# DIY Led-UV flatbed printer



## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

Edit: this might be more fitable to "DIY DTG" forum, i posted it here by mistake and i don't really know how to change it, sorry about that...

Hi guys, i have decided to fund a project of making a flatbed UV-Led curing printer,

i am going to build a flatbed printer out of one of my printers and than applicate a CISS with UV curable ink and i am going to applicate a uv lamp on the print head and than try to print on product with the printer.

in my arsenal i have got those printers:
Epson r220
Epson r2400
Epson r1900
Epson r1290
and Epson r800

i will have to modify one of those, that i hot in my place as i cannot buy any new printer at the moment

1. Does anyone knows or tried it before?
2. Has anyone got links and good info. for me about where can i find a good and fitable ink and what uv-leds should i use
3. Which printer you think might be the best for this job?
4. edit - as well which CISS is the best in the market? i have bad experience with some chiniese ones....

I will keep you all up to date with the project!


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## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Chose from Epson's legacy printer on their web site.
Legacy Products
Cheers! Beers are on me always.


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## kifkef (Aug 25, 2011)

allamerican said:


> Chose from Epson's legacy printer on their web site.
> Legacy Products
> Cheers! Beers are on me always.


Unfortunatly, those printers are the printers i have already got in my place
i'm not going to buy any new printers, only modify one of those...


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## sunoracle (Jul 1, 2010)

I have r&d UV led printer over 6 month, refer to your listing, the best is R1900.
The most important key is the uv led light. Just take carefulful.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

kifkef said:


> Edit: this might be more fitable to "DIY DTG" forum, i posted it here by mistake and i don't really know how to change it, sorry about that...
> 
> Hi guys, i have decided to fund a project of making a flatbed UV-Led curing printer,
> 
> ...


I have a solvent FreeJet 290 printer that I has been going to sell but nobody wants to buy it. So I am thinking about converting it to a UV printer. It is based on 1290 and it is already a flatbed printer so the only thing I need to do is to replace tubing, dampers and bottles to black ones, install a new print head and a capping station and add a LED. However there is no so much room for the led to sit on the right side of the print head assembly so the led unit needs to be a very thin. 

I have found dampers and probably tubing(need to confirm this one with a seller) including UV leds 395nm(this is being sold on ebay) and I even has inks(I have another UV printer based on 4880) so it is just a matter of time when I get all supplies.

Does anybody know how many LEDs I will need to cure layed ink while printing? I think I will run them on a battery and I will be turning them ON before and OFF after printing manually.

There are torches with UV LED are available on ebay for sale but they are to big to fit.

May be this one will be good as a ready to go solution.
1 Solar LW 3 UV LED Ultra Violet Mineral LAB Light 395nm Rechargeable Cell | eBay


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## shopy (Mar 23, 2013)

ozstockman said:


> I have a solvent FreeJet 290 printer that I has been going to sell but nobody wants to buy it. So I am thinking about converting it to a UV printer. It is based on 1290 and it is already a flatbed printer so the only thing I need to do is to replace tubing, dampers and bottles to black ones, install a new print head and a capping station and add a LED. However there is no so much room for the led to sit on the right side of the print head assembly so the led unit needs to be a very thin.
> 
> I have found dampers and probably tubing(need to confirm this one with a seller) including UV leds 395nm(this is being sold on ebay) and I even has inks(I have another UV printer based on 4880) so it is just a matter of time when I get all supplies.
> 
> ...


Sorry to dissapoint you but battery leds would not be anoth, you need a powerful light try to get 6-10W in total, you have to build a unit and run it with an outsource of power, this is much more complicated than you think i would advice a uv-led manufactureres (not chinies) about the curing options


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

shopy said:


> Sorry to dissapoint you but battery leds would not be anoth, you need a powerful light try to get 6-10W in total, you have to build a unit and run it with an outsource of power, this is much more complicated than you think i would advice a uv-led manufactureres (not chinies) about the curing options


Thanks, I did not know it although I can see that the one I have installed on my 4880 is not just a simple one and has quite a thick power cable and fans.

