Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Vincent Orlando" 
<orlandovl@h...> wrote:
> 
> Jim, I am not quite sure of the difference between a CIS and CFS, 
> Maybe you can help me with the difference
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Vinny
>
 
Vinny,

Mainly just made by two different sources with somewhat different 
features.

Most (used to be all) CIS that I know of are made by nomorecarts.com 
who used to sell directly from their website; now they only sell 
through distributers who name them things like "Niagra". The recent 
Niagra II system I think it is- I don't know if nomorecarts makes it 
or if it is a copy with improvements. If you go to the nomorecarts 
website you will see enough pictures to get an idea.
It is called the Continuous Inking System.

The CFS ( the Continuous Flow System) is made by MIS. I don't know of 
anyone else but MIS that sells them.

If you were to take a poll, most people would say they prefer the CIS. 
I posted a few opinions on the virtues of each a week or two back. 
I'll highlight a few here:

1) If you have a chipped printer (1280/1290/1270) you will find that 
the CIS has a special chip that always reads full- you don't have to 
reset it. It is expensive though, and for a time recently could not be 
bought seperately (see the We-Ink site to buy these seperately). It 
adds $90 US (for two chips) to the cost of the CIS. The CFS uses a 
chip which has to be reset with an approx $45 device- the f16 
resetter; the chips themselves ($5 each) can be DOA or can blow out 
when handling them or installing them (tip: install a CFS with a chip 
with power to printer off and unplugged and avoid static charge 
buildup by touching ground before picking one up).

2) the CFS is not as polished as the CIS, has less complete and 
updated instructions, and is more mess and effort to install.

Gee, so why even consider a CFS? Well...

3) The CFS is much less expensive, and all the parts- tubing, elbow 
joints, carts, bottle caps, adhesive to glue cart to elbows- can be 
bought seperately. You can buy it in pieces and make it yourself (save 
about $10 over assembled CFS). Or buy just the carts/tubing and 
replace your currrent CFS quite cheaply. So switching inks or renewing 
with fresh ink every 6 months if you think your old ink is bad is $$ 
feasible. It costs about $38 (+ ink cost)to do this- the same cost 
roughly of buying new carts and flushing tubing on a CIS. So it may be 
less work to replace a CFS because no tubing/elbow/flushing work is 
involved other then trimming to length- you get a new set to thread 
thru the bottle caps. And new tubing with no ink deposits to flush 
out.

4) The plastic arm that holds the tubing on the CIS and is velcrowed 
to the printer top can sag and give you a really bad day when the 
tubing crashes into the head. The tubing clamps that perform the same 
purpose on the CFS are not going anywhere, although on the 1280 you 
have to remove the cover, at least when printing.

5) A real big plus is MIS offers optional cart clamps that have been 
chewed out by them to allow clearance for tubing. The cart clamps are 
the hinged tops on the print head that push the non CIS/CFS carts down 
and lock them in place. You remove them to install a CIS or CFS. On 
the CFS, you can replace them with these modified from MIS for an 
extra $10 for the k and color carts both. They firmly lock down the 
carts and solve the problem that the CIS/CFS would otherwise have of 
riding up over time, off the nipple. This is a serious problem not 
only because it causes air to get into the head (bad, very bad), but 
because if it is a chipped printer, it can cause a red light to go on 
because the chip has ridden up a fraction above the mating connector.

I don't know if these cart clamps will work with a CIS; they are 
chewed out to accomodate a CFS. The CIS AFAIK still relies on felt 
pads to give friction to prevent riding up- not a perfect solution 
IMHO. I hear some people in the past have added tape or other things 
wrapped around the head to hold the CIS carts down. On my two 1160's 
with CIS units I found the riding up did occur but as long as I 
pressed down carts every so often routinely I was okay. I don't know 
how well the read only chips on an 1280 CIS would take a misalignment 
though.
Jim H.