researching Flatbed printers,

[chafro]

The usual day to day coro, forex, foamboards, ACP and occasional glass, acrylic & timber jobs.
Our old Oce 360 is having quality issues and is getting just too slow to turn larger orders over fast enough.

Go demo a Swissqprint. Since you already know OCE, you can make a good comparative. Their printers Seem like they will last forever and they are as reliable as they get.


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[Bly]

Quality issues? What it is? What mode are you using mostly? PM me if you need to

Nozzle dropouts, banding. Mainly on expensive substrates like ACM.
We can get all nozzles firing (apart from one black which has always been out) but the gradient on the nozzle check print is scratchy on all the dark inks.
We bought it used just to get into flatbed printing so can't expect it to be perfect but some days we spend as much time purging and swabbing as printing.
Maybe it needs some new heads although the tech said we should be able to get them clean.
I sure don't know how. Tried pretty much everything.

 

[Bly]

Go demo a Swissqprint. Since you already know OCE, you can make a good comparative. Their printers Seem like they will last forever and they are as reliable as they get.

A Swissq is definitely on the shortlist for our next flatbed.

 

[Bly]

Big thanks to Pauly for some tips on cleaning our heads properly.
I'm sure the Oce techs told us something similar but the info didn't sink in.
A few swabs and flushes and the gradient nozzle check prints are way better already.

 

[Pauly]

Big thanks to Pauly for some tips on cleaning our heads properly.
I'm sure the Oce techs told us something similar but the info didn't sink in.
A few swabs and flushes and the gradient nozzle check prints are way better already.

 

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Anything I didn't already know Pauly?

 

[Pauly]

Anything I didn't already know Pauly?

Just stuff i've picked up over the years.
Using flush to soak the heads for example.

 

[Pauly]

Another trick I learned when the Oce tech was here last month (new to me anyways) is to vacuum the heads from front to back when you have stubborn nozzles.

Also dabbing the head with flat part of a flush soaked swab, then letting it sit 10-15 mins before purging and vacuuming will often get nozzles back.

We had one cyan nozzle that had been out for months and he was able to easily recover it when he was here.

Never tried reverse vacumm the heads.
But yes i said to Bly to soak the head with flush using the swab. The vacuum of the heads will suck the flush in so it'll devolve anything between.

 

[KaranGrewal]

Check out swissQ.. Strong built and high quality prints.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Nothing new then... I'll keep on keeping on
I've found that the bulletin about using isopropyl doesn't clean the nozzles as well as flush, so just continue to use it as per the original directions ~4 years ago.

 

[Pauly]

Nothing new then... I'll keep on keeping on
I've found that the bulletin about using isopropyl doesn't clean the nozzles as well as flush, so just continue to use it as per the original directions ~4 years ago.

Ive had 0 issues using Isopropyl instead of flush.
What they say is to purge, suction, swab, purge, suction. all in that order. But i just swab, purge, suction and 99% of the time mine are good. If theres dirt in them and becomes stubborn, then i'll use flush.

 

[Bly]

Iso worked great for cleaning our heads using Pauly's method.
We've also started laying a coating of flush on the heads overnight.

 

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We don't print every day (sometimes a week+ between jobs depending on load), so we need the extra aggressiveness of flush I guess.
I try put a layer of flush on the heads every couple of days to keep the nozzles open when I know we won't be using it for a while.
So far we've had a good run. Only one stuck nozzle in 4 years.

 

[Pauly]

Iso worked great for cleaning our heads using Pauly's method.
We've also started laying a coating of flush on the heads overnight.

Only leave it over night if you're cleaning them. no need if they're clean.

We don't print every day (sometimes a week+ between jobs depending on load), so we need the extra aggressiveness of flush I guess.
I try put a layer of flush on the heads every couple of days to keep the nozzles open when I know we won't be using it for a while.
So far we've had a good run. Only one stuck nozzle in 4 years.

You can leave it for a week with out touching it, but you should clean it daily. even if it's just a purge and suction.. I'll run a "onyx white ink restrictions" test chart basically a cmykRGB chart but with out the white underlayer. to get everything going. White is generally good if you run a white test print in the special prints on the screen.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

CMYK will pretty much always come up 100% clean after the first swap/purge regardless of how long ours is left alone.
The only bit that can be annoying is a ~10mm portion of the white heads below where the ink tube feeds into the top.
It allows particles to settle in that small portion of the swath and can be a bit more challenging to flush clean.
That being said, I don't think it's ever taken any more than 30 mins to get white back to 100% firing again.
We use a combo of the standard Nozzle Check and Nozzle Check - White from the special prints page to get things moving.