johnson4

3 hours ago, DTFJUNKIE said:

So like on title had it for 3 weeks. I finally got wired up correctly. It's a 110v@45.5 amps. Double check with vendor. Calibrated printer, feed film through, got everything going. And then..... just shuts off after like 15min. Looked inside the breaker/relay was tripped. So I reset, hit the switch and turn power on and major let down, heard breaker tripped. Yes the one inside the shaker. Is this the problem I've just read about in another post.refer to pic. Any help on where I can get quality replacement  part would be appreciated .any help and or advice. I'm all ears.TIA. And yes I do smell burnt electric something. Like I said too, brand spanking new. Didn't even get to cure One gang sheet.

 45 amps at 120V is wild. Your standard 200 amp whole house service can only handle around 100 amps per side. So you will likely have a unbalanced electrical box. 
 

just look on Amazon for dz47le-63. That’s a 63 amp breaker. They are like $17. 
 

That’s a fault breaker, so it could be doings it’s job and protecting you. I’d be careful. 
 

every shaker I’ve used had an issue new out of the box in some form. You’ll also run across needing to repair them often. Best to get to know it now, then later. 

It’s always a gamble, even with someone who has been reliable for years otherwise. Not to be disheartened, but kinda the way large imports go, at least from my experience. 

 I have purchased 3 shakers and 2 printers overseas so far. All of them had minor to major discrepancies from overseas.
 

all of them had to have something fixed to work from the get-go before using them and have very poor support. They constantly need worked on anyway, so it’s not really that bad if you are experienced. 
 

On my own imports I spend hours asking for photos, videos, verifying what I see is exactly what I’ll get- a month later it’s an entirely different machine and they say “ oh well, new model”. It’s infuriating, yet they wrap themselves with various “ agreeements” that prevent you from getting it corrected, unless you find a loophole in their approach. This happened 3 times, once without a loophole to get it corrected. 
 

my point is it’s kind of always a shot in the dark, while I’m sure there are higher percentages of happy consumers from certain suppliers, there is always a risk. Even from reputable companies. 
 

if you buy one in the US, you have laws covering your purchase as well as warranties. Those import fees on large items are not overlooked, when you add in all that said and done delivered, I stick to already imported machines at this point. It’s not worth it to me personally. 
 

All said and done you can get what you need from the US for a couple thousand more with the guarantee and warranties. Sometimes not even that much more. I have definitely learned the savings are not worth it and turn out to not actually be savings, unless you are well versed in imports or use a broker. 

1 hour ago, ocpo3565 said:

Is there a workaround to allow me to turn off a channel on my R3000 in Cadlinks?

Not that I’m aware of. If it’s bad you can just let it run dry. And make it a white.
 

They want over $2,000 to start for customization of a driver, no matter how small of a change if it’s not already there. 

I would recommend acro rip 11, it has that feature. 

1 hour ago, BluHP said:

Do you have any videos on your repair process and/or maintenance?

I do not. 

24 minutes ago, BluHP said:

I have a p5000 that I bought last year. Worked fine until the week I came from vacation. Prior to going on vacation I cleaned everything out, lines, wiper, the capping station, spigots, and the spitting box. Came back to set it up and do an ink charge and I am getting nothing on my nozzle check. How to I remove the dampers out of the damper assembly to see if thats the issue? I have no clue what else to do. 

The dampers just pop out after you release the clip beside the damper you are removing. The center switching damper has a screw that requires removing the top with all the screws. One screw and then the last damper will come out. the others come out with the clip. Be sure you are ready for the spew of liquid to come out when you remove the dampers. I found it easier to disconnect the 11 channel hose with the 4 screws and do the work outside/away from the machine the first time. 

5 hours ago, black2002ls said:

Glad to see you are still going strong with the P5000!

 

I threw in the towel after New Years. We simply do not print enough. Only running it every few days, sometimes only once a week it was a constant fight. We shut down for the holidays, I --thought-- I ran quite a bit of cleaner through the white channels to flush them, when I returned to it, no luck. I was able to get some good nozzle checks, but it would quickly go back to not printing. 

 

After reading this, I may try and replace the dampers and see if that resolves it, hoping that we didn't print enough to cause permanent damage to the head.

I am sorry to hear this. There are ways around the print volume and maintaining this machine. 

The p5000/P6000 is very resilient, I mean- beyond anything I have EVER used before. It’s the printhead, it’s badass compared to any other printhead I’ve used. 
 

