Mdrake2016

On 5/14/2021 at 9:07 PM, johnson4 said:

I just put the rubber plug in, took it out and shook it, then reverse. I didn’t have an issue the week or two I was using it. 

Thanks for all your help. Refillable cartridges and maintenance tank resetter came in. Ordering supplies from Andy today.

One more general question about DTF. Did you ever have to remove your printhead from any of your DTF printers to clean the buildup underneath? I've seen videos of people on Youtube having to do that just weeks after starting DTF and I'm wondering if it's because they didn't maintain it properly or if the buildup is inevitable no matter what.

On 4/29/2021 at 12:13 PM, JTS said:

I can officially say the maint tank resetter works.  I just installed the tank I reset the other day and it worked without a problem.  I reset the after market tank from Amazon when I pulled it and the resetter went to green light, which means it successfully reset.

No if I can just get this printer banding issue resolved I'd be good to go..

How has this printer been doing for you so far? I've been reading all the posts on this forum trying to prepare myself to get into this mess lol

On 5/13/2021 at 6:02 PM, johnson4 said:

BUT if you do it right, without the head clean, and reset the ink before it shows empty on the printer, you don't need to worry about it. Holding the film so it doesn't spit it out doesn't damage the film or the printer, it does leave a mark on the backside of the film where the gripper roller is, but it doesn't affect anything. I will say, if you manage to do one of those things it sucks, having to cut/remove, restart and resume the printing process, so I'd avoid those if possible. 

Yea I’m not worried about ink running out. I deal with an issue like that currently so I’m used to it.
 

My only worries now when it comes to this printer are:

1. Roll printing - I do want the auto shaker/curing machine hopefully in a month or so. I planned to print each image individually one file at a time and just let the whole system do it’s thing. But it looks like according to what you’re saying, I will need EK Print to do that so it doesn’t spit the film out after each file finishes printing.
 

How can I get/make that special file so it doesn’t spit out the film after each print? Are you still selling the EK Print license for $300?

I print a lot of narrow images (2 x 15 for example) so ganging them would be best for me, which is why CADLink would be the best option. But the problem with the film spitting out after each print and needing a special file for that makes other RIPs a deal breaker for now I guess. 

2. Shaking the inks/refilling. You explained the process of filling the cartridges but what about mixing the white ink so it doesn’t separate. I’m assuming I just replace the cartridges every morning with my spare set after running a head clean?

3 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I use a special file in EKprint, that doesn't advance the film as it's done printing. When I say roll printing, I mean, I've already printed 30 designs, went through the auto machine. So I'm stuck, I have a roll on one side, and a bunch of printed material on the other. If any of the 3 things happen above, it will spit that film out continuously. In that event, I just grab the roll ( so it doesn't spit it out) and wait for it to finish, Cut the roll, start over, and reattach the new printed roll to the already printed roll. It's not impossible, but sucks if you let it run out of ink mid print. t's easiest to just avoid doing that altogether. If you want to do a head clean, you'll need to unload the film first, or else, it spits it out as soon as you hit head clean. 

I don't think I'll have problems letting ink run out mid print but I worry about your first sentence right there. If I were to use CADlink....or if I use EKprint but not use a special file like you do, would the printer sense that there is more film once I'm done printing and just spit it out (essentially unrolling the whole roll)?

Once I get that figured out, there's one other thing that I need to make sure of. Once I cut the last prints of the day, there would be some more film left inside the printer. The next day when I come in, I would want to run a head clean but I'd have to remove the film. Don't these desktop Epsons hold onto the film firmly and make it impossible to remove without damaging the film?

48 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

back in december I started building a "machine" that would auto shake, powder, and take-up the roll. You could buy one from Andy, or wherever. 

as for roll printing with the XP-15000, its not hard, but it has it's downfalls. 

1. You cannot do a head clean while it has the roll film installed

2. the ink still counts down while printing, personally, I left the "ink remaining" page on the printer up, and checked it every 10-15 prints. If the ink runs out while roll printing, it spits the film out. To reset the ink while roll printing, simply remove and re-insert the waste tank. it resets the ink. 

3. the cartridges are 17ML, however the printer only see's about 9ML for the capacity. So for roll printing, I recommend a ciss with dampers, but, I did it without that and it worked just fine. it depends on the designs you print and how many you can print per cart set. Mine were around 30 per set before needing to refill/reset them, which I did while it was still in the printer, with pre-loaded syringes it only takes about 30 seconds to refill them. 