I do not know if I ever can find something like this but thin, small and lightweight that will fit in an Epson 1290

I have found some at 
Uv Led Lamp For Seiko Kinetie Printer - Buy Seiko Kinetie Printer,Uv Led Lamp For Seiko Kinetie Printer,Seiko Kinetie Product on Alibaba.com
but the smallest one they have is 55*18*85 mm. Here are its specs

(2) Model NO: UVL-55
Dimension: 55*18*85 mm
Emitting Area: 55*3 mm
Cooling method: Air cooling
Max. Intensity: 1500mW/cm2
Wavelength: 365nm
Radiation distance: 5 -10 mm

I do not know how heavy it is though. Do you think this one will work in terms of wavelength?


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## finalcreations (Aug 11, 2013)

I have installed a LED UV light to my Epson R1900. I used a 50w UV LED 390-405nm from Ebay and also a 50w Dimmable Driver to adjust the brightness. It works well, but adding a cooling fan and making it fit was not easy!

If anyone is going to do this, please note...
The LED UV Curing Inks will melt your CISS (continuous ink system) bottles and pipes. I had to use silicone tubing and better plastic bottles to store the ink.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

Do you mean 5W? 
I thought 5-10W is more than enough, 50W seems to be a lot of light.


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## finalcreations (Aug 11, 2013)

It is a 50w UV LED, but I also bought a 'drive unit' so I can adjust the brightness. I only use it at about 10-15% for most items, but when printing a white base, I up it to about 40% (due to more ink being printed).


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## finalcreations (Aug 11, 2013)

Photos of my UV LED unit mounted onto the Epson R1900 printer are posted on this link...
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/diy-dtg/t223111.html#post1628721


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## castoro (Jan 28, 2014)

Hi guys!!!
I already have a DTG (epson1400) with textile ink.
In addition to the tubes and bottles CISS, We must also change the head?
The UV ink where I can cause damage? 
You tell me exactly which power should these UV-LEDs?
Thank you very much and sorry for my english ...


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

castoro said:


> Hi guys!!!
> I already have a DTG (epson1400) with textile ink.
> In addition to the tubes and bottles CISS, We must also change the head?
> The UV ink where I can cause damage?
> ...


I was told before that 5W-10W UV led(s) are required. They need to emit light within 395nm~405nm wavelength but the actual number will depend on UV ink you are going to use.

The biggest problem is to find LED(s) that are small enough to fit them with a fan on the left side of your print head carriage. You cannot run such powerful LEDs without cooling them. It may be a big issue with 1410 if there is not much room on the left side of the printer.

I have a UV printer based on Epson 4880 and the whole assembly with the led and fun installed is 45x65x100mm. I wanted to convert my Freejet 290 which is based on epson 1290 but I do not have so much space on the left side. 

Plus I believe LEDs must be located no higher than 3-5mm from the printing area. So that's another thing to consider when you want to convert your printer to UV


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## finalcreations (Aug 11, 2013)

castoro said:


> Hi guys!!!
> I already have a DTG (epson1400) with textile ink.
> In addition to the tubes and bottles CISS, We must also change the head?
> The UV ink where I can cause damage?
> ...


For the UV LED (I bought the 50w, but I only run it at around 20% with the drive unit):
Epistar 10W 20W 30W 50W 100W UV Ultra Violet LED Chip 390 405nm for Aquarium | eBay

For the Dimming Drive Unit:
Dimmerable 50W Watt LED Dimmable Driver Waterproof Dimmer | eBay

Then mounted a small fan and heatsink to the UV LDE Unit.
Dimmerable 50W Watt LED Dimmable Driver Waterproof Dimmer | eBay

Because I only run the UV LED at 20% there is not much heat from the unit.


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