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Arizona Printer Inks

126

Chapter 8

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Ink System Management

Océ Arizona 6100 Series

Arizona Printer Inks

Introduction

Océ  Arizona 6100  Series printers use a  uniquely formulated  UV-curable ink,  referred to  as Océ
IJC261.  These inks are  easy to  maintain, with  the  use of the  Automated Printhead Maintenance
System and require only  a  weekly physical  cleaning  to  ensure a  long useful life. The Océ  IJC261
inks  require small jetting actions ("spitting") between  printing times to  keep the printheads in  a
ready-to-print state.  This  spitting action amounts  to very  little ink usage but does require that the
user clean the maintenance tray  covers more frequently. The  complete ink set  consists of  Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow, Black,  Light  Cyan  and Light  Magenta; and  for  printers with  the  optional extra
color channel  installed, White ink. Due to the  use of UV curing technology, the ink  is  effectively
cured immediately after printing, but  a  small residual curing effect can continue for up to 24
hours. In most cases, the printed material can  be  handled or cut directly after  printing.

Maintenance Considerations

Océ IJC261 inks are significantly different from other Océ UV ink formulations. Designed as a

more industrial product, these inks offer

superior adhesion

and

coverage

functionality on most

hard plastics commonly used for signage and industrial applications, including low-cost outdoor

materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene. These inks are characterized by

very good

color gamut

, a somewhat

matte appearance

and an ability to

cover blemishes and finger marks

that are latent on the media prior to printing. They have been designed specifically for
applications that require superior adhesion to plastics.

These inks  have very  little  odor, but like  all  industrial, high-volume printers attention to
ventilation rates  and  room  volume is  needed to  ensure operation that is  both safe and
comfortable for the  operator. Please refer to the  Site  Preparation Guide for  minimum space/
working room  volume  for the  printer.

NOTE

Read the section on ink safety called "Safety Guidelines for Ink Material" before you handle the
ink.

The  printer is  optimized for the  specific UV-curable ink  supplied by Océ Display Graphics Systems.
The ink is supplied to the  printer in 3 liter  (2 liter  for  white ink)  collapsible bags that are loaded into
the printer by  means of  quick-change connectors  that  are  bonded into  the  top  corner. To  install on
the printer, the bags are  inverted and  the quick  connect couplers are pushed into their
corresponding female coupling. This  opens up the  flow path for the  ink. The bags contain tags
that identifies them to the  printer when they are  loaded. This  allows the printer to  ensure that the
correct ink is loaded.

This method of ink delivery has several benefits over bottles or cartridges:

The self-collapsing bags make it easy to see how much ink remains in each bag.
• Virtually all the ink is successfully extracted from the bag by the printer, reducing the otherwise

costly waste of usable ink.

• Ink changes are performed without mess or spills, keeping the environment around the printer

clean.

• Ink changes can be performed during printing - this prevents wasted prints and lost time.

Only  qualified inks can  be used. If a  bag of ink with  an  invalid serial number, expired use-by date,
incorrect color placement  in the  ink bay, or if an expired tag  is  connected to the  printer, then  the
operator is  alerted and an  error message  is  displayed.

The ink delivery system provides the printheads with ink at the appropriate temperature and
pressure. Each printhead has a corresponding ink reservoir on the carriage. Pumps supply ink to