Tayda UV print

[vigilante397]

There are however, many Chinese machines which come in at a far lower price and, judging by one forum members result, extremely effective.

Is that me? I hope it's me

My machine was about $3k with a full set of inks, and the bed is about 8" x 12". The software is a little clunky but very workable if you're remotely tech savvy (pronounced "patient"), but the hardware itself is excellent. It's a very capable machine with some very nice features. I've printed about 300 pedals with it so far (not counting test prints and experiments) and I have zero regrets about the purchase. It hasn't "paid itself off" compared to Tayda's services yet, but my customers have been happy with the results I'm getting so I would say the return on investment has been good.

[bushidov]

Okay Nathan, I'll bite. What one did you get? I am looking for a cool Christmas present for myself this year. 

[vigilante397]

Okay Nathan, I'll bite. What one did you get? I am looking for a cool Christmas present for myself this year. 

I got this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/193147839519 The seller was excellent, the documentation they provided was great, I liked dealing with them. And they aren't even paying me to say that (though they should).

[stallik]

Interesting note regarding these UV printers and the inability of the ink to stick well to raw metal.

I used to print pcb and etch masks, etch the metal then run the pcb or enclosure under hot, cold, hot water. The metal expansion/contraction caused the ink to float off cleanly leaving perfect results. I used 2 layers of black which was an excellent resist and capable of very fine lines.

Only ever made single sided boards and there was no mask but it was really useful for prototypes

My, I miss having access to such a printer but such is the lot of a pensioner

[Ice-9]

Okay Nathan, I'll bite. What one did you get? I am looking for a cool Christmas present for myself this year. 

I got this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/193147839519 The seller was excellent, the documentation they provided was great, I liked dealing with them. And they aren't even paying me to say that (though they should).

Cheers for the info Nathan, that looks good and the price is great too, what about the availability of the inks ? and does the white print very well? I would really consider getting one so that I throw away all the messy and time consuming screen printing gear.

[vigilante397]

Cheers for the info Nathan, that looks good and the price is great too, what about the availability of the inks ? and does the white print very well? I would really consider getting one so that I throw away all the messy and time consuming screen printing gear.

Availability of inks is pretty good, I haven't had any issues. I only ever ran out once when I left the printer on for two days straight, not realizing it did a regular automated printhead cleaning, which flushes a little ink out periodically to prevent clogging. The inks are a little pricey, I think a full set was about $200, but they last quite a while, I print 40 boxes a month and a batch of inks lasts more than a year.

The white does not look as good as screen printed white, that is a shortcoming. It may be different with a higher quality ink, but most of the time my white prints kind of milky, it's not a pure white. Also it takes a fair bit more ink to get the white to show up than it does for colors. When I do full color prints on bare aluminum I typically print 12-15% per color, but when I do white on a black enclosure I usually need to do like 80%, which obviously uses up the ink faster. I'm trying to convince my customers that they don't want black enclosures so I can just stop printing in white. Looking through my pictures though there was one month where I got excellent quality white prints, I wonder if it was just an issue of cleaning the right part of the head at the right time. I guess I probably could reach out to the seller on their advice for better white prints, they are very helpful in resolving issues.

My workaround is that I have no problem printing white good enough to print another color over the top, so I can do red or blue artwork on a black enclosure and you don't see the milkiness of the white. Obviously you can't print color directly on a dark enclosure, you need a layer of white first (Tayda mentions this in their page on printing). But on a white powdercoat or raw aluminum you can go straight for color.

[stallik]

How to suck (white) eggs...

Nathan, if your white printing appears variable, there is a strong possibility that the pigment particles are settling out. The white pigment is particularly heavy so this is a normal occurrence and printer manufacturers either build in an auto circulation system or instruct users to shake the white ink on a daily basis. If your printer has auto circulation, it won't work if the printer is switched off.

I recall one of my customers complaining frequently about this issue and each time, I'd have to make an 8 hour round trip to sort things out. He swore blind that he performed the daily maintenance, removing and shaking the big 5 litre ink cartridges but I really wasn't convinced so I fixed a couple of hairs across the cartridge bays and waited for the next call. Glad I did. They were still there a few weeks later. The ink had settled giving him poor white density again but this time, he'd carried on printing a volume job. On this printer, the ink was fed from the top of the cart so as the ink was used, it got thicker and thicker until the heads became completely clogged and needed replacing. Very expensive

[aron]

I'm confused as to how these print onto a metal box.
Is there a video of UV printers printing onto a weird surface like a box?
Does it do the sides?

[Kevin Mitchell]

I'm confused as to how these print onto a metal box.
Is there a video of UV printers printing onto a weird surface like a box?
Does it do the sides?

There's a page on FB where someone does enclosures for stompboxes;
https://www.facebook.com/amplifyfun/videos/759638071645512/

After seeing that video I'd say it can do the sides no problem.

[vigilante397]

How to suck (white) eggs…

Nathan, if your white printing appears variable, there is a strong possibility that the pigment particles are settling out. The white pigment is particularly heavy so this is a normal occurrence and printer manufacturers either build in an auto circulation system or instruct users to shake the white ink on a daily basis. If your printer has auto circulation, it won’t work if the printer is switched off.

I recall one of my customers complaining frequently about this issue and each time, I’d have to make an 8 hour round trip to sort things out. He swore blind that he performed the daily maintenance, removing and shaking the big 5 litre ink cartridges but I really wasn’t convinced so I fixed a couple of hairs across the cartridge bays and waited for the next call. Glad I did. They were still there a few weeks later. The ink had settled giving him poor white density again but this time, he’d carried on printing a volume job. On this printer, the ink was fed from the top of the cart so as the ink was used, it got thicker and thicker until the heads became completely clogged and needed replacing. Very expensive

Good to know, thanks! I've more or less given up on printing white over black, I guess I should give it one more go.

I'm confused as to how these print onto a metal box.
Is there a video of UV printers printing onto a weird surface like a box?
Does it do the sides?

This is a time-lapse I made of printing over a black enclosure, so it shows the white going down and red on top of it. I've printed on sides before, it just needed a jig for it to hold it level as the prints on 2 axis, so it can only do one surface at a time.

[ironman180]

Wow!

I was away for a few days and I'm amazed this post got this much replies.

For anyone that's wondering how does the pedal look I posted the photo. The illustration is taken from Malleus Maleficarum. It's been tested for a few days and it's holding up. It seems to me the quality is pretty good. The only problem is that it took 2 months for enclosures to arrive but it was worth it.

P.S. The circuit is based on DAM Meathead but it has clipping diodes added for more gain.

[Kevin Mitchell]

The only problem is that it took 2 months for enclosures to arrive but it was worth it.

Yeah their page for the printing service notes that they are heavily backlogged. I believe they were also on holiday recently which doesn't help.

Your artwork looks great!

[vigilante397]

I have to bump this thread to thank Kevin (stallik) for the tips on white printing, I finally got it sorted! I think I was having the same issue as your customer, I definitely wasn't performing the maintenance and the pigment of the white ink seemed to have settled to the point of being unusable. So I tossed the old ink, flushed the lines and printhead with isopropyl (per manufacturer's recommendation) and started over with a new bottle of white ink, properly agitating it, and my white prints look white now!