I have learned alot, as always happens when you run a new model. Aftermarket dampers? Forget it, the machine will not work well if it all. Entirely aftermarket ink system? Again, due to poorly designed available aftermarket dampers it will not work well or consistently. Every aftermarket damper( oem style or just the kind you would use if you removed the stock ink system entirely) causes ink starvation. The oem dampers require very little “ suction” from the printhead to open. All the aftermarket’s require more suction than OEM, which printhead cannot offer. 
 

I have successfully flushed and back flushed the OEM dampers multiple times, they work like new. After spending $90 for 6 dampers X5 I had to have another solution. 
 

I made a “jig” with a pump to do this. I did the same for the printhead, which is why I’m saying this printhead is resilient. The moment settled white ink hits the dampers output and goes into the printhead you’ll notice the channel drop entirely, or come and go over and over. STOP and immediately replace the dampers.

If you continue to force this “sludge” into the printhead the extremely thick blockage ( imagine putting Elmer’s glue in your dampers then sucking that into your printhead) will cause the seal to damage and that channel pair is done- unreliable and unrepairable. The difference can be described like a fountain drink through a straw vs drinking a blizzard through a straw. 
 

you can back flush this stuff out of the printhead very carefully and replace the dampers. The OEM system needs flushed manually.
Remove damper assy- insert full cartridge into white channel- use silicone hose in “air” vent in cartridge with a pump or syringe to pump air or liquid into the cartridge. Use container to catch liquid coming from the damper end of the hose. Flush until entirely clear for each white line. Usually 400ML per line. Regular water works. Then do a final flush with cleaner. Replace the dampers, clean the bottom of the printhead,wiper, sealing cap, and capping station. 
 

reinstall white ink/fully assemble. Do an ink charge from the administration menu followed by 4-5 regular ( not strong) cleanings. 
 

problem solved. 

Using expired or close to expired ink can make this need done as little as every week. Good white ink can go 3 months without issue. 
 

Personally after a few times doing this I just made an aftermarket white ink tank mixing/circulation system and left the cmyk oem using OEM dampers as well as left the rest of the system oem. Problem solved. Takes 5 minutes to swap dampers with refurbished dampers when they need cleaned, which isn’t often since it’s recirculating/mixing the ink automatically. It was about $100 to do this ink circulation system without that stupid paddle ink mixing system. 

8 hours ago, Ichii said:

You can have to much humidity whilst you printing.

Humidity has nothing to do with a wet ring around the ink on film. I have first hand tested that as well as many others. Humidity also does not affect finished transfers in any way. 
 

Humidity does affect your printer nozzle/consistency. dry air dries the ink faster when printing. 
 

humidity does affect the powder clumping but does not ruin the powder.
 

the oil in the ink causes the powder to get sticky if you reuse it often with a bad balance of ink percentage for your film.This oil makes the powder stick and become very thick on the media. 

Humidity has absolutely nothing to do with this issue.
Lower the ink percentage, preheat the print before powdering and fully cure the print directly afterwards. No more ring. sometimes bad film coatings do this. Expired or almost expired white ink can make this problem worse.
 

good luck with your DTF adventure. 
 

1 hour ago, Cory1994 said:

This is dtf not dtg btw

Are you sure it’s a 120V unit? The 220V units with solid state relays would show 120V all the time on one side. The SSR relay usually only controls one side of the 220V. 

 If it has mechanical relays then maybe one side of the relay has failed. it’s how those relays usually fail.
 

if it’s a 120V unit verified working before, then it sounds like the bulbs bad. You could do a continuity test on the bulb with a voltmeter with the unit disconnected to see if it’s an open circuit. 

43 minutes ago, twjoe said:

I'm assuming that this is because having two white channels is required to get enough white ink coverage and opacity? Is this also why EKPrint supports this model, but only as a DTG where the print bed could allow multiple passes on the white?

I have found that EKprint claims to work with printers that it does not work with. I have purchased a license before that ended up never working after months of back and forth to fix it because the driver was never finished, yet was put up for sale. I have an Eco tank printer and a 7210. Both have been replaced twice now using standard paper and OEM inks due to internal failures. 

It's likely a situation where EK will work based on similar drivers for other devices, so they throw those out there if anyone ever used it. 

Having only one white channel isn't a great idea any way about it. With 2 white channels it on the 1430/L1800 one large print would take over 18 minutes. Within that time, one nozzle clog could destroy the whole print and it's very hard on the machine. Which almost always happened to me. 

Those would be great for sublimation in my opinion, that's about it. 

Personally I feel like it would be a waste of time and money on the supplies and make a mess. But that's me, You could also give it a go and give a first hand experience here about how it did or did not work and why. 

Good luck!

8 hours ago, SweetlySunday said:

I have the okai 2 head 13 in and I am wanting to run cadlink instead of maintop can I use the cadlink I already own that I used on my desktop ? 

