Great discussion! This is a bit off topic, but my wife and I are starting a small business making a therapy tool for people with autism and need to print on flat plastic parts. We currently use a pad printer and print a single color. The thought of a flatbed printer based on a commercial inkjet printer hit me on the drive home yesterday...then I ran into this discussion and stayed up way too late reading.
I have a background in instrumentation interfacing and feel I can handle the control and build. My questions are more on the printing side. How close do the print heads have to be to the substrate? Is there a spacing tolerance for good image reproduction? Pad printing ink is solvent based. Will this be a problem with the ink cartridges? Can I buy an ink refilling kit to do this? I am also unsure about cleaning the heads.
Any suggestions/comments/criticisms would be most appreciated.
Hi Ken, putting the control aside, what you'll be facing is the ink and chemical side. Printing job can be passed to rip software and it'll handle it properly.
So, from Single color pad printing to full color inkjet printing, epson-based flatbed printer is rather on the waterbased side. Altho there's mild-solvent ink version (dye or pigment), it's still limited lifespan of the printhead. You'll probably change the printhead as often as you refill the ink! The original epson parts can NOT survive the corrosive "solvent" of the ink, which you need for printing plastic.
2nd thing you might want to be aware is that pad printing allows WHITE printing, while inkjet white ink is not stable in overall view. Not to mention "solvent" based white ink for inkjet printing, especially epson-based flatbed printers.
hope this helps a lil before you invest your $$$ into this heaven or hell!
Hi Ken, putting the control aside, what you'll be facing is the ink and chemical side. Printing job can be passed to rip software and it'll handle it properly.
So, from Single color pad printing to full color inkjet printing, epson-based flatbed printer is rather on the waterbased side. Altho there's mild-solvent ink version (dye or pigment), it's still limited lifespan of the printhead. You'll probably change the printhead as often as you refill the ink! The original epson parts can NOT survive the corrosive "solvent" of the ink, which you need for printing plastic.
2nd thing you might want to be aware is that pad printing allows WHITE printing, while inkjet white ink is not stable in overall view. Not to mention "solvent" based white ink for inkjet printing, especially epson-based flatbed printers.
hope this helps a lil before you invest your $$$ into this heaven or hell!
Thanks for the feedback! In my brief look at this project, I ran into these issues. The white ink is not an issue for our particular application. And as you pointed out, solvent-based inks are out. I am now taking a look at UV curable inks. I am not sure if I can make it work...but it sure would be fun if I could.
Thanks again for the info...at least someone is trying to save me $$$$.
Hi Ken, UV is a no no for any "light-industrial" printhead like epson 90- or 180-nozzles. From what I know, UV ink is only usable on a few brands of printhead, I think it's Spectra and Konica.
Sorry to disappoint u again, but at least, before you head on into this can of worms...
Thanks again for the great info! However, I am stubborn (if nothing else). Do you know whether the problem is with the print heads or the cartridges? I understand that UV ink essentially includes UV curable epoxy. The uncured epoxy attacks the epoxy holding the cartridge together and dissolves it in short order. Do you know if the printheads are also held together with epoxy? I can also see how intense UV would attack the printheads. To get around the cartridge epoxy issue, I was thinking about a CFS system...a couple of them look (and I have only seen web images so far) like they might be solid body systems. However if the problem is with epoxy on the printheads themselves, I may be sol.
Sorry for all the questions. I am new at this and not very knowledgeable. I really appreciate all the guidance and assistance. Thanks! Ken
Hi Ken, it's ok to be stubborn! but... just take k!
Infact, it's not about the destruction the UV ink will do to the cartridges or the printhead casing. It's all about the UV ink nature of being so thick, that only a few very strong printhead can JET it out.
Imagine putting honey into the printhead??? See the problem? Yeah.....
Besides, i have no idea how the UV lamp will work side by side with the plastic epson printhead. It's over hundreds of degree celsius!
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i hope this might be of some use to you and others
First question from a newbie 
