Andy - Admin

This is officially the worst day I have had in a very long time. The last of the Nazdar 260 ink arrived today and I had the printer completely ready and tested except fot the ink of course. I carefully filled each of the cartridges with ecactly 80 ml of ink and plugged them in and fired it up. I had just finished the second power clean (each takes 5 to 7 minutes) and I looked over and saw white ink dripping from the frame of the machine. That was the first and very ominous sign of complete failure. I have spent the last couple hours disassembling what is left of the printer to find out that the expensive made in USA "Safe for Epson Print heads" ink is not compatible with any of the other parts of an Epson printer. It literally ate through everything plastic, and the ink hoses causing the nasty ink to leak out and get everywhere. There are holes in the hoses, plastic parts that almost exploded they shattered so badly and a huge mess every where. I yanked the print head out and flushed it with alcohol in the hopes that it may not be ruined but it is a bit of a mute point since every other part of the ink delivery system is toast and the cost to replace them exceeds the cost of the printer. On a side note I can barely feel my fingers. I was wearing very good kimberly clark nitrile gloves that I have found to be impervious to just about anything but what ever is in this ink has managed to permeate the gloves and cause my fingers to go numb. I dont know what is in this stuff but to say that it has ruined my day is a massive understatement. The ink system of this printer is so complex and specific that unfortunately I dont think there is any way to rebuild what has been melted. A couple of pics to follow.

WOW. That's crazy. I had read it's hard on some stuff but I wouldn't have imagined it would be that bad.

Wow very neat stuff.

I like the print then router cut idea. Might have to give that a try.

Very impressive build and how quickly you're getting the 3800 to work well.

I agree those MDF prints look neat in their own way.

I wonder if it is a timing of the signal or is it the signal itself?

What if you used a relay triggered by the arduino that uses the epson PE switch wires. You'd still have to figure out the timing but it would be using Epsons own signal back to itself

Not sure if that made sense... it did in my head

You're making great progress.

Those clear prints mean it is nice and sturdy

Looking great. Thanks for posting as you go.

There are a lot of damper and line choices on Aliexpress.com

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/30pcs-lot-Flatbed-UV-ink-damper-for-Epson-DX7-head-Titanjet-Black-ink-dumper-for-tube/32748351260.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.39.Z8c0Gf&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10110_10178_10137_10111_10060_10112_10113_10155_10114_10154_438_10056_10055_10054_10182_10059_100031_10099_10078_10079_10103_10073_10102_10189_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_2&btsid=a5cd897f-7ca7-4fe7-955d-799c84b316df&algo_expid=799c0974-1a21-465b-8a9a-14c3c63e4057-5&algo_pvid=799c0974-1a21-465b-8a9a-14c3c63e4057

Looking around I found UV dampers and ink lines.

My hope and guess is the printhead will be fine but the dampers and lines just need changed.

Good information.

Here is another source of inks: https://www.firebirdink.com/product-category/uv-inks/

The epson power supply can handle quite a bit extra I use it to power our AIO board that has a motor driver on it. But it would probably be best to use an external power source.

Thanks for the info... they get expensive.

Is the water cooling needed? What's the lowest wattage that will still cure inks?

I think any cleaning fluid to make sure 2 different inks don't touch would be better than nothing.

Good to know. 

Now I'm wondering if a lower wattage LED on the left side of the head to do a "pre-cure", then a strip of higher wattage LEDs on the front edge would be enough to work. 

Not a bad idea. Is there such a thing as over curing the inks? I would assume not since they would get UV light naturally after printed but I don't know, never messed with UV inks.

There is room on the left of the head carriage for a 1/4inch addition. None on the right.

I don't think there is room on the right side of the printhead. and on the left it would have to be slim so it doesn't hit the Epson from.

If the lights are cheap I wonder if it would be easier to just do a row of them under the front edge of the printer that is the full width.

Anybody have a good source for UV cure lights?

I see UFO has these:: http://ufoprinter.com/uv-solution-c-12/uv-led-lamp-system-all-brands-epson-machine-adaptive-p-12.html

But I'm wondering if anyone has done some DIY to make it work.