We had an unusually wet late winter and realized we needed one of these...but they're expensive! I couldn't believe my luck when this showed up. It's working great, too.
It's been awhile since I published an autist-tier post about the E1 and the world of UV printing. This is mostly because my attention has moved to other projects, combined with the fact the consumables for the E1 are expensive, and I don't currently have an income to cover the overhead of operation.
That said, I still think the E1 is an excellent piece of kit for the right scenarios. If you fit into this category, you're probably already looking at ways to reduce your overhead, which means figuring out what you can get away with in terms of refilling your cartridges. I'll note here: this isn't a bad thing, and it's the right way to look at running a business. you need to minimize your overhead, or you'll get eaten alive by ongoing operational costs, in the long run.
When I reviewed the E1 last year for a friend's website, I had the opportunity to communicate directly with Anker on the hardware and the technology behind it. They asked me to put together a post with some information on the ink scene, because I'm an autist who likes doing this sort of thing.
Eufy also has a blog post on this subject on their website, over here.
So let's get down to brass tacks.
If you've only ever used a regular desktop inkjet printer in the past, you're probably familiar with the business model which was once heavily exploited by printer OEMs (Lexmark, Canon, HP, EPSON, Brother, and others are all guilty of this).
In the 1990s and 2000s, desktop printer hardware was largely sold at a loss, or with an almost nonexistent profit margin. It's why printers were often free (after rebate) with the purchase of a desktop computer. It's also why ink cartridges were ridiculously expensive. The OEM recovered the loss on the hardware in post-purchase sales of cartridges. In the end, people realized it was cheaper to buy a new printer when they ran out of ink than spend an insane amount of money on water with pigment dissolved in it, and the industry had to change.
Now printers are no longer sold at a loss, because consumers demand bulk ink systems (i.e. EPSON EcoTank) and know the old model was not very consumer-friendly. This also means printers today are not made very well, because OEMs started cutting a lot of corners to compensate for the shift in the consumer market.
You might be wondering, "why does this tangent matter?"
I think many makers interested in the E1 system wrongly assume this printer is just like any other inkjet printer - or, at the very least, mostly equivalent. This is not the case, and it's important to understand the unique qualities of UV printing which are very distinct from traditional home inkjet printing.
Importantly, I don't think it's correct to assume Anker is following the now-obsolete inkjet printer model. There's a lot more to the ink, cleaning system, and the cartridges than a naked desire to rake in profits on post-purchase consumables.
Standard consumer-grade inkjet ink uses regular ol' H2O combined with a glycol of some kind to increase the viscosity of the fluid and prevent clogs and premature evaporation inside the cartridge.
UV ink, by comparison, is composed primarily of polymers. These molecules are derived from hydrocarbons, like petroleum and natural gas. Because of their molecular structure, they are particularly susceptible to passive decay and chemical change from exposure to the fundamental elements of any environment: light, oxygen, moisture, and airborne particulates (i.e. dust). These factors are inevitable, since we don't live in outer space, and this is why your E1 ink has an expiration date.
Most importantly, exposure to these factors causes the molecules in the ink formulation to change, break down, and form new bonds, which in turn can cause serious performance problems, and these problems can permanently ruin not only your printhead, but the other components of your E1. So, the expiration date on your ink is more like a "discard after" date rather than a "best by" date - the more expired the ink, the more likely the chemistry of the ink has degraded to where you risk ruining your expensive printer if you try to use the ink, and you may not be able to accurately gauge how degraded your expired ink actually is.
Once an ink cartridge reaches its expiration date, the E1's firmware will prevent the use of the cartridge. This isn't to force you to buy new ink - it's because the degradation of the ink poses a hazard to the hardware.
Even more confusingly, UV ink is not all equivalent and interchangeable. The ingredients used in a given ink's formula can interact with similar - but not identical - ingredients in other formulas, leading to unwanted clogs, improper pigment dispersion (which means uneven color), and other problems with the hardware.
