UV Ink Conversion

[Biker Scout]

Hello again... it's been awhile. But I've decided to buy another printer. (1.6m) But this time, I wanted to focus on a legit green ink solution for my "Eco Conscious" clients. So I've had my heart set on Sepiax for awhile, but I'm just not seeing any traction beyond sales reps claims. But I've been seeing a new trend that seems promising.

There seems to be several UV Ink Replacement Kits around for existing Roll-to-Roll printers. Namely the big 3, with at least a DX5 head. And it got me thinking... since I'm buying a new printer, one with a DX7 head, I've got no qualms in retrofitting a 395nm LED UV Cure Light to the side of the print head, or even making an LED light bar that replaces the heater bar. I found one such LED UV Cure Light Bar for sale at GraphicsOne for the ridiculously high price of $4999. Plus they sell liters of an ink they call eUV and it's supposedly compatible with Epson print heads. But they give no other specifics beyond that. Like what wavelength it specifically cures at, etc. LED UV Curable Ink is kinda touchy... you either need to blast it with a super high intensity mercury lamp, or have the exact right wavelength the ink cures at. ie: 380nm, 395nm, 410nm etc.

If you can work with the ink manufacturer directly they will totally sell you the right ink based on your light set-up. Which is what I think I'm going to do. You can get UV Ink to work with just about any substrate specifically... but if you want a kind of catch-all ink that will stick to most surfaces without priming, you have to give up on some other properties.

I was just wondering if anybody on here has messed with the UV Ink retrofit, or even has an OEM Roll-to-Roll LED Curable Ink Printer and could shed some (full spectrum) light on this very narrow band of light I'm seeking.

 

[Biker Scout]

OK got my UV ink samples today. I'm glad they sent a picture with bright reds, as well as one with skin tones. They look nice enough. I'm sure they could have been profiled better, but this is fine for what I asked of them.

Pondering UV Ink "Scratchability"

I hear about UV ink not being that durable, can scratch or flake off. Those of you who have UV Ink printers, can you tell me what I should be looking for? Yes, I can scratch the prints with a blade, but the eco-solvent prints scratch the same way. I tried taking the hardest squeegee to the print, and it didn't scratch or flake off the vinyl. So, that's good. I took an alcohol swab and rubbed it rather vigorously quite a few strokes before I got some color on the swab. That seemed to be fine. When I stretched the vinyl, the ink didn't start flaking or or powdering up, so I guess that's ok too.

The only thing I noticed is some slight mottling near the start of the image. Kinda looked more like media contamination more than anything else. And their vinyl media was so sucky, that I couldn't even stretch it very far before ripping. But then again, I wasn't really trying to test their vinyl, so that didn't really have any bearing on the color and scratch test. Can't fault them for that.

My 100W UV LED Chip should be here this week as well. Came with a power supply too. All I gotta do is screw it to a heat sink, and maybe add a fan on the top to insure the LED's have a long life and don't overheat. The chip and power supply only cost me $157, that's with shipping. I ordered direct from the manufacturer, rather than be raped by some re-seller. The chips by themselves usually range between $300 - $900 a pop on eBay... so yeah... for an experiment... not going to drop $900 on a UV LED Chip, without a power supply.

I did however pull the trigger on a 5m roll of UV LEDs. I got the SMD5050s, they will be much brighter than the usual 3528s that are usually sold. However, they are still only 60W, running off 12V power supply. I plan on running 3 rows along the face of the heater fan that points directly at the prints as it exits the printer, sorta as a "Full Width Curing Back-Up) They also are listed as a wavelength of 395nm. I should be good with the ink curing even at full speed printing. But I'll know more when the ink get here.

 

[Reelimpatient]

"chip and power supply only cost me $157, that's with shipping. I ordered direct from the manufacturer, " Can you provide a link for that purchase or the website? I have a spare jv33-160 I may attempt to convert to UV
Thanks !