Why is tubing important?

Tubing forms an integral part of your wide format digital printer since tubes convey the ink from the tank or the cartridge all the way to the print heads. The quality of the tubing you use on your printer is very important: if they break, the pipes can create serious damage to the pumps, boards and other parts of your printer. You can often expand the life span of your printer pumps by simply replacing the tubing on a regular basis.

What tubing categories are available?

DIGIPRINT SUPPLIES offers the widest range of affordable, high quality tubing for all wide format and grand format digital printers. We offer three main categories of products:

- Nylon translucent tubing for grand format digital printers such as NUR, HP Scitex, Jeti, Vutek

- Teflon translucent tubing for grand format digital printers such as DGI, Teckwin

- Tygon clear tubing for wide format digital printers such as Mutoh, Mimaki, Roland, Seiko, Océ, HP.

How do Nylon, Teflon and Tygon tubes differ?

Nylon tubes are the most cost-effective and resistant pipes available on the market. This is the reason why this tubing is mostly used on grand format printers such as Scitex. However, Nylon tubes are flexible but not elastic and cannot be bent 360 degrees.

Teflon tubes are a mid-range product in terms of pricing between Nylon and Tygon tubes. They are a little more flexible than Nylon tubes but not as elastic as Tygon tubes.

Tygon tubes are generally used on grand format printers when more elastic tubes are necessary and the connectors demand more elastic tubes.

What quality guarantees does DIGIPRINT SUPPLIES offer?

DIGIPRINT SUPPLIES provides unbeatable prices and the highest degree of chemical resistance in a flexible, clear tubing. Our tubing products are:

- resistant to the most aggressive chemicals such as MEK and all grand format digital printing inks

- plasticizer free to avoid ink contamination

- smoother inner surface inhibits particulate build-up.

What tube fits your printer?

DIGIPRINT SUPPLIES tubing range is available in the exact right size for each printer, outside and inside diameter wise. Please consult our web site for more details about our products. You can easily find the right tube that fits your printer at www.digiprint-supplies.com.

How to order?

You can easily select the right tubing and connectors for your printer at and place your order online. We ship your tube orders within 24 hours. Please email us at info@digiprint-supplies.com for more information.

Mimaki, Mutoh and Roland printers all use more or less the same dampers that fall into the following categories:

Small dampers with small mesh:
This damper was the first model that came to the market many years ago for Roland Versacamm, Roland Soljet, Mutoh Rockhopper and Mimaki JV4/JV3 printers. The small mesh often caused some problems as the ink pigment built up on the mesh during printer and caused starvation. This damper has a 2mm fitting that fits the older models of the Roland FJ/SC/SJ/SP series, Mimaki JV3/JV22/JV4, Mutoh RH II/Spitfire/Falcon/RJ8000. We recommend using the small dampers with large mesh instead as it will help prevent ink starvation during printing.

Small dampers with large mesh:
The small damper with small mesh was re-designed to solve the ink starvation problem into this small damper with large mesh. This damper also has a 2mm fitting that fits the older models of the Roland FJ/SC/SJ/SP series, Mimaki JV3/JV22/JV4, Mutoh RH II/Spitfire/Falcon/RJ8000.

Large dampers with 3mm fitting:
These large size filters were designed for the recent models of Roland Pro II/III, VP, XJ, XC series and Mimaki JV3 SP printers that require 3mm fittings for tubes. This damper improves the printer performance and prevents ink starvation in high speed mode.

Large dampers with 2mm fitting adapter:
These dampers were designed to fit older printer models that generally use small dampers. Changing from a small size damper to a large size damper helps improve the printer performance in high printing speed. Since the large size dampers originally come with 3mm fittings, an adapter was added to fit the older printer models using 2mm tubes. The large dampers with 2mm fitting adapters are compatible with most older printer models such as Roland Soljet / Versacamm, Mimaki JV3/JV22 and Mutoh Rockhopper II/RJ8000/ Spitfire ecosolvent printers.

