Running ink cartridges dry - how big of a deal?

[Andy D]

For some reason Roland draws from both same color ink cartridges at the same time, instead of,
for example, running one yellow cartridge dry and then switching to the other yellow cartridge, like
Mimaki does.
I hate switching out ink cartridges when you shake them and there is still ink in them, but I don't want to draw air in the line either... Will the Roland stop the print the cartridge runs dry?
If not, how hard is it to get the air out of the line?

 

[Solventinkjet]

The machine should stop when the ink cartridge is empty. Sometimes it doesn't especially with 3rd party inks. In that case all that happens is that color will drop out in the print. If you put a new cartridge in, it should be fine. The small amount of air that gets in doesn't cause a huge problem. If you run the machine for a long time with an empty cartridge, you might get enough air to cause issues and in that case a couple cleaning cycles will pull the air out or you can manually do it with a syringe at the damper.