Mimaki JV33-130 dryer?

[petesign]

It's pretty humid here, and occasionally I have prints that stick together on the take up roll. Especially when it's a sign or banner with a dark background. In the past I had a JV-3 machine with a dryer attachment, and it seemed to work pretty good.

Are any of you using an attachment, or just putting a box fan in front of your prints (does that cause dust to stick for you?) or what other solutions have you found other than print 16 pass, uni-directional?

I think I could make something like the dryer attachment using those CPU case fans and some creative metal or woodwork... waiting on supplier to give me a cost on the attachment as I move forward. Thought this might be a good thread about ingenuity like I have seen about the home-made take up rollers on here.

 

[Rooster]

How about using a dehumidifier?

 

[Letterbox Mike]

We have the Digi-Dry unit, works great, worth every penny. We can print heavy coverage black on 180C at 6-pass bidirectional high speed without any issues, we can't do that without the dryer though.

The JV3 came with a dryer attachment that just had fans blowing on the media, it didn't really do much in my opinion, I really think any dryer needs heat, not just air.

 

[petesign]

Could you send me a link to one? (The digi-dryer) That sounds exactly like what I want. Who makes it, etc.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

http://www.bbcind.com/digidri.aspx

 

[petesign]

Finally got busy enough to want to print faster and faster. So, we built a dryer using case fans and a power supply from an old computer.

Just tested it out on glossy banner material, 6 pass bi-directional print, solid black swatch, and it was dry by the time it got to the take up roller. YAY!

I thought about using LED fans, but figured they would bug me while looking for color.. so - here it is.

-- as for heat, it sits on the machine right at the level of the post print heater, so it stays pretty warm there. So far, I am able to print 4x faster than before, so I am pretty happy. My wife might be able to see me before it gets dark outside again.

 

[bloobird0]

stupid question: which direction are supposed the dryer fans to blow air? To the media or from the media?

 

[WrapperX]

+1 on the Digi Dryer - it works great. Obviously it puts out alot of heat as well but it worked awesome for when I used one.

Bloobird - If its a fan that comes with the printer like JV3 then there is no option the fans blow. If you are setting up a Box Fan then I would think you would want the fan to blow the air onto the print so that the surface is getting the desired air movement. Doesn't seem like it would do much good to have it sucking the air away.

 

[bloobird0]

that's what I thought but I had in mind that the fans could exhaust the solvent from the print more easily so that it dryes faster.

 

[mustafade]

We have the Digi-Dry unit, works great, worth every penny. We can print heavy coverage black on 180C at 6-pass bidirectional high speed without any issues, we can't do that without the dryer though.

Let me ask a question.
I just printed 46' trailer work which is 54" x 150' roll if I was to have what you have could I start laminating it as soon as it finished printing?

 

[WrapperX]

Let me ask a question.
I just printed 46' trailer work which is 54" x 150' roll if I was to have what you have could I start laminating it as soon as it finished printing?

If you have the solvent printers I would advise to let it completley out gas for the recommended 24hrs EVEN WITH the use of the heater. The heater is really good to get a good solid surface dry. Having just the fans, there's still a risk of the inks not completly drying and then they stick to the back of the print as it is rolled up on the take up. With the heater dryer you might get away with letting it out gas for 12 hours but - with any solvents I try to let them fully out gas.

Now this is not to say that I haven't printed and laminated right away. Even with out a heater. Sometimes there are just time where you gotta do what you gotto do.