johnson4

22 minutes ago, Solarious said:

So I have spent a lot of time and money into these printers already and think I have a pretty firm understanding of using Maintop & Atools alignment software now if anyone has any questions I am here to help! Also I will be logging my experience with these printers here.

Any Cadlink experience with them? 

41 minutes ago, TheBetterTee said:

Hey I am having this exact same issue, any solution? I’ve moved to printing with acrorip for the moment but prefer cadlink.

thanks

Could be the image, cadlink picks up pretty much any transparency, including anti-aliasing on fake "high quality" images and poor background removals. Try " transparency 50-50" and see if it changes anything at all. 

For me and this specific printer, It was a little bit of a couple things. When I would align the heads on the printer then go to cadlink for a print, it was insanely off. 

So I thought, I'll align it from cadlink then by eyeballing the prints. Well, that worked to a degree. After I used a decent image and made sure cadlink didn't pick up any transparent-ish pixels in it ( you can check by going to the CMYK preview or print preview, whatever it's called).  then it worked perfectly. 

Ever since, I have to just make sure the image doesn't have any hidden transparent pixels. EKprint, Acro, Literally everything I have ever used and all of my designing programs- they do not show anything so that is new to me.

In cadlink, sometimes, It DOES find transparent data that it deems as part of the image and needs corrected before printing that no one else can find, even professionals, even people I have sent images to that work at cadlink. I don't know, But I pay real close attention to it now. 

I feel like the majority of what I do likely isn't the " right" way, so keep that in mind with the aforementioned. It's just what worked for me. 

That was my issue anyway. 

So I have 4 good heat presses but over the years it has started to be a pain… literally. 
 

Pricing out air/pneumatic heat presses, the price isn’t terrible but when you have four heat presses already, it makes it much worse of a price. 
 

I have meant to do it for awhile and when I looked I couldn’t find anything on the subject. 
 

in my example my heat press is a magnetic auto-open press. The same could be done/added to a standard press without these features with minimal changes. Adding this has essentially bypassed the magnetic portion anyway. 
 

it’s not pretty but it works, maybe it’ll help give you an idea on how to proceed in your situation if you are in the same position. 
 

it was about $100 per heat press to add these, including the custom laser cut metal brackets. 
 

i don’t remember exactly off hand, I think the 16”x20” presses themselves were $700 delivered. 
 

i can post specifics or a part breakdown if anyone is interested. 

1 hour ago, Mr.Carter said:

Wow andy is alive😂 give a thanks to jhonson4 he is totally responsible to answer all the questions on the forum

Haha, honestly I probably could have been more helpful most of the time. Thanks for the compliment though. 
 

Through so many experiences and seeing people come and go and how they went- it’s hard to keep recommending things when the basics are ignored and ultimately results in some form of failure. 
 

that and I’m just some random dude who is going to be wrong at times too, mixed with bad and good days.
 

I wouldn’t consider my answers or advice anywhere near the level of what the forum used to offer, but I try. 
 

4 hours ago, afdermon said:

contact for dtf software

Delivered with gerbes file

What’s this for? 

17 minutes ago, DillyTimes2 said:

I’ve used both regular paper and film in order to find a solution but nothing has worked thus far. I’ll try the power solution you mentioned and see if that works. 

Could always remove the Chipless firmware with an update and see if it still does it as well. 

9 hours ago, DillyTimes2 said:

I just bought, and converted, an Epson XP15000. I did the conversion and it’s never once printed anything. Not with DTF ink, nor regular ink. The print head will go through the motions like it’s printing, but nothing gets printed. My carts are primed, the air plug is removed. I’ve installed the chipless firmware from InkChip. Im completely lost here and can’t figure out what went wrong, and what’s worse is that I can’t seem to find ANYONE online who’s come across this problem. 

anyone out there have an idea of what went wrong or what I can do to fix it?

Are you using regular paper or film? If you are using film, some film isn’t recognized by the sensor on the printhead. Double sided film would fix that issue, if it’s paper, then obviously not the issue. 
 

I’ve also had this a symptom of the Chipless firmware as well. I had to power on the printer and then unplug it ( not power it off properly) then press and hold the power button 5-10 seconds. I did this several times and it would work eventually. 
 

it’s a PITA sometimes but once you get it going it fine. 
 

it could also just be a defective printer. 

