Cleaning Fluid?

[artbot]

i understand completely and in the future, i will paraphrase that this is for advanced users only? these forums are for many intermediate users the only way that they can break off from using techs and better understanding the physics of their printers.

in encourage everyone to do their own testing too. for instance when working with glycol ethers, you'll quickly notice that it's not a "true solvent". it can melt anything. all of the material that i use for my printer if i ever venture to change something goes through a resistance test. i have a batch of chopped up dampers, seals, tubes, head adapters, wipers, wiper holders, caps etc.

those chopped up parts are sunk in a container of each solvent and their mixtures and observed over a few days. even if i "think" it should work, i understand that a single wrong move could cost several thousands of dollars to fix.

and i do make my own "inks" if you call them that. i've currently got CMYK,water,propylene glycol,uv clear (home made), and white as my ink set. i run my data ribbons on the right so that i have four isolated "special color" channels to print from. and i'm about to squeeze roland silver into the mix when i get some projects shipped.

so i apologize to the forum if i didn't qualify my remarks. i once fried a head by using the information from a somewhat sparse reply on a message board. so i know the sting of partial information.

 

[randya]

NP, and no apologies necessary.
Information is information

I come from a chemistry and materials and testing background myself.

Accelerating aging tests are typically used to check for chemical compatibility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_aging

So raising the temperature and then examining, under magnification (typically looking for cracking and surface attack) can help you get results faster.
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/kinetics/faq/temperature-and-reaction-rate.shtml


Sounds like you have some interesting projects going on.

How much do you use white?
Is it white enough for you?
What kind of "special' care and prep do you use for white on media and in the printer?

I will be interested in your experience with silver as well.

(Epson makes white and silver, but we have decided to not currently offer it)

Thanks!

 

[artbot]

i print mostly on aluminum, and wood veneer, and a bit of polycarbonate. the white is fairly opaque. but goes on thinly and at a single quick drying pass is more of a translucent milk jug white. which is good for me. because i still want to see the metal or wood grain through the piece.

i'm still experimenting with the bases that it prints best to. every time i think i've got the ultimate precoat, a few weeks later, i find something i like better.

i don't run the white in the printer at rest. i have two cleaning solution lines that run to that head to purge latent uv clear and white pigment from it. it can't sit still in a line for long because it will settle. and this is a particle settlement. after drying out it will be unaffected by solvents because it is just good ol' TiO2. nothing more. i have a cartridge mounted at the left side of the printer that i run an alternate damper (toss the damper when done) and draw ink to the line and purge back out into a alternate waste bottle. actually thinking about designing a mini-cartridge that mounts to the printer (encad style)... it will over time clog your head adapter too. now most people would say, "that's ridiculous, why all the trouble?" i've been printing white for over 10 years, before white existed in digitial printing (even had dupont kinda start asking too many questions when discussed it with their laboratory). i need white digital white for my work really bad.

as far as the silver. i don't know. i had a tech mention that there was a conductivity to the ink!!! so yikes. beware i guess. the vs640 might have some special grounding to handle it... i don't know. i'd like to be able to print silver and than electroplate it. that's my plan.... will probably take a year to figure that out.

the epson white i've read about. but it sounds like to me it will only work in optical situations. such as if you were to laminate over it or clearcoat it, the hollow particle effect would cease. as for the silver, i'm going to look that up! thanks for the tip.

 

[randya]

Thanks,

I believe the white and silver from Roland and Mimaki all come from Epson as well, at least the Eco versions.