[Dave915]

Good Morning everyone,

I have been reading and reading this forum for over a year now wanting to start a dtg diy conversion but never being able to acquire a reasonably priced printer that I didn't mind ruining with my trial and errors. Until my workplace was upgrading several printers through out the office and happened to be tossing out 2 epson r2400 printer which i was able to scavenge. I was able to purchase a set of CIS systems cheap from a yard sale listing (10 dollars for both) including ink and nozzle cleaner. I was able to get both printers working perfectly and decided it was time to start my design for the conversion. I decided to go with an aluminum extrusion base mainly because I have no wood working tools and very little garage space, luckily I have a 100 dollar gift card to misumi that I was gifted a while back. I have started my design but I am in need of some critique mainly on dimension size before I start ordering all the extrusion. This will be a friction drive to start off but I will convert to belt once I have everything running. I have access to a 3d printer and I am PC solid cad inclined and can do all the modeling for all the parts I need. My plan at this time is to release the complete design once its completed. Can anyone tell me if i am going in the right direction in terms of size? i am attaching preliminary pics with dimensions.

http://imgur.com/bEktURP

http://imgur.com/shPwxC3

Had to add direct links, cant attach anything for some reason.

 

[OpenDTG]

Make sure you plan out how and where you will be mounting the drive rod and motor.

Also, whether you are going to just push the platen back in on the rod or spring load it so you can lower it with a lever.

 

[Dave915]

I have an idea for the drive rod and motor and it will be spring loaded, I am also working on a 3d printed asf motor mount so I don't have to cut pieces of the housing off the printer. There is a salvage company that sells aluminum t-slot extrusion by the pound around here pretty cheap about .85 cent. Originally i was told they only carry metric extrusion but apparently they were mistaken and they only carry imperial dimension extrusion so I'm going to redo the design based on what they have or I may go with Misumi. I will be using a 8in lab jack to adjust the height of the platen which will be removable depending on size, I have an old design from school which a quick disconnect magnetic system which I think will be useful.

 

[OpenDTG]

This works well for the underside of your platform.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ACNW8E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[OpenDTG]

Some of the lab jacks are wobbly so make sure you test it

 

[Dave915]

Re: Epson R2400 conversion

Ok, I used the dimensions and it looks like it turned out okay, I'm calling the frame mostly done. browsing around you tube I managed to find a similar looking frame on an existing DTG build called the nikko, my design and the nikko look very similar probably should have asked if he could give me dimensions it would have saved me alot of time. Next step is to design the drive mechanism, it will take some time as I have a full weekend and week but I'm trying to get it done before next weekend so I have time to put it together. I did order a lab jack but it was garbage, returned it and see no reason to think any others will be different. Any ideas for a lift platter? planing to make it interchangeable with a magnetic base as I am planning to print on hats as well. so far I have only spent about 15 bucks, the extrusion was super cheap and I 3d printed the brackets that I made, extrusion is a mix of metric and imperial but it came together with little issue.

Please mind the mess, I'm supposed to clean before my wife gets home.

 

[shaperd]

Hi Dave915

Well done with what you have achieved so far..


This design is probably one of the best I have seen,
but it is also fairly old..


MAX DTG IMPRESSORA DE CAMISETAS (on youtube)


was the first to bring this out 5 years ago..


if you look at all there videos you will pick up some pointers on how to proceed with your build


Regards Shaperd