Ink Cart waste, Costs add up?

[Kevin Flowers]

Hi Rob
came across a thread like this on American Digital Print Forum where they actually put the question direct to Roland. Roland stated that the carts are overfilled by an amount which allows the carts to actually deliver you the full 220ml of ink. Now whether that’s the case with other manufacturer’s i don’t know.

Kev

[Chris Wool]

quote :

Anyone else noticed this or am i talking cak

there are two ink out settings on the machine

first one default the machine stops dead if it thinks the cart is empty
2nd it will carry on for aprox another 1 mt of print then stop.
this is to allow the job to finish before playing dead.
cos it knows there is still some more ink in the cart.

chris

[Robert Lambie]

i am not disagreeing as i do not know the ins and outs of it, but…
if this is the case, why do "some carts" feel like they have a fair bit of life in them yet, and some carts feel empty"? bearing in mind its the same carts, same system/machine.

[Paul Hodges]

we actually remove the left over ink from each cartridge and deposit it into an empty one of each colour, thereby eventually gaining a whole new set of carts to use for nothing. you would be surprised how much is left over. whether this is ‘over fill’ ink or not i have no idea but it’s quite a lot.

[David Rowland]

last time i opened a JV3 ’empty’ cart, it was empty… never opened one since.. although there is now settings in JV3 that allows it go on a bit longer..

and yes, I have picked up carts registering as ‘1’ (nearly empty) and they feel very heavy.

[Robert Lambie]

hi paul
when i shifted to a bulk ink system i did the same with some half spent carts as well as some full carts i had.

[Russ]

There is a little sensor tab on the back of the cart if your machine bleeps to let you know that your cart is empty insert a blade and nip it off it allows to to finish a print run by quite a few meters.

Russ

[Robert Lambie]

quote Russ:

There is a little sensor tab on the back of the cart if your machine bleeps to let you know that your cart is empty insert a blade and nip it off it allows to to finish a print run by quite a few meters.

Russ

but thats just the thing mate, it means that there is still a fair bit of ink in the cart.
having been thinking about this it could be argued that if the ink completely goes, it may cause air in the line but then again, are these bags not air tight?

[David Rowland]

i decided to put in all the "Near end" cartridges (on JV3 it will beep warning you that the ink is now ending), what I forgot to do is check the print that I started, I lost the cyan… so i changed to a heavier ink cartridge to try and force the ink thru quickly, no luck we spent ages getting the ink going again… the cart had swiped the sensor so the cart was still going

[John Childs]

I give ’em a shake when I take them out to make sure there’s no ink left.

[Russ]

if you over run the cart after cutting the tab you do get air in the line, this has happened to me before so I just do a quick couple of cleaning runs and it’s back to normal, trick is not to forget you have cut the tab.

Russ

[David Rowland]

well, i just want to add that shaking is not a good idea as you make small bubbles in any ink that could be there, these end up in the damper etc.
we used to weigh the carts and cutting the tab is not a good idea also, as that few pence that is left has just saved your machine from problems. However headcleans can save the day but headcleans cost money

sorry to negative, dave

[taylor.m]

hi, I just want to know if all printers will meet this cart waste problem if they don’t switch to a bulk ink system? And may I ask if you can buy the spare cart for your ink distributor?

[Russ]

Dave you are right about cutting the tab, I only do it in emergency’s in the past 3 years I have done it only twice on both occasions it got me out of a hole.

Russ

[Stephen Morriss]

I just changed a Magenta cartridge as it was starting to print a bit funny, like the head was having trouble pulling the ink, and the cartridge has loads of ink left, the tab was not out either.

I did wonder if this is a sign of the head going or a damper leaking as it’s usually emptied cartridges fully in the past.

I use the 440ml ones as well as they are a bit better value, don’t think I use enough ink to warrant a bulk system unless the inks are much cheaper and then it’s not a worry if an ink goes out of date (do they?)

Is your bulk system uniform inks or another make Rob?

Steve

[Robert Lambie]

hi steven
the ink i use is activasol, had a bulk ink system fitted by noel @ silverskies (agent for B&P) a few months back. best thing we ever did i recon. The ink is allot cheaper and appears to go further.