Ytec3D Forum

You probably fried the head. It says several time in the manual that you *must* apply voltages in a predefined order. IIRC it was ~RESET to GND, then 5V, then 35V and then release RESET. You also *must* shut down the chip in the reverse order. If you do it in a different order (and you are describing that you put 35V on without the 5V in your mail above), the 35V will run continuously through the crystals, overheating and destroying them.

i am connected gng to gnd pin of arduino and reset pin to digital pin of arduino and vcc also givento arduino digital pin i am controlling this pins properly.....i have a dought i am using normal inks used in printers and water because of this is it head effect

Wher can I find a cap for xaar128? I tried on different websites but I find cappings for epson dx5 and other wider heads.

Well, I made my setup and filled the printhead with water. I managed to build a capping station with a home made cap and a peristaltic pump. I made the arduino software so it sends "1" to each nozzle and fire it 1000 times at 5ms interval.

The problem is, the head printed with water with lower and upper nozzled and a gap in the center. After several cycles I noticed the firing nozzle number decreases gradually. I really don't want to use ink as testing would become very messy.
Is there any safe liquid that I can use to develop the software?

Hello everyone!

Ivan1983, your machine with xaar-128 printhead looks really great. Now I'm working with similar thing, I'm trying to print UV-curable resins and other inks on metal, wood and plastic using xaar-128. Did you get any success with resins and your new print head?

Best regards, Vladimir.

After playing with Xaar128-80, I reached some conclusions.
There are several advantages and disadvantages compared to thermal printheads.
Despite the myth that piezo printhead runs on a very wide range of fluind compared with a TIJ head, it won't run on water. I received an answer from the Xaar (many thanks to them for bothering answering me) in which they said the Xaar128 will be damaged if I use water for tests, It seems that "universal fluid printhead" does not exist. So I tried to test my Arduino firmware by using some inkjet cleaning fluid and firing all nozles. It worked quite ok, more than 60% of nozzles fired. I suspect I didn't fill the printhead correctly and I had trapped air bubbles in it, that;'s why I had dead nozzles. This happened because the piezo printhead is very sensitive to air bubbles. Even the tiniest bubble inside chamber may block a nozzle because the different principle than thermal inkjet. The piezo technology uses a very low vibration energy to spit ink, compared to the high thermal energy used into TIJs. This means I have to clean very thoroughly the head before each print to ensure optimal printing and make sure no air bubbles are trapped inside. And believe me, sucking ink trough its large nozzles consumes a lot of fluid very quick.
Bottom line, I didn't manage to have all nozzles working because of trapped air bubbles and fluid compatibility, I suspect.
Another very difficult task was to build (modify) a cap for this head. I couldn't find a cap rubber for it on internet.

At first I was attracted by this head because of its very good datasheet presented here and ease of the electrical wiring. Compared to the heavy work to make the HP45 working with my electronics, this was a child play because all nozzle control and timing was done internally. But I failed to find a suitable aqueous ink and I couldn't build yet a capping station that can clean it in a proper way. However, the capping station is still a major issue at Epson, since all their printers are so prone to clogging compared with Canon or HP. Whoever owns an Epson printer knows this.

I will try with other inks in the future but I need to build a better capping station first. I would like to see there the experience of others. I am afraid to use solvent ink or UV ink because I fear not to permanent clog it.

davidk wrote:After playing with Xaar128-80, I reached some conclusions.
There are several advantages and disadvantages compared to thermal printheads.
Despite the myth that piezo printhead runs on a very wide range of fluind compared with a TIJ head, it won't run on water. I received an answer from the Xaar (many thanks to them for bothering answering me) in which they said the Xaar128 will be damaged if I use water for tests, It seems that "universal fluid printhead" does not exist. So I tried to test my Arduino firmware by using some inkjet cleaning fluid and firing all nozles. It worked quite ok, more than 60% of nozzles fired. I suspect I didn't fill the printhead correctly and I had trapped air bubbles in it, that;'s why I had dead nozzles. This happened because the piezo printhead is very sensitive to air bubbles. Even the tiniest bubble inside chamber may block a nozzle because the different principle than thermal inkjet. The piezo technology uses a very low vibration energy to spit ink, compared to the high thermal energy used into TIJs. This means I have to clean very thoroughly the head before each print to ensure optimal printing and make sure no air bubbles are trapped inside. And believe me, sucking ink trough its large nozzles consumes a lot of fluid very quick.
Bottom line, I didn't manage to have all nozzles working because of trapped air bubbles and fluid compatibility, I suspect.
Another very difficult task was to build (modify) a cap for this head. I couldn't find a cap rubber for it on internet.

At first I was attracted by this head because of its very good datasheet presented here and ease of the electrical wiring. Compared to the heavy work to make the HP45 working with my electronics, this was a child play because all nozzle control and timing was done internally. But I failed to find a suitable aqueous ink and I couldn't build yet a capping station that can clean it in a proper way. However, the capping station is still a major issue at Epson, since all their printers are so prone to clogging compared with Canon or HP. Whoever owns an Epson printer knows this.

I will try with other inks in the future but I need to build a better capping station first. I would like to see there the experience of others. I am afraid to use solvent ink or UV ink because I fear not to permanent clog it.

I managed to get the head working properly even with distilled water. First I used MilliQ water, then I moved to plain distilled water. Problem with water is that it will become conductive if exposed to materials that form ions. I got around that by refilling the head every day. This can be easily done by having a bottle of water with air inlet and water outlet. When printing you have the normal air pressure on the inlet. When filling you just attach compressed air on inlet (0,5 to 1 bar works just fine). Do that 5 times for about 5s and you will be having a clean and bubleless nozzle.

Hi to all.

Ivan1983, did you manage to build your oun printhead? Is it more "universal" than XAAR?

Ivan1983, have you developed your own printing head? Is it more flexible for ink than xaar128?

Yes there has been progress, but there are drawbacks, if you're interested I can lay out the materials.