R300 CFS Installation Instructions

Installation Procedure

Prerequisite -
Before starting this installation, you MUST test your printer to make sure it is printing 100% correctly. The best way to do this is to first print a Nozzle pattern, using the printer utility software provided by Epson. Once a perfect nozzle pattern is achieved, print 5 copies of the MIS purge6.tif image using the Plain Paper and 360 dpi settings on the printer. All 5 pages must print without banding or skipping (white spaces). If your printer can not do this, do not install the CFS. Run some cleaning cycles or get new cartridges. Do not proceed until you can pass this test.
The Purge6 image can be found on the diskette included with your system. If you have a Mac you can download it from our website. You can also get the zip file from the HelpDesk Download Library.

Tools & Materials Needed -

MIS CFS System, Ink and a working Epson R300 printer
Ruler or measuring tape
Pair of Scissors
Alcohol and some paper towels
Some paper to print on
Small phillips head screw driver

1. If you purchased your system prefilled, then go to Step 2. If you purchased an empty CFS unit, then vacuum fill the cartridges with the ink that came with the system or the ink of your choice. Follow the instructions that are included with the vacuum pump or get them from our Knowledge Base. When this is complete, go to Step 2.

2. On the printer, push the Ink button. A list of options will appear on the screen in the button panel of the printer. Select "Ink Cartridge Replacement" and press "OK". The cartridges will move to the Replacement position. While in this position, pull the power plug out of the wall. Next, remove the cartridges. The cartridges ride in a black cartridge carriage and are secured by a gray clamp that must be raised in order to remove the cartridges.

3. The cartridge clamp needs to be removed. This is the gray clamp that holds the cartridges down when they are installed in the printer. There are two methods of removing this clamp. Read both before selecting the method you wish to try. We recommend the first method based on ease of implementation.

S-clip holds left side of cartridge clamp, enlarged.

Clamp hinge screws on carriage

The first method, our recommended method, is as follows. On the left hand side of the clamp there is a small "S" shaped clip holding the hinge pin of the gray clamp. This small clip can be removed by prying outward with a small screw driver. Make sure the clip does not fall into the printer. If the clip falls into the printer, locate the clip and remove it.
Once this clip is removed, hold the gray cartridge clamp in one hand and the black cartridge carriage in the other hand, remove the clamp from the cartridge carriage by pulling the right side towards the left first. Once the right side comes out, the clamp will easily slide to the right to come completely free of the carriage.
The second method is to remove the two screws on the outside edge of the cartridge carriage. These screws are on either side of the carriage, on the top portion towards the front. Be extremely careful removing the screws. Do not let them fall into the printer housing. If a screw does fall into the printer, it is extremely difficult, but necessary, to locate and remove it. Because of this, the first method is our recommended method.
Once the screws are removed you can pull up on the gray bracket to remove it and the front of the black cartridge carriage from the main portion of the carriage. There are lock tabs on each side of the carriage which hold the clamp hinge in place. Once these are released, you can set the clamp aside and reinstall the black portion that pulled loose with the clamp to the front of the carriage.

4. Install the tubing clip and bridge bracket on the housing as shown in the photo below. Clean and dry the printer housing with alcohol and place the beige tube clip in the position shown. Install the bridge bracket first. Position it 2 13/16ths from the left of the opening in the housing. The end with the 90 degree bend goes at the top of the printer. This bend points upward; it is present to prevent the lid from bouncing on the tubing. See photo below for placement.
The beige tube clip installs on the left hand side of the housing, 3/16 inch to the left of the opening. Line this clip up with the clip under the bridge bracket. Affix the clip so that it opens from the back of the printer. This placement is critical and must be done correctly in order to align the tubing.

Clip and Bridge Bracket Placement

5.
The bridge bracket you just installed is attached by velcro. Remove the bracket, leaving the bottom velcro on the printer housing. Open the clip on the bracket, as well as the clip on the housing.

6.
PARTIALLY install the CFS cartridges. Do not push the cartridges all the way down. We do not want the seals on the bottom to be punctured until the tubes have been installed in the bottles.
In order to do this, you must follow these steps to route the tubing. Lay the tubing across the printer so that the end with the blue clips is on the left hand side. Reattach the bridge bracket to the velcro making sure the beige tube clip is open. There are two black marks on the CFS tubing; these indicate where the tubing should be placed into the tube clip. Center the beige tube clip on the underside of the bridge bracket between these two black marks on the tubing, and close the clip. Now secure the tubing into the beige tube clip on the housing so that the tubing is tight between the two tube clips and close the clip.