16 hours ago, acebista said:

Hello guys. So I have a problem with the white ink in my printer. When printing the color part prints fine but when it starts printing white, first it prints out watery substance aba only then prints out white which makes the prints leaky/watery. I did the shaking and syringe priming already and Did the ink charge too. The ink separates in a matter of hours. Can anyone help me?

You have to do that daily, even if you don’t use the machine. Sometimes it takes several ink charges. That’s the reason for the white ink mixing tanks and circulation on purpose built machines. 

for example, the R3000/P600 required 3 ink charges every time I used it, ( everyday) to keep the white ink from doing this after the printer was a couple months old for me. So every month or so I started manually flushing the ink system and the problem went away.  It took over 2 hours to do and over a liter of water but that’s what I had to do to be able to avoid this issue on that specific printer. 

if it’s a stock manifold, or a built in CISS those cause the worst issues. 
 

DTF superstore white ink gives me 24 hours+ before it starts to do that. So I can shake,mix, use and be fine all day. You may have bad ink, but it’s unlikely to settle that fast unless it has been neglected. 
 

What printer do you have? 

8 hours ago, euren said:

oh ok and im debating  between ecotank 8550 wide format or the XP15000 wich one gives less issues and its cheaper to maintain  i know the issue with the xp15000 is the chipless license etc. i do only sublimation on white since i cant sublimate on black or dark colors thats why I'm looking for the next step this is my side Hussle so im slowly improving the equipment. having this in mind what is your recomendation or i should go ahead and look for a iheat540 ? 

The 15000 license is a little bit of a pain sometimes, but it's not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is the cartridges leaking and the printer coming back with a malfunctioning printhead and being able to properly circulate/maintain the ink with such small cartridges or a DIY CISS. Almost always this printer dies within a month or two from a 31006 error, which is usually related to liquid on the printhead cables or shorting out somewhere. The ink cartridges for the printer are not really ideal. It's why the XP600 printheads are converted over to use actual dampers with adapters for the chinese printers, since they are similar in design as the 15000. 

The 8550 has similar characteristics, except with a built in ciss that cannot be properly maintained. You would need to manually flush the lines daily and shake the whole printed to agitate the white ink to keep the white ink from separating. Beyond that it doesn't have the issue with chip less or leaking dampers. I personally haven't seen anyone successful with it for any long term usage. 

For something long term you would want a higher end printhead and printer build, for low volume or short term usage one of the above would work with random pains. For low volume long term usage you would want a printer capable of that such as the P400/P800. The p400 can be flushed in-between uses really easily so you don't risk clogging or settling of the ink, while the P800 would need used more often, it can easily be ready to roll with a couple head cleans with the white ink. 

Other variations like the P600, R2000, R1900, R3000 all have their own pains and do not work as well because of their associated downfalls. 

If it were me I would go with the 15000 if my budged were $600 or less, opt for a few sets of cartridge's and swap them out as they become empty. When done for the day make sure you put both caps on the cartridges and you'll have to replace your white cartridges regularly do to the ink pigment settling in the sponges. 

If you can find a P400 or P800, Those two are the most ideal DIY conversion printers. After that, a cheap Chinese printer running the xp600 printhead would be my next go-to.

 unlike sublimation it requires daily maintenance and tons of learning curve. Sublimation is essentially OEM usage from an inkjet printer with dye based ink that pose very little issue to clogging and no issues with settling.  Usually for small usage it's cheaper to just order your transfers from someone. Yea, It's $1-$2 more per print, but overall if you are not dedicating yourself to the machine and learning it and can afford the learning curve mixed with low volume requirements, It would be what I would suggest. If you invest $2000 you would need to make over 1,500-2,000 transfers before you break even just simply ordering the transfers for example. That's quite a bit to get from one of those printers before it experiences some form of catastrophic failure. 

6 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

I'm not familiar with that machine, sorry. Usually it's clipped in or a couple screws. I usually just rip them out since the machine will be dead in a year or so anyway. 

Not sound advice, I know. But that is the extent of what I know with the rollers, I just tear them out haha. 

4 hours ago, dtfmatt253 said:

Hello, 

I have this machine that I bought and the mechanism that rolls the film on the core wont turn on. Does it have a relay switch that only activates when a certain temp is reached? I have tried messing with the settings and have no idea what any of them mean. It is a 24" machine and everything else works, but this part does not. Let me know if there is anything that I might be missing! 

I have had several things fail to cause this on multiple shakers.

