NebraskaTrevor Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 Thanks, no way it would work without the AIO board and your code! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 While I am waiting on a few more parts to arrive to advance the build I did some playing around with printing. I got some photo paper and taped it down with a 2mm gap between the print head surface and the paper and printed a couple of photos. It looks pretty darned good, not quite perfect. still not sure if 2mm is a proper platen gap or not? I also wanted to start working toward on of my end goals. Ultimately I want to be able to UV Print on a substrate, mostly plastic and then cut the printed part out on my CNC router. I tried a simple indexing method whereby I print to cross hairs outside of opposite corners of the printed area. I then drill thru the cross hairs by hand with a 1/4" drill bit. Next I have my CNC router cut two corresponding holes in the bed and insert dowel pins. I guide the printed wood down to align it with the pins and then clamp it down as I normally would relying on the pins for alignment. Next I cut it out in the usual fashion and it was nearly perfect. I would say all of the edges are aligned within about 20 or 30 thousandths of an inch and much of that error is likely a result of drilling the holes in the printed piece by eye without the aid of a brad point bit. For a first attempt I was more than pleased and when perfected it should prove to be a good method of registering a cut path relative to a print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 After an extended Easter break with the kids at home I got back to work yesterday. I made a control box for the aio and wired up some tasty led buttons for plate in and out, and a selection switch for single or dual pass. The bottom power supply will be for the i0 watt uv led that should be arriving shortly and the top one is for the stepper and electronics. I think most people prefer to just tap into the epson power supply, but this supply was super cheap on Amazon and made wiring eased as well as isolating the epson electronics from the aio with the exception of the encoder. I will make a cover to enclose the lethal bits and clean it up moving forward. I haven't quite ordered ink yet but I have decided to go with Nazdar 260 uv led ink. It is made here in the Us, and at about 100 per liter it should be a very cost effective way to print albeit with a steep upfront cost to buy 5 jugs in one shot. I talked to their customer and the ink is designed for Epson print heads and cures with 395 nm uv led light so I made sure the light I ordered was the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy - Admin Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Wow very neat stuff. I like the print then router cut idea. Might have to give that a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 It worked surprisingly well. As long as the printer is printing true to scale I see no reason it shouldn't work pretty well for just about anything. I will probably do most parts by routing blanks first and then printing to avoid any edge chipping, but this is a neat technique as well, it would work great if you needed a bunch of something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 I went and bought a liquid cooling system for the uv led....if it ever arrives from Ali express! I promptly cut it apart and I will just use the radiator and pump. I also laser engraved the switch panel to give it a finished look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Progress has been slow but should pick up again now. My uv light finally showed up from China....60 bucks for 3 day shipping and it arrived exactly 16 days later....ugh. At any rate it is a dandy little device with amazing output. I have only bench tested it but it seems amazing. The ink also arrived yesterday from Nazdar so my ink conversion will begin soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 I started on my ink changeover today. The previous owner of the printer was kind enough to perform a fairly involved modification of the factor cartridge valves that defeats the one way valve to allow for refilling. That mod will make my life a lot easier going forward. I pulled all of the ink out of each of the nine cartridges.....almost made me cry as I dumped it all in a jug. What a waste but a necessary step. Next I filled and emptied the cartridges with 91 pct isopropyl until the alcohol pulled out was running clear. Next I will fill each with much more costly 99.9% ipa as it should remove any moisture remaining in the Mylar ink bags. Much to my surprise the black carts were the easiest to flush clean. Cyan and yellow took the most effort. Next I will disassemble the rest of the ink system and flush whatever I can, hopefully most of it, and replace anything that won't come clean. Since 4 of the channels will carry white ink those are of course the most critical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 All week was spent disassembling the entire ink system. What a job that proved to be. I took it completely apart so that I could be assured that I got as close to 100pct of the stock epson ink as possible removed. I was surprised that the black and grey inks easily flushed out while the yellow and the cyan proved to be the toughest to remove from the lines and dampers. At this point I did not replace anything in the ink system rather I flushed everything with first 91 pct, and then 99.9 pct isopropyl alcohol. Here are a few pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 I also shielded everything I could to avoid having stray uv light cure ink while it is still in the lines or dampers.....that would not be good! I covered the ink lines in black flat heat shrink tubing Andi painted the translucent cover that goes on top