ethanj098 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 Printer : Oric 24” Professional DTF Printing System Ink : DTF Superstore White Film : (A3) 11.75" x 325 feet Roll of DTF Film - Hot Peel Humidity : 55% Temp of Room : 73F Temp of Shaker : 127F Having issues with my white ink dropping out in the middle of my print. White prints perfect right after you load ink, but starts to drop out the more I print with it, causing it to start striping in the middle of a design. When this happens, the powder adhesive doesn't seem to fully cure and seems to be really grainy and almost looks like its cracked when it comes out of the heater, and the designs themselves are very delicate and seem to crumble away. My first instinct was the temp wasn't hot enough for the glue to fully cure, but I tested it right after I did a load ink and it cures perfectly fine. Whenever I notice this, I do a test print and notice that at least 4 or so channels aren't pushing out any ink. I try to do a cleaning on the PrintEXP software and it makes those channels come back alittle bit, but doesn't seem to do much unless I load ink. I'm at a lose, if anyone can help, it would be awesome, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 If your white underbase isn’t good/perfect then your powder doesn’t stick, so that’s the cause of that issue. What do you mean by “ load the ink”? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 Just now, johnson4 said: If your white underbase isn’t good/perfect then your powder doesn’t stick, so that’s the cause of that issue. What do you mean by “ load the ink”? On our Printer program that came with the printer has a button that says "Load Ink" which pulls and replaces the ink in the lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: On our Printer program that came with the printer has a button that says "Load Ink" which pulls and replaces the ink in the lines. Oh okay. So it purges the ink, and as your printing, it starts to do it again, right? Do you know the age of the printer since it was loaded with ink?, if it has sat at any point for 48+ hours not printing and how often? How often do you clean the wiper/cap assembly? im asking because it sounds like the dampers, but could be other things too. Edited August 24, 2021 by johnson4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, johnson4 said: Oh okay. So it purges the ink, and as your printing, it starts to do it again, right? Do you know the age of the printer since it was loaded with ink?, if it has sat at any point for 48+ hours not printing and how often? How often do you clean the wiper/cap assembly? im asking because it sounds like the dampers, but could be other things too. We just got the printer roughly about 2 1/2 months ago. We clean the wiper and clean the excess ink around the capping stations daily. We only operate M-F so the printer stays on without printing for two days with the circulation pump runs during this time. And yeah, after I purge the line or load ink, it prints fine, the glue sets as it should. But as I start printing more and more, the white seems to start thinning out and I start getting that grainy feeling with the glue like there isnt enough ink for the adhesive to cure fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 43 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: We just got the printer roughly about 2 1/2 months ago. We clean the wiper and clean the excess ink around the capping stations daily. We only operate M-F so the printer stays on without printing for two days with the circulation pump runs during this time. And yeah, after I purge the line or load ink, it prints fine, the glue sets as it should. But as I start printing more and more, the white seems to start thinning out and I start getting that grainy feeling with the glue like there isnt enough ink for the adhesive to cure fully. I mean, to me that’s what it sounds like if your white is doing that, if it were me I would replace the white dampers and see what that does. as for the adhesive, it should cure with or without the ink. Mine does anyway, it melts at a certain temperature irregardless of the ink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 15 minutes ago, johnson4 said: I mean, to me that’s what it sounds like if your white is doing that, if it were me I would replace the white dampers and see what that does. as for the adhesive, it should cure with or without the ink. Mine does anyway, it melts at a certain temperature irregardless of the ink. I had thought so too, but it seems to be directly correlated to how much ink is on the film because, it doesn't feel grainy right after I purge the lines, but does when it starts to thin out, so it's alittle confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 1 minute ago, ethanj098 said: I had thought so too, but it seems to be directly correlated to how much ink is on the film because, it doesn't feel grainy right after I purge the lines, but does when it starts to thin out, so it's alittle confusing. Yea, it’s confusing to me as well, I don’t see the correlation between the two. However, replacing the dampers would be where I started. If it fixes both issues, then now we know. just curious, can you tell if the ink mixer is spinning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 15 minutes ago, johnson4 said: Yea, it’s confusing to me as well, I don’t see the correlation between the two. However, replacing the dampers would be where I started. If it fixes both issues, then now we know. just curious, can you tell if the ink mixer is spinning? Yeah, it is indeed spinning. I did flush the head with some clog buster and did a push and pull method to see if maybe there was some dried ink on the nozzles, and I ran some stuff and it seemed fine, I'll run some more stuff tomorrow and let you know if it continues, and if it does, I'll get more dampers ordered. Ill be in touch, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: Yeah, it is indeed spinning. I did flush the head with some clog buster and did a push and pull method to see if maybe there was some dried ink on the nozzles, and I ran some stuff and it seemed fine, I'll run some more stuff tomorrow and let you know if it continues, and if it does, I'll get more dampers ordered. Ill be in touch, thanks. Just my personal “experience” with the small format heads anyway, I’m not sure about those- but anytime I ever manually cleaned them like that, I always had problems. If I’m not mistaken, these small format heads are good for up to 5 psi, after that is damage territory, which could also cause issues. some people have great success, but I know every time- no matter how gentle- I usually ended up replacing that head within a few weeks to a few months after manually purging them. Over the years, I just learned to be patient and soak them and wet cap everyday, haven’t replaced a head since. I wouldn’t be against it, but I would need some sort of head cleaning machine with a psi regulator before doing that again. Not saying that’s your issue at all, just my $0.02 on manually cleaning the head like that. Edited August 24, 2021 by johnson4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted August 25, 2021 Author Share Posted August 25, 2021 15 hours ago, johnson4 said: Just my personal “experience” with the small format heads anyway, I’m not sure about those- but anytime I ever manually cleaned them like that, I always had problems. If I’m not mistaken, these small format heads are good for up to 5 psi, after that is damage territory, which could also cause issues. some people have great success, but I know every time- no matter how gentle- I usually ended up replacing that head within a few weeks to a few months after manually purging them. Over the years, I just learned to be patient and soak them and wet cap everyday, haven’t replaced a head since. I wouldn’t be against it, but I would need some sort of head cleaning machine with a psi regulator before doing that again. Not saying that’s your issue at all, just my $0.02 on manually cleaning the head like that. Understandable, going to run it today and see what happens, hopefully I didn't damage anything, but I printed some designs after and it looked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 53 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: Understandable, going to run it today and see what happens, hopefully I didn't damage anything, but I printed some designs after and it looked great. I’m sure it’s fine then. