Conversion to SEPIAX, need heating homemade system! please help!!!

[boggiom72]

I recently discussed with Gotech support how to convert my FJ740 with DX4 printheads to SEPIAX... apparently to change the ink is quite easy, and i just need to heat at 130F degree my media at the moment of printing...
The surface must be at that temperature when the ink hits it.

In a forum here I found some advice to use sylicon mat/tape as an heating source...
On the website where they sell this heating device everything seems quite simple. It's like a tape, half inch thick and even 72" long. It can generate a lot of heat and it has a controller for precise measures...

Anybody did it?
Where is the best place to apply this?

I was looking in my printer. it seems I can go exactly under the printing spot, unscrewing those metal plates with holes, but I may clogged 50% of those holes... And if I understood well they suck the media down...

Or I can try to go from the back, right before the the roll enter in the printer... but I feel I'm a little faraway from the printing area, so to have the media at the right temperature at printing I may have to heat too much over there (damaging media and printer?)... Not to mention if I have something not feeding from the roll but from the front, it will always have a part not heated...

Anybody tried any of these?

Thanks a lot!
m

 

[sfr table hockey]

I don't know much about the Sepiax latex ink but the biggest issue I see regarding the 130 F temp is that a lot of the media that is used now with solvents, tends to pucker or buckle with too much heat. If the temp has to be for sure that high for the ink to cure, you may have more head strikes with the media.

As for where the heat strips would go, I would think they would have to be under the front and rear platten and not directly under the heads blocking the air holes. Also ther are a lot of wires under there and I don't think they can take that heat. If insulated under the platten, the heat should be fine there but do insulate over the strips in order to stop the heat from leaving the platten. There are still wires in there that need protection.

You would almost need a laser temp reader to read the actual surface temp of a printer using the inks and see what it reads.

But for sure don't block holes for the vacuum. I will have to look at those strips and see what they are about.

 

[AUTO-FX]

I have been casually looking, and found this. http://www.thermosoft.com/. Doesnt quite reach 130 but could possibly be forced.
Do a search for halogen - there was a thread a couple of weeks ago about all this, with a link to a youtube where some guys used halogen lights as a heat source on a roland printer.
I was told by the guys at Go that you need to print at 1440 or it comes out a bit grainey. It also requires slow print speeds , which relates to the need for proper heating of the media.

 

[AUTO-FX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjHjVK2Jpzg

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67616&highlight=halogen

 

[CustomRide]

thermosoft heaters won't even come close to the heat you need. The rear panel metal is too thick to get above 60 degrees

 

[artbot]

if i were attempting to install a heating system under the platen for cheap, i'd look into the heat strips used for fabbing acrylic.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=169

 

[spur]

Does anyone know why only the Epson heads are needed to convert to Sepiax? I e-mailed Sepiax and they basically said they are currently testing with other heads but thermal based (HP, Encad, Canon, etc) were definitely out.

I never got a reason as to the mechanics of it, just that it would not work. I am really fascinated with the claims of this product, but have not heard much of anything about it other than the FLAAR reports.

 

[artbot]

well thermal printers "boil" the ink and thus go the term "bubblejet". i'd imagine it has something to do with the chemistry. you can basically print just about any ink from any head. but the print might not look that good.

 

[Rooster]

The inks cures with heat. Thermal heads heat the ink up to the curing point and clog the head.

Only piezo heads can be used.

Plan on having to create a pre-heater, platen-heater, and a post heater to get the best results. Having the media only being heated by one thin strip will buckle the heck out of it.

 

[tbaker]

I'm not one to go about talking bad about any products, and while I'm sure that Sepiax is a great company, I did a conversion on a jv3 about 2-3 months ago, the heads, which while using OEM ink looked just fine, when finally converted to Sepiax, were all types of deflected.

The conversion process is long and drawn out, the need to flush, reflush, and reflush again with their included solutions is supposed to insure that you've removed all the ink from your delivery system, but in my mind, who can you ever be sure. Nothing that I did would cure the deflection of all 4 heads.

If you are determined to continue with the conversion to the Sepiax ink, I would recommend replacing all 4 heads, the pumps, and cap station at the same time. Cleaning the lines is fairly easy with the solution, but the Sepiax ink is much thicker then any OEM ink I've ever seen. ( Additionally, it is next to impossible to clean all the ink out of all the little orifices in a head) Sepiax ink, when it comes into contact with any type of solvent ink "gels" ( for lack of a better term)

Think twice before continuing, but if you do, let me know how it goes, I'd be interested to hear.