I'm not yet well-versed enough in the chemistry of UV inks to fully understand why there are different formulas, or which ingredients are more disposed than others to this sort of behavior. This is polymer science, and I'm just a layperson trying to understand this all from publicly-available literature. If it's something you're particularly interested in, there's a plethora of industry and scientific literature available online.
Ultimately, Eufy's motivation is to develop an ink cartridge system which mitigates the passive environmental factors which necessarily lead to hardware-damaging decay. This is no joke - even with proper light blockage (like setting up your printer in a basement with no windows), the antioxidants in the liquid resin will eventually be fully consumed by ambient oxygen (because that's how antioxidants work), and the liquid will become significantly more viscous from continued oxygen exposure. Ambient moisture will, over time, also affect the stability of the ink. All of this is why Eufy went with cartridges rather than refillable tanks.
These same problems exist with bulk ink, but commercial UV outfits are rotating through their ink supply quickly enough to where this is less of a problem (but it's still a constant headache for them!).
So what does all this mean for the ongoing experiments people have been posting about regarding refilling empty cartridges?
It means you need to be aware of the risks - and willing to accept the potentially very expensive consequences of these risks. If you can float setting $2300 on fire because you bricked your printer after refilling carts, take the risk and learn along the way. But if you can't, you unfortunately probably shouldn't embark on this particular path For Science™.
The risks I'm referring to aren't just about the printhead, either. The E1 uses an ink plumbing system, meaning the ink cartridges do not deposit ink directly through the printhead (this is how typical consumer cartridge-based inkjet printers function). Plumbing requires pressure, and once the ink lines are primed, the E1 maintains the ink pressure through an intelligent system. If any components in this ink delivery system fail, you either have to buy a new printer or attempt a repair, which may or may not be feasible. Printers are precision mechanical machines, and even the slightest misalignment of the mechanical components (like gears and springs) can cause endless print quality problems.
A printer is more than its printhead. The other components involved in the ink delivery system have their own tolerances and design requirements, which means third-party ink compatibility is not a foregone conclusion. Ink which is listed as compatible with the Epson printhead installed in the E1 is not a guarantee it will work as expected across the printer's whole ink delivery system.
This also isn't marketing speak. Polymers do some very strange things when interacting with other polymers, including interactions between liquid polymers and solid plastic components. I also do a a lot of dye sublimation stuff, and I use a CISS kit for my old EPSON inkjet printer. After about a year, the soft plastic tubes used to deliver ink from the tanks to the cartridge unit have become badly stained, and the black ink has actually bled through the tube where the printer enclosure puts a slight bit of pressure on it. This is specifically because the polymer content of the sublimation ink reacted with the polymer content of the tubes (I blame this on the CISS manufacturer; they should have known better). Chemistry is magic!
For my $50 CISS kit, when I finally have to swap out the tubes (or the whole kit), it won't be a huge expense. When it comes to the E1, however, the cost of replacing the hardware is considerable, and using the wrong UV ink formulation can expose your hardware to real damage.
Of course Eufy wants to sell their ink to you, but they also are trying to avoid unnecessary customer support issues as a consequence of customers experimenting a little too much and finding themselves with a malfunctioning printer. If you plan on refilling your ink carts, be prepared to take full responsibility for whatever may happen with your hardware over the long term, and don't assume adequate function today implies continued function in the months and years ahead. The chemical changes inflicted by ink formulation mismatch take time to become noticeable.
Eufy's system is engineered for hobbyists and low-volume production. The ink is more expensive per ounce than industrial options, but that's because the ink has such a limited shelf life, and the ink's predisposition to rather rapid decay from ambient environmental factors means you either have to use your printer daily, or use other methods of keeping the ink moving so it doesn't clog the ink delivery system.
