Has anyone tried using LUS-175 ink ( LUS-170 vs. LUS-175 vs. LUS-200) and how to switch between them on Mimaki UCJV300 series printers

[HGdesign]

I hope you are all doing well. I have recently gotten into UV printing with a Mimaki UCJV300 roll-to-roll printer and trying to understand as much as I can.
I could not find posts that talk in depth about the variations between the 3 inks the printer supports, the procedures that you must use to switch between them, and the potential problems you could run into with compatibility, etc.
Specifically here a some types of questions I would like to understand more:
- The UCJV300 printers specifically list all 3 inks as compatible (LUS170, LUS175, and LUS200)
- I see info that LUS200 is a more flexible ink for applications such as car wraps, but I could not find any info about the differences between LUS170 and LUS175
- From what I can see, LUS-175 is sold overseas, and LUS-170 in the US, but no info whether they are different inks, or identical?
- Have any of you tried using LUS175 ink and have any experience with compatibility of the ink itself as well as the 175 chips?
- There is a decent cost savings to LUS-175, so can it be directly used in a machine setup for LUS-170 or will there be problems?
- I would like to understand all the technical steps & specific settings that need to be modified to switch between these 3 ink types
- Are there compatibility issues with the inks themselves that will lead to undesirable chemical reactions causing clogs, or damage to the printheads, etc. if the previous ink is not thoroughly flushed out before switching
- OR are they chemically compatible, safe to swap and allow the old ink flush itself out overtime with use (If we are not running color critical prints)

Thank you !

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

From what I could tell, it was a slight formulation variance for compliance between 170 and 175. Never seen 175 in a UCJV300/150, everyone pretty much runs 170. Changing inks is easy, but going to 175 here in the US might result in some issues getting the ink you need.

 

[Solventinkjet]

The machine isn't really meant to switch inks regularly. Like smoke says, it's fairly easy to do but the more you do it, the more likely you are to causes damaged to the machine. All of my customers use LUS-170. The main difference between LUS-170 and LUS-200 is LUS-200 qualified for the Avery warranty by being slightly more flexible. But I don' t know anyone who uses it. Also, whenever you see an ink that's only available in certain countries, it's usually due to regulations.

To switch inks you basically flush the entire machine out with cleaning solution and refill with the new ink. You need to change a few parameters as well. The official way according to Mimaki requires changing out sub tanks and maintenance parts as well but most people skip that part.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

For the UCJV series, LUS-170 is the most versatile, economical, and most common ink for this printer. Swapping colors is easy, such as going from light cyan/light magenta to clear. Just takes a bit to purge pigments.