The reason I call this green is because literally all of the parts, printer, cartridges. paper support, lines, fittings ink holders were destined for the landfill. All these were salvaged and returned to perfect running condition as far as I can tell.
I'll also eat my words now. In the past I tried two CFS systems that did not work properly... thus the source of the parts used in this and became skeptical of them until my recent surprises with a spopngeless based commercial unit and now my home brew with a sponge cartridge. CFS/CISS systems can work but selection of the unit and installation is very important, just like many things I guess.
Back to the printer...... I found it in the garbage area in my condominium. Just that same week I decided to dispose of my bad CISS that I didn't want to dispose but had to now due to clutter and I salvaged some tubing and fittings.
Last time I looked on Ebay, these printers are not desirable and they go for next to nothing and you can probably find them at your local Salvation Army store etc....or even at the recycling yard.
Well here it is.
Yes, that's a Pringles can removed from our recycling basket and it holds the four small bottles perfectly.
The tank system is nothing special just a simple syphon system , there was no need for blanced flow etc.. in this case but the selection of bottles is important. If you want to have high capacity, select bottles that are wide. That way for a given capacity, the ink level fluctuation is less.
I used an adhesive called GOOP/Shoe Goo found in many shoe departments and auto supplies places. It bonds many types of plastics very well...permanently if I dare say. So the connectors and hose fittings are all encapsulated and totally air tight.
I also took the cartridge hold down covers and inverted them and clipped off some parts to make them work again.
A thick rubber band was used on the black side to give some hold down compliancy ( red rubber) and a BCI-24 silicone pad was use on the color side) Both recycled.
I also mounted the hoses/tubing neatly but cutting away into the printer cover and used nylon tie straps.
This printer uses chipped cartridges but this can be overcome by using the Epson service utility that works well for supported printers. http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
Using this you can reset the chips and waste ink counters. I also discovered that the previous owner only used 1/10 of the life of the waste ink pad. So the printer was not used extensively and wear is low.
As for the printer, I used to own an Epson 875DC (landfill material now) and this model the 777 was the bottom of the barrel around that period. I remember deciding to acquire the 875 over the 880 which was the model higher than the 777. I am now again quite surprised at how well the 777 actually outputs. For general text work it is perfectly acceptable and on photoprinting I would venture to say that 90% of thepopulation would be elated with its output. The one drawback is noise. It is noisy compared to current printers.
This has become my low end printing machine.... for general printing. It has become the workhorse and as it turns out it is the printer I always needed, easy refilling and best yet it is "Green".
I hope this might be an inspiration to others.
One more point, the filling of the cartridge is extremely important. I found that one should secure all the fitting and tubes to the cartridge first, invert the cartridge and using a syringe, suck up the ink from the bottles through the cartridge very slowly, continue doing this until NO BUBBLES or foam come out of the cartridge outlet. Repeat as necessary and return the foamy ink into the bottle and allow the bubbles to break down. If you continue to get air bubbles after multiple draws, you have an air leak. Seek it out before installing... this ends up being a good test for sealing.
To declog the intial printhead, from dried out ink I simply used a syringe and a rubber tubing and very gently pushed water through the printhead. Read the word gently and NOT forcibly...so don't go breaking heads. You may choose to use other methods.
Last point don't forget to seal all vent holes on the cartridges perfectly and secure the cartridges down tightly as you don't want the seals to slip or wear out. Use the middle hole on the cartridges for attaching the connectors. I'm referring to the original Epson cartridges here.
I'll also eat my words now. In the past I tried two CFS systems that did not work properly... thus the source of the parts used in this and became skeptical of them until my recent surprises with a spopngeless based commercial unit and now my home brew with a sponge cartridge. CFS/CISS systems can work but selection of the unit and installation is very important, just like many things I guess.
Back to the printer...... I found it in the garbage area in my condominium. Just that same week I decided to dispose of my bad CISS that I didn't want to dispose but had to now due to clutter and I salvaged some tubing and fittings.
Last time I looked on Ebay, these printers are not desirable and they go for next to nothing and you can probably find them at your local Salvation Army store etc....or even at the recycling yard.
Well here it is.
Yes, that's a Pringles can removed from our recycling basket and it holds the four small bottles perfectly.
The tank system is nothing special just a simple syphon system , there was no need for blanced flow etc.. in this case but the selection of bottles is important. If you want to have high capacity, select bottles that are wide. That way for a given capacity, the ink level fluctuation is less.
I used an adhesive called GOOP/Shoe Goo found in many shoe departments and auto supplies places. It bonds many types of plastics very well...permanently if I dare say. So the connectors and hose fittings are all encapsulated and totally air tight.
I also took the cartridge hold down covers and inverted them and clipped off some parts to make them work again.
A thick rubber band was used on the black side to give some hold down compliancy ( red rubber) and a BCI-24 silicone pad was use on the color side) Both recycled.
I also mounted the hoses/tubing neatly but cutting away into the printer cover and used nylon tie straps.
This printer uses chipped cartridges but this can be overcome by using the Epson service utility that works well for supported printers. http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
Using this you can reset the chips and waste ink counters. I also discovered that the previous owner only used 1/10 of the life of the waste ink pad. So the printer was not used extensively and wear is low.
As for the printer, I used to own an Epson 875DC (landfill material now) and this model the 777 was the bottom of the barrel around that period. I remember deciding to acquire the 875 over the 880 which was the model higher than the 777. I am now again quite surprised at how well the 777 actually outputs. For general text work it is perfectly acceptable and on photoprinting I would venture to say that 90% of thepopulation would be elated with its output. The one drawback is noise. It is noisy compared to current printers.
This has become my low end printing machine.... for general printing. It has become the workhorse and as it turns out it is the printer I always needed, easy refilling and best yet it is "Green".
I hope this might be an inspiration to others.
One more point, the filling of the cartridge is extremely important. I found that one should secure all the fitting and tubes to the cartridge first, invert the cartridge and using a syringe, suck up the ink from the bottles through the cartridge very slowly, continue doing this until NO BUBBLES or foam come out of the cartridge outlet. Repeat as necessary and return the foamy ink into the bottle and allow the bubbles to break down. If you continue to get air bubbles after multiple draws, you have an air leak. Seek it out before installing... this ends up being a good test for sealing.
To declog the intial printhead, from dried out ink I simply used a syringe and a rubber tubing and very gently pushed water through the printhead. Read the word gently and NOT forcibly...so don't go breaking heads. You may choose to use other methods.
Last point don't forget to seal all vent holes on the cartridges perfectly and secure the cartridges down tightly as you don't want the seals to slip or wear out. Use the middle hole on the cartridges for attaching the connectors. I'm referring to the original Epson cartridges here.
