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Question 3rd Party Gerber Solara IONx inks

stickerhed

stickerhed

New Member
Is anyone aware of any 3rd party inks for the Gerber Solara ION series of printers? I must have purchased the only ION that worked. I've had it 10 years this September and only minor issues. I really don't want to have to trash this working printer because I can't find ink. Thanks in advance.
 
M

MARCEL1

New Member
stickerhed said:
Is anyone aware of any 3rd party inks for the Gerber Solara ION series of printers? I must have purchased the only ION that worked. I've had it 10 years this September and only minor issues. I really don't want to have to trash this working printer because I can't find ink. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
stickerhed said:
Is anyone aware of any 3rd party inks for the Gerber Solara ION series of printers? I must have purchased the only ION that worked. I've had it 10 years this September and only minor issues. I really don't want to have to trash this working printer because I can't find ink. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
stickerhed said:
Is anyone aware of any 3rd party inks for the Gerber Solara ION series of printers? I must have purchased the only ION that worked. I've had it 10 years this September and only minor issues. I really don't want to have to trash this working printer because I can't find ink. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

GERBER just announced that Konica/Minolta has picked up the ball and is committed to producing the ink for at least another couple years. They started making it several years ago and also manufacture the heads, so unless you need other parts that GERBER runs out of, we all should be able to run our machines until the wheels fall off and some can't live without part becomes unavailable from GERBER. Ours is also in excellent condition according to our service tech and until its render useless, we will keep running it.

On another thread, an ink manufacturer just announced their intention to produce the ink as well.

I did find a Chinese producer a while back whose cost is so incredibly low that I got scared off from even buying one pouch to check its ingredients. I kept asking them for a clear, readable photo of the label and he kept sending a blurry photo, so I gave up on that one.
 
Cuantekusa

Cuantekusa

INKS FOR WIDE FORMAT PRINTERS cuantek-usa.com
We are in the process of coming up with compatible 1 Liter UV ink pouches for the GERBER CAT/SOLARA UV printers.
The inks are made in the USA. The bags are just like the OEM, same square shape and same ink valve; so it will be a plug and continue printing solution, no need to tweak the printer's ink system.
Currently we have two customers testing our ink solution, we are making sure that the colors are compatible as well as ink adhesion is as expected.
If all goes as planned we will have these inks available for sale by the end of this month (Aug/2018).

Contact me if you have one of these printers and are in need of ink, or let me know your intention to order in the future, so that we can produce enough for the demand.

Francisco Garcia
francisco@cuantek-usa.com
San Antonio, TX. USA
 
M

MARCEL1

New Member
TimToad said:
GERBER just announced that Konica/Minolta has picked up the ball and is committed to producing the ink for at least another couple years. They started making it several years ago and also manufacture the heads, so unless you need other parts that GERBER runs out of, we all should be able to run our machines until the wheels fall off and some can't live without part becomes unavailable from GERBER. Ours is also in excellent condition according to our service tech and until its render useless, we will keep running it.

On another thread, an ink manufacturer just announced their intention to produce the ink as well.

I did find a Chinese producer a while back whose cost is so incredibly low that I got scared off from even buying one pouch to check its ingredients. I kept asking them for a clear, readable photo of the label and he kept sending a blurry photo, so I gave up on that one.
Click to expand...
Cuantekusa said:
We are in the process of coming up with compatible 1 Liter UV ink pouches for the GERBER CAT/SOLARA UV printers.
The inks are made in the USA. The bags are just like the OEM, same square shape and same ink valve; so it will be a plug and continue printing solution, no need to tweak the printer's ink system.
Currently we have two customers testing our ink solution, we are making sure that the colors are compatible as well as ink adhesion is as expected.
If all goes as planned we will have these inks available for sale by the end of this month (Aug/2018).

Contact me if you have one of these printers and are in need of ink, or let me know your intention to order in the future, so that we can produce enough for the demand.

Francisco Garcia
francisco@cuantek-usa.com
San Antonio, TX. USA
Click to expand...
I have 3 Flatbed Gerber solara Ionx <Located Aurora I,Illinois , looking for maintenance anyone contact :Marcelinojabr@gmail.com
 
stickerhed

stickerhed

New Member
TimToad said:
GERBER just announced that Konica/Minolta has picked up the ball and is committed to producing the ink for at least another couple years. They started making it several years ago and also manufacture the heads, so unless you need other parts that GERBER runs out of, we all should be able to run our machines until the wheels fall off and some can't live without part becomes unavailable from GERBER. Ours is also in excellent condition according to our service tech and until its render useless, we will keep running it.