1. The relay has failed. 

2. the motor has failed

3. the sensor is failing to trigger the relay

4. bad wiring. 

some run on an AC motor, some use DC. Likely your machine uses AC. I have had 2 of those fail, when they do it's almost immediately. Sometimes you can replace the start capacitor and it's fine, sometimes it's the windings. I throw them in the trash and convert them to DC since they are over $100 just for the motor, while a DC counterpart is like $15 and haven't had one fail without extensive use. Not to mention DC is safer if the wires to it are dangling. 

A simpler more common issue is there is a forward/reverse switch on the front/side of the roller unit, there is also an " off" position on the switch. Make sure it's not in the off position. Also, The sensor in the bottom of the "duster bay" must be triggered to make it work. 

4 hours ago, euren said:

i took ever screw i saw and almost tooked apart lol but the roller from that side close to the ink gap is not moving and there ia no clear view of what is holding it down in a few i will try again and upload some pictures of what i see inside  thanks for replying 

I'm not familiar with that machine, sorry. Usually it's clipped in or a couple screws. I usually just rip them out since the machine will be dead in a year or so anyway. 

15 hours ago, euren said:

hello i have a Et4800 i turn it into sublimation and currently trying to use the dtf films it works good so far but the issue i having is the rollers keep marking the paper it leves my pet film with all the rollers pressure lines form the begining to the end. i try to disassemble the printer and take the rollers out but i stoped half way since the roller is under the ink cables and it doesnt move so i didnt wanted to force it. and instead ask for some advice on the matter 

 

 in general the rollers are removed from DTF printers. You then need an output tray to hold the film in place so it doesn't have a head strike. 

If you don't remove the rollers it will smear the prints, If you do and you don't make an output tray you will have a head strike basically. 

On epson conversions you need to see what is holding it in, screws or clips, and undo those. They should come out easily. 

7 hours ago, SilverSwan said:

So we have replaced the head and have no issues on print but we have noticed that the sharpness of a printed image isn't sharp can anyone help with this at all as everything is perfect on checks just not very sharp despite the design being crisp in sharpness

Did you check the head alignments and make sure your encoder scales are clean? 

8 minutes ago, Coders said:

I did splash some cleaning solution earlier that day when it happened. Ill try to reseat the head cable. If not ill get a replacement for the main board and the print head. Thank you.

No problem, if the cleaner got down on the head cable then it’s likely both. 

9 hours ago, Coders said:

Sorry for the late response i didnt have access to my printer. Its giving fatal error 0x42 Printer head failure. X-Hot detection error during flushing. Head thermistor detects abnormal temperature. Main board failure. So the problem would be the print head? Or is it my main board?

Could be both. When the printhead shorts out so could the mainboard. Any spills or anything like that in the head cable?

I got the hot head cable often on a p600, I had to reseat the head cable on it to fix it.
 

 The “ smelling something burning” is the part that gets me. I’d worry damaging a new component and replace both. 

2 hours ago, Carla0912 said:

Hi, 

I have a problem I don’t know if you can help me. I don’t know why but the white layer print on another page?? It prints the color, change sheet and print the white, why?

I have the Epson xp-15000. 
 

Thank you!!

You need to set it to print 1 pass in the white ink settings page.

23 minutes ago, Coders said:

I was printed a couple of images and everything seemed fine. The last image i printed was a test image i always print it came out real bright. Then there was a burning smell and I keep getting the paper and ink light error on the printer. Do anyone know what this can be? Did my print head go bad or some other part. Any help would be appreciated.

Use wic reset to see what the code is

4 hours ago, carlathebluegeckoprinting. said:

I played around with the tolerance and  decreasing white coverage % but even if there is only 1% of any color in an area, it is going to apply white which overpowers the color.  I am just going to say no, we really can't do the fade to black because I can't imagine having to explain to preflight that he has to create masks with spot color that only print under solids, not gradients...

Yep. I mean some rips can print up to a level of transparency and fade the under base, but again requires much more effort and testing for each image to get it right. 
 

i just outright don’t do it. 

9 minutes ago, carlathebluegeckoprinting. said:

Full color DTF with white under - I reduced the white quite a bit.  We are trying to get the gradients to fade to black but the white shows through the very lightest gradients.  Does anybody hack a trick or a hack to make the white fade out at the edges?  Using Flexi DTF Pro 22.  Trying to not get the white glow halo effect.

Halftone dots or some other design effect.
 

You can’t get a transparency edge effect from a solid ink reliably that I am aware of. That or some other design element that transitions the white to a black edge for a black shirt. 

5 hours ago, JaRugz said:

Ok.  

