Radicalfans Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 I have been having issues with my dtf printer For quite some time now, my printer has been having problems printing white. I will run tons of cleans and nozzle checks, and the nozzle checks are always super erratic (the color ink is working just fine with perfect nozzle checks). There doesn't seem to be any consistency. Sometimes a clean will improve the nozzle check and sometimes it will cause the white ink to dropout all together. Even when I am able to get nozzle checks that are good enough to start printing, the white ink will drop out after about two inches and becomes extremely faded with significant banding. I have replaced the printhead and dampers. I have flushed the lines and cleaned out the ink tanks. Has anyone ever experienced this issue before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 3 hours ago, Radicalfans said: I have been having issues with my dtf printer For quite some time now, my printer has been having problems printing white. I will run tons of cleans and nozzle checks, and the nozzle checks are always super erratic (the color ink is working just fine with perfect nozzle checks). There doesn't seem to be any consistency. Sometimes a clean will improve the nozzle check and sometimes it will cause the white ink to dropout all together. Even when I am able to get nozzle checks that are good enough to start printing, the white ink will drop out after about two inches and becomes extremely faded with significant banding. I have replaced the printhead and dampers. I have flushed the lines and cleaned out the ink tanks. Has anyone ever experienced this issue before? Yes, I have experienced this. DTF printers require preventative maintenance as well as standard maintenance. You can't replace the dampers or flush the lines when it's too late. They must be done preventatively. Sounds like the white ink " sludge" or pigment filled the dampers over time, which then eventually got sucked into the printhead. If you replace/clean them on a schedule, you will be rewarded with 0 downtime/issues. After this happens you can replace the dampers, flush the lines, and do as many head cleans as you want. It won't work. You need to soak and gently backflush the printhead or replace it. The stuff that goes in there is like glue. If your old dampers had "white" stuff settled in one spot, that's what goes into the printhead. If this occurred before the filter, the filter would stop it as it has coagulated and beyond the jettable size, "soft clogging" the channels. Be aware, if you do excessive cleans you can permanently damage the printhead, busting a seal or overheating the piezo nozzles due to low/no flow. Been there, done that- ALOT. Ever since learning the above, I haven't had to replace a single printhead in almost 2 years. The problem most people will run into is the more the printer sits, the faster this occurs. It can happen is as little as a week, or as long as 6 months. It really depends on how you use/run your machine AND the ink you use. Circulating the ink doesn't help, as it's inside the damper where this is happening. Simply shaking the damper every other day would prevent this, but that increases wear and tear and creates the potential to damage the printhead via liquid spill. There are a ton of variables that go into it, but if you watch and pay attention for the pattern, you can prevent this issue outright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnson4 Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 (edited) I would also like to mention, dampers rarely go bad. They just get clogged, mainly the white, with the same “sludge” that makes its way into the printhead. If you have ever removed a damper and looked at the white blob inside that doesn’t move, that’s what I’m talking about. They can easily be back-flushed and re-used, as it’s the white pigment causing the issues especially if you run pre filters on your ink lines. I’ve noticed the inkbank 5600 ink doesn’t do this so much/as quickly, compared to the inkbank 5603. Likely because of the viscosity and pigment load. Yeah, you use a little more 5600 for the same opaque white, but in the long run it’s like a $5 a bottle difference. the inkbank 5601 CMYK is thicker than the 5600 variant as well. I use the 5601 CMYK and 5600 white mainly. Edited May 11 by johnson4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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