Back · HARDWARE · SOFTWARE · CONCEPT · TOPOLOGIES

To make it easier for our customers to get started with inkjet technology, we have developed a portable test unit that will be produced in small quantities in the future.

The device is designed as a 4C printer, but can be turned into a high-performance dropwatcher in seconds at the click of a mouse.

Our initially somewhat unconventional design is only large and heavy enough to be transported by one person.

The universally usable test device has nothing to offer in the way of mechanical engineering finesse. It shows how impressive print quality can be achieved with the simplest of means.

The printer can output images up to 220 x 320 mm in size. All the functionalities of our hardware and software components can be fully tested.

The Minilab shown here should not be understood as a production printer that delivers a fixed output. Rather, it is a technology carrier on which inkjet technology can be tested and learned.

All the basic functions of a dropwatcher, such as measurement of drop mass, drop speed and directional deviation, have been solved in a comprehensibly simple way. Ink drops emerging from the print head can be observed in high magnification at any stage of their formation. The flexibly configurable slow-motion function achieves an unprecedented imaging quality thanks to a specially developed illumination system.

A very important feature is the “practically built-in” reproducibility of setting scenarios. As soon as any screen output is saved, such as a video sequence with slow-motion images of an emerging droplet, a software module is automatically activated, which stores all settings made on the system in such a way that they can be restored “at the touch of a button”.

Since our minilab is equipped with a cleaning station and, of course, all axis movements are also used in dropwatcher mode, the system can independently restore an overall state once it has been saved within a few seconds. This includes automatic cleaning and venting as well as fully automatic focusing of the camera system.

The user has full access to all parameters affecting the printing operation.

With the help of the script control used in all our components, it is possible to automatically change any influencing parameters, such as characteristics of individual segments of a waveform, within a preset range and to record the resulting results.

We assume that dropwatcher tests and print tests should be carried out under conditions that can later be expected in the target machine to be developed. For this reason, our Minilab system uses only ink system components that we also offer for series production of industrially used inkjet machines.

Our Minilab concept offers you a timely and economically plannable entry into inkjet technology!