Tag Archive: Engineered Printing Solutions

  1. Tech Tip Tuesday: When Should You Replace Your Ceramic Rings?

    Comments Off on Tech Tip Tuesday: When Should You Replace Your Ceramic Rings?

    More often than not, the ceramic rings do not make it to expiration of the useful production life.  The more likely scenario for replacing them tend to be mishandling.  The rings will often be set down incorrectly or dropped causing a chip in the ring that renders it unusable.

    If the ring is to make it to the end of its useful production life, one of the symptoms is heavy shadowing of ink on the cliché.  The lapped flat, when new, is approximately 0.005″ wide.  When the flat wears to a point where the mean width approaches the 0.010″ to 0.015″ width, you can safely say the ring has served you well.

    In my experience you can see upwards of 5 – 6 years of useful life out of a ceramic ring (dependent on usage).

    Check out our Pad Printing Machines at www.epsvt.com there you can also find more information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial inkjet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment. Email info@epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764 if you would like more information.

  2. Tech Tip Tuesday: Maximize The Production Life of Print Heads

    Comments Off on Tech Tip Tuesday: Maximize The Production Life of Print Heads

    It is very important that whether it is an operator or maintenance that care is always taken when working with drop-on-demand print heads. They are generally expensive and delicate. If you want to maximize the production life of print heads only trained personal should be handling them. A filtration of some sort should be used between the supply of ink and print head to filter out impurities before reaching the head. For UV curable inks with heads stray UV should be shielded, and take precaution to keep from over exposure and curing of the face plate.

    To maximize the production life of print heads care must be taken by keeping the head and especially the face plate clean. Use the appropriate flush for the ink set being used. Not all flush is compatible so if not certain call your ink supplier. Wipe the heads prior to printing with the flush and a clean lint free head wipe. Maintenance jetting or head cleaning should be done daily/weekly to exercise all jets in the head depending on usage. While printing all nozzles may not be printing so this exercise ensures all nozzles fire. It is then best to perform a jet test. By doing so you will actually print on to a substrate to witness a pattern/image of the individual nozzles firing. Doing this routine on a daily basis ensures you see a possible problem before it become unrecoverable. Many heads are recoverable if taken care of and signs of blockage are caught early enough and no physical damage to the head. Talk to your ink/head supplier for possible head recovery procedures or service.

    Check out our industrial inkjet printers at www.epsvt.com there you can also find more information about Engineered Printing Solutions custom solutions, standard pad printers, industrial inkjet, consumables and other auxiliary equipment. Email info@epsvt.com or call 1-800-272-7764 if you would like more information.

  3. Case Study – Industrial Printing Solutions

    Comments Off on Case Study – Industrial Printing Solutions

    Engineered Printing Solutions Case Study #1:

    An automotive firm required assistance in gaining efficiencies in their molding and decorating process.  They wanted to eliminate staging / moving parts around the facility, and to be able to print parts at the mold.  The part required a custom machine as the print was not only multi-color, but on multiple planes.  The customer also wanted a machine that would require as little human intervention as possible.

    This required a machine that would fit in the constraints of their molding cell, capable of picking freshly molded parts from a conveyor, orienting and placing the parts onto custom tooling.  The parts were then printed and automatically removed for post-print handling / inspection / packing.

    The same parts could be used for different applications, so it was also necessary to provide an efficient way to change the images.

    We provided a fully automated KP-08 with multiple heads with independent pads, plus automated loading and unloading.  The unit was configured to integrate with the customer’s mold, so if one or the other components experienced a fault a “parts buffer” could accommodate any intermittent pauses, but also allowed for a full shut-down, if required.

    Engineered Printing Solutions Case Study #2:

    A large plastic injection molding firm asked for assistance with a change in their production requirements, based on their customer’s ordering preferences.

    The facility is highly automated and parts are printed in-line.  However, the customer was seeing their market shift toward multi-color images, as well as shorter print runs on the same series of molded parts.  Their current technology allowed only single-color images, and required a minimum of 30-45 minutes for job changeovers, and more if the color had to change, as well.

    We offered a solution based around our own industrial inkjet technology, which provide the following advantages:

    • No loss in throughput
    • Multi-color images
    • Less ink waste
    • Immediate curing
    • Job changeover in seconds, not minutes
    • Order entry could be done remotely, integrating with their own software
    • Parts could also be counted, bagged and bags labeled automatically

    Our industrial inkjet printer was able to be easily integrated with third-party provided feeding systems as well as the bagger / label unit on the back end.

    This custom solution has allowed our client to be more flexible and more responsive to their customer’s wishes, while saving labor as well as reducing waste re: parts and ink.

    Let us design a custom solution for you.  Drop us a line today!
    Fields marked with an asterisk are required.
    This will enable us to direct your inquiry to the appropriate Sales Engineer.
    Click or drag files to this area to upload.You can upload up to 3 files.
    Upload an image file (optional)
    Note: Under no circumstances will we sell, share or otherwise distribute your data outside EPS.