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CJ-500 add on heater?
- Thread starter anozira02
- Start date
http://www.solventprinterconversion.com/1solventkits.html has heater kits...
- or - do a search on here - darlak had posted awhile ago a diagram on how he made his w/ some store bought heating elements
- or - do a search on here - darlak had posted awhile ago a diagram on how he made his w/ some store bought heating elements
sfr table hockey
New Member
Do you have any type of heat plates installed right now? Or do you just want another heat source after the print area besides under the front platten?
sfr table hockey
New Member
You would not need heat for the aqueous pigmented ink. When the conversion is done you need heat strips or plates to place in the back before the print head gets to the vinyl then another in the front after the printhead. You can buy kits that have the heat strips and a nice neat box for the temp controlls etc. I have used infloor heat cable and controll the heat with a dimmer switch and use a cooking probe for the temp reading.
Do you have heat under the front and rear platen? Do you have a temp reading to set a temp? What temp can you get it to?
You do need to pre heat the vinyl before the solvent ink hits the vinyl and then after to help cure it. Our CJ 500 units are not that fast of a printer that we need a lot of extra heat to get them to work well with eco solvents. I have the back platen at about 110 F to get a good print on vinyl and have the ink melt into the vinyl. What I have found is with too little heat the print will scratch off where with the right heat, it is very hard to scratch. You will tear the vinyl before the ink scratches off.
Watch over the solventinkconversion.com videos ( as was said on the link above) and if you want something ready made they are the guys.
Do you have heat under the front and rear platen? Do you have a temp reading to set a temp? What temp can you get it to?
You do need to pre heat the vinyl before the solvent ink hits the vinyl and then after to help cure it. Our CJ 500 units are not that fast of a printer that we need a lot of extra heat to get them to work well with eco solvents. I have the back platen at about 110 F to get a good print on vinyl and have the ink melt into the vinyl. What I have found is with too little heat the print will scratch off where with the right heat, it is very hard to scratch. You will tear the vinyl before the ink scratches off.
Watch over the solventinkconversion.com videos ( as was said on the link above) and if you want something ready made they are the guys.
sfr table hockey
New Member
sfr table hockey
New Member
I have the CJ 500 converted to 11/10 ecosol ink and have the FJ 42 left as waterbased using cave paint pigment inks (way cheaper and look great but you will need new profiles as the magenta is stronger).
The reason is there will always be some jobs where you want to just print and cut without lamination and with the CJ you can do so without setting up crop marks and taking media out of one machine to take to the other. Do all on the CJ and save time.
Now with the FJ 52, if you do artwork like canvas, photos etc. you won't need to ever contour cut. You won't need the cutting features with a waterbased printer as much as one with solvent.
My thought is no question, convert the CJ and keep the FJ waterbased. If you don't ever plan to print canvas and artwork then convert both as media (vinyl and banner etc) for waterbased is way more $$ to use.
I would keep the FJ as is and you have just opened up two lines of work to offer customers. The FJ will produce some nice canvas Giclee prints and does great at enlarged photos.
Best of all with these two units is the main wear parts are all the same and if a print head goes you are only out a little over $100 and we can fix these units ourselves.