Inkjet Factory

SME Southeastern Manufacturing Enterprises designed the Inkjet Factory as the preeminent ink cartridge processing machine. This machine had several versions and the latest version included basically every component that is necessary to process inkjet cartridges that have an integrated printhead. It starts with a low speed drill that is used to drill holes into the cap of ink cartridges that allow it to be emptied and refilled. Next is the ink jet cartridge printhead atomizer which is a devices that uses air pressure and water to create a forceful water flow to the printhead nozzles that will wet, soften and clean dried ink from the nozzle holes. A small two cartridge centrifuge that is used to empty ink from used cartridges is a must as it is necessary to start the process with a completely empty cartridge. As we go more into the process the next feature is the vacuum box used to remove all the air, creating a vacuum condition, from the cartridge so when ink is pumped in there are no air pockets. After filling the next step is to test the printout from the cartridges and an integrated CBR tester is used for this. Insert the cartridge into the test bay and the electronics are tested and then a printout shows if each nozzle is able to produce an ink pattern. If it doesn't then further processing, perhaps with the ultrasonic or atomizer is needed.

This all in one ink cartridge processing machine uses a Jun-air silent compressor that uses SJ-27 synthetic oil. The machine is managed by a touch screen monitor attached to a computer that causes all the functions to occur with minimal operator interface. Little training is required for new operators and this is a real plus.

In 2011 SME Southeastern Manufacturing Enterprises closed down their Inkjet Factory operation and is now focusing only on contract manufacturing. The supplies division of that company was sold to an investor group located in Colorado Springs.  They now offer the popular SME TrueColor ink made by Dupont, the ink jet cartridge clips, blue printhead tape, cartridge caps, ball and cylinder plugs.  They renamed the company SME Inkjet LLC., and their website is www.smeinkjet.com.

Factory Support for/of the Inkjet Factory has been discontinued and SME Inkjet LLC., does not have and has never been trained to support any of the SME equipment or components and is not able to offer support for it.

If you need a replacement machine you may want to consider the equipment from R-JetTek.

SME and R-JetTek formerly were competitors but R-JetTek did not build equipment specifically for placement in retail establishments except for an All-In-One machine that was purchased by WalMart in Puerto Rico. The equipment from R-JetTek is used in many WalMart owned stores in Central America including Hondorus, El Salvador. R-JetTek offers ink jet processing equipment such as their ever popular SelectJet 2 filling machine, the EasyClean cartridge cleaner, JetPro atomizer, Branson Ultrasonic Cleaner, CBR Testers, tape machines, nozzle flush tools, and all of the supplies, including OCP ink from Germany, you will need to process and package ink jet cartridges for sale. R-JetTek ( www.rjettek.com ) has been in business for over 20 years and offers customer support on all of its equipment and supplies. They also have dealers/distributors in Mexico, Central America, Spain, UK and in South Africa.

We hope this informative article has been beneficial to you.

Contact for SME Southeastern Manufacturing is:http://www.sme-us.com/contact.aspx