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It’s the not-so-sexy side of any business however, maintenance of equipment is key to success. Your edible printer is no different, and in many cases, it is a vital component of your business, so it makes sense to treat it well.

Here we outline the basics of  edible ink printer maintenance that, if adhered to regularly, will keep your printer, and your jobs, running smoothly.

Remember, if you have had a break from printing edible images or your business has closed for a period, you must give your printer a good check over and run it through the maintenance steps.

Note: this schedule may need to be done more regularly if you are a high out-put business.

To get the most out of your  edible ink printing system we recommend the following maintenance schedule:

DAILY:
Turn the printer on and off. Do this even if you are not using the printer that day.

WEEKLY:
Run a test print through the printer using normal A4 paper. Don’t use your icing sheets for this. This test print will keep your printer and ink moving and will also indicate if you have a potential issue well before you need to print a job. You can also use cleaning cartridges to run this test page (see below).

FORTNIGHTLY:
Run a standard clean via software, remove cartridges and clean any excess ink in the print head chambers with a lint-free cloth. We recommend using edible ink printer compatible cleaning cartridges for this process (see below).

6 MONTHLY:
Clean the print head. The printer will indicate if a print head clean is required sooner than this. Visit our Edible Tips article for instructions.

ALWAYS:
Replace your ink cartridges if you have refilled them more than 4 times.

NEVER:
Never let the ink tanks run completely dry.

About Cleaning Cartridges:

EIS cleaning solution cartridges contain the same ingredients as our edible ink, without the colour. If you do not print edible images regularly, the cleaning solution cartridges can be placed in your printer and used for the daily power on and off, weekly test print and fortnightly clean. Leaving the printer idle with edible ink cartridges installed may result in a blocked print head.

Note: when using cleaning cartridges, the weekly test print will be blank, the objective is to keep the liquid flowing through the print head to prevent blockages.

When you are ready to print edible images again, take out the cleaning solution cartridges, reseal them and replace with your edible ink cartridges.

Tip: Always keep the orange tabs that come with both ink and cleaning cartridges so that you can reseal when not in use.

We also recommend keeping your printer in a stable room temperature and covered when not in use to avoid dust or food particles (especially if you have it in your kitchen area).

Bonus Tips From a Regular for Eliminating Roller Marks on Prints:

“I use damp cardboard to clean the printer rollers however, it goes soggy after a few pushes through the printer. I discovered that the boxes that the Edible Image Supplies icing sheets come in have a sealed side, so the water doesn’t absorb through the entire piece of card. Making it rigid enough to clean the rollers without the card going floppy. So, every time I open a new box of Edible Image Supplies icing sheets, I clean the rollers with the front panel of the old box before recycling it. BONUS.”

And;

“If you are experiencing roller marks on your prints you can try slowing down the printer speed (approx. 20%) which may help stop these marks.” - Two brilliant tips from one of our amazing customers - Jodi Pender, Sugar by Design Australia.

Remember - a happy printer is a well-maintained one!