Leaving ink in a UV printer turned off

[ams]

I see a printer for sale that is a UV wide format printer, I can tell in the photos that it's unplugged and all of the ink is still in it.

I know with Solvent and Eco-Solvent that it will damage the print heads and dry up in the lines, however is that the case for UV printers as well? If I have to go and replace all the printheads, I am not buying it.

Thanks

 

[ikarasu]

Ask them to turn it on and run a nozzle test?

Every XX hours our FB500 does automatic cleanings. I don't think it's AS bad as a solvent being left off... But it definitely should be kept plugged in, unless they flush the lines. One day a new guy left the printer waiting for media... Which paused its cleaning cycle. It freaked out saying it's been 960 minutes between cleaning cycles, blah blah. It never caused any damage, but obviously it cleans itself for a reason. So unless you get a nozzle print done, I'd stay away from it.

That said... even if they are clogged, maybe it doesn't ruin the print heads, and a simple soaking would fix them. That you'd best wait for someone with experience for. Or call your local tech that services the brand, ask them what you should look out for in a new machine - We've done it a few times when buying used... Sometimes theclogged heads aren't the onlything you should worry about.

 

[ams]

It's coming from a government auction, usually schools sell these, so it most likely doesn't have professional people running it.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Yes, it can damage the printer. If it's been unplugged for an extended period of time, especially if the heads aren't capped, the heads could be shot. If it has white ink in it, you can pretty much count on those lines/heads being done for.

 

[Gino]

You should be fine. Offer $50 and you're good to go.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Most UV inks still have small amounts of solvents in them which can evaporate and dry the ink in the head. So over time they do act like solvents when unplugged and not running automatic cleaning cycles. I would say best case scenario just the heads are fried and nothing else.

 

[oldgoatroper]

There is also the need to keep the ink in the head reservoirs from draining out -- thus the need for power to maintain a certain level of vacuum. If no power, no vacuum, heads drain out, leaving only traces of ink to dry in the nozzles.

 

[FrankW]

HP for example says that if a FB500 stands filled up with ink without power, after two weeks half of the heads are unrecoverable damaged.

 

[Print Engineer]

I see a printer for sale that is a UV wide format printer, I can tell in the photos that it's unplugged and all of the ink is still in it.

I know with Solvent and Eco-Solvent that it will damage the print heads and dry up in the lines, however is that the case for UV printers as well? If I have to go and replace all the printheads, I am not buying it.

Thanks

No it's not a problem for UV inks they are water base not solvent type. But at least operator must clean within 4 to 5 days. We usually turned off our showroom demo UV printers even for one week and no problem for print heads.

 

[oldgoatroper]

No it's not a problem for UV inks they are water base not solvent type. But at least operator must clean within 4 to 5 days. We usually turned off our showroom demo UV printers even for one week and no problem for print heads.

Ink was definitely not water-based in the two UV printers that we've had (Colorspan / Gerber Ion). I always had a pouch or box of flush around for when a head or two or all needed flushing.

 

[Pauly]

No it's not a problem for UV inks they are water base not solvent type. But at least operator must clean within 4 to 5 days. We usually turned off our showroom demo UV printers even for one week and no problem for print heads.

I dont think so. We use alcohol to clean the ink.