On another thread, an ink manufacturer just announced their intention to produce the ink as well.

I did find a Chinese producer a while back whose cost is so incredibly low that I got scared off from even buying one pouch to check its ingredients. I kept asking them for a clear, readable photo of the label and he kept sending a blurry photo, so I gave up on that one.
Click to expand...


Where did you see the announcement? I went to their website (gspinc.com) and it still says ending July 2018
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
stickerhed said:
The letter I got says through November 2018 because they found a vendor with ink dated Feb. 2019
Click to expand...

Same letter, but I just presumed when they said "until supplies run out" that Konica/Minolta would just keep making it indefinitely until demand disappeared.
 
G

Gerberhackuv

New Member
I have a Gerber cat uv, also trying to fix a vaccum error! check the log file, this is what mine says

[0:01:38.815] Current ink vacuum pressure is (0.50 psi)
[0:01:38.815] Setting ink vacuum pressure to (0.34 psi)...
[0:02:39.447] Error: failed to set ink vacuum, err=728
[0:02:39.447] Error: potentially blocked ink vacuum filter, err=728
[0:02:39.447] Error: ink vacuum pressure failure, err=728
[0:02:39.447] Error: pressure not stable at Carriage Board
[0:02:39.452] Current ink vacuum pressure is 0.50 psi
[0:02:39.452]
[0:02:39.452] Ink System is being set to safe condition.
[0:02:39.452]
[0:02:39.452] Placing ink pumps in safe state, turning off all ink pumps.
[0:02:39.554] Placing ink solenoids in safe state, closing all solenoids.
[0:02:39.957] Placing ink vacuum in safe state, turning off ink vacuum pump.
[0:02:43.382] Error: Ink vacuum not turned off, press=0.50, err=718
[0:02:43.382] Error: Ink System not in safe condition, err=718

attached to the vaccum tank is a check valve that looks like a filter, i switched that out with a generic 1 way check valve, now holding pressure at .50 but now cannot set it to .34 ? I purchased some ink from china, need to fix so I can test the new ink supply.
 
J

Johnny Riddle

New Member
I unfortunately own a Gerber Cat Uv flatbed printer, I bought it without having time to do a search first , didn't know it was a boat anchor .
Does anyone have any ideals how I can sell this beast . I also have 3 new motors , and what looks like a new Vacuum motor. Looks like the ink lines were disconnected and cleaned out. I have no ideal if it works. just need to sell
 
G

Gerberhackuv

New Member
Johnny Riddle said:
I unfortunately own a Gerber Cat Uv flatbed printer, I bought it without having time to do a search first , didn't know it was a boat anchor .
Does anyone have any ideals how I can sell this beast . I also have 3 new motors , and what looks like a new Vacuum motor. Looks like the ink lines were disconnected and cleaned out. I have no ideal if it works. just need to sell
Click to expand...
ink is available from a company in china, or there is also a retrofit kit available to use the more standard uv ink. what would you like for your spare parts list?
 
J

Johnny Riddle

New Member
Gerberhackuv said:
ink is available from a company in china, or there is also a retrofit kit available to use the more standard uv ink. what would you like for your spare parts list?
Click to expand...

I'm really not sure what the parts would be worth, doesn't seem to be available anywhere that I can find. The parts numbers are P81974C 3 each and P83428A 1 each.
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
Gerberhackuv said:
ink is available from a company in china, or there is also a retrofit kit available to use the more standard uv ink. what would you like for your spare parts list?
Click to expand...

Earlier in this thread, an ink manufacturer from Texas shared his company info and news about them starting to manufacture the same formula. I've since received contact from him and the pouches look the same and the cost is about 60% of GERBER OEM ink. We haven't tried any yet, but most likely will switch once the GERBER OEM supply dries up.

With no value to the machine and ours being in excellent condition, we're just running it until a major, irreplaceable part breaks down. MOST of the parts including the printheads are available and being used in other brand printers. In fact, the printheads are readily available online and about a third of the price that GERBER was gouging people for.

Our current supplier is just a middle man for GERBER and they told us that the supply is dwindling at GERBER itself. I've tried to reach somebody from KONICA/MINOLTA to buy direct and have gotten zero response.
 
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