 We are very happy to announce that we now have a Continuous Inking System for the Epson Stylus Photo 2100 printer. This page gives you details about the system - the parts and options that are available.
In developing a CIS for the Epson 2100, a number of new challenges were faced. Seven inks installed in the printer by default, and a choice of Black inks making 8 possible inks in total were new from Epson. The chip design (on each cartridge) is new too - which created new challenges for the electronics wizards... and seven or eight cartridges meant that the ‘100% full’ chips had to perform even better to give you the convenience and ease of use you expect. The Basic Model CIS As with other CIS’ - we intend to make this system available without inks, but all the parts you need to get printing at the minimum. The kit includes 7 modified cartridges with chips already attached, 7-ink lines and bottle caps with breather tubes, support bar etc... with all the accessories you need to prime with ink and install to your printer. By default, we ship the CIS with a ‘Photo Black’ chip on the Black cartridge. This does not mean that you have to fill it with an ink intended for glossy papers - but it does mean that the printer driver will see the cartridge as being a Photo Black cart, and offer you the paper options to match. The additional Media-Type settings are an advantage for those wishing to profile their printer, and makes no difference to those using applications such as ImagePrint to drive their printer. Optional Extra - the 8-hole Bottle Rack  Highly recommended, we offer an 8-hole bottle rack. This will leave many users with one hole free (perhaps for accessories?) - but will be of greater significance to users who wish to take up the following option...
Optional Extra - the 8th Ink Line and Cartridge  To offer those who wish to have a choice of Black inks (’Photo’ or ‘Matte’ blacks) in their printer, we offer an additional extra Black cartridge, with the appropriate length of ink line and bottle cap. Purchasers will have the choice of opting for a cartridge with ‘Matte Black’ or ‘Photo Black’ 100% full chip attached. This will not be an option for some inks such as the Lyson Fotonic for 2100’s (L2) as there is only one black ink, suitable for many paper types.
To switch between black inks, you will need to strip off the black ink line as supplied with the main CIS from the other 6-lines. This should be done carefully! But, once done, the black cartridge can be removed from the printer, and the ink line unthreaded from the clips in the CIS. The alternate black ink-line can then be threaded into the clips, taped to the other ink lines using normal ‘Scotch tape’ (user supplied), and slotted neatly in place in the printer. As you can see, this will take a little while, and it may also trigger a purge cycle inside the printer wasting a little bit of ink... but this is something that would occur if you undertook the same with exercise switching black Epson OEM cartridges. In this way, we anticipate our users will be able to run a batch of matte prints, then switch to the Photo Black for batches of glossy prints, and vice versa. Optional Extra - EZ-Plugs These have yet to be designed and produced as this new cartridge design will not accept the current design of EZ-plug securely. We’re working on it - but as ever, the underlying need for these plugs is to stop ink getting out of your CIS, and air getting in, when you choose to remove the printer for maintenance or cleaning etc. Choice of Inks    With the requirements for a Light Black ink, there is a need for complete new ink sets for the 2100 printer and CIS.
We have released a new pigmented ink set we call ‘UL pigment’ that appears to print in a very similar way to the Epson Ultrachrome inks; perhaps with a tad less saturation than the Epson inks - when exactly the same printer-driver settings are used... but slight changes in the driver settings result in some very nice results indeed. We have both Matte and Photo Black inks for this ink set. The Photo Black ink does appear to dry somewhat slower than the Epson Photo Black - this can cause the exit rollers in the printer to smudge the print. We have extensive paper tests of these inks in our UL ink FAQs. Over time, the running costs will be around 20% that of the equivalent volume of usable ink in Epson cartridges... There is additionally a choice of the Lyson Fotonic dye ink set - with a special formulation for the 2100 printer. Refer to our Ink FAQs for more information on the Lyson Fotonic brand. Remember, to help you identify that this ink formulation is not the same as other Lyson Fotonic formulations, we have given it the tag ‘L2’. Lyson have also now released ‘Lyson PhotoChrome’ pigmented inks. We tag these ‘LP’, but whilst we have them in stock, we have not yet carried out our own testing with these inks. Epson Large Format Inks also an Option We can also sell Epson Ultrachrome inks in large format Epson cartridges. Whilst the cost savings are not as dramatic when compared to the use of one of the inks outlined above, it is a perfect solution for the user who wants to retain the use of an ink they know (and presumably like). For example, some users of the ImagePrint RIP prefer to use Epson original inks to make best use of the profiles that are supplied with the RIP for the Epson 2100.  Users taking this approach will need to carefully open the Epson cartridge. This is done by cutting around the label, and de-activating some tabs on the cartridge, to remove the lid from the base. This procedure is highlighted by the image to the right. Clicking on the image will bring up a larger version in a separate window. (The images show a used cartridge being opened)
The bag of ink that is enclosed can then be accessed. A corner can be cut off the bag, and the ink poured into an empty CIS bottles. It can then be used and refilled as any other ink in a CIS. We hope that you have found this page useful. We will try and keep it up-to-date, but it is likely that Product pages will be created with pricing and ordering details before this page gets the updates! |