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watteva Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 On 8/25/2021 at 4:02 PM, ethanj098 said: Understandable, going to run it today and see what happens, hopefully I didn't damage anything, but I printed some designs after and it looked great. We have the same issue. did you manage to sort the issue? If so, what did you do? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 2 hours ago, Watteva said: We have the same issue. did you manage to sort the issue? If so, what did you do? thanks We ended up having to replace the print head. Nothing else was working so we had to get another head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watteva Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 1 minute ago, ethanj098 said: We ended up having to replace the print head. Nothing else was working so we had to get another head. We think that is our next thing to do. Do you wet cap it every night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 1 minute ago, Watteva said: We think that is our next thing to do. Do you wet cap it every night? So we actually do not wet cap. We were told by the people installing the printer that because of our climate and the way our room is setup, we wouldn't have to wet cap. We started to print in color and noticed that our color head was producing stripes in the print, so we started wet capping last night. What kind of printer yall using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watteva Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 20 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: So we actually do not wet cap. We were told by the people installing the printer that because of our climate and the way our room is setup, we wouldn't have to wet cap. We started to print in color and noticed that our color head was producing stripes in the print, so we started wet capping last night. What kind of printer yall using? we have a 24" chinese printer as well but not the oric one. We were told no maintenance either but we've had it 4 months and only just got it properly sorted and now they've told us we need to clean the wiper and cap station so lost confidence in what they're saying. We think some of the nozzles are blocked and doing a wet cap with cleaning solution over night to see if that helps. Otherwise head change tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 1 minute ago, Watteva said: we have a 24" chinese printer as well but not the oric one. We were told no maintenance either but we've had it 4 months and only just got it properly sorted and now they've told us we need to clean the wiper and cap station so lost confidence in what they're saying. We think some of the nozzles are blocked and doing a wet cap with cleaning solution over night to see if that helps. Otherwise head change tomorrow. Let me know how it goes for sure. We're new at this, so any tips would be helpful. Have you guys ever washed any shirts to see how your prints are holding up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watteva Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: Let me know how it goes for sure. We're new at this, so any tips would be helpful. Have you guys ever washed any shirts to see how your prints are holding up? will do, its such a new process a lot of people are learning it or find different things that work for them. Yeah, we've done multiple wash tests with different inks/film/powder and were amazed how different they all were. We think we've found our perfect set up but it took months and lots of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 39 minutes ago, Watteva said: will do, its such a new process a lot of people are learning it or find different things that work for them. Yeah, we've done multiple wash tests with different inks/film/powder and were amazed how different they all were. We think we've found our perfect set up but it took months and lots of money. What setup are you using at the moment if I may ask? We are having our white prints come out fine, but anything with black in it, is washing out after the first wash. We are stumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 41 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: What setup are you using at the moment if I may ask? We are having our white prints come out fine, but anything with black in it, is washing out after the first wash. We are stumped. Make sure you have enough black ink going down. I have to print a pretty thick layer of black if there isn’t an underbase to get the powder to stick correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanj098 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 1 hour ago, johnson4 said: Make sure you have enough black ink going down. I have to print a pretty thick layer of black if there isn’t an underbase to get the powder to stick correctly. We have a %50 white underbase under our black designs. It does it on everything black we print, very odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 25 minutes ago, ethanj098 said: We have a %50 white underbase under our black designs. It does it on everything black we print, very odd. Oh, I’m not sure then. I don’t print white under any black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdrake2016 Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 21 hours ago, ethanj098 said: We ended up having to replace the print head. Nothing else was working so we had to get another head. Can you do me a favor and take a look at the nipples on the printhead to see if there is dried ink? I had the same problem as yours and I sat there for 2 hours with tweezers removing dried ink around the nipples. Cleaned them the best I could. After I did this, my ink stopped dropping out. I also changed cartridges thinking that may have been the issue but I truly think the dried ink did it. I'm thinking that while printing, because of the dried ink, the seal between the cartridge and the nipples releases, causing air to get into the system and give you these problems. Since I fixed this weeks ago, I haven't had any issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayjoe Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 How is it working with the new print head? Make sure that the capping station and the print head are aligned properly to keep air out when the printer is not in use. Also, I have an Audley 24" 2-head and I find optimal humidity to be at 55-65%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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