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Ink Tester for Functional Printing: Find Out If Your Ink Jets Before It Reaches a Production Printhead
Functional inks can be expensive, highly loaded, and difficult to predict from datasheet properties alone. The Ink Tester evaluates how a fluid actually behaves through a printhead, helping determine whether it jets reliably before it reaches production hardware. Using a known-good reference printhead and dedicated ink modules, it helps reduce testing uncertainty, avoid cross-contamination, and lower the risk of damaging expensive production printheads.
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Ink Tester: The Smartest Way to Prevent Ink-Related Print Failures
In industrial inkjet printing, ink quality is just as critical as printhead health. A single unstable batch can clog nozzles, distort colour, or shut down an entire production line – often before the root cause is even identified. That’s why Digital Sign Technologies created the Ink Tester: a fast, AI-powered ink testing system that lets you evaluate ink performance before it reaches your presses. The Ink Tester elevates ink testing from a slow, reactive process into a predictive...
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Drop Watching for Printhead Testing: Real-Time Nozzle Diagnostics
Digital Sign Technologies unveiled an innovative method for real-time nozzle diagnostics at FESPA 2025. Called drop watching, this new approach enables precise observation of ink droplet formation — all while the printhead is being cleaned on the Print Head Doctor (PHD) system. What Is Drop Watching? Drop watching is a non-print-based method of testing printhead nozzles. Instead of relying on printed test patterns or fluid curtains, this technique allows you to directly observe individual...
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Piezo-Actuation-Assisted Printhead Cleaning: A Smarter Way to Restore Clogged Nozzles
Discover how the unified Print Head Doctor (PHD) and Print Head Tester (PHT) system uses piezoelectric actuation to supercharge printhead cleaning, improve recovery rates, and reduce printer downtime. What Is Piezo-Actuation-Assisted Printhead Cleaning? Piezo-assisted printhead cleaning combines: Chemical cleaning (using specialized printhead recovery fluids), and Mechanical stimulation (activating the printhead's piezoelectric crystals) to create deeper, faster, and more effective...
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Drop Watching on the Print Head Doctor Enables Quick, Easy, and Precise Printhead Testing
At FESPA 2025, Digital Sign Technologies introduced a groundbreaking method for assessing nozzle performance on inkjet printheads during the cleaning process – directly on the Print Head Doctor (PHD) machine. This new technique, known as drop watching , offers a faster and more accurate alternative to traditional test prints and the widely used “curtain” method. A Smarter Way to Test Nozzles Traditionally, checking nozzle function involved printing a pattern or observing a fluid “curtain”...
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Piezo-Actuation-Assisted Printhead Cleaning for Better Results: Unified Print Head Cleaning and Testing System
Jetting Print Heads During Cleaning Helps Increase Recovery Rate The unified system* comprising the Print Head Doctor (PHD) and the Print Head Tester (PHT) now intelligently actuates piezo crystals inside a print head during cleaning cycles. This innovative approach reduces overall cleaning time and increases the percentage of successful cleaning outcomes (also known as the recovery rate). Piezo actuation, precisely controlled by the unified system, is now embedded into the cleaning programs,...
Read articleUnified Print Head Cleaning and Testing System
We’re excited to announce a major innovation: a single system that cleans and tests inkjet printheads — combining two critical processes into one streamlined workflow. Key Benefits ✅ Clean and test in a single system ✅ Faster turnaround — immediate validation after cleaning ✅ Space-saving design — compact, efficient, and user-friendly ✅ Accurate results — detailed nozzle performance insights ✅ Lower costs — extend printhead life and reduce downtime Why It Matters By integrating cleaning and...
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