Discuss the various aspects of direct to garment printing. DTG printers include Brother, T-Jet, Flexi-Jet, DTG Kiosk, Kornit, Mimaki, Tex-Jet and others! Discuss and learn about this up and coming printing technology.
Okay problems guys 2 of my white channels arn't firing I didn't touch my printer for one whole day the day before that it was used I printed one dark shirt.
Any ideas how to get them firing again??? Done numerous head cleans no budge.... do I have to flush out the heads?
I would put some cleaning solution in your capping station and let it sit for a bit, about an hour or so and see if it clears it. The way to do this is when you do a head clean, wait till almost the end of the head clean when the head goes over to the spit station, while the head is at the spit station, put the cleaner in the capping station. Once the head comes back over, turn the machine off. You want to do it this way so the cleaning solution does not get sucked down the capping station. After you put the solution in the capping station let it sit for an hour or two. Then try to see if it cleared. if it didnt I would flush the system with distilled water, and also check all of your white dampers to make sure you dont have clogged dampers. Usually it tends to be a damper more often then the printhead. If you need any instruction on how to do anything let me know, and I will try to help
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
I would put some cleaning solution in your capping station and let it sit for a bit, about an hour or so and see if it clears it. The way to do this is when you do a head clean, wait till almost the end of the head clean when the head goes over to the spit station, while the head is at the spit station, put the cleaner in the capping station. Once the head comes back over, turn the machine off. You want to do it this way so the cleaning solution does not get sucked down the capping station. After you put the solution in the capping station let it sit for an hour or two. Then try to see if it cleared. if it didnt I would flush the system with distilled water, and also check all of your white dampers to make sure you dont have clogged dampers. Usually it tends to be a damper more often then the printhead. If you need any instruction on how to do anything let me know, and I will try to help
Thanx Bobbie Lee...... I've decided to flush out the print head but the two channels that are not firing arn't sucking the distilled water does this mean the print head
is pretty much F'd
No it doesnt mean that, usually when they are not sucking water at all alot of times its just the dampers. I would try changing them and see if that fixes it as the dampers are alot cheaper then a printhead
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
OK, now I've got this same problem. I had one partially clogged white nozzle and now after many head cleanings, pulling off the offending gampers and flushing them w/ cleaning solution, etc. they are passing NO whirte ink at all. Should have left well enough alone i guess. I probably wasted $50 worth of ink. Arrgh!
So, first of all, does blasting cleaning fluid thru a damper ruin it? maybe that's my problem. I really don't want to purchase dampers @ nearly $50 each esp. since i spent over $500 on ink today. I thought these things were supposed to MAKE you money not TAKE yo' money! lol
What is the procedure for flushing the lines w/ distilled water? Do you fill emplty bulk bottles w/ the water and do head cleaning or what?
Thanks for any help. Bobbi Lee, you seem to know these machines inside and out-help? This is a 4 month old Kiosk II that has been printing great but i have gone a couple of days without printing a few times.
With these white ink nozzle problems, I almost always suggest changing the printhead. Its not worth the time, effort or frustrating trying to clean out the lines/dampers and print head.
With these white ink nozzle problems, I almost always suggest changing the printhead. Its not worth the time, effort or frustrating trying to clean out the lines/dampers and print head.
Well, that's REALLY not what i wanted to hear. How can a printhead go from being Ok to having two clogged nozzles in a matter of minutes? And what exactly clogs the nozzles-I would think the dampers would clog first?
Ok, where's the cheapest place to buy a printhead for a Kiosk II? Four months of service just doesn't seem right.
I seriously would change the dampers first. They are alot cheaper then a printhead and sometimes once they get clogged bad enough, there is just no unclogging them. You can find cheaper dampers then $50 a piece, look around Also for printheads, if replacing the damper does not work and you have to replace it, you can get them for alot better prices at compass micro which is a authorized epson part dealer. It sounds to me that it very possibly is the dampers. I would also try putting cleaning solution in your capping station and letting it sit for awhile also and see if this helps. If there are two lines not pulling anything, its very likely to be the dampers but you also want to keep the printhead moist just in case. So if your printhead is still good, while trying to get new dampers, you dont want your printhead drying out.
You can also take your printhead out and flush it with a syringe, with cleaning fluid, thru the nozzles on top of the printhead. Just make sure to not get your ribbon cable connectors wet at all. Where the two cables come off of the printhead, be very careful of those slots. If you do end up getting any moisture on the slots, make sure to wait a while for them to be completly dry, or using canned air to blow them out and make sure they are dry because you can short out your cables or motherboard if any moisture is on them. If you are not comfortable with this, you shouldnt do it There are some who are and some who would rather have a tech do it for them, or just replace the printhead and dampers.
As far as flushing your system, yes you would fill your bottles with distilled water and cleaning solution and then do ink fills until your lines run clear. This is usually a good first step to take when having any type of clogging, and also a good thing to add to your maintenance schedule. I do this at least once every 4 to 5 weeks, as it keeps everything flowing well and really is alot easier to mantain this way. If I can be of any other help let me know.
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
One thing that really works for me and learned from this forum is to soak a papertowel (I use those thick blue papertowels) with alcohol, turn printer off, move print head to center and gently press the the soaked papertowel under the printhead for about a minute. Then apply some alcohol on the caping station and let the printhead sit on it for another minute. Then turn it on, do a couple of head cleans and do a test print. This usually works for me, which reminds me, I need to do this first thing in the morning.
WHen you removed the dampers from the printhead did you put anything on the nipples to stop the printhead drying out? 5-10minutes of low humid air can dry it out very quick.
Thanks all for the suggestions. I did not cover the printhead connection when i took the dampers off. Probably no more than 3-4 minutes though. If a damper allows fluid to flow thru it from a syringe, is it still possible it is clogged?
If you're getting fluid to go through the dampers without excessive force than the damper probably isn't the issue. I just went through the same mess you're in and it turned out to be a clog in the head. Are you getting any spray from the head when you push solution through using a syringe? You should see a bunch of fine lines of solution coming out. Don't force too hard or you might kill the head, I did. I would try soaking it in cps or windex for a while and then try pushing some solution through. You can try to suck distilled water up through the head also.
I would also try to tape off where the head connects to the ribbon cables when you are messing with liquid.
Just a quick note when using windex and alcohol in the capping station this can cause the pad to swell then you can have wicking problems with the pad touching the print head drawing ink when not in use. Also after removing dampners you can get air in the print head which you want out. Do a ink fill with only the 2 white channels you have pulled off. Also if you have aset of flushing cartriges use these to do a printhead only flush. This will save on ink wastage. Personally if you do not know what you are doing I wiould stay away form a back print head flush as you could find your self replacing the print head cables and a main board if you get fluid in the cable plug slot.
2 white channels arnt firing 