of the print head with about 10 coats of paint. Hopefully this will be sufficient to keep the uv out of unwanted areas. The white ink is set to arrive today and as soon as it does I will load the now empty and flushed cartridges and try to prime/print. Below are a couple pics of the light mounted. I am running it below its potential of 80watts, currently it is consuming about 54 watts. The lower I can run it the longer I assume it will last? The Nazdar 260 ink requires a min of 2 watts per square cm and this light claims to put out 12 watts per square cm so if they are being honest then I think I can run it below peak current. If it turns out not to cure the ink properly I will just turn it up until it does. I ran it for 30 min and the cooling system only rose about 2.5 deg f above ambient so I think the cooling system is good to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 Pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy - Admin Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy - Admin Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 What's the plan now? Use a different Epson like the 1430? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 Nope, given all of the commonality amongst epson printers I have a feeling it would destroy a 1430 just as quickly. I will decide between scrapping the idea all together and or making a completely resistant ink system of my own, but the print head becomes the unknown at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy - Admin Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Nope, given all of the commonality amongst epson printers I have a feeling it would destroy a 1430 just as quickly. I will decide between scrapping the idea all together and or making a completely resistant ink system of my own, but the print head becomes the unknown at that point. I was looking at these for the 1430 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4-pcs-lot-UV-ink-tank-bulk-ink-system-UV-ink-box-Solvent-resisted-UV-CISS/32804969449.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.254.39644d5bRTxyof&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10546_10340_5722611_10341_10548_10698_10545_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_10084_5722711_10083_10618_10307_5711215_10059_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_5711315_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=91841f2e-d1b0-48fb-8348-c73636032c1c-41&algo_pvid=91841f2e-d1b0-48fb-8348-c73636032c1c&priceBeautifyAB=0 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/16pcs-uv-small-damper-16pcs-screw-o-ring-10-meter-8-line-uv-ink-tube-3x1/32844241838.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.2.76c372bdl1Orz6&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10546_10340_5722611_10341_10548_10698_10545_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_10084_5722711_10083_10618_10307_5711215_10059_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_5711315_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=8d9f2320-d22e-43ef-9000-d17ef5e9b14e-0&algo_pvid=8d9f2320-d22e-43ef-9000-d17ef5e9b14e&priceBeautifyAB=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 21, 2018 Author Share Posted April 21, 2018 Nope, given all of the commonality amongst epson printers I have a feeling it would destroy a 1430 just as quickly. I will decide between scrapping the idea all together and or making a completely resistant ink system of my own, but the print head becomes the unknown at that point. I was looking at these for the 1430 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4-pcs-lot-UV-ink-tank-bulk-ink-system-UV-ink-box-Solvent-resisted-UV-CISS/32804969449.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.254.39644d5bRTxyof&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10546_10340_5722611_10341_10548_10698_10545_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_10084_5722711_10083_10618_10307_5711215_10059_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_5711315_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=91841f2e-d1b0-48fb-8348-c73636032c1c-41&algo_pvid=91841f2e-d1b0-48fb-8348-c73636032c1c&priceBeautifyAB=0 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/16pcs-uv-small-damper-16pcs-screw-o-ring-10-meter-8-line-uv-ink-tube-3x1/32844241838.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.2.76c372bdl1Orz6&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10546_10340_5722611_10341_10548_10698_10545_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_10084_5722711_10083_10618_10307_5711215_10059_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_5711315_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=8d9f2320-d22e-43ef-9000-d17ef5e9b14e-0&algo_pvid=8d9f2320-d22e-43ef-9000-d17ef5e9b14e&priceBeautifyAB=0 Andy, as you likely know the ink system on the 3800/3880 is a fairly complicated pressurized setup with several valves in it, and a couple of fairly complicated manifolds. Some of the ink system was affected by the ink, but not all of it was. Interestingly enough the Dampers did not seem to be affected by the ink, at least so far. Now that I am over the anger of having the ink destroy much of the ink system I have moved on to deciding to replace what was damaged with some CNC machined aluminum manifolds and some black silicone tubing to connect the print heads to a new set of ink reservoirs. There are some commercially available ink tanks out there like this. https://www.ebay.com/i/282070791012 but they sure seem expensive for what you get, and I am really tired of waiting for stuff to arrive from Asia! I think I will just machine my own set of ink tanks from aluminum and hook it all up with the silicone tubing and fittings that I just ordered from Amazon. Since the old cartridges relied on a pressurized bladder to squeeze the ink