cleaning solutions

[radiohead223]

hi everyone

what things have you used to clean your print heads.... we were waiting on supplies from our dealer at one stage and we were told to use a petroleum based cleaner. we ended up using some thinners to clean the heads and it worked great but i was wondering if anyone else has had to resort to this and if anyone knows if it damages the heads

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Welcome from NJ!

 

[daveb]

We just use xylene, recommended by Mimaki repair "person". Any good paint store or automotive paint department will have it. We buy 5 gal. cans but I'm sure it comes in gal. not sure if you can get it in smaller quantities or not.

Dave

 

[thewood]

I buy cleaning solution by the litre from the ink manufacturer I use.

I have a friend who swears by 3M-CGS-80. But I haven't used it.

 

[Mosh]

To do the manual cleanings?

 

[radiohead223]

thanks every one. yes it would be to do the manual clean around the sides of the heads but also i had used it a couple of times for a head wash. i'd have to say it was great at loosening the dried ink that happen when one of the pumps failed but it isn't something i would like to used all the time as it worked a little too well. we felt it would have to be doing some damage to the heads in some way

 

[gabagoo]

Although the price of oem cleaning solvent seems pricey, it does go a long way.
I would hesitate to try any of these others as the cost to replace heads is just to damn expensive.

Does anyone actually know what is in Mimaki cleaning solution?

 

[radiohead223]

MS2/ES3/HS Kit 200

3. Composition / Information On Ingredients
No Chemical Name Wt% CAS No.
Chemical Formula
1 Dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether 35-45 34590-94-8 C7H16O3
2 Diethylene glycol diethyl ether 35-45 112-36-7 C8H18O3
3 Triethylene glycol monomethyl ether 20-30 112-35-6 C7H16O4

 

[gabagoo]

MS2/ES3/HS Kit 200

3. Composition / Information On Ingredients
No Chemical Name Wt% CAS No.
Chemical Formula
1 Dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether 35-45 34590-94-8 C7H16O3
2 Diethylene glycol diethyl ether 35-45 112-36-7 C8H18O3
3 Triethylene glycol monomethyl ether 20-30 112-35-6 C7H16O4

Ok now we need to find a cheap chemist!!!!

 

[WB]

a 100ml cleaning kit costs me $80 and last about 6 months.. do you really need to save $$ that bad?

 

[gabagoo]

a 100ml cleaning kit costs me $80 and last about 6 months.. do you really need to save $$ that bad?

Bill your gettin burned bro!!!! Order from Advantage in the US

200 ml for about the same price.
They also have some really good foam swabs.

 

[WB]

Actually it is 200ml I just went and checked.. used to be 2 -100ml now it's 1 200ml..

I get mine from ND.. and it's $80.84

 

[radiohead223]

i buy the same myself and use it as well.... we just had been in a spot at one time with a delay from the supplier and needed to use something so thinners was it. we have just been wondering if the thinners would affect the heads or damage them in anyway more so than the solvent solutions

 

[artbot]

never get xylene near your printer. what kind of retarded tech gave you that advice. xylene is the same as xylol. a solvent completely capable of dismantling ABS, and other plastics. the head adapters are what looks like a form of ABS (too brittle for hdpe).

take a head adapter and sink it in xylene/xylol and i'll bet my house it turns into chewing gum.

the main "household" ingredients in solvent cleaning solution are:

butyl cellosolve (available at sherwin williams)

and

butyl carbitol (available at sherwin williams)

these two chemicals are practically the same (and ethylene and a diethylene the latter being slower evaporating. both have extremely low evaporation. they are glycol ethers.)

neither of these can cut paint after drying. just dilute (the can even mix with water). so i'd assume that you'll need to add some acetone to add some cutting action (small amount).

that's my two cents.
Edit/Delete Message

 

[Robert72]

So Artbot, do you think I could use Xilene to remove dried ink on the headtop filter with a syringe and before 5 minutes I clean it with Cilohexanone and another syringe, or I still have risk to ruin the printhead?

 

[daveb]

never get xylene near your printer. what kind of retarded tech gave you that advice. xylene is the same as xylol. a solvent completely capable of dismantling ABS, and other plastics. the head adapters are what looks like a form of ABS (too brittle for hdpe).

Apparently this "retard" knew what they were talking- Bought new in 2003- Mimaki JV3 cleaned ever since with xylene. Only replaced one head and two capping stations in 7 years. Soaked the first capping station in xylene overnight and came out good as new, reused parts and pieces. I don't know what you think you know, I'm speaking from 7 years of practical experience. Hey, who knows maybe I'm the "retard" (what kind of moron still uses that word?).

 

[artbot]

i don't yet know what plastics are inside of a print head. i'll probably cut a dead one up soon and find out. but the holder for the wiper is made of the same material as the head adapter. not sure about the capping station. it looks like some kind of cheap molded (not injection) plastic. this whole discussion has got me wondering about the chemicals etc. i did a test just yesterday. put a head adapter in xylol. it not only made it soft it literally dissolved it making the clear solvent transparent black. yes, it disappeared. curiously a slow dry lacquer thinner highly softened parts too. the most successful solvents are the ethers and ketones... no dangers there at all.

is the motivation to use xylol because it evaporates so slowly that it allows more time for the solvent to soften and cut the dried ink? if slow evaporation is what you need than use the butyl cellosolve with MEK or acetone. it will evaporate very slowly and cut the dried ink quickly. i haven't done much experimenting with the blend ratio but i'd imagine that it'd be 75% butyl cell' and 25% acetone.

anytime you expose a plastic to a solvent that it can't "resist" you do immediate damage. that damage will build over time. whether or not the part is mechanical or can clog other parts might be some part of the decision. but i'd personally like to mimic the chemicals that the engineers went with when designing the ink flushes.

get back to me if you learn anything messing around with chemicals. also, i'd avoid benzene unless it's required for it's certain properties. it's one of the more carcinogenic solvents.

 

[artbot]

chemistry vs. experience

i don't doubt the capping station is a different plastic than the head adapter. you can tell it's probably a polyethylene from just looking at it. BUT as for xylene, it is known as one of the plastic destroyers.

keep all these household chemicals away from plastics as a rule:

toluene
xylene
benzene
paint thinner

yes some plastics will resist other will not. but the printer is made of several types of plastics.

attached is a pic of a piece of a OEM mimaki head adapter after being submerged in xylol/xylene for 30 minutes. it will eventually become soup.
so my 30 minutes of experience says to not get a drip of this or any other plastic destroyer near the ink train.

 

[inkmed]

printer clear liquid

Hello everyone,

As i know, best printer clear solution is clear liquid.
The clear liquid from your ink supplier is can solvent the waste ink well.

Adam Yang
Inkmed

 

[David40]

Got referred to this thread because I wanted to know the difference between general cleaning solvent and head cleaning solvent. After reading all of this I wanted to report that the unused Mutoh flushing cartridges I purchased a few years ago, that have been sitting on a shelf undisturbed, had the internal bags leak, and the plastic bottom of the cartridges melted leaving solvent in the outer shipping bags. That's got to be some kind of strong chemical to eventually destroy the containers that are supposed to be designed to contain it.