epson Workforce 1100 used as ecosolvent printer??

[anozira02]

I have an Epson workforce 1100 not using it much, have a bunch of vinyl I would like to print to. I am pretty sure that the print head should be ok to use with Eco-solvent ink but not sure if the capping station can take it. Should be no problem to change out the waste ink lines and running it to a gar...Any take on this???

 

[FrankW]

For printing successfully with Eco-Solvent-Inks on Vinyl, you need something which warms up the media before bringing ink on the surface. Not shure that your printer have that.

 

[anozira02]

I have an external heater for the preheat at 98° that should do the trick. My biggest concern is the capping station and the ink line after some use may become unusable in a very short time,,

 

[SightLine]

Yes - the solvent based inks will turn the water based plastic bits like the head manifold to a sticky black puddle of goo literally within a couple of hours..... I've seen this firsthand. Solvent based inks will not work in a water based head manifold.

Aside from the heat issue while technically possible its not really economically feasible (and potentially not possible) to convert the machine to run solvent based inks. You will need to replace the following

Head Manifold (this one is particularly difficult. The problem is that machine has a relative of the DX5 head used in many solvent machines but the one in the 1100 is a 5 channel head instead of an 8 channel head. I've not looked into it but unless there is some solvent based machine that uses that same 5 channel head then you will not be able to get a solvent resistant head manifold. Now with the similarity to the DX5 you "might" be able to carefully hack up a DX5 head solvent manifold and then drill it in just the right spot within a 1/1000th of an inch so that it will properly screw down to the head and seal.

So if you manage to get past this hurdle. Then you will need a lot more..... dampers. I have no idea what the dampers in that machine look like. If they are like many of the Epson pro desktop machines though, they might be built into the small ink cartridges. Again - not going to be solvent resistant so you will have to do some digging to see what that is setup like.

The pump - the tubing in the pump will need to be replaced with Tygon or some sort of exact equivalent size inside and outside diameter solvent resistant tubing of the exact same shore # (this is a rating of firmness which the pump will need to be the same).

Capping station top.

All ink lines.

Possibly the waste ink container (don't want that to melt and leak)...

The print head itself less the manifold they generally come with will almost certainly be fine with the solvent ink. Another issue though is solvent inks have a different density/viscosity than water based inks. As such they require different voltages for the head to properly jet them. This is why machines like Mimaki you have to tell the machine what type of ink you are using. Its so that the printer uses the right voltage waveform for the type of ink being used. It would likely work though even without this. The print quality might suffer a bit though.

In the end. Not worth the trouble. What is your time worth? You can get a used Mimaki JV33 or some other recent generation eco solvent based machine for three to ten grand depending on the size, features, brand, condition, etc.

 

[anozira02]

Thanks for all your input, very educational. I have seen some videos on youtube showing epson A3 printers DX5 printheads converted to eco solvent printing, however all of them were from some other Countries. I will do some more reseach,, by the way I appreciate your advice....

 

[SightLine]

If the 1100 had a standard DX5 printhead it would be a much easier task. Still a big project and conversion but a lot easier when you can get an off the shelf DX5 solvent manifold, dampers, etc. The printhead in the 1100 is only "sort of" a DX5 in that is just like the DX5 but narrower with only 5 channels instead of 8. Lots of other models get converted to DTG machines though like the R1800, R1900, R2000, etc that use the normal DX5 printhead.

 

[anozira02]

Speaking of Diy DTG epson conversions I did converted an Epson Stylus Photo R3000 and one R1800. For the 3000 I bought a base conversion from UFO,, the R1800 I built it myself and works great... About the Epson workforce 1100 I may just sell and if I do an eco-solvent conversion I will use and 8 channel printer. I do have another R1800 it may need a print head...

 

[anozira02]

Finally I had some time on my hand to get back to my solvent conversion project.. I got a hold of a print head manifold and some solvent tubing for the bulk ink ciss conversion. I am now testing the continuous ink tank and cartridges to see if they can take the solvent ink without a meltdown, also built a nice waste ink tank fits snug on the side,, getting to the pump line be a challenge ..

