[willkho]

Hi all,

I'm wondering whether I need to clean the head after few printing? Let say 15 black tshirts?

Yesterday I printed 40 black tshirts. When I reached the 15th, I noticed that the white is fading..I did the nozzle check and almost lost the pattern...very strange, I have no head strike/rubbing.

But after a head cleaning, everything came back to normal.
DOes it also happen to you all? how many black tshirt you can print without cleaning?
I thought I wont clog the nozzle and don't need to clean the head if I keep using the white continuosly.

I usually clean after finish the print job though...

many thanks
Will

 

[JeridHill]

This is very common on these machines. Your prints are starving. What kind of ink system are you currently using?

 

[willkho]

thanks for your reply, Jerid.

What do you mean by the ink system? it's the original ink system that came with the DTG Viper actually...
So how do you fix this problem? Do you clean the head after few prints?

 

[binki]

ink starvation is my bet also.

 

[JeridHill]

I'm not sure how the Viper's ink system is. I imagine you need to try to keep certain ink levels to the right heights. Do you have the WIMS?

 

[willkho]

Thanks for Jerid and Binki for the reply.

How to fix the ink starvation if this is the case? I have the wims system (peristaltic pump) that originally came with the DTG Viper and run constantly...so the ink should always in the damper, right?

By the way, the humidity level in the room is about 50-60% and temp is normal room temp too.

 

[JeridHill]

I don't know how the WIMS works, but I still imagine you should have your ink levels at a certain height. I'm sure if this is incorrect, I will be corrected.

In your current circumstance, I would think the option would be to clean after xx amount of prints like you are doing. You may want to contact the company you purchased your printer from and get the correct operating procedures to stop this from happening.

Sorry, I don't know much about WIMS.

 

[spiderx1]

As the ink is used the level drops reducing pressure to the ink lines and slowing the flow of ink to the dampers. The cleaning uses the capping station pump to get the flow going again as well as cleaning any minor clogs that may have occurred. If the ink levels are borderline try raising the ink. Even the weather can make a difference. Generally if the weather is bad the barometric pressure is low, weather good the pressure is high. Hurricane the pressure is very low. Standard day is 29.92 inches of mercury. Very nice day around 31.00 bad day 28.50 to 29.00. Huricane 26.00. Jmo

 

[TahoeTomahawk]

This may not be starvation, it could be ink mist build up on the bottom of the print head, that is also common. If this happens it will block the nozzles showing a bad check pattern however after a head clean the nozzles become unblocked.

This was happening to us on both the kiosk and mod. We found a room fan was blowing air under the print head causing the buildup, removed the fan and problem solved.

 

[spiderx1]

Good point. Thanks

 

[bibledude]

I am having a similar problem lately with my Viper. any help would be appreciated. I have had my Viper for about 2 years. It has only been happening recently. I have been having to do a head cleaning after every two-shirt run. I made sure all the waste tubing was clear, made sure the air pressure lines were clear. I flushed the ink system. I was told to replace the air pump. Same issue remained. I was told to replace the dampers. Same problem remained. Now it takes three or four head cleanings to get a good nozzle check, unless i hook up the syringe and bottle and pull some ink through. Then I get a good nozzle check until after I print one shirt run. Then the nozzle check is bad again. The ink is fairly new, less than a 3 weeks old.

 

[Jonno]

The Viper uses a peristeltic pump to push the ink to manifold and return it to the resivior, check for air in the lines, make sure the the fittings are tight especially where the filter is concerned, check the filter is free of contaminants, filter should be replaced monthly. When was the last time you flushed the white ink lines?, how old is you ink?, may reasons for why the white can fade.

 

[bibledude]

I change the white ink filter weekly. The ink is less than a month old, or at least most of it. I always just top it off as it gets low, so some might be a year old mixed with newer ink. i flushed all the ink lines as par5 of trying to get this fixed. I am going to flush again and use all new ink to see what happens.

 

[Jonno]

Also check dampers.

 

[DTGPRINTERPARTS]

I have some questions for you
1. How old is the printer?
2. When was the last time you replaced the pump and cap assembly, dampers, head or Wims filter?
3. Do you clean the machine properly every day

 

[uktech]

This may not be starvation, it could be ink mist build up on the bottom of the print head, that is also common. If this happens it will block the nozzles showing a bad check pattern however after a head clean the nozzles become unblocked.

This was happening to us on both the kiosk and mod. We found a room fan was blowing air under the print head causing the buildup, removed the fan and problem solved.

This is the most likely cause, usually caused by plattens not being level or users not setting the gap for every print. The next time this happens, look at the print head face before head cleaning.

 

[bibledude]

I am not sure anyone reads these posts. I have stated that the dampers were just replaced, the lines were all just flushed, the ink is new, and the pump was just replaced, and there is no air leak. Also, the capping station station is about 6 months old. The printer is two years old. Tech support people just have me swapping parts as usual. I am thinking it is a clogged head. That would be new for me, but reading othere posts, it seems to be the likely issue. The current head is a year old. I replaced the original because it had a burnt out jet. I will dis-assemble it and suck out the head with cleaner and see if I can rectify the situation.

 

[DTGPRINTERPARTS]

You need to change the pump and head definitely or refurb your current one