DTF automatic shaker/cure build.

[johnson4]

Just making an area to look back on key points on what I’m doing. I’ve made a “ prototype” shaker for the automatic DTF build. Almost everything is made from reused components. with the powder bin, I’ll be in this about $20 with the not shown speed controller. It’s very crude, and I’m sure could easily be made better. My point is to see if it works. I’m halfway done with the curing portion, it’s going to heat the film on both sides at the same time then on to the take up roller, I’m going to try and make an attached “reel” that connects to the film as soon as it comes out of the printer so no film is wasted. It’s estimated to cost around $20 as well using “ reused” components. I don’t have an estimated cost on the take up roller yet. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

[johnson4]

[elliotiscool]

The shaker looks great! I can't wait to see more!

[WDeBlase]

18 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Just making an area to look back on key points on what I’m doing. I’ve made a “ prototype” shaker for the automatic DTF build. Almost everything is made from reused components. with the powder bin, I’ll be in this about $20 with the not shown speed controller. It’s very crude, and I’m sure could easily be made better. My point is to see if it works. I’m halfway done with the curing portion, it’s going to heat the film on both sides at the same time then on to the take up roller, I’m going to try and make an attached “reel” that connects to the film as soon as it comes out of the printer so no film is wasted. It’s estimated to cost around $20 as well using “ reused” components. I don’t have an estimated cost on the take up roller yet. 

Build 2, I'll give you the $20 bucks.  Looks great!

 

 

[johnson4]

Thanks. The encoder motor,wheel,mount etc and paper feeding rod all fit in there nicely. Leftover parts from DTG conversions. Just needed some bearings and a speed controller. you could probably build the box out of just about anything. The “fingers” are 3D printed. 
 

 I’d like to keep the total cost under $100 just in case it just doesn’t work out overall.  Luckily I had spare parts/scrap metal sitting around. 
 

it’s definitely not going to look pretty, Im aiming more for the reliability and profit side of things. Hopefully i can make it work! 

[WDeBlase]

I'm still using sheets, I don't have enough business to switch to a roll yet.  After its coated, how are you going to cure it?

[johnson4]

1 hour ago, WDeBlase said:

I'm still using sheets, I don't have enough business to switch to a roll yet.  After its coated, how are you going to cure it?

That’s the part I’m working on now. I’m going to make an “oven” it passes through, using thick repurposed aluminum to heat up and heat both sides of the film at once. The “oven” will double up as my ( currently using) flash dryer. If it works, it will still function as a flash dryer for my 6 color press and double up as a curing oven with the flip of an arm and temperature change. 

basically, it’s going to be a belt-less conveyor drier. 
 

it’ll all require “ fine tuning” to get the temperature just right. The take up roller will match the printers output speed, with manual intervention, at least in theory. At the end of the day though this is all just “ a guess” at what will work based on other testing I’ve done. So I’m just calling it a prototype. If it works I’ll build something nicer( if needed) and fix the issues that come about with “fine tuning” when it occurs.

 

personally I haven’t sold many of them, but I do want the basic action of bulk printing ahead of time if I can. 

Edited February 2, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

I have no idea how it's going to turn out, could be a total dud. But, this is one version of what I'll be trying for the film roller.

Edited February 3, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

[reptilesink]

Looking good so far.

I'm looking at building a couple of printers myself out of curiosity as I have 2x L1800 sat doing nothing.

I'm looking at building an output tray with a vacuum holding the film flat and adding ink circulation and valves that you turn to allow flush to be delivered to all channels and time controlled to automatically flush if unused after a set time.

There's just so many possibilities that can be done with them.

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, reptilesink said:

Looking good so far.

I'm looking at building a couple of printers myself out of curiosity as I have 2x L1800 sat doing nothing.

I'm looking at building an output tray with a vacuum holding the film flat and adding ink circulation and valves that you turn to allow flush to be delivered to all channels and time controlled to automatically flush if unused after a set time.

There's just so many possibilities that can be done with them.

Thank you. 

Absolutely, I have a ton of random things I’m going to try with this, since it’s not yet integrated and I have time to “fiddle” with it. 

When I made that above, I realized it could double over as the rear paper roll feeder with as well, with some spacers on the rod for the roll. 

They sell pc fans that create a small vacuum, that’s what DTGPRO uses anyway. I was considering that but haven’t tried anything since I haven’t had an issue with the P series yet needing them. I hate how big the completed machines are so I’m trying to make this one modular and compact, if possible. 

more-less just brainstorming and “prototyping” till it works is what I’m aiming for. I haven’t really made anything like this before on my own, so it’s all a first to me. The huge plus is it doesn’t really require any  coding, something I’m very weak in. 
 

If you do anything and want to share, I’d love to see how it turns out. The stuff I’ve seen you make is pretty impressive. Feel free to use this thread if you want to share anything. 

 

 

[reptilesink]

Indeed I will share if I ever get chance to work on them.

Yes I have seen the ones using fans which is what mine will be based on.

I will utilise the space inside the tray for the electronics for the ink circulation/flushing system. 

I also have a code to control the paper feed so you can use a roll of film for the L1800 and again all the electronics will go in the tray and all control buttons for everything and a display for the timer adjustment can be neatly mounted on the tray so its just a matter of a single multi pin socket on the printer to plug everything into.

