Digital BW, The Print

Elizabeth,

>... 
> My carts do have spongy (white in color) material on the side that
> feeds ink to the print heads.

The new MIS EZ-refill 2200 and C86 carts have sponges over the outlets but
none in the reservoir where one fills the ink from a hole in the top.

> Maybe I'm going to find myself
> approaching the 5-6X useful life that you've experienced.

I'm not sure what the maximum number of refills is with the new MIS carts.
I have yet to have one go bad.

I do think that one should refill them before the printer says the cart is
empty.  In particular, I think they should be re-filled before the
sponge-less reservoir is empty so that air is never next to the channel
between that connects the 2 sections.  I'd keep them relatively full.
Hopefully the "foam" will never get down to the outlet area and never dry.

I also put tape over the air inlet on those that don't already have it.  The
end of the channel is, of course, open so that air can get into the cart.  I
presume the purpose of this design is to keep as little air from circulating
into the cart as possible.

If the sponge over the outlet does go dry, I suspect there could be problems
re-wetting it.


> Does anyone sell carts without sponges?

The new 1280 carts are sponge-less, but I have not seen that design for the
2200.

>  Are sponges necessary?

Among other things, they act as filters.



Paul
www.PaulRoark.com