Water base ink on SP-540V

[OriginalSin]

At the moment, i use eco-solvent ink. I want stop using eco-solvent ink and start using water base ink(dye or pigment).
1. What parts of the printer do i have change?
2. If i use water base ink, will i get acceptable print at 360x720 dpi? (My tech said, if i use water base ink, i'll get acceptable print min at 720x1440 dpi)
3. If i use water base ink, should i use other RIP software? At the moment i use VersaWorks.

Thx.

Yus.

[GraphiXtreme]

Why, pray tell, would you want to do that?!?!

[eye4clr]

Want to second the "huh" reaction. You can get excellent print quality with solvent inks. As good as water based if you obsess enough. What's missing is the knowledge of workflow, tweaking the printer, and color management. As a part of this "upgrade" you may consider a more powerful, full-featured RIP like Flexi or Onyx.

What you may also consider is going from eco to mild or full sovent. You can improve the color gamut, ink durability, media options, all at lower costs. Dial your decision on bulk vs. cartridge based on how much volume you do. The more volume, the better the bulk works.

Water based inks are all well and good. They certainly easier to work with compared to the solvents. But the medias are almost always more expensive and will almost always need to be laminated. Plus it cuts you off from effectvely competing in the outdoor market (if that matters to you).

[Barry]

You probably wont have to switch any of the hardware out, you just need to make sure that your machine is free of the eco-solvent ink before putting in the water based ink. My understanding is the water based inks do not mix well with the solvent/eco-solvent inks.

Now that that has been said, why on earth would you want to switch to water based inks? If you want to run water based inks your choose the wrong printer, you could have obtained a MUCH cheaper epson that will print higher resolution with more ink choices.

[Barry]

You probably wont have to switch any of the hardware out, you just need to make sure that your machine is free of the eco-solvent ink before putting in the water based ink. My understanding is the water based inks do not mix well with the solvent/eco-solvent inks.

Now that that has been said, why on earth would you want to switch to water based inks? If you want to run water based inks your choose the wrong printer, you could have obtained a MUCH cheaper epson that will print higher resolution with more ink choices.

As far as the RIP goes, it really doesnt matter which RIP you use as your probably going to have to create all your profiles from scratch, I do not know of anyone running water based inks in a versacamm so Im guessing there are probably zero profiles avaible.

[OriginalSin]

The reason i want switch to water-base because,

Ink
Water-base ink (pigment) is U$35/L. Eco-solvent ink is U$85. There are chipper Eco-solvent ink, but my tech said, "more chipper-more easy clogging".

Media
I have calculate Water-base media + laminate= +/- U$2,1/sm. Eco-solvent media(good quality banner)= +/- U$2/sm.

Print Head & Print result
Eco-solvent ink is more easy clogging then Water-base ink.
Like my case, I just bought SP-540V, and the print head clogging. I can't sell my print using 360x720dpi. I have use 720x720 w-pass and sometimes, i have to use 1080x1080dpi.
if the print head live is 4,000,000Kshoot, if the print head price U$550
360x720dpi, i can print +/- 900sm ->550/900=U$0,6/sm
720x720dpi, i can print +/- 600sm ->550/600=U$0,9/sm
1080x1080dpi, i can print +/- 350sm ->550/350=U$1,6/sm
If i use water-base ink, the print head is more safe. If the print head is not clog, then i can save more money.

That's my reason why i want switch to water-base ink. Tell me if i was wrong. Thx.

[Rick]

In my opinion, I would advise against trying to change your mild-solvent printer to aqueous inks for the following reasons:

1. With knowledge of proper operation & maintenance, your current printer should be reliable and give sellable output at 720x720. Get some training. Keep up with the maintenance... all 8 minutes/week (my point is it's not too burdensome).

2. The 'plain' media are much cheaper than the media for aqueous inkkjet.

3. The mild solvent prints won't need lamination nearly as much as the aqueous ink prints.

4. Trying to change over your current equipment to water-based inks would probably not work. The solvent inks and water-based inks are immiscible (they won't dissolve each other).... you wouldn't be able to clean it all out properly. Plus who knows how differences in viscosity, surface tension, etc. between the inks would affect how the drops are ejected, operation of the pumps, wipers, etc.


If you're determined, you'd be way better off selling your machine and buying a large-format printer that comes equipped with water-based inks (HP, Encad, Epson, Canon....).

Again, just my opinion. I started with an HP5500 and Epson 9600 3 years ago. They work great for indoor display, photo & fine art reproduction, and outdoor display when laminated. I added the Roland 545ex w eco-Max inks in March and it's GREAT (low-cost media, great output, low maintenance, contour cutter, low need for lamination).

Good luck

[slangsc]

Yes the print head is more safe with aquaeous inks, if it maintained properly and used with a good ink, but remember that these printers and especially the Mild Solvent inks, were designed specifically to be used with these heads. As long as you are using a quality product, then your equipment is safe. If you are trying to save too much money on cheap ink and cheap media, the possible damage to your printer is not worth the risk, either in solvent- or water-based. I realize that where you are located, the market may be different, but it just sounds dangerous to me to try to use the printer in a way that it is not intended. The propper supplies give you a much higher rate of return without all the headaches, versus cheaper unreliable supplies that may or may not work.

[OriginalSin]

Thanks for the responds; I will double think over it.

As far as I know, Epson 10600,7600,9600,7800,9800, Roland FJ, SJ, and SP series, and Mimaki JV2, JV3, and JV4 using the same print head. So I think SP-540V should handle water-base ink.

The main reason why I want use water-base ink is, using eco-solvent ink is too risky. If the print head fire not correctly (can’t solves this problem until now), I have to use higher resolution. Higher resolution means higher ink and print head cost, but selling with same price. If I raise the price, my client will run away.

Like Barry said, may be I choosing a wrong printer. May be, I was too stupid listen to the sales person who sell this printer to me. And may be, I was unlucky getting a failure product (1:1,000,000,000).

Thanks again for the responds, and I will triple think over it.

[OriginalSin]

I decided to convert my SP-540V to water-base.

After cleaning (head wash), the pump blow up and I perform test print. I surprise that All nozzles shoot perfectly, only 4 cyan nozzles are missing. Then I decide to change the wiper and fix the pump. Then I perform test print. Some of the nozzle is missing and I clean the head. After some cleaning and test print, the result is differently. Sometime, all the black nozzle shoots perfectly but cyan and magenta is not shoot perfectly. Sometime, all the magenta shoots perfectly but black and cyan is not shoot perfectly. Sometime, all the cyan shoots perfectly but black and magenta is not shoot perfectly. Only the yellow always shoots perfectly. Then I perform draining ink (pump up) and run test print. The result is same. Then I soak the print head for 2 hours, and the result is still same. I haven’t change any part such as damper, head station sponge, head station filter, ink drain tube and foam from caps, etc. I’ve only change the wiper. Can anyone help me?