OPERATION
25257 Issue 3 November 2013 3-51
INK DETAILS AND PRINT QUALITY
OPTIMISATION
Cartridge Cleaning
Dirty working environments can contaminate the print heads and print
cartridges, affecting the quality of printed messages.
Why cartridges require cleaning
• Cured ink on the nozzle plate blocks or restricts firing. Ethanol and aqueous
varieties both have different D-Cap times; however, during periods of
inactivity without capping cartridges all varieties of ink may begin to cure
on the nozzle plate.
• Environmental contaminations from of the production line (e.g. substrate
fibres, dust, and ink spray) build up on the print heads and print
cartridges. The result can block nozzles and block electrical contacts
between the print head and cartridge.
• Abrasion on the nozzle face from particular substrates can damage
nozzles and block them during the production run.
It is important to ensure that the print heads and cartridges are kept as clean as
possible - free from substrate fibres, ink residue, and any other contamination that
can build up during production.
Therefore it is recommended practice to clean an ink cartridge before fitting
it to a print head and starting production. This ensures any dry ink residue is
removed from the nozzle face before printing.
Cleaning Instructions
Before starting the cleaning regime,
check the nozzle status to ascertain the
current state of the nozzles Permanent
damage is caused when the DPI value is
too high for the printing speed. Any
faults to the firing resistors will be
displayed here.
Navigate to the ink menu, as shown to
the right, and check the nozzle status.
The cartridge can also be removed from the print head and gently pulled
across a soft lint-free tissue, see picture below. This allows a greater amount of
ink being drawn from the nozzles, removing debris that might be contained
further within the nozzle face.
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