Continuous Ink System install and working just like the normal cartridges. A set of ribbon tube, come out from the cartridges and go into the external ink bottle. The external ink bottle sit on the desktop next to the printer on the same level. As the printer prints and uses ink, the exact amount of ink that is used is metered into the cartridges from the ink bottle. The ink level in the cartridges remains constant. The tubing is held with a bracket mounted on the printer, so there is enough slack in the tubing to allow the print head to traverse from right to left without causing any problems.