continuously inked!
For Christmas, I bought Jane an Epson Stylus Photo R1900 printer so she can produce nice color prints and I can stop direct depositing my paycheck at Kinko’s.
As you can tell from the 8.5×11 sheets of paper, this thing is a beast. It can handle paper up to 13″ wide, and has an attachment to allow you to print on rolls of photo paper, so you can make panoramas several feet long. There’s also a tray attachment you can use to print onto CDs and DVDs.
The problem with this printer is that its very thirsty. The printer takes 8 separate cartridges, and the ones Epson ships are a tiny 11.5ml each. At $16 each, reloading the ink in this thing can be a very expensive proposition. So I wanted to get a continuous ink system. I checked out the various offerings online and decided to get InkRepublic’s CIS.
The system is basically bottles of ink feeding into “fake” cartridges. The bottles of ink are 100ml each, and cost about $17. That means I am getting 8-9x as much ink for the same money as if I were just buying Epson cartridges! I anticipate the system paying for itself by spring with the way Jane prints. 
Here are a few pictures showing what the system looks like:
One thing I found amusing was that because of the hoses coming out of the printer, the lid does not shut all the way. Inkrepublic’s solution to this? The kit includes a small piece of foam to shove into the printer to fool it into thinking its closed!!
To make room for the ink system, I needed a bigger table than the one I was using. Most “printer stands” are either made for tiny consumer-grade printers, any I saw that would fit this setup cost several hundred dollars. IKEA to the rescue! I bought a very sturdy, yet inexpensive (relatively, considering its real wood) TV stand, the Leksvik. The bonus is that there’s lots of storage underneath, so that’s where all the printer supplies and random computer accessories are stored.
Tags: cis, epson, inkrepublic, printer, r1900
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Very nice! Indeed, paying that much for ink is crazy when there’s an alternative like the one you found.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Impressive, that would last me for years! We only print the odd thing so I bought a $40 laser with a toner cartridge that is rated for 1000 pages - much more than our old ink jet managed
June 6th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I had the 1800 for a few years a while back, and the only way I kept it running was because I was using it to print CDs I was selling for $20 a pop. That invariably meant I was always using up blue and black, and then having head clogs with other colors… which led to ink waste through cleaning cycles. Since I actually got the printer for printing photography, that didn’t work so well. The cost of ink was almost as much as I was paying for rent! Wish I’d known about CIS… but then back when I had the r1800, CIS wouldn’t have been a viable solution.
I have a 1900 on the way and I found this page through Ink Republic’s listed reviews. I see you’re running Linux, too! Nice to know my research led me in the same direction yours did for you.
I’m going to be starting a photography business, and printing a lot… so the CIS is a must for me. Can’t wait to get my hands on the printer and CIS.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Sir,
Are you still as enthused over the InkRepublic technology? Have clogging issues come to light? Is the color decently true and batch- and time-consistent? Can the machines be left idle for the summer with suffering from ink clots?
If you respond, i would be most grateful!
Respectfully,
Al
Allart Kok
443-372-1238
July 9th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi!
I’m also interested in knowing how the system works after more than half a year. Did you get problems like banding, clogging, air bubbles or whatever? Or does it work flawlessly?
I have a R1900 and I keep complaining about the tiny Epson ink cartridges that I have to change every three prints. I’m now considering a CIS but I sill don’t know which one. I’m very concerned about archival qualities, color faithfulness and printer/paper profiles (I don’t really want to make custom printer profiles as it will mean buying yet more equipment). Any thought on that?
Regards,
Aline