I have a maker friend on the west coast who has a lot of disposable income and has pursued a number of for-profit making ventures over the years. He told me last year he sold his commercial UV setup at auction, because it was too expensive to maintain. Commercial UV printers absolutely must be run at least every other day, if not daily, or the ink delivery system will end up completely clogged with degrading UV ink.
And this brings us to...
Most of the industrial solvents used to dissolve polymers are unbelievably hazardous to human health. These solvents are designed to break apart the molecular bonds formed by polymer chains, and because these chains are quite chemically strong, equally strong solvents are required to dissolve the polymers.
These solvents contain what we know as VOCs - volatile organic compounds - which readily enter the human body through both the respiratory system and skin contact. These molecules bond to organic matter in ways which negatively affect your health. This a well-known hazard of the entire plastics industry, and the people who work in this industry professionally are regularly trained on mitigating these very serious risks.
Eufy had to address two challenges with its cleaning cartridges:
The solution Eufy has formulated is proprietary, due to the sensitivity of the automated cleaning system (to incursions from dust, as well as maintaining the cleaning fluid pressure), combined with regulatory consumer safety obligations.
I have no details on the chemical composition of either the cleaning solution or the moisturizing fluid. However, given the basic chemistry principles behind how UV resin behaves, you should be very cautious about attempting to use any third-party fluids with your E1, because this may cause unexpected reactions with the ink and any residual fluids in a refilled cartridge.
If you decide to experiment, do not try any industrial solvents, because these may damage the components used for circulating the cleaning and moisturizing fluid through the printer.
Eufy very recently announced, in this video, a new continuous ink supply system (CISS) which is still in development (the rep in the video notes what's presented is a prototype; launch is slated for Q3). This is not a standard CISS, which uses refillable tanks. Instead, Eufy's system uses larger-capacity cartridges - 300 mL CMYK, and 1000 mL white and gloss varnish.
This is, again, because the E1 is designed for hobbyist makers and artists, rather than high-volume production shops.
I don't have any insider knowledge on this CISS solution, but it should help reduce some of the operational overhead.
Eufy also announced an ink subscription plan, the details of which are not yet available. The rep in the video mentions a 15-30% discount, which is significant enough to make the plan worthwhile for regular E1 users.
I think it's easy to assume Eufy is just trying to make an excessive profit on the sale of the E1's consumables. I mean, this has been true for a lot of consumer products, so it's not an unexpected assumption at all, but I don't think the stereotype fits here.
The E1 is novel hardware, so beware of making assumptions about its compatibility based on industry literature focused on commercial equipment. If you want to experiment, go for it, but always remember total brickage of your printer is the risk of doing so.
It's also worth emphasizing something else in light of all this: you should not be dependent on your E1 to keep your business operational. If you're going to lose money when your E1 is out of commission because you're waiting on consumables, you seriously need to rethink your business model. The same goes for bulk orders with a hard deadline - you may not be able to fulfill your obligations to paying customers if you run out of supplies and can't get refills immediately, which we've already seen is a real concern with this hardware. Because these consumables are proprietary, E1 owners are reliant on Anker's supply chain, which means any crunch affects everyone's availability. Keep this in mind and be realistic about your plans for your E1.
If you found this useful and are interested in my other posts, here's the other stuff I've posted:
I reviewed my E1 a long time ago now - it's been more than a year! I figured out very quickly how sublimation blanks were not a good candidate for UV printing, because the ink didn't bond to the polyester-based sublimation coatings on a variety of materials, with the worst performance on glossy, smooth finishes (i.e. metal sublimation blanks).
I discovered this awhile after my first round of prints, which were on some dog tag subli blanks. I noticed the edges of the print took damage very easily...then I did a tape test, and the entire print peeled right off. I also used some scrap PET as blowout material around an item when I was experimenting for my review (and this sub), and same thing - the print slides off rather easily.
If you print on subli blanks, have you done any durability tests? I only ever used CMYK, no white, because subli blanks are bright white.
I'm interested in standard hatch and tape tests. Hatch test example:
Thanks!!
