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Make your own cleaning solution?

anozira02

New Member
Does anyone can give me some tips of what ratio to mix acetone with Butyl Cellosolve to use as a cleaning solution for eco-solvent ink?
 

artbot

New Member
you're gonna need butyl carbitol too. actually i quit using the cellosolve all together. there are a lot of threads about diy/homebrew cleaning solution. my favorite is 1 acetone, 6 parts butyl carbitol. just using the cellosolve alone may cause clotting. at least it does with triangle ink. whatever you mix up, do a test in a very small container. you want the ink to purrely dissolve with no coagulation and no settling at the bottom. it'll settle after weeks. just no immediate settling.
 

Salmoneye

New Member
You make it with the same stuff as the big boys, and it will probably cost you about the same. There is not acetone or butyl cellosolve in eco sol cleaning solution.
 

artbot

New Member
i'm not sure about roland eco-solve. but i've never seen a single solvent ink that doesn't contain the base material of butyl Cellosolve acetate (and to home brew/mimic that you add acetone to butyl cellosolve)

Butyl Cellosolve Acetate; 2-Butoxyethanol
acetate; Acetic acid, 2-butoxyeethyl ester; Butyl Cellosolve
acetate; Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate

i understand that acetone is not acetic acid but it is a great off the shelf substitute. if a person want so keep some factory cleaning solution around, that's a good idea. but if you are clearing lines, switching ink sets, storing a printer...it's awesome to make up a gallon of home brew for $50 that would have cost 10x that or more otherwise.

attached is the msds for ES3 cleaning solution (mimaki eco solve). again. same base materials every time.
 

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Typestries

New Member
You can buy 5 liters of Lyson/Nazdar solvent flush solution for $45. Not a bad deal at all. It works great for Designjet 9000 inks. Not sure about others. But, at that price, it's not worth homebrewing.
 

Motoskins829

New Member
Thanks Arbot...I was apalled when I had to order some of this and my bill for a 8oz bottle with shipping was $45. So I will be making some of this homebrew tomorrow. I knew there should be a alternative and thanks to you I'll be able to save some money for my pocket and actually get plenty of cleaner for the same price as the 8oz bottle. apperciate it!
 

CentralSigns

New Member
Just seen some cleaning cartridges on EBay for pennies. If your using it for cleaning by hand that's the place I would look.
 

artbot

New Member
if it costs pennies, than the materials used cost pennies. and butyl carbitol isn't cheap. if it works great than that is awesome. but i could easily come up with a brew that cost a 1/5 as much.

at this point i just use butyl carbitol and a little acetone. butyl cellosolve to me is filler so the manufacturer doesn't have to use as much of the "good stuff". in my experience the carbitol melts the ink down to the silkiest, least coagulated of all balances. the more cellosolve you add, the lower the performance of the fluid.
 

MikePro

New Member
also noted, if you've ever bought the cleaning cartridges for your JV3 to run the head wash... keep them! I've been able to refill with my homebrew cleaning solution and it works great!
I'd run it as part of a bi-weekly maintenance routine if I wasn't concerned about wasting so much ink :)
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I can understand making weasel pizz in place of Rapid Tac.... or some other home-remedy concoctions for lightweight things around the shop, but the need to find cheaper cleaning solutions and run it through a machine you've paid many thousands to have... seems a bit extreme.

  • Does this machine of yours produce enough signs to keep you in business ??
  • Have you not included all costs to do business in your pricing ??
  • Does your overhead have supplies and miscellaneous things in it ??
  • Do you not plan to purchase things for up-keep around your shop ??

When you go to the mechanic to have your car worked on.... when he's finished..... does he wipe your car down with a snot rag or a cleaning rag ?? Afterall, snot rags are a lot cheaper and re-usable than shop rags.
 

MikePro

New Member
lol, snot.

on that argument, then why make anything ourselves when we can simply outsource it and pad our pricing a bit more? everyone else does it, so why bother making ANYTHING these days? lets all just be brokers and come on these forums and pretend to be sign guys.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
lol, snot.

on that argument, then why make anything ourselves when we can simply outsource it and pad our pricing a bit more? everyone else does it, so why bother making ANYTHING these days? lets all just be brokers and come on these forums and pretend to be sign guys.