All Chinese printers require the wide format version of Cadlink. 

9 hours ago, twjoe said:

So I have two older Epson printers collecting dust in my garage, a Workforce 1100 and a Workforce 7010. Both have 5 channels. Could either of these printers be converted to DTF?  I was thinking it could be a cheap/low-risk option to play around with (for someone is mostly a hobbyist at this point), other than the cost of buying EKPrint (which claims supports for both printers). I'm guessing print speed would be an issue? Are there any other limitations/pitfalls I should be aware of? 

Neither would work, you need a minimum of 6 colors. 

9 hours ago, OB Apparel said:

I was thinking DTG at first however Im looking for a more faster pace production due to me making custom apparel so DTF is what I’m aiming for 

The P800 can do roughly 10 regular sized prints an hour for DTF. 12”x12”. 
 

the 5-6 I had used the printheads would fail within 6-12 months. After everything I have done and experienced - I feel this is normal for any of them. Dampers need changed/flushed every 2 months as preventive care if you want the printhead to last that long. If you are well experienced it’s possible for it to last longer, but low quality ink ( even one time) or forcing head cleans instead of cleaning dampers will prematurely kill the printhead. 

other than that, pretty basic conversion. Make output tray, remove rollers, load ink and clean wiper daily, shake carts daily, print daily. 
 

21 hours ago, OB Apparel said:

Hello you all! 

I am honored and excited to be apart of OpenDTG!!! Just joined today and came in to become a family with you all who enjoy the things I enjoy and to get some assistance with converting my first Epson SureColor P800. 😁

Hi, welcome. 
 

What are you aiming to convert the P800 into?

7 minutes ago, Alek said:

I'm working on getting an all-white logo printed on darker shirts. Every time I've tried so far, everything looks good coming out of the printer. 

However, when I press it on the shirt, the white color is very dull and bands show through the logo. 

What do I need to do to get the vibrant white color and avoid any of the shirt showing through the logo?

 

31313CF4-AA77-48A9-9D6A-BF7B973E8FC8.heic 2.07 MB · 1 download

Perfect/near perfect nozzle checks, decent resolution/print speed( Something like 720x720 won't work) thoroughly mixed ink/good ink at the printhead. After that make sure the ink is pre-heated to remove excess moisture and then cured properly without overheating. 

1 hour ago, printerjet said:

Hello, friend, good morning. I have 12 years experience in uv printers. and I know well what causes these lines in the print. this is due to white ink. she has the biggest coat of paint. try changing the print point size. in l1800 and l800 i use medium wide and it looks very good.

I will give that a try, Thank you. 

3 hours ago, Heaven867693 said:

I think maybe it's the ink.  because when i use ink bought in my country i never had that error,icc profile only decide part,because in same print,when i change icc profile picture quality will be different

The ICC profile should only be changing how the printer prints colors and density. I have tried it on my side and it didn't change anything with the lines for me. 

I used ink from china. 

1 minute ago, johnson4 said:

This photo for example, quality looks great. Sure underbase could be better but all that stuff is after I get a good print. I scratch this print to test durability. 

 

Same photo, just at an angle to show ridges. 

This photo for example, quality looks great. Sure underbase could be better but all that stuff is after I get a good print. I scratch this print to test durability. 

7 hours ago, sem30 said:

I have only one strip, maybe same as what you have. Mine emits a very strong light.

 

Actually I jumped into conclusion if the light is really causing the stripes when I tested printing with lights off and lights on and the result is the same as yours.

I couldn't blame the ink right now because I have tested 3 different brand of UV inks and stripes are still there.

 

But, I cannot give up on this one, I know there's something I am missing and finding it is my focus right now.

 

I will update this thread once I have the breakthrough what is causing it.

I am using the Dual UV light version. It’s two strips, I think 12 led in total. 
 

this is my very first UV anything, so I relied on the supplier to give good advice( which I rarely do for obvious reasons). I barely found any information about any UV conversions. 
 

I was told one strip is for small format, like 8.5” printers. Two strip for up to 17” printers. 
 

I think light is too strong. I think it cures too fast, like as fast as it jets out of the printhead. This I think creates the lines.
 

Normally it prints in lines like this, but with a few milliseconds slower cure time it will allow “rows” to overlap. Typically it’s wet on wet printing, the ink is wet right as it comes out so it can “blend”. If you look VERY close you can see the dots that make up the image. 

with it instantly curing the moment it jets the ink, you get these “ ridges” kind of like a 3D printer. My images print perfect, no missing ink, no odd colors. It you look at it sideways it looks perfect. If you look above or use fingernail to scratch print, you can feel it. 

