Following a sabbatical, Vince Bezzina of the Print Head Doctor is again accepting clogged inkjet printheads for recovery, using his unique equipment, solutions and methodology. With replacement industrial printheads costing between $2,000 and $10,000 each, it’s a welcome return.
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| High-end PHD head cleaning device used by Printhead Doctor - it's all in the technique! |
Clogged printheads are often discarded as unrecoverable because of the difficulty in removing the encrusted inks, particularly with UV-curing printers. Various on-board methods of cleaning using pressure, flushing solutions, squeegees and even cotton buds have helped but heads will still clog and that’s where the Print Head Doctor, who also supplies the hardware for in-house cleaning, comes in.
Established in 2014, Vince and his team discovered a real need for professional print head cleaning, to be done here in Australia. Sign printers were sending heads overseas for recovery, which was costly, risky and time consuming.
Vince says that cleaning inkjet printer heads is not an exact science. You don’t put the head in the machine, press a button and out pops a clean head. It doesn’t work like that. There are many considerations, machine settings and fluids to use. He has spent as long as 8 hours on a single print head, but it did get cleaned out. In general, depending on how clogged the head is, it can take typically between 3-6 hours to clean the head, using a lot of fluid and machine time. The cost is normally around AUD$400 per clean, which is far cheaper than replacing the head.
The Print Head Doctor also now offers for sale the PHD machinery and solutions for larger users to regularly clean their own printheads in-house. The machines vary from a basic, mobile version at around $1,000 to higher capacity benchtop devices at around $6,000.
Vince says: “My advice is have the heads cleaned as soon as they show signs of sideways spraying or nozzle jets dropping out. This will extend the life of your print head considerably and give a much better print result.”
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| Industrial printheads can cost $$1,000s |
While Print Head Doctor’s success rate is currently 100% in recovering clogged printheads including Epson, HP, Kyocera, Xaar, Dimatix/Spectra, Toshiba, Ricoh and others; he says he can’t offer a total guarantee as some heads may be so old, worn and blocked long-term to be salvaged. With some high-speed flatbed UV printers having hundreds of printheads on a carriage, the financial savings of regular cleaning are huge.
The Print Head Doctor also supplies new printheads at competitive prices. Whether for the head cleaning service, your own PHD machine or new printheads, Vince and his team have the answers.
A video of a Vutek Seiko printhead being cleaned can be viewed here.
For more information, see www.printheaddoctor.com.au