 

[anozira02]

Working some more on my WF 1100 conversion to Eco Solvent printing I found that the continuous feed cartridges wont work with solvent ink it melts down the cartridge parts fits over the manifold. Also the ink tubes are not solvent resistant, which was easy to replace with solvent tubes, also working the use of cartridges over to use of dampers, just need to figure out how to fool the printer thinking it has cartridges in it instead of dampers.. The fun has just began,,,,

 

[anozira02]

Working some more on my WF 1100 conversion to Eco Solvent printing I found that the continuous feed cartridges wont work with solvent ink it melts down the cartridge parts fits over the manifold. Also the ink tubes are not solvent resistant, which was easy to replace with solvent tubes, also working the use of cartridges over to use of dampers, just need to figure out how to fool the printer thinking it has cartridges in it instead of dampers.. The fun has just began,,,,

 

[anozira02]

Just completed my project I been working on.. My Epson WF 1100 now is a Eco Solvent desktop printer and is uploaded on youtube . One of the big change was getting to do away with ink cartridges,, now using small dampers like the ones I used in my old Roland CJ 500 and it works great. https://youtu.be/FwxapY0b9Sk

Ok,, I got and 2nd video finished showing my eco solvent conversion
printing on mat vinyl.. here is the link

 

[anozira02]

Here is my third video using my Epson Workforce Eco solvent conversion printing on outdoor gloss vinyl.,, printed just as good as my old CJ-500 Roland printer. I would be great if I now could figure out how to contour cut it on my vinyl cutter. I probably could print a registration mark, not sure my cheap little Vinyl Express has the ability to read it, which means I may have to trade up on a new cutter..

 

[ProPDF]

Here is my third video using my Epson Workforce Eco solvent conversion printing on outdoor gloss vinyl.,, printed just as good as my old CJ-500 Roland printer. I would be great if I now could figure out how to contour cut it on my vinyl cutter. I probably could print a registration mark, not sure my cheap little Vinyl Express has the ability to read it, which means I may have to trade up on a new cutter..

Years ago I took a 3880 apart and found out the head was solvent resistant including the manifold. The issue you run into with that machine and some of the other epson printers isn't the solvent ink so much as there are so many aftermarket solvent parts available. It is controlling the channels so you can actually build a profile. So you need to look into and buy a rip that will allow you to change it to whatever eco solvent inkset you desire then print your charts and scan them. There are also a few people online that figured out how to turn the epsons into full roll printers by passing the sheet restriction. One of them is Xcolor international homepage from Korea and he used to call his rip the DavinciTurboRip. He can change any printer into any color channel option you want and make them faster. The other rip that was fairly cheap and epson friendly was colorburst.

Here is someone bypassing the roll restrictions his email is in the video.

I am guessing the newer p600 and p800 heads are solvent resistant too. When you start to add all this up it comes out to about the same price as buying a used 30 inch solvent printer and just working with it instead.

 

[kapaz]

Here is my third video using my Epson Workforce Eco solvent conversion printing on outdoor gloss vinyl.,, printed just as good as my old CJ-500 Roland printer. I would be great if I now could figure out how to contour cut it on my vinyl cutter. I probably could print a registration mark, not sure my cheap little Vinyl Express has the ability to read it, which means I may have to trade up on a new cutter..

Can you please explain how to do the coversion or eventually you can sell the components ?
Thank you

 

[TurtleCreek]

20Arizona < cixelsyd m'I yrroS
Awesome what u have done! I have 2 Mimaki GP604 that have been mothballed..
These r Early Generation DTG's... Mimaki Converted their Flatbeds to DTG.
Thinking I can convert Solvent & print on NON Flat items... Have limitation in Print area.
They have DX4 Print Heads w Solvent Manifolds....
U think I would need to change all print lines?
Think this is doable? Worth the Effort?

 

[Jans Smit]

I would like to know if I can convert my L1300 to eco-solvent and what is required.

 

[anozira02]

First of all it's been close to two months since I did the conversion, happy to say it's still working just fine, Have to use the printer once a week or run head clean to prevent printhead drying up.
Most Epson print heads are eco solvent resistant well as the manifolds, main concerns are ink tubes and pump tubes those items sometime are not solvent resistant and could make a big mass
in your printer by using them, also most print cartridges not eco solvent resistant, however there are some that can handle the eco solvent ink. You can purchase solvent resistant ink tubes online to change those out,, however the pump lines not so easy to do. I have found some capping/pump Assy do come solvent resistant .
I also tricked the printer into print up to 48" long if needed. Some Epson printers do have Roll or Sheet mode settings.

 

[anozira02]

It's been close to 9 months since the conversion the print head holding up and no sign of any manifold issues, however I switched back using ink cartridges with my bulk Ciss, the dampers worked ok but I felt they could not
keep up with the ink demand. Currently converting an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 it looks very promising, will post video when got it finished..

 

[anozira02]

MY Epson stylus photo 1400 eco conversions turned out to be a success.. I like the idea that it's only a 6 channel printer, and do not require a rip to print good quality
images on indoor or outdoor vinyls, and even on canvas, it will print up to 44"x13" wide.. Here is a latest video..

 

[Jburns]

Thats really cool.