15 minutes ago, sem30 said:

Could be, but changing the lamp that I have right now is a little bit a pain in my wallet 😅. 😔

I agree, but I bet that has something to do with it. 
 

do you have one strip of LEDs on the bottom or two? 

8 minutes ago, sem30 said:

In my case, although I don't follow the 2cm away from the printed object, I am having the same result, but when I use the rip version 9~ somehow the result got better but still there are very small visible stripes and I have tried 3 different UV ink, 2 different brands of soft uv ink and 1 hard uv ink and the result is the same.

 

My observation is the same with @johnson4 that If I don't turn off the light, the print is perfect but it doesn't cure the ink, and that's the problem. Now what I am doing is I am switching the printhead but before I do that, I am ultrasonic cleaning it first so that the printhead is very clean and free from any clog.

 

I will update you soon once I am done testing.

I think its the lamp. The only thing the same is the lamp, we have the exact same lamp and the same results. I think it's too powerful or the LED's are out of spec- something like that. 

1 hour ago, Heaven867693 said:

If you use high power uv lamp, it is easy to cause heat.  45w is enough in my opinion.  UV lamp to be about 2cm away from the printed object.  If it is too close, it will cause the printed object to warp, if it is too high, it will not dry.  i use 45w lamp and air cooled.  Your case I think is caused by ink or related to icc profile

That’s about how far away it is. Maybe a bit further. If the printing stops for more than 5-10 seconds over one printed spot the printed area turns black and burns/curls. The light will cure UV resin ( from 3D printer) fully in seconds. 
 

I’ve tried 3 different rip software with and without ICC, it doesn’t change results.  I don’t think it’s that but maybe. 

my stronger uneducated opinion is aiming toward the light being too strong, like 60 percent opinion. Then the ink being like the other 40 percent. I couldn’t really find any known ink brands and the stuff isn’t cheap to test for sure. 
 

Thanks for the advice, hopefully I have time to mess with it.

2 hours ago, Heaven867693 said:

sorry for my english.  If you use UV ink, you have to replace the ink feeder, ink guide for UV.  UV lamp should choose 45w.  There are many wavelengths of light, you should choose the right one for your ink, I use 395nm.  otherwise the ink will not dry at the same wavelength

IMG_2725.MOV

No worries, I appreciate the insight. 

I am using an ink feeder. It's a 90 watt lamp. The ink and light are both 395nm. The ink dries perfectly, maybe even too quick.I wanted to try a lower wattage but haven't come to that conclusion yet that it is needed. The supplier said they would both work the same on my machine. 

If I print without the light it doesn't have these " lines". To me, the printer is working normal. It's just when the UV light is on and printing, it does this. I have adjusted it higher/lower, closer/further away- doesn't matter same thing. It's like the " iron man" head above. I lowered the voltage on the curing lamp all the way down until it almost shut off- it still does the same thing. 

I think it's the light or the ink causing the issues personally, but I am new to UV entirely. 

1 hour ago, alex965 said:

So, you really try to change the R2000 to P400 and on a mother board some connectors don't fit?

Maybe you remember which exactly connectors don't fit?

The csic board, which is a main component and required. it’s what reads and decodes the ink chips. 
 

there were a few others, ribbon cables. One printer had a connector the other didn’t. It’s been over a year so I don’t remember exactly which, but I know it was significant enough for me to just throw it away and I’m an avid experienced DIY’er especially with Epson machines.

printhead for R2000 is $1,000 plus for refurbished. Printhead for P400 is $500-$600 brand new from Epson still in production. Both work the same. Both needed replaced every 20-30 rolls of film printed. 

 

the carriage would need changed, ALL wiring including all ribbon cables and sub boards. The only thing that is the same is the metal case when you look really close there are some small differences there too. One model is almost 10 years older than the other.

6 hours ago, alex965 said:

Hi everyone!

There is an Epson R2000 already with a fairly decent service life, which already requires replacement of the pump unit, diaper, cleaning-lubricant, etc., but the printhead is working. However, there is Epson P400 absolutely new, but without print head .

I know that the print head from R2000 is not suitable with P400

Question. Is it possible to remove the main board and print head from the R2000 and install it in the P400?

Will everything work or no ?

Thank you!

You’ll have to change several other parts including the csic board, which won’t fit on the other printer. 
 

I had a DTF machine from China based on the r2000 and planned on swapping it to a p400. There was some connectors that wouldn’t match up. 
 

you’ll need a new printhead eventually, I’d stick with the P400 since printheads for it are still in production and the p400 has Chipless carts for it.