Thanks johnson4....

I have two 4900's and a 4800.  Will be trying to convert one of the 4900 soon.

Always appreciate your help, advice and insight.

 

MJ

No worries, they work good but clog super easy. 

7 hours ago, Andria said:

I had a thought, but I'm thinking perhaps there is a reason no one has speaks this:  The empty carts I received from Aliexpress are crap.  Despite having my dampers in place, it seems as tho there is just WAYY too much ink leaking out of carts.   Is there any reason why I can't remove the chips from the OEM carts, clean them out, drill the holes needed, and use those instead??  Is the DTF ink too think?  Even if just the white is too thick and needs these other carts, I was thinking I could use those crap carts for the white ink, the converted OEM carts for the remaining colors.   Any thoughts or experience with this??  TY!!

People do that yes, I haven’t. I did find the aftermarket’s for this printer are poor fitting as well. 

7 hours ago, Andria said:

I tried to send this to you directly, Mr. Johnson4, but it said  you couldn't receive messages?  Or, maybe you are tired of me being a pest and blocked me??  😢

It's ok...I"ll try here:

Hey There!  It's been a while.  Finally got my new bottles of white ink, so THAT'S good.   I'm going ask you something that at first glance, may seems STUUUUUUPIID, but here goes anyway...this has to do with that "trial and error" thing you spoke of.  haha  My CISS system has been set up for a very long time, today is the first day I put ink into it.  Now, all the cart's pads have ink on them, with the exception of yellow - it's dry - go figure - so yea, I'm not printing YET, but as I briefly reviewing my connections (Cause I gotta get to bed!) I was thinking about the dampers....of course they come with no instructions, but I would ASSUME, that the arrows indicate the ink flow and therefore should be point away from my tanks and up into the lines, no?  Now, when I primed the carts, I made sure I followed a video and made sure the empty part of the tank was filled before the sponge and then I made sure I pulled out a bit of ink to ensure it was full.   I run a test from the printer's properties and all I get are tiny black dashes that look like they are going in a diagonal. I suddenly decided to attach a pic.  Any ideas??  I pulled the carts for now and put the cleaner carts back in because I'm not going to have to time work on this again until next weekend.   Any ideas?  I am NOT adverse to starting over with a new CISS system because I did put the inks in wrong order the first time (ONLY in the main holding tank - nothing went thru the lines, but DID seep thru the dampers, which I also cleaned).  After everything was cleaned and thoroughly dried. I tried again.  That was yesterday.  I only attempted a print today - that when I realized, I have no idea how to "increase my bounding box"!!  Shit.  Anyway, the pic I attached is just a print head check. I haven't tried putting the OEM carts back in and seeing if it works....but I can....😔  It  you some MORE wisdom to share, it would sure save me a few more grey hairs!

 

Thanks!!

Andria

Did you do 2-3 head cleans after the carts were soaked? That is correct on the arrow. Use a syringe and put the orange cap on the ink cartridge bottom, and suck “ air” from the yellow cartridge fill port to see if ink easily flows in. If not, there’s a problem. If it requires heavy suction, there’s a problem. 
 

The ciss should be several inches higher than the printhead at the Ink level, not just the ciss. If you have dampers it’s pretty much a must. I run mine about 5-6 inches higher than the printhead with the in-line dampers, but that’s me and my setup, your results may vary so be sure to test. 
 

just a warning- if you can only use this printer on the weekends you likely shouldn’t use a CISS with it, especially that printer. 
 

i didn’t block anyone, I’m actually not sure if I know how to do that. My inbox is probably full. 

9 hours ago, JaRugz said:

 I was wondering about the layout you used for your inks.  I saw in one of your posts that you'll be using a CMYKWW setup.

Does this means you'll only be using the 6 slots on the left? if so, what will you have in the slots on the right.

Also, I notice some of these new printers (mostly the chinese models) also have LM & LC inks.  Will these work in the P5000 as well.

 

Thanks as always for your help and advice. 

It works great with two white ink channels, just needs more frequent white ink refills. some programs require the use of four. 
 

i use cleaner in the empty channels. 
 

im sure you could use LC and LM if/when the RIPS support them on the printer. You’ll notice most of it is RIP limitations. 
 

9 hours ago, nursemm05 said:

I'm fine with doing that. but all my other prints printed with both checked as 1 and had no issues. 

were the other prints white only?

Theres another guy on here who uses Acro often so he'll likely get you an answer at some point if thats not it.