melt through it with a 40watt glue gun and have been unsuccessful at that. In longer throw printers, I've had it get caught under the print head carriage without issue also.
When I do local computer shows, I do also regularly and repeatedly place well over 50 pounds of pressure on the tubing on a display model that I take with me - just to show that it won't break/tear or rip like some of the vinyl monstrosities that I have seen.
My print lab is in my basement here just north of Toronto, Canada so there is quite a temperature shift down there between summer and winter. I don't notice a change in texture or flexibility of the tubing between seasons.

Of course, I can spout on all day about how great they are - but as I do have a vested interest, obviously, what I say needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I would welcome a non-biased, neutral third-party review on them.

Also, I do build my units empty and fill them afterwards also - it's just cleaner.
What I find is easiest for me is to backwards-fill them - especially for the brand starting with E.

Start at the output end of the cartridge and fill them backwards, blowing all of the air back through the tubing and out the fill hole/air vent in the reservoir.
Once there is ink pushed back into in the reservoirs above the top of the bottom fitting, top them up through the reservoir fill hole.
The baffling in the cartridges should make this direction far easier than trying to fill forwards.

As long as your fittings are tight, you should never get air in your cartridges or tubing you also shouldn't blow them off doing this.
I have ended up with ink on my face (and on my dog) many times through other less effective techniques before i found this very elegant and simple solution.

I have been trying to work on a parts price page but until today, didn't think there was a market for it (probably why it isn't a market very well serviced). so I have been putting it off. When I get back from vacation, I will get started on it.

cdninkjetsupply wrote:

I love the silicone tubing, it's inert, and in my experience is unaffected by heat/cold/age and even abuse.

Fair enough.. Oh and I know Woodbridge ON from my year out back in 1989 so I can believe you put it through the mill with temps, etc..

Quote:

Of course, I can spout on all day about how great they are - but as I do have a vested interest, obviously, what I say needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I would welcome a non-biased, neutral third-party review on them.

Well if anyone does decide to take on one of your kits or parts and can confirm that's always useful.. and opinions are generally good with salt anyways..

Quote:

Also, I do build my units empty and fill them afterwards also - it's just cleaner.

True enough.. although the only problem I've found with that approach is that it doesn't guarantee a leak free system which is why I prefer the vaccum approach. I have to admit when the system is already partially filled it does make a heck of a lot more sense to go that route although I always ensure I have some air in the cartridges I use to ensure there's a good buffer to stop a free flow.

Quote:

I have been trying to work on a parts price page but until today, didn't think there was a market for it (probably why it isn't a market very well serviced). so I have been putting it off. When I get back from vacation, I will get started on it.

Well, I think to a certain extent things may have changed with the recent Canon chip fiasco.. Home made CIS kits are going to be much more in demand given that refilling has proven a challenge for a lot of people. Either way, I do think there's a market so you might as well be there ready to tackle it

For what it's worth I'll be putting something together myself on a limited basis in the UK but competition and/or choice has to be good.


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

Have my samples of multibore tubing from Freelin-Wade agent in UK. As far as I can judge this tubing is identical to that sold by MIS. Agents promised me pricing information as well, but this is still outstanding.

As I said in another forum, this tube is rather inflexible compared to that (PVC?) supplied with my Everest-Team system, and a trial fitting on my Epson 890 (yes I know its outdated now, but it still performs well! ) confirmed that the fixed point for the tubing would have to be quite high to avoid touching the mechanism. Perhaps the silicone tubing that Jeremy (cdninkjetsupply) has sourced is more akin to the PVC tubing as far as flexibility is concerned. Certainly both mechanically and thermally silicone tubing is far superior to other materials, and I presume that it is inert enough not to react with any of the commonly used inks. I would certainly like to get hold of some of this to replace the kinked tubing on my Everest CIS

It seems that controlling the path of the tubing as the printhead moves is a headache in many applications, and perhaps some innovative thinking is needed to find a low cost and effective solution.

Some immediate crazy thoughts run along the lines of:-
a) using very small magnets firmly attached to the tubing and a steel strip over the tube path (messy and probably marginally effective)
b) a curved steel strip similar to a flexible steel rule which, if extended and then folded back on itself tends to bend at a fixed radius - the free end can then be moved back and forth and the bend remains constant and the two pieces of the strip remain parallel. I was able to try this out very crudely on my Epson890 (with the power off of course!) moving the cartridge by hand - and it seems to do the job excellently and is virtually frictionless.

I am sure some mechanical lateral thinker out there can come up with some better ideas, though I must admit the flexible steel rule idea does appeal to me (especially as I thought of it myself!! ) and it is cheap too

Martin wrote:

I already have one supplier for bulk (well bulk-ish) tubing in 12's (so I can split according to my needs) and the price is pretty darned low. Also worth noting the tubing is the Tygon brand which is chemically inert and very high quality stuff..

Any chance you'll give us a name?

AlienSteve wrote:

Any chance you'll give us a name?

Gemini Colours in Holland... www.refillink.biz are the folks I found for most of my stuff but they only really offer in bulk...


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680