Small Character & Continuous Ink Jet Printer FAQs

What does CIJ stand for?

CIJ stands for Continuous Ink Jet. The printer creates a stream of small ink droplets and selects some of the droplets to print, becoming the characters that land on the product. The unused droplets are cycled back into the printer to eventually become part of the ink stream again.

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What is the working principle of CIJ?

The CIJ printers charge the individual ink drops that make-up a message. Each drop, with its specific charge, flies through a magnetic field generated inside the printhead. The amount of charge place on the drop determines the amount of deflection it has in this field. The drops that get deflected most make up the top line of code, or the top drops of a single line code. The drops that get deflected a little make up the lower lines of code or the lower drops of a single line character. The drops that do not get any charge do not get deflected and land inside the printhead and go back into the ink system.

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What applications are recommended for CIJ?

CIJ printers can be used to print on Paper products, plastics, metal, glass, and others. Typical applications include Milk containers, Soda cans, pharmaceuticals, small cardboard boxes, cabling, and small component marking.

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What is the difference between CIJ and contact coders?

CIJ printers do not ever touch the product. CIJ printers spray the ink through the air one drop at a time in a pattern that, when a moving product passes, prints the code as programmed in the printer. Typical distance from the printer’s print head to the product is 3/16 of an inch.

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What is the difference between CIJ and DOD technologies?

The difference between CIJ and DOD is that, in CIJ, the ink is being continuously circulated throughout the printer from the fluids system through the print head, and back to the fluids system. In DOD technology, the ink is only dispersed when the printer is printing.

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What is the difference between CIJ and LCM technologies?

LCM or Large Character Marking is sometimes also referred to as DOD or Drop on Demand technology. LCM printers are typically used for secondary packing where a larger font is required. CIJ fonts usually range from 1/8th of an inch to ½ of an inch in height, whereas LCM characters can be over 2 inches tall.

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How far away from the product can Videojet CIJ printers print?

For the majority of Videojet CIJ printers, the recommended distance from the end of the CIJ print head to the product that it is printing on is 3/16” or about 4mm. When the print head is less than 3/16” from the product, the code gets smaller and the printed drops are closer together. When the print head is further than 3/16” the print height becomes taller, the printed drops are farther apart, and the drops land with less accuracy.

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Where do I find MSDS documentation on Videojet Fluids?

The MSDS documentation is located under the Support tab under Documentation form the www.videojet.com homepage. Click on Documentation once the Service menu has opened. 

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What CIJ printers require compressed air to run?

Videojet offers printers that require compressed air to power the pneumatics systems as well as printers that have internal ink pumps without pneumatics systems.

Videojet Printer models that require compressed air are:

Videojet Printer models that do not require compressed air are:

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What types of product detectors does Videojet offer?

Videojet offers a variety of product detectors for different types of products. Most commonly used are photo-eye type product detectors that used infra-red beams to detect when a product is coming down the line. We also offer metal detectors for metallic product detection, and small fiber optic beam detectors for detecting registry marks within a product. Call the Videojet Customer Service number for more information regarding product detectors at: 1 (800) 843-3610

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What causes a "No Signal Fault"?

A no signal fault means that the sense signal coming from the return block is not receiving a signal from the charged drops that land inside the return block. Common causes of the no signal fault can be a misaligned ink stream, excessive buildup of ink in the bottom of the printhead, or a severed sense wire coming from the return block. For troubleshooting a specific model printer, it is always best to consult the service manual for your printer.

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What causes a "Phasing Fault"?

A phasing fault is similar to a no signal fault, only the sense signal coming from the return block is insufficient instead of completely missing. Cleaning the printhead is a common way to correct the problem. Other causes can be misaligned ink stream, printer configuration, or vibration on the printhead. For troubleshooting the Phasing Fault, please refer to the specific printer model’s service manual.

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What is the "product detect dynamic range warning" on the Videojet IPRO?

This warning only occurs when you are using the EZ-IPRO product detector.
The EZ-IPRO product detector has the ability to automatically adjust its contrast setting as the light being received from the product decreases.

This is usually a result of the photo-eye getting dusty/dirty, or falling out of position and not being able to see the product. The “dynamic range warning” means that the photo-eye is unable to automatically adjust its contrast any further. To remedy this problem, make sure the photo-eye is properly mounted and free of dust and debris.

Re-calibrate the photo-eye by going to the Setup screen and selecting “configure product detect”. Follow the instructions to reset the contrast settings on the detector.

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How do I re-calibrate the touch screen on the Videojet IPRO printer?

If the touch screen on the IPRO printer becomes so far out of calibration, that it cannot be used properly, follow these instructions to recover:

The key combination “Ctrl-Tab” will move the GUI through the 4 screens (Print, Edit, Setup, and Maintenance) Press “Ctrl-Tab” until you get to the Setup screen.

The Space bar will activate the icon that is currently selected on the screen. When you enter the Setup screen, the cursor starts at the icon “Change…” under General Info. Press the space bar once to activate this icon.

The Tab button will allow you to cycle through the various icons on a given screen. By now, you should be in the window that says “General System Information”.
Press the Tab key 11 times, and the cursor will cycle through the icons until it gets to “Calibrate”. The cursor is represented by a dotted line around the icon.

Press space bar to activate the “Calibrate” icon. The printer will give a warning and ask if you would like to continue.

Press the “Tab” key to bring the cursor to the YES button.
Press the Space bar to start the touch screen calibration.

The touch screen will show a series of targets to press that will re-calibrate the screen.

When complete, press the YES button to save the settings.

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How do I contact a local Videojet representative?

Call 1(800) 843-3610 and follow the automated phone system to speak with customer service.

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