out of them using the air compressor built into the printer these new tanks will need to have a perfect seal on the lid and a provision to apply air pressure to the top of each tank to force the ink out of the bottom. Fortunately UV ink not only survives with air sitting on top of it apparently according to the interwebs it actually helps it to last longer. I plan to machine each chamber to be right at 80 cc which is the capacity of the stock cartridges. Since in order for the printer to boot up and run properly the old ink assembly will need to be hooked up so that the printer can read all 9 cartridge chips. I figure that I might just as well take advantage of that fact to use them a level indicators. I will hopefully be able to rely on the ink levels on the LCD and then reset the chip on each dummy cartridge whenever I fill up a corresponding ink tank. It is tempting to make them bigger, but then I would need to constantly check them to ensure that I had not run low on any of the inks. The only exception to this will probably be the white which I will make larger since it will be feeding 4 channels at once. Hopefully the dampers will hold up and I can get this thing working. If not then the black uv dampers for the 3800, again only aviliable from China will need to be ordered. I am starting to think that this whole thing was a really bad Idea, but I am in so deep now that I have to throw a few more $$$$'s at it in the hopes of getting a working tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 22, 2018 Author Share Posted April 22, 2018 Hopefully this is the first part of several that will solve my problems with the ink eating through the plastic parts! A couple changes are needed so I will need to make another but it at least plugs onto the dampers so that is a good start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhim Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 I once saw the work of EPSON 3800, the printer had the entire ink pump removed. The printer worked straight from the ink tanks. And the air pump was connected to each tank. Air pressure pushes out ink and creates ink pressure in the printer head and the printer does not install an ink error and uses this damper https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-printer-DX7-UV-ink-damper-for-Epson-B500-B510-B508-B300-B310-DX7-UV/32711892408.html?spm=a2g0v.10010108.1000023.9.5d5a4608POMNEy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 I once saw the work of EPSON 3800, the printer had the entire ink pump removed. The printer worked straight from the ink tanks. And the air pump was connected to each tank. Air pressure pushes out ink and creates ink pressure in the printer head and the printer does not install an ink error and uses this damper https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-printer-DX7-UV-ink-damper-for-Epson-B500-B510-B508-B300-B310-DX7-UV/32711892408.html?spm=a2g0v.10010108.1000023.9.5d5a4608POMNEy Thanks for the reply, those look interesting. I see that it says they fit the dx7 print head, but they are not at all like my dampers which sit at a right angle to the print head manifold. They are cheap enough though that they might be worth ordering. As you suggested it is my plan to eliminate the stock ink tanks (hooked up though to avoid an error) and use my own tanks pressurized with the printers air pump to move the ink. Here is my first attempt, a whole day wasted on something that I can't get to seal up, back to the drawing board.....again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 Pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhim Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Here's a video where you can see when you pause how to connect the damper DX7 can help you. Here are different variants of DX7 dampers https://www.google.com.ua/search?biw=1680&bih=919&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=KHbfWvCAMs7nsAGd3oiICg&q=damper+DX7+uv&oq=damper+DX7+uv&gs_l=psy-ab.12...93559.101696.0.103154.7.5.2.0.0.0.98.427.5.5.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.104...0i30k1.0.4NFUQq10grI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 Progress on the ink system continues. I had a couple very helpful conversations with Josh at Nazdar from which I was able to make some decisions that will hopefully have me headed in the right direction. Today I machined a 1 piece acetal (delrin) manifold that will accept 5 input lines.....cmyk+w and distributor the ink to the correct input port of the 8 dampers, it doesn't look like much now, but it was crazy hard to design and then make, but I tested it and there are no leaks and all of the paths flow freely, I will install it in the printer tomorrow. I also sourced some walmart stainless water bottles and converted the lids of them to allow 2 tubes to be fitted while maintaing pressure. One tube will bring air to each ink bottle and the other line will be a siphon tube to allow the pressurized ink to get out. 3 of the 5bbottles were even powdercoated the correct colors, or at least close enough. I had to paint the yellow bottle, and still need to paint or vinyl wrap the white bottle to identify it as well. I have ordered the correct tubing, lldpe and it will be here next week though I will probably test it first with the silicone tubing I allready bought since I am so anxious to see it hopefully work. Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NebraskaTrevor Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 Ink bottles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uhim Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Have you thought about how the cartridge chips will be connected? Here's my fixing chips, there may be new ideas for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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