7. Once the tubes are securely clamped into the Bridge Bracket and housing tube clip, un-web the tubes from the left end beginning at the blue clip up to the left hand side tube clip, so that each tube can be independently installed into its bottle. The tubes are easily un-webbed by just pulling them apart, no tools are required. Don't go to far.
You can now align the bottles on the left hand side of the printers. The order of the ink bottles from front to back are,
Magenta - Light Magenta - Yellow - Light Cyan - Cyan - Black

Bottle Positions

Velcro attachment

8. If your system was prefilled, cut the tubes just above the light blue pinch clips, save the blue tube clips in a safe place as you may need them later if you remove the CFS unit. You will lose about 1/2" of tubing, this is OK. If you ordered an empty system you will not have any pinch clips to cut off.
Cut the end of the tubes on a 45 degree angle so they are pointed. Don't waste any tube length in doing this.
Now insert the tube into the bottle so the tube almost reaches the bottom of the bottle. There should be 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 inches of tubing inside the bottle when you are finished. Don't put the wrong color tube into the wrong ink bottle. Follow the tube back to the cartridge where the cartridge label identifies the ink in the chamber. Make sure the correct color tube is inserted into the correct color ink bottle.

9. At this time, press the cartridges fully into place in the carriage. Make sure they are properly aligned and have snapped down all the way in the carriage. Push the cartridge carriage all the way to the right hand side of the printer, all the way.

10. Plug the printer back in and turn on the power. Run up to three cleaning cycles. After the third cleaning cycle, print the another three pages of the purge6.tif image. The printer is now ready to use. If you have problems getting a perfect nozzle pattern, let the printer rest overnight, and try again in the morning.

11. Resetting - In order to reset the ink monitor on the R300 with Auto Reset chips, simply turn off the printer wait about 1 minute and then turn it back on. If you happen to be in the middle of a large print job, say 100 pages, and the red "Out of Ink" light begins to flash, allow the printer to stop. You can do this by removing the remaining paper stock. This will cause, an out of paper light to come on. Simply press the ink replacement button. The carriage will move to the cartridge replacement position. Wait 10 seconds. Press the ink replacement button again and reload the paper stock. Press the paper button and the printer will begin printing again.
If the printer stops printing because the "Out of Ink" indicator light has come while printing a long print job, simply press the ink replacement button. The carriage will move to the cartridge replacement position. Wait 10 seconds.
If for some reason you receive the double red error lights that will not clear after restarting the printer, remove the CFS unit, reinstall Epson original cartridges to clear the error then reinstall the CFS. Check to be certain the tubing is not preventing the print carriage from traveling the full length of the printer. If it can not travel to the far left and right, the double red lights will come on.

The Care and Feeding of a CFS -
There are a couple of things you should know that will keep your system running trouble free.
These systems work best if they are used everyday. If you are an infrequent printer or only print once or twice a week, then you should install our AUTOPRINT program (download it for free from our CFS page). Autoprint will make a printout using our Purge6 image everyday as long as you leave your computer and printer turned on.
If you have to do cleaning cycles, do them in groups of 3 and be certain to print something, we recommend a copy of Purge6 after every 3 cleaning cycles. This resets the printer firmware so that you get a medium, long, and short duration cleaning cycle. If you don't do this, all you will get is the short cleaning cycle after the 3rd one. Running several short cleaning cycles will cause nozzles to drop out. If you are still having problems after about 3 or 4 sets of 3 cleanings, then let the printer rest for a few hours or overnight and try again later. This has worked on many Epson printers in the past. It gives the air bubbles in the ink a chance to rise to the surface and get out of the printhead.
Don't let your ink bottles get empty. Refill them when they are at the 1/4 full level. Before pouring new ink into your bottle, transfer the ink that is left into a clean glass or jar. Then wash out the CFS ink bottle with soap and water. Then refill with leftover ink and new ink. This keeps algae from building up on the walls of the bottle and causing premature ink failure. An easier method is to order a spare set of empty bottles, and keep them on hand, clean and ready to use.
If an ink does not print, remove the tube from the bottle, lift the cartridge out, and suck out a little ink, not more than 2 cc, to eliminate any air locks that may be present. Use the syringe and bottom fill adapter, then reinstall. If you have all colors printing but you are having problems getting a perfect nozzle pattern after several cleaning cycles, then let the printer rest overnight and try a few cleaning cycles in the morning.
For additional technical assistance please read our CFS Troubleshooting Guide.