4. I use the windows print manager to pause the printing, so I can check the ink levels, and refill them If i need. 

I was the one that asked if you can put up the build plan for the machine in your build thread, but I had no idea Andy sold it himself too. I will probably go that route to make life easier. I will be getting all of my suppliers from him once I'm ready in a few weeks.

I plan to use refillable cartridges because I've had nightmares with CISS systems in the past. But I want to ask...why is it a problem that you can't do a head clean with the roll film installed? Is it a hassle to get the film in and out? 

I might be having a hard time picturing the process of printing on the roll in general with this printer. When a print is complete, does the printer think the "sheet" is done and just move it out as it usually does with regular sheets? When starting a new print, do you have to remove the film and put it back in?

On 5/12/2021 at 8:21 AM, johnson4 said:

 

Wow I appreciate your patience with us. Looking forward to getting this all started and hopefully I can get rid of this iColor printer when I do.

About the head cleaning question I asked. The reason I asked about that is because I noticed with sublimation printing on my Epson 7210 (and all the others that use the same printhead), after 6ish months of 3-5 full 13x19 page prints (daily), the quality of the prints began to suffer. Images just stopped looking sharp. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if maybe there was just build up on the printhead or if it was actually the printhead starting to go bad

I was wondering...did you build some rig to have this printer support roll printing? Do you have any pictures or any type of guide that can show us how to set that up?

On 5/9/2021 at 10:26 PM, johnson4 said:

I did see some on amazon though, for $399 new. 

Hey johnson4,

I have a few questions I hope you can answer since you have the XP-15000 and DTF in general.

1. XP-15000 uses different cartridges than most other Epsons. I believe you can't simply just lift them up because the ink would spill out correct? How do you mix your inks when this is an issue?

2. I've seen recommendations from people to run a head clean every morning on DTF printers. Is that really necessary? I print every weekday, averaging 10 pages (11x17) per day on slow days. Wondering if that's enough to prevent clogs or other issues. I keep my room at 45% humidity which helped tremendously with my sublimation printing from clogging.

3. Any idea if 13" rolls would be an issue versus than the 11.75" roll that you've been testing with? 

4. Opinions on CADlink vs EKprint? Do you see any quality differences? I see you mention EKprint a lot but the fact that it's a hassle to gang up images to fit different ones on one page is a major turn off for me. I automate my image loading so I'd hate to go into Photoshop just to gang up images every day. 

About to pull the trigger on this printer and want to be sure I'm prepared. I did plan to print sheets only at first until I get a shaker system going, and I will start off with that to begin with, but your roll testing in the other thread is a game changer if I can get that working, even without the auto shaker.

On 5/2/2021 at 1:33 PM, johnson4 said:

No worries, it’s listed on EBay if you wanted it. 
 

ive used both, if you use a ciss, use dampers

Do you happen to still have it for sale?

42 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

Keep in mind, you shouldn’t powder directly after printing, let it air dry for 5-10 minutes first, if your going to use a manual method ( hand powdering/curing).

Funny enough, I found this forum by googling how to try to make my own auto DTF machine, and I came across your thread where you made your own. If this works well manually (thinking of converting an Epson 1430 that's been laying around for a year just for some orders), then I will be following your plans to make an automatic machine as well. Can't wait for you to get that done.

As for the money savings...I will absolutely be buying from here, not China.  I currently use white toner printing (biggest regret ever), and each sheet costs a minimum of $4 (not including ink costs). That's not factoring in the many, many damaged prints I continue to get. 

On 4/6/2021 at 8:12 PM, johnson4 said:

Bad film, too much ink, static, humidity level, I mean quite a few things can cause issues like that. 

Overall though, That’s something that is easily controlled when doing it yourself and not a standard to DTF. 

I really appreciate your help. It's ridiculous that a company claiming to be DTF experts would give me transfers that have those type of results. It really turned me off and got me questioning if I should give DTF a try.

So basically, if I get everything from DTFSuperstore...medium powder, film and inks...then I should be good to go.

I've been looking into DTF the past month and the one concern I have is that I came across  samples and videos with a rough edge on prints due to the powder. Attached is an example from a sample I ordered from one DTF supplier that I pressed myself (loose powder was ALL over the transparency by the way....is that normal?). Also attached is a screenshot from a video I saw on YouTube that looks even worse. I got a black powder sample which looked fine on a black shirt, but I tend to use all types of colors of shirts for my customers.

I believe I saw a comment here from @johnson4 mentioning that the medium powder would probably eliminate the powder along the edges but I just can't find any good pictures from DTF users anywhere online. I would hate to invest in this before seeing actual good prints up close.

Does anyone here happen to have any up close photos of their DTF prints showing no issues along the edges of the prints?