[bre1022]

Ok, so we finally broke down and got the 381 (want to use as the 361) and got it used for a decent price. But since we bought it we've had nothing but problems, broken heads, the company we buy heads from sending us the wrongs ones, over and over again, etc.
We want to get this running because this is our last ditch to keep our business running and now that we have new heads, etc we are getting error messages that we can't find answers to. We aren't really sure how this whole white ink maintenance should work. We seem to get conflicting reports from the guy we bought it from, the manual, videos we've watched, etc.
We are wondering if there is anyone here who has experience using this machine who can possibly help via skype to get started? We can pay some to just get some help to figure out what to do to get this working. We've been using the gt-341 for 11 years so we understand the main DTG things but the white ink is kinda throwing us and the error messages. For instance it is telling us that the printer is disconnected error -493 but I can't find that error number anywhere online or in the manual.

Or if you know of a website or youtube channel that has more info for us.
Thanks
Bre

 

[dRad]

Start with the GT-3 Series Cookbook Maintenance. You can get it here.

[media]http://www.brother-usa.com/VirData/Content/en-US/GarmentPrinters/Maintenance/General/GT-3%20Series%20Cookbook%20Maintenance%20v3.1.pdf[/media]

I personally am having problems getting my white to not crack, but I know a lot about maintenance and such. I can help you out if you need it.

 

[CanarianDrifter]

I read your post on another thread about cracking. I never had issues with cracking although I had it with color ink over white scratching off it. Tech told me to double cure it. It didn't work too good.

I had good results with hovering first and then curing. Sometime twice because I wanted to make sure it was cured enough in certain jobs.

If you have two heat presses leave about 1/2" to 3/4" space between the heat plate and the mat in one of them. Make sure you have the right amount of pretreatment on the garment. 20 gms for colors and 30 grams for black. You should weight the garment first and then re-weight it after applying the pretreatment while still wet. This will allow you to dial in the pre-treater if you are using one. If you are applying by hand you better be good at it and still weight the garment for accuracy.

After printing lay down the garment on the heat press and close it. Let it hoover for the duration of your next printing shirt. 1 to 2 minutes. Take the shirt out and let it cool a little before pressing it at light pressure at the recommended time. I have a GT381 (which I am giving up printing with white for other reasons) Brothers ink dries in 30/35 seconds.

If you are lying down maximum white ink it will be thick on the shirts. The hovering and curing will do the trick, if you still have the problem try double curing it. I wouldn't double the curing time just cure it twice after the hovering for the recommended time for each curing.

Hope this help!

CD