Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Now, I hadn't printed any real run of transfers for a coupla years (well, I did do a few, but I used a Mutoh solvent printer (and they actually lookd pretty good...))
Then I got this guy wanting me to do some photo t-shirts... So I'm getting the gear going again... 1280 #1 is looking good. The 1280 that I had a chicom dye sub setup on has about half the magenta head still clogged, but it's getting there. I'm going to soak it a day, print a test page, soak it a day, and see how it's going. I've got a set of cleaning cartridges in it right now, and it's sitting on a micropad of cleaning gunk.
So I got to the bottom shelf. And there sits an Epson C86. Went to the store, bought a new set of ink. Plugged 'em in.
NOTHING. Absotively NOTHING. So it's gonna sit on a micropad of cleaning gunk for a while. Any hints for the durabrite inks?
I used to be an Epson tech support agent, so I'll share some insights.
If you are applying cleaning solvents, keep in mind that any fibres from your application product are going to clog the head more than the dried ink will... eg. Q tips, cotton balls, etc.
Your C86 is probably pooched if you have already used the software to run 3 cleaning cycles in a row (6 if you run them at different times) The problem is not dried ink. The problem is that the tubing attaching the ink cartridge to the print head has come released. You probably can't fix it, but I've heard there are guides online on how to take it apart and put it back together. I don't know where or if it is worth the effort for a $90 printer.
The tubing issue applies to all C and CX series Epson printers, the newer ones less frequently than the old ones, but still a problem.
Stick to R series printers to avoid this issue and keep in mind that the original inks have solvent in them designed to clean the print head, something other inks may not have.
Well, this morning, with NOTHING firing yesterday, I've got about half the nozzles on the C86 going today... Not touching the #2 1280 for a day or three - I'm just going to leave the cleaning carts in, with it sitting on damp micropad...
Buy your cleaning tools from a sign supplier - Fellers, etc., sells lint-free stuff. Works fine for my Mutoh...
The joys of cleaning stuff... 
