1614 ink usage and costs?

[LenXIII]

I have a couple questions relating to ink usage. When I bought the machine it was advertised at .20 a square cost, I later found that to be an average of some sort.

I noticed on the mutoh ink study that prints with more coverage etc can cost up to .35!

My question is, does anyone know roughly how expensive a print can actually cost? I seem to be eating through ink like water, and it doesn't seem like I am producing many prints for my ink carts. Id love to think im only spending between .20 and .40 but it feels like more.

I use graphics 2 for 95% of my printing, Im sure profiles will have a lot to do with ink issues.

LAST question.

I use mutoh all in one profile for some basic prints at higher speeds, like billboard quality stuff. Does anyone have a specific profile to recommend for PSA billboards with lots of darker colors? I don't get hardly anything for these prints and I want to make sure I am saving as much ink as possible. They are almost 400 square feet each!

Thanks in advance, but the main questions I would like answered are for the ink usage. I want to make sure im not spilling out double in ink costs than I am expecting!

 

[P Wagner]

Ink costs will vary dramatically by job, print resolution, and profile settings. The range for most eco-solvent machines from Mutoh, Mimaki, and Roland is between .15 and .50 when using OEM ink sets.

Some RIPs will calculate ink usage on a job basis (Onyx 7, Caldera, Wasatch 6.5).

Bob

 

[randya]

ink droplets -quantity and size (volume) are DIRECTLY controlled by profile.

A good profile is a calibration between your machine and your media.

A good aspect is, that most profiles made on other's printers (of the same make and model, and on other similar media) are usually good enough for 80+ % of applications.

What you want is a custom profile for your media, to give you the best possible color saturation at the lowest ink limits for most of your media.

http://www.mutoh.com/pdf/VJ13041614InkCostStudy.pdf

This ink cost study was based on profiles made at Mutoh for a particular vinyl for some ISO images.

Each print is going to use differing amounts of inks and each profile will allow differing amounts of ink, so an average is about the best you can do, unless you calculate for each image as Bob offers.

 

[Premier Wraps]

When i first got my Mutoh I was like you are. Going through ink like water. I actually called so many times to complain to Fellers and got no where. So I called the leasing company and said I'm not making payments on this sucker until it's fixed. Then promptly let it run out of ink and sit. I called Fellers back and said come get it. I'm not paying for it, it's out of ink and collecting dust. Needless to say someone finally came out and looked at it. Plus gave me all new cartridges. Here was the issue. (Not saying it's your problem, but might be worth checking). There's two settings for cleaning. One is your normal clean setting. I had mine set at 9 hours. Well the other setting is the sleep setting. Come to find out it was cleaning when ever it would wake up from sleep. And that setting was every hour. So every hour, all night and during the weekends, it would wake up and clean. I was going through 8-10% of my ink (440ml) a night...So imagine how much was used over a weekend...when I wasn't even printing. Fellers had no clue what it was. Neither did Mutoh. Both companies put their heads together and tracked ink usage on their machines over a period of a few days. They told me their numbers, I told them mine. Mutoh suggested I check the sleep feature and sure enough, that fixed it.

Again, not saying that's what's happening, but might be something to check. Make sure both the clean time and sleep time are the same. Hope it helps!

 

[Premier Wraps]

sorry, double post

 

[MacDaddy]

When i first got my Mutoh I was like you are. Going through ink like water. I actually called so many times to complain to Fellers and got no where. So I called the leasing company and said I'm not making payments on this sucker until it's fixed. Then promptly let it run out of ink and sit. I called Fellers back and said come get it. I'm not paying for it, it's out of ink and collecting dust. Needless to say someone finally came out and looked at it. Plus gave me all new cartridges. Here was the issue. (Not saying it's your problem, but might be worth checking). There's two settings for cleaning. One is your normal clean setting. I had mine set at 9 hours. Well the other setting is the sleep setting. Come to find out it was cleaning when ever it would wake up from sleep. And that setting was every hour. So every hour, all night and during the weekends, it would wake up and clean. I was going through 8-10% of my ink (440ml) a night...So imagine how much was used over a weekend...when I wasn't even printing. Fellers had no clue what it was. Neither did Mutoh. Both companies put their heads together and tracked ink usage on their machines over a period of a few days. They told me their numbers, I told them mine. Mutoh suggested I check the sleep feature and sure enough, that fixed it.