You either don't know how close you are to the truth.... or you're being sarcastic......... :ROFLMAO:


Really, for the people making their own stuff and getting their hands dirty, it's truly rewarding to see your work... working for someone.

When someone comes to town, I can honestly say, we did that. We did that over there and those trucks we designed and lettered. See that ?? We did that about 20 years ago. So on and so on. For someone just re-selling something.... it might as well be a pair of sneakers from China, with the mindset some of these people have. How cheap can I find/make this and charge either too much or undercut every shop in town ?? They don't know or understand value.

While the pattern makers are slowly dying off, we have a new force to reckon with and that's one of 'Born with a Silver Spoon' but not in your mouth, but in the never ending 'we're owed a living' mentality.

Most all people in this country today and in this business, don't know what it's like to start from absolutely nothing. They see capitalism everywhere and think it's owed to them, since others have it. They get loans, help from friends and family and when they dig a hole so deep, they file bankruptcy and don't look back. They don't worry about knowing anything about that which they are entering into. They don't do research, learn a trade or even wanna invest their own money. Put it on a credit card or sign your name and hope you can figure it out along the way.

Yeah well, it's just an observation. I don't want it to get political, so' I'll stop here. :Oops:
 

Border

New Member
.... so' I'll stop here. :Oops:


Thank you! Promise???

I believe this thread was intended to help those going through a BUNCH of cleaning solutions, mostly while trying to revive old machines, which in this scenario could save possibly several hundred dollars on the refurb. And also very useful for the start-up guy who bought an old used printer with the intent of getting to know how to service one, as has been suggested by many people here over the past years.


I don't think anyone here made any suggestions about making this cleaning solution to save a few bucks when cleaning their brand new mega-buck printers.

There is good info here! -thanks to the guys like artbot!
 

NZDR-Payne

New Member
For what it is worth, here's some info for those of you who aren't into the "homebrew" process.

LWSRPF4Z 4OZ BOTTLE SOLVENT MAINT FLUID $4.50

LWSRPF5M 500ML BOTTLE SOLV MAINT FLUID $25.00

Link to online ordering here.
 

MikePro

New Member
lol, i always speak the truth :)

also a +1 to people, that are wary about putting a chemical cocktail through their expensive printers, should look into 3rd party ink (like Nazdar) manufacturers' cleaning solution options if they want a simple alternative to the expensive OEM solutions.

I, however, love my homebrew because I can be as wasteful as I want with it. Heck, part of my maintenance routine is to "disway wash" 2-3oz. of solution through each of my capping station lines a week, that's like $25 in solution from mimaki and less than $10 for me to do it myself! (thanks again, artbot, for turning me on to this)
another example is the "head wash" that requires at least 4 cleaning cartridges to run the process... at $40+ each, that's $160+ to get 2, maybe 3, headwashes out of it. BUT now that I have the cartridges, I can refill each of them for maybe $10 each and run head washes at will, if I don't mind how much ink i'm wasting.
Regardless, to those that do decide to go homebrew... test it first before putting it through your expensive equipment.
its like picking mushrooms: you can trust some book with pictures to identify the non-poisonous ones... but I still wouldn't eat a whole plate of em til I at least try just ONE (or even half of one) first and to make sure I don't get sick.
 

J Hill Designs

New Member
its like picking mushrooms: you can trust some book with pictures to identify the non-poisonous ones... but I still wouldn't eat a whole plate of em til I at least try just ONE (or even half of one) first and to make sure I don't get sick.

...or start feeling funny...

:rock-n-roll:
 

OldPaint

New Member
i find it really funny, with these printer people asking questions about latex, ventilation, solvent inks and if they are hazardous........THEN......YOU PLAY IN THESE chemicals i see on here......like it was water????? i can tell you all the lead paint and turps ive lived with aint half as deadly as the stuff you guys want to mix up)))))) that brings me round to GINOS POST....and how close to the truth he is)))))
 
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