[Jewkin]

I need help or advice on how to proceed with this nightmare of a DTG machine.

I purchased a refurbrished DTG HM1-C from Pantograms/Coldesi last summer. It sat for a bit because neither company informed us about a training. After going to the training, I come back to Michigan from Flordia all ready to work. Fire up my machine and get this terrible grinding noise. Without printing a thing, I have to replace the capping station, in that same week the print head. The nightmare began

Moving along smoothly for several months. Then i come in and have no white ink (3 weeks ago). i've completly flushed the white ink likes and replaced the filter with no results. Change the capping station...Still nothing good. Replace the print head they tell me..I did that saturday, and (printed with white) but i had one nozzle that was empty on a check.

So my tech gets me replacing screws. Now i have nothing. Not even color. Now they want me to replace the carriage. I'm not even confident that thats the problem. I feel like now they're just guessing

I've spent almost $1,000 in parts in the past month and weeks of valuable time. I don't know what to do. Im frusterated to the point of literal tears.

If anyone can help me, please....

 

[lornik]

Sell it and cut your losses. The techs really are probably guessing at this point. I have the same machine. The company i work for bought it brand new and we have replaced so many parts on it in the first year we had it that I have stopped promoting it and now it is just a $20,000 paper weight with water in it!

 

[dazzabling]

the grinding noise could be a part installed incorrectly.. usually the wiper assembly. If you are under warranty, with SWF then you really need to work with them.

You can also check these things:

-dampers (make sure they are full of ink or at least 3/4 full of ink)
-nozzle checks don't just print always do a nozzle check
-capping station is properly pulling ink from the printhead into the waste ink tank

Be careful with flushing of ink, getting any electrical parts behind the printhead wet is going to cause more problems.

 

[Jewkin]

The grinding noise was taken care of in October. It's just to state that this machine really has been doomed from the start.

I have mainitained the machine to the training instructions. Running it regularly with cleanings and nozzle checks.

The machine is a referb so while certified it is not warrantied.

I have been trying for 3 weeks to get assistance and it's just touch and go. I called SWF at 9:00 this morning, and didnt recieve a callback until 3:30. When trying to contact them last week it took 3 days to get a call back. So my machine sits useless clogging new parts with dried ink because they cant get me assistance/parts fast enough. They basically robbed me of 300.00 as i found a printhead while looking for a carriage for 300.00 as opposed to the 600 they charged.

As soon as they make it right i will be finding a new supplier for all of my inks and parts and a new service technician.

 

[dazzabling]

Is the carriage broken? Missing screws?

 

[Jewkin]

Is the carriage broken? Missing screws?

The carriage isnt missing screws, but the screws stripped the holes and now it wont seal. So it needs to be replaced.

 

[mmoguls]

Re: First no white ink, then no color.

So your head does not sit in the carriage squarely and will not seal to the capping station?

okay, so you need some parts. Go on eBay and buy a used epson 2400 (there are 5 up for bid right now). You get every Epson piece in your machine, including a carriage. Clean the head extensively prior to taking the unit apart, get a perfect pattern, then fill it with cleaning fluid/dist water using your cleaning cartridges (you have a set, right?) Now you have a 500 buck head on the ready. Remove the sensor from the Epson carriage.
That said, I glued my 2 stripped screws into the carriage with superglue, works fine. They can still be removed, the glue made new threads to hold the screws in.

You know, I probably have a carriage sitting around...but they are HARD to change, hence the superglue tip above.

So, one channel of white has NO ink in the nozzle check? Any chance of clogging already? Might need a soak of windex to clear. A head can clog in a day of open air...Don't ask me how I know this!

i really wish someone would create a way to run the capping station manually like the kiosk. This would help prime the system and stimulate ink flow. I think a way to do this would be add a manual or electric pump, maybe someone out there has a plan to do this?

Hope this helps you,

dANNY8bALL
www.SanJoseScreenPrinting.com

 

[DangerMouse]

Learn how to use the machine before hand so that you understand WHY you have so many issues. Most likely a faulty capping station has caused the issue, thus blocking your print head as it wont be drawing/docking correctly leaving ink to dry in the print head.

Take your machine to a technician and save yourself the hassle and $$$$

 

[lornik]

I learned about my machine before I started using it. Even went to NJ for the scheduled training from SWF/Coldesi or whatever they are calling themselves these days. I did what I learned to do. Yet I still had many issues with the machine too. I even had to replace the print head because there was an issue with it not going to the capping station properly and the techs did not get back to me for days. Of course, by then ink was dried in it rendering it useless. I had to pay for the head myself.

I have little regard for this company. My car cost less than this machine and I got a much better warranty with my car!

 

[Jewkin]

We also went to training for the machine at coldesi in Flordia. The one day crash course was very helpful in everyday operations but offers no insight as to what kind of technical nightmares this machine is capable of producing.

We bought a refurb. And it was shipped to us dry. no solution in the machine at all. So off the bat the head and capping station were damaged.
This time around (when the white stopped firing) i replaced the wims filter and did a full white line flush before having to replace the capping station then the head...then another head waiting for reply from coldesi...then the ribbon cable. The ribbon cable was successful.

Through experience and great expense I now know what to look for when I have issues in the future. But nothing i've learned about repairing the machine has been learned in a class.

 

[dazzabling]

Were you trained on the printer that was shipped to you? If so, then you are right there should have been solution somewhere no necessarialy in the lines but somewhere it should have been flushed correctly. I hope they were replaced at their cost.

Now, if it was another machine they are usually shipped dry and you do the inital ink fill.

 

[Tallyplayer]

We had a strange grinding/clicking noise that was happening almost every time we cleaned and replaced our decoder strip and when the printhead was on the capping station. We replaced the decoder strip and the noise went away.

 

[uktech]

Re: First no white ink, then no color.

i really wish someone would create a way to run the capping station manually like the kiosk. This would help prime the system and stimulate ink flow. I think a way to do this would be add a manual or electric pump, maybe someone out there has a plan to do this?

Hope this helps you,

dANNY8bALL
www.SanJoseScreenPrinting.com

There is a plastic flat head screw on the outside of the capping station, this screw is accesable from the hole on the HM1-C case, turning this clockwise manually will pull ink through the pipes and the head.

 

[mmoguls]

Thanks, i'll try that.

Jewkin, I have an epson 2400 out of it's plastic case today. It printed paper before it was taken down.

Tomorrow morning I will remove it's head and capping station. So, the rest is available. Let me know if you're interested. Need to know quick, I have surgery friday and will be out for two weeks after that. It has every part you might need, other than what you already bought.

hope this helps you,

dANNY8bALL

www.SanJoseScreenPrinting.com