Again, not saying that's what's happening, but might be something to check. Make sure both the clean time and sleep time are the same. Hope it helps!

Configuring that setting is part of the initial set-up procedure. I am suprised a Tech didn't direct you to do this at the time of installation or question you about this setting at the time you were complaining... Makes me scratch my head...

 

[MVIP]

So What is the recommended setting for cleaning? I'm pretty sure mine is set up ok, but I'm always up for some learning. Just for fun what should the clean and sleep settings be?

-Matt

 

[Premier Wraps]

Configuring that setting is part of the initial set-up procedure. I am suprised a Tech didn't direct you to do this at the time of installation or question you about this setting at the time you were complaining... Makes me scratch my head...

I didn't set it up. Fellers did. The thing was 3 weeks old when i finally had enough.

 

[Premier Wraps]

So What is the recommended setting for cleaning? I'm pretty sure mine is set up ok, but I'm always up for some learning. Just for fun what should the clean and sleep settings be?

-Matt

Mutoh told me clean every 9 hours. (I actually moved it to 12). There's setting somewhere in there about waking up from sleep. Make sure that matches the cleaning time. If it's set for waking every hour, it'll clean when it wakes up.

 

[randya]

So What is the recommended setting for cleaning? I'm pretty sure mine is set up ok, but I'm always up for some learning. Just for fun what should the clean and sleep settings be?

-Matt

http://www.mutoh.com/kb/entry/113/

 

[copythat]

GURU of spec's

Randya

Your like an infomaniac. Thanks for the spec sheet. I check mine sleep mode was set for every 6 hours. GRS set it up for us. I though we were using too much ink!

 

[Conor Knoxx]

I'm at home right now, so I can't provide links - however my experience is that Mutoh has pretty extensive database of profiles for different brands and types of media.

However most major media manufacturers also provide profiles for their own media, for many different printers...

Personally, I use mostly Oracal media (3651 / 3951RA ) - and have profiles from Oracal and Mutoh for the media (I've never figured out how to REMOVE a profile from Flex 8 once its in there, lol )

I find the Oracal ones have truer colours, ESPECIALLY when printing photo-type images (not so much in vector graphics designed right in Flexi) however the Mutoh profiles seem to lay down less ink (this is more an "observed result" than anything scientific btw..)

And...
you can always, when you install a fresh set of cartridges - keep track of how many square feet you print, until the tanks become empty - even if you approximate it.

Last tip - when I first got the printer, when the "low ink warning" started, I changed the cartridge relatively soon thereafter. HOWEVER - I now wait until it stops printing and says "empty" - and I find it mind-boggling how much printing I do between warning and empty! Doing it this way will not spoil any jobs either - the machine is flawless in "hot-swapping" inks in mid-job.

 

[Premier Wraps]

Last tip - when I first got the printer, when the "low ink warning" started, I changed the cartridge relatively soon thereafter. HOWEVER - I now wait until it stops printing and says "empty" - and I find it mind-boggling how much printing I do between warning and empty! Doing it this way will not spoil any jobs either - the machine is flawless in "hot-swapping" inks in mid-job.

Nice! I gotta try that. Every little bit counts!

 

[randya]

Randya

Your like an infomaniac. Thanks for the spec sheet. I check mine sleep mode was set for every 6 hours. GRS set it up for us. I though we were using too much ink!

Thanks, one of my goals is in trying to get the right information into the right hands. (the Mutoh Knowledgebase is one of my installations).

I get a lot of ideas from the kinds of questions folks like you ask.

The settings are there to cover a wide range of shop conditions.
If you are in a hot dry shop, you probably want to auto clean more often and physically clean the printer more often as well.

It all revolves around how much printing you do and what kind of room you keep the printer in.

 

[randya]

Nice! I gotta try that. Every little bit counts!

The 1604, 1614 and 2606 ValueJets all have subtank system that hold another roughly 100 ml of ink.

This is what allows for hot-swapping of cartridges.


There are two mechanisms that monitor ink usage

1. Smart cards - they count the number of droplets and ink pump cycles and ESTIMATE ink usage. This is more accurate on clean, maintained machines where the head/cap seal is optimal. If there are air leaks here, the Smart cards will not take that into consideration and can give faulty ink levels.

2. Failsafe tab - there is a tab attached to the inner bag in the cartridge, when the bag empties, this tab moves outside the cartridge and trips a sensor to indicate that the cartidge is empty.