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	Prerequisite - Before starting this installation, you MUST test your printer to make sure it is printing 100% correctly. The best way to do this is to first print a Nozzle pattern, using the printer utility software provided by Epson. Once a perfect nozzle pattern is achieved, print 5 copies of the MIS purge6.tif image using the Plain Paper and 360 dpi settings on the printer. All 5 pages must print without banding or skipping (white spaces). If your printer can not do this, do not install the CFS. Run some cleaning cycles or get new cartridges. Do not proceed until you can pass this test. The Purge6 image can be found on the diskette included with your system. If you have a Mac you can download it from our website. You can also get the zip file from the HelpDesk Download Library.
	Tools & Materials Needed - MIS CFS System, Ink and a working Epson R300 printer Ruler or measuring tape Pair of Scissors Alcohol and some paper towels Some paper to print on Small phillips head screw driver
1.	If you purchased your system prefilled, then go to Step 2. If you purchased an empty CFS unit, then vacuum fill the cartridges with the ink that came with the system or the ink of your choice. Follow the instructions that are included with the vacuum pump or get them from our Knowledge Base. When this is complete, go to Step 2.
2.	On the printer, push the Ink button. A list of options will appear on the screen in the button panel of the printer. Select "Ink Cartridge Replacement" and press "OK". The cartridges will move to the Replacement position. While in this position, pull the power plug out of the wall. Next, remove the cartridges. The cartridges ride in a black cartridge carriage and are secured by a gray clamp that must be raised in order to remove the cartridges.
3.	The cartridge clamp needs to be removed. This is the gray clamp that holds the cartridges down when they are installed in the printer. There are two methods of removing this clamp. Read both before selecting the method you wish to try. We recommend the first method based on ease of implementation.

8.	If your system was prefilled, cut the tubes just above the light blue pinch clips, save the blue tube clips in a safe place as you may need them later if you remove the CFS unit. You will lose about 1/2" of tubing, this is OK. If you ordered an empty system you will not have any pinch clips to cut off. Cut the end of the tubes on a 45 degree angle so they are pointed. Don't waste any tube length in doing this. Now insert the tube into the bottle so the tube almost reaches the bottom of the bottle. There should be 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 inches of tubing inside the bottle when you are finished. Don't put the wrong color tube into the wrong ink bottle. Follow the tube back to the cartridge where the cartridge label identifies the ink in the chamber. Make sure the correct color tube is inserted into the correct color ink bottle.
9.	At this time, press the cartridges fully into place in the carriage. Make sure they are properly aligned and have snapped down all the way in the carriage. Push the cartridge carriage all the way to the right hand side of the printer, all the way.
10.	Plug the printer back in and turn on the power. Run up to three cleaning cycles. After the third cleaning cycle, print the another three pages of the purge6.tif image. The printer is now ready to use. If you have problems getting a perfect nozzle pattern, let the printer rest overnight, and try again in the morning.
11.	Resetting - In order to reset the ink monitor on the R300 with Auto Reset chips, simply turn off the printer wait about 1 minute and then turn it back on. If you happen to be in the middle of a large print job, say 100 pages, and the red "Out of Ink" light begins to flash, allow the printer to stop. You can do this by removing the remaining paper stock. This will cause, an out of paper light to come on. Simply press the ink replacement button. The carriage will move to the cartridge replacement position. Wait 10 seconds. Press the ink replacement button again and reload the paper stock. Press the paper button and the printer will begin printing again. If the printer stops printing because the "Out of Ink" indicator light has come while printing a long print job, simply press the ink replacement button. The carriage will move to the cartridge replacement position. Wait 10 seconds. If for some reason you receive the double red error lights that will not clear after restarting the printer, remove the CFS unit, reinstall Epson original cartridges to clear the error then reinstall the CFS. Check to be certain the tubing is not preventing the print carriage from traveling the full length of the printer. If it can not travel to the far left and right, the double red lights will come on.

	The Care and Feeding of a CFS - There are a couple of things you should know that will keep your system running trouble free. These systems work best if they are used everyday. If you are an infrequent printer or only print once or twice a week, then you should install our AUTOPRINT program (download it for free from our CFS page). Autoprint will make a printout using our Purge6 image everyday as long as you leave your computer and printer turned on. If you have to do cleaning cycles, do them in groups of 3 and be certain to print something, we recommend a copy of Purge6 after every 3 cleaning cycles. This resets the printer firmware so that you get a medium, long, and short duration cleaning cycle. If you don't do this, all you will get is the short cleaning cycle after the 3rd one. Running several short cleaning cycles will cause nozzles to drop out. If you are still having problems after about 3 or 4 sets of 3 cleanings, then let the printer rest for a few hours or overnight and try again later. This has worked on many Epson printers in the past. It gives the air bubbles in the ink a chance to rise to the surface and get out of the printhead. Don't let your ink bottles get empty. Refill them when they are at the 1/4 full level. Before pouring new ink into your bottle, transfer the ink that is left into a clean glass or jar. Then wash out the CFS ink bottle with soap and water. Then refill with leftover ink and new ink. This keeps algae from building up on the walls of the bottle and causing premature ink failure. An easier method is to order a spare set of empty bottles, and keep them on hand, clean and ready to use. If an ink does not print, remove the tube from the bottle, lift the cartridge out, and suck out a little ink, not more than 2 cc, to eliminate any air locks that may be present. Use the syringe and bottom fill adapter, then reinstall. If you have all colors printing but you are having problems getting a perfect nozzle pattern after several cleaning cycles, then let the printer rest overnight and try a few cleaning cycles in the morning. For additional technical assistance please read our CFS Troubleshooting Guide.