How to install a continuous ink system on canon MP280 printers

We’ve decided to start publishing this kind of posts using this printer. If you need more information regarding these ink systems, please search around our blog using the continuous ink system tag.

Nowadays, canon printers are known to be the best inner sponge printers to install a CISS on. What really makes them this good is the endurance of their ink cartridges, since they can hold up a lot of ink without becoming damaged and also keep it from reaching the print heads. Overall, the success rate of a continuous ink system lies on the kind of ink you’re using on it.

If you wish to install a CISS on your printer, please use silicone hoses. These are very flexible and will allow your ink cartridge carriage to move freely inside the printer, as well as contribute to general ink circulation.

this is what a continous ink system for canon printers looks like

Here are the ingredients you will need to install a continuous ink system in your canon MP280 printer:

1. A canon MP280 printer, of course.
2. Both the canon 210 and 211 ink cartridges. We recommend you get new ink cartridges for this installation procedure and, once these are damaged, to purchase new XL ink cartridges. The XL ones will work for a longer time and yield many more pages than the regular sized ones.
3. You will also need bleeders for the canon 210 and 211 ink cartridges. The next picture will show you how these bleeders look like.
4. A drill bit will also be needed in order to pierce the ink cartridge and get the CISS hoses attached to it. Please take a look at the following picture.

Ink extractor

This is the drill bit you’ll need to pierce the ink cartridges on your canon printer.

drill for ink cartridge

Now, we will show you where to connect the CISS hoses to your canon ink cartridges. We suggest you take the same hose contacts to the hardware store so they can help you find the proper drill bit for you, even if you can’t provide an exact measurement for them.

Having the correct drill bit for this procedure will make the installation process very simple and avoid air coming out of the cartridges.

cartridges and plugs system hoses

- Then, you will need a continuous ink system created for canon printers with four (4) ink colors. Most of the time, CISS come with all the accessories they need, as is shown in the previous picture. However, here are some tools that usually aren’t included in the continuous ink system pack.

- Finally, you will need dyed or water-based ink. If you can’t find it, then use pigmented inks for this installation process. If you wish to learn the differences between dyed and pigmented inks, please click on this link. Keep in mind these ink systems work with about four (4) ounces of ink.

Please read this entire post slowly and attentively, just to save yourself any confusions or misunderstandings. You should also know we can’t guarantee this procedure will work smoothly on your printer, so if something goes wrong, let us know by leaving a comment in the section below this post.

CISS installation procedure for canon printers:

Remember you must follow these steps just as we’re describing them on this post. First of all, place the ink cartridges and all the continuous ink system’s accessories somewhere you don’t mind covering with ink. You should also be wearing gloves to keep yourself clean, and use a piece of dark cloth to clean any amount of ink 

Step #1:

Please check your ink cartridges aren’t clogged with ink before installing this CISS on your printer. These systems are usually installed in brand new printers, so just make sure the ink cartridges and print heads are working properly, and that the print quality is still satisfactory for you.

You can have this checked by your own printer by having it make a few test sheets. Use the printer’s own user manual to install this feature and use it for the first time. 

If you’re installing this CISS on a new printer, we still recommend you print these test sheets to know how your printer and its cartridges are working. After this has been done and you’re sure everything’s working properly, you may continue with the installation process. Please click on this link to learn how to print test sheets on your printer.

Step #2:

After printing the test sheets and checking the print heads are working properly, turn your printer off, open the ink cartridge gate and unplug the printer’s power cord. You may now move the ink cartridge carriage slowly until you reach a comfortable changing position. This will not harm your printer in any way as long as you do it while it’s turned off.

Step #3:

Now, remove the ink cartridges from the printer. If you need help learning how to do this, click here to read our post regarding canon ink cartridge removal.

cartridge nozzles and connectors

When taking them out, please avoid touching the contacts on the ink cartridge and the print heads. If you can, keep the original plastic pouch the ink cartridges came in, and put them inside these bags when piercing or drilling on them. If you look at the following picture, you’ll be able to see where the contacts (#1) and print heads (#2)  are located.

plastic packaging where the cartridge is

Step #4:

Then, you must drill the ink cartridge to make enough room for the installation of the CISS hoses. For this, you will need the drill bit we mentioned at the beginning of this post. Here’s a picture of the exact drilling location on your ink cartridges.

