How do you check to make sure all 3 channels are spraying white? I get a good nozzle check, indivually all white channels are "making deposits" to the waste ink bottle, but I'm unable to get a good white layer even at 1400dpi on my white ink. I used to, but something has changed and I can't figure out what. Replaced the dampers, flushed the lines and got new ink. I've even over-sprayed the pretreat just to make sure it wasn't that.
And, of course, I have a big job to complete this week. The job is an almost solid 10.5 in x 11 in graphic with white layer. Sometimes while it is putting down the poor white layer I can initiate a head cleaning and it sometimes will start putting down more white. Sometimes even if I do a head cleaning prior to printing it doesn't help.
If you are getting a good nozzle check, then your challenges most likely results from your pretreating process. Try printing a vertical box running down the shirt / platen. Then pretreat a shirt the way you normally do for the top 1/3 of the shirt. Then in the middle 1/3 of the shirt, double the amount of pretreatment. For the bottom 1/3 of the shirt, triple the amount of pretreatment. When you print your vertical box on the shirt, you will start to see how the difference in pretreatment will affect your underbase layer. Then make sure you do your wash test to see what amount of pretreatment washes the best. It may take some trial / error, but you should find what is the appropriate amount of pretreatment. Hope this helps.
Excellent tip. Getting this feedback will teach you to notice when everything is "correct". Also read Mark's DTG 101 and the section in the forum about pre-treatment. Also, make sure that you are using the correct formula and mixture.
Ian
__________________ imprimeo! ....Make your mark Btownpixelprint.com Are you kidding me?Free Embroidery software?
That is a good tip and I will use it when I get my white working again, but it doesn't address my issue. I even did an "on purpose" heavy spray to make sure the issue was not in my pretreat process. If I use a heavy spray it should give me an awesome white layer, although it would wash out. Still not enough white.
Then it sounds like you might have a wrong setting in your RIP or you might need to do an uninstall / reinstall with the RIP. What settngs are you using in your RIP?
If you are positive you are getting a good nozzle check (i.e. make sure all bars in the nozzle check for the white channels are there - use a piece of acrylic or transparency to see the white lines), then the printer should be doing its job correctly. The next thing would be to make sure your RIP settings are correct. The final thing is to make sure your white ink has not settled and you are printing primarily carrier fluid.
Try posting the process you are going through for each step and that might help shed some light on some things. You should also contact your distributor that you purchased the printer from and got training on the equipment. The distributor might have experienced the same thing with another customer and can get you printing faster.
Thanks Mark. Where do I find your DTG 101 that zoom_monster mentioned? The only setting inside of Rip Pro v.4 that I have ever "messed" with was the validation code. Are there other settings inside of Rip Pro that I should be looking at besides those that are effected by the "printer Preferences"?
I was 2/3 the way through this job when the white layer began giving us problems. So the first fifty-five shirts were fine.
Last night I flushed all of the dampers and replaced a couple, still no go. Not sure what to check next. My color layer is printing fine on white shirts without the white layer, just can't get enough white ink down on the dark shirts.
I print with the White Layer soft setting using 1400dpi for the white and 720 for the color.
Mark,
I usually print straight from Photoshop, but the print from feature looks interesting. I'll have to investigate that when I get this white ink working again.
Any ideas what I should check out next? Does the capping station have anything to do with the priming on the print head?
Yes, When I turn on my machine I do 2 to 3 head cleanings then do a nozzle check to see if all channels are spraying. If not, I do some more head cleanings and repeat the nozzle check. If the nozzle check is good I do a White test of a 6x3in block of white to check the flow of white ink. I usually get a good block on the first try after all of the head cleanings, but if I try a second "white block" it is faded. Someone gave me a good tip about re-doing a nozzle check at the point to see if I can identify a channel that may be starving for ink. I will try this tonight.
White ink levels 