Its more curiosity for me at this stage so can just take my time to work things out.

[reptilesink]

I'm also looking at using a couple of ceramic trough heaters controlled with a pulse thermostat for curing the film on a conveyor system.

 

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, reptilesink said:

I'm also looking at using a couple of ceramic trough heaters controlled with a pulse thermostat for curing the film on a conveyor system.

 

Sounds like a good idea. I didn’t even know those existed.

[reptilesink]

48 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

Sounds like a good idea. I didn’t even know those existed.

They come in a range of sizes and wattage.

Usually they last for many years as well.

I have used them for about 14 years for my reptile vivariums.

 

[Julian]

On 1/31/2021 at 9:15 PM, johnson4 said:

IMG_6554.mov

It's great!!
I'd like to work on a project like this as well.
I found this video, maybe you can get more ideas form it.

I see the curing is made using lamps. 
 

 

[anum11]

16 hours ago, reptilesink said:

Indeed I will share if I ever get chance to work on them.

Yes I have seen the ones using fans which is what mine will be based on.

I will utilise the space inside the tray for the electronics for the ink circulation/flushing system. 

I also have a code to control the paper feed so you can use a roll of film for the L1800 and again all the electronics will go in the tray and all control buttons for everything and a display for the timer adjustment can be neatly mounted on the tray so its just a matter of a single multi pin socket on the printer to plug everything into.

Its more curiosity for me at this stage so can just take my time to work things out.

Can i buy information about this roll adjustment?

[johnson4]

On 2/4/2021 at 1:47 PM, reptilesink said:

They come in a range of sizes and wattage.

Usually they last for many years as well.

I have used them for about 14 years for my reptile vivariums.

 

That’s pretty cool, I’ll keep those in mind. I had missed the part about the L1800s yesterday( the entire post, I had only seen the one below it). I’m testing mine out on the p400 to avoid the whole ink thing at the moment, but i’m sure I’ll have to face it eventually. One plug would be nice, I forget what they are called but I had ran across some that were round and had 10-14 pins on them. They were a bit expensive though.

 

I’m not really expecting much from my build, but I’m just about ready to start doing test prints, probably tomorrow. I expect my curing solution won’t work well, but we’ll see. If it works, or the results are promising, I’m going to try and make it a “ mobile” unit. Printer on top, shaker/cure on the bottom of the “cart”.  
 

At the end of the day, if it ends up absolutely having to be as big ( or long) as most of the ones I’ve seen, I probably won’t continue with it and just do it by hand. 

 

[reptilesink]

Yes there are plenty of plug/socket choices, even something as simple a the d type like the old serial ports which come in a range of pin numbers from 9 pin upwards.

I'll look at that later and can just wire direct while testing and then see just how many wires there are.

As for the trough heaters they usually last a very long time, I've never had to replace one yet and the newest one is getting on for 10 years. Usually its the thermostat that fails.

Edited February 6, 2021 by reptilesink

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, reptilesink said:

Yes there are plenty of plug/socket choices, even something as simple a the d type like the old serial ports which come in a range of pin numbers from 9 pin upwards.

I'll look at that later and can just wire direct while testing and then see just how many wires there are.

As for the trough heaters they usually last a very long time, I've never had to replace one yet and the newest one is getting on for 10 years. Usually its the thermostat that fails.

Very good idea. For some reason I had just assumed those types of things were very limited in the wire gauge, mainly for data connections. I always went for cheap and usable, but it would be nice to have a clean set-up. 
 

this is like the one I was referring to:

https://www.amazon.com/SZJELEN-5Pin-26Pin-Waterproof-Aviation-Connector/dp/B07GVH9DSR/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=SZJELEN%2BWS28%2B28MM%2B5Pin~26Pin%2BPanel%2BMount%2BConnector%2BPlug%2BSocket%2CWaterproof%2BAviation%2BConnector%2B(26Pin%2C%2BPlug(Male)%26Socket(Female))&qid=1612635644&sr=8-1&th=1&psc=1
 

seems like overkill at first, but just doing this I see that those wire numbers quickly add up. I’ve made at least 10 different JST connections on this thing. Fortunately it’s all going to fit in the speed controller box with the nano. I don’t want to solder everything since it will need swapped, updated, changed etc so much so everything is plugged instead. 
 

I can’t really find much on those heaters, how hot can they get if you don’t mind me asking? 

[reptilesink]

They get incredibly hot.

I used to build powder coated head guards for reptile lamps and I tried one of these without a thermostat to see what would happen to the guard and the powder coating melted, the temperature was beyond the range of the thermometer I was using.

I then built a larger oven for powder coating using these as the heat source.

[johnson4]

40 minutes ago, reptilesink said:

They get incredibly hot.

I used to build powder coated head guards for reptile lamps and I tried one of these without a thermostat to see what would happen to the guard and the powder coating melted, the temperature was beyond the range of the thermometer I was using.

I then built a larger oven for powder coating using these as the heat source.

Wow, that’s insane. I’ll definitely need to look into those. 

[johnson4]

Adruino is in the box, I’ve currently got it turning 2” worth of film every minute and 20 seconds for the take up roller. I’ll adjust that as needed though. But this a where it’s at currently. Crude, but maybe it will work.

Edited February 6, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

Seems like 2” was an oddly accurate guess. 1440x1440 yields 2” printed a minute at 11.5” wide.