Please check for any drilling residues inside the ink cartridge; there must be none left inside it. When drilling on the cartridge, please hold the drill straight all the time, and keep in mind the actual orifices must be smaller than the hoses. This will keep any air from going in or out of the cartridges. Please take a look at the following picture.

place must drill the ink cartridges

Important note:

We suggest you drill your own cartridges under the original upper hole on it, and a bit to the left. This takes into account CISS hose length, and will avoid your printer not recognizing your tricolor ink cartridge in the future. The print heads could get in the way of this process if their own contacts can’t reach the ink cartridge ones due to these hoses.

Here’s a picture of how to drill the ink cartridges correctly.

right place for red

Step #5:

Once the ink cartridges have been drilled, you may install the hoses own connectors, as we mentioned before. These must be attached very firmly and keeping all the air from entering or leaving the cartridge. Please take a look at the next picture.

finished drilling

Step #6:

Now that both ink cartridges have the hoses connectors installed on them, you can fill the ink tanks up with approximately four (4) ounces of dyed or water-based ink.

Step #7:

For the seventh step, inject each ink color in its corresponding orifice. All ink cartridges must be out of the printer, keeping the same location,  position and distance from one another they have inside the device.

The hoses’ length will vary a bit from one ink cartridge to the next, and you must cut them accordingly. Please look at the next image.

hoses distance

Step #8:

You may now install all the mechanical elbows on the CISS hoses. As their name points out, these are small joints that help the continuous ink system adjust to the printer’s own design, and keep the hoses from interrupting the printing process.

Step #9:

Attach the corresponding ink colors to each ink cartridge, always checking the hoses keep a proper distance from each other inside the printer.

Step #10:

Now that the ink cartridges are connected to the CISS, you will need to get the ink to move from the tanks to the ink cartridges. You can use an ink cartridge bleeder for this, a very helpful tool used during cartridge refills.

They will help you extract some ink from the cartridges and help the one in the tanks fill both the hoses and the ink cartridges. You can stop pushing the ink from the tanks once it has passed through the hoses and filled the ink cartridges up. Please keep in mind overfilling the cartridges will cause ink spills.

Once the ink has reached the cartridges, the CISS hoses will look like these. Please take a look at the following picture.

hoses connected with ink

Another way of helping the ink reach the cartridges is by using an empty syringe that you can use to add some air inside the ink tanks. This same air will push the ink through the continuous ink system.

Please keep in mind the hoses shouldn’t be attached to the ink cartridges when doing this, but you must wait until the air has been injected into them before connecting them. If you choose to execute this particular method, repeat this same procedure on every ink color in your printer. The next picture will show you how to do this.

send the ink cartridges

Step #11:

Make sure you’ve cleaned all the ink residue that you may notice on your printer, just to keep your pages from becoming stained. Be especially attentive of any ink left on the rollers that pull and move the paper sheets inside the printer, and remove it by using napkins. If you notice any pieces of napkin in the printer, remove them too.

After this entire procedure is done, please repeat the installation process shown in the following picture. Keep in mind the CISS hoses must not rub against the ink cartridge carriage in order to prevent blocks or jams inside your printer.

If they do get in the way of the carriage, your printer will send out an error message. Look at the following picture for details of this particular installation.

finished ink system and about to run

Step #12:

Now that the continuous ink system has been installed, print a test sheet using this same printer. Open the ink cartridge gate on it, and leave it like this throughout the entire printing process just to take a close look at the cartridges and the CISS hoses.

Once it’s finished and you’re sure there aren’t any jams or obstacles in the printing process, place the hoses back in their proper place and start a regular printing job. If you have any questions regarding this subject, please post a comment in the section below this post and we will help you out.