2mm or 3mm fitting:
If you are not sure whether your printer needs a 2mm fitting damper or a 3mm fitting damper, simply remove a damper and measure the size of the outer diameter of the connector. If your printer is equipped with large size original filters, it is most likely 3mm fitting dampers.

Mutoh Valuejet dampers:
The Mutoh Valuejet uses a specific damper model which is different filters from those listed above.

What about the O-ring?
The quality of the dampers is defined by the colour of the o-ring. Digiprint Supplies only supply dampers with blue o-rings which are the most resistant to solvents.

How to adapt a Xaar 128 print head to a NUR Fresco printer?

Xaar 128 original print heads are compatible with a wide range of printers including NUR Fresco I, II and III printers. Xaar 128/80 print heads fit the Fresco I and II printer series whereas the Xaar 128/80W print heads fit the Fresco III printer series.

However, on a Fresco printer, original Xaar 128 print heads need to be fixed to a head adapter in order to fit to the flat cable and connect to the printer. NUR supplies original Fresco print heads together with this head adapter.

When a Fresco user needs to change a print head, he usually keeps the head adapters to place on the new print head, thereby running the risks entailed by using damaged equipment.

Now, Digiprint Supplies offers Fresco print head adapters together with Xaar 128 print heads! Digiprint Supplies only offers original, first hand, first grade spare parts and these Xaar 128 print heads and Fresco adapters are guaranteed to be original parts.

Ensure a high quality cleaning and keep your print heads safe

Cleaning inkjet print heads represents a challenge for most print shops. Our extensive experience in this field has convinced us that there is no standard method for safely cleaning Spectra, Xaar, Seiko or Hitachi print heads. Most print shops use ultrasonic devices that were developed for other industries. However, these devices can damage the print heads if used wrongly.

The following frequently asked questions should help you clean inkjet print heads without any risk of damaging them while prolonging their life span.

Which print heads can be cleaned with ultrasonic devices?

All Spectra, Xaar, Konica, Hitachi solvent and UV print heads can be cleaned using ultrasonic devices with good results. Digiprint Cleansonic includes a series of adapters to fit each print head. Epson DX4 (solvent) and DX5 print heads can also be cleaned with ultrasonic devices, though with less success.

Which cleaning solvent should be used in the ultra sonic cleaner?

We recommend using the cleaning fluid supplied by the printer manufacturer. The minimum and maximum solvent levels are clearly indicated on Digiprint Cleansonic.

Which temperature settings should be used during cleaning?

We recommend setting the temperature to 26°C on the ultrasonic cleaning device. The temperature should never exceed 35°C. Maintaining the temperature during the cleaning process is key. During cleaning, some devices get warm and regardless of the original settings, expose the print heads to a much higher temperature, which can cause damage. Digiprint Cleansonic enables the operator to set the temperature at the exact level required and maintain the actual temperature, even during long operation.

How long should you leave each print head in the ultrasonic device?

We recommend cleaning each print heads in the ultrasonic device for 5 minutes. Leaving a print head in the ultrasonic bath for too long can damage its coating. Digiprint Cleansonic allows the operator to set precisely the cleaning time and stops automatically at the end of the process.

Why use pumps during ultra sonic cleaning?

Leaving a print head in an ultrasonic bath without pumping cleaning solvent through it, doesn’t ensure proper cleaning and unclogging. Digiprint Cleansonic features two different pumps that are both connected to the print head with the adapter. Both pumps can be used alternatively during the cleaning procedure to ensure the heads are cleaned and all the nozzles are unclogged.

Can the print heads be immersed in solvent during the cleaning process?

The print heads should never be immersed fully in solvent as this might damage some electronic parts. Only the nozzle area should be immersed in solvent according to the marks indicated on Digiprint Cleansonic .

Can the solvent be re-used several times?

The solvent in an ultrasonic cleaning device should be kept clean as it goes through the print head nozzles. With a standard ultrasonic device, it is difficult to maintain the solvent clean and it needs to be changed often. Digiprint Cleansonic features a filter that will clean the solvent automatically during the operation. Therefore, the solvent can be re-used several times without risk of damaging the print heads.