[sandmanbjj]

I have been at this a year. I have been through 2 print heads and 2 capping stations. Both my fault of being lazy.
My question is will it hurt to put cartridges in every night with cleaning fluid and run a few head cleanings with cleaning fluid instead of leaving the ink carts in?

 

[metalbone]

I haven't been at this a year but like you I have been through 1 print head myself due to my rookieness and lack of knowledge.

I do do alot of customer prints so the printer sits idle most of the week. But after having to replace that print head I do things a tad differently than before.

I have 2 scheduled head cleanings that run automatically 2x per day. I do a full print with WUB every other day at least. I don't print on shirts but I print on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I got tired of wasting money on shirts, the fact that I waste ink is bad enough. I have a png file that I have setup that is pretty much a 8x10 block of white, with the other 4 colors as well. I run it through my dark shirt queue so it print UB as well as highlight white and the colors.

I clean the capping station once a day (generally every couple days anyways). Every Sunday I do a more thorough cleaning of the capping station by removing it and taking it to the sink and completely cleaning it.I do need to get another capping station.

Right now with the rain my humidity is around 55 - 65% so my humidifier does not run to often.

I myself probably don't clean like i should but it currently does the trick. I also run a nozzle check every few days just to make sure. I replaced my print head at the beginning of the year and so far still have all nozzles firing so I must be doing something right.

The only thing I really find irritating is the white ink settling. Once a week or before I do a customer print I have to shake the cartridges and then pull the ink through to get good white ink going solid again. I am currently playing around with some 12 volt DC vibrating motors to see if I can get a scheduled vibration of the lines, bottles and cartridges to avoid doing that.

Putting cleaning cartridges in every night honestly seems like more work than just running the swab and cleaning fluid around the capping station. Takes like me like 2 mintues to do it and leave some fluid in it. I don't clean the encoder strip but once a week if that, i don't do enough printing to get the strip that dirty.

I think the most important thing as far as daily is head clean and capping station clean. I know I am about to order 4 or 5 of the felt tops for it as no matter how clean i get it now the ink doesn't seam to get sucked down like it did originally. At $12 a pop seems like a no brainer to replace it a couple times a year.

Sorry for the long write up.

 

[lazographics]

I have been at this a year. I have been through 2 print heads and 2 capping stations. Both my fault of being lazy.
My question is will it hurt to put cartridges in every night with cleaning fluid and run a few head cleanings with cleaning fluid instead of leaving the ink carts in?

No it does not hurt to put in cleaning cartridges in every night. I actually do it if the printer is going to sit for more then a few hours. Doesn't take hardly anytime at all and you will be playing it safe. Not only does it keep the head clean but the capping/pump assembly as well. Print heads are becoming harder to find and they are not cheap if you do find one.

 

[lazographics]

I haven't been at this a year but like you I have been through 1 print head myself due to my rookieness and lack of knowledge.

I do do alot of customer prints so the printer sits idle most of the week. But after having to replace that print head I do things a tad differently than before.

I have 2 scheduled head cleanings that run automatically 2x per day. I do a full print with WUB every other day at least. I don't print on shirts but I print on a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I got tired of wasting money on shirts, the fact that I waste ink is bad enough. I have a png file that I have setup that is pretty much a 8x10 block of white, with the other 4 colors as well. I run it through my dark shirt queue so it print UB as well as highlight white and the colors.

I clean the capping station once a day (generally every couple days anyways). Every Sunday I do a more thorough cleaning of the capping station by removing it and taking it to the sink and completely cleaning it

I have never been a fan of the daily head cleaning and never trained my customers on this method. That's money down the drain. It really doesn't take long to swap to cartridges and flush the head. It's actually more work in how your doing it. It's good to hear that you take your capping pump out and give it a cleaning. I do this as well and have had the same capping for 2 years.

 

[sandmanbjj]

Thanks for the replays. I appreciate y'all taking time to answer. I will be cleaning my capping station way more as well.

 

[metalbone]

I think I might start putting the cleaning cartridges in once a week and doing head cleans. This would be similar but not as good as pulling the station out to clean but would be a good half week process maybe. I can't see doing this everyday though.

 

[sandmanbjj]

Are you using the bagged ink system?
I have a separate set of carts filled with cleaning solution. I just pop out the ink filled carts, rubber band them together put a piece of tape on the bottoms (just to protect them). Pop in the cleaning carts and run a few head cleans.

 

[lazographics]

Are you using the bagged ink system?
I have a separate set of carts filled with cleaning solution. I just pop out the ink filled carts, rubber band them together put a piece of tape on the bottoms (just to protect them). Pop in the cleaning carts and run a few head cleans.

I myself use bottles. I do the same thing with the cartridges. Rubber band them together and place them on top of printer. When I pop in the cleaning cartridges I do 2 ink charges. Takes only 5 minutes. When I pop in the ink carts instead of ink charge I do head cleaning and nozzle check and I usually get a perfect nozzle check after the first head cleaning. That also only takes 5 minutes.

 

[sandmanbjj]

Thanks. I will be making that a standard practice from now on

 

[sandmanbjj]

A little update, I have been putting my cleaning carts in every night after I print. Running a few head cleanings until the sponge on the capping station is mostly white again and shut
down the machine. When I am ready to print I put the ink carts back in, run a few head cleanings and start printing away. I have had no problems and nice sharp prints.

I also clean the encoder strip and clean around the head with a swab.

 

[lazographics]

A little update, I have been putting my cleaning carts in every night after I print. Running a few head cleanings until the sponge on the capping station is mostly white again and shut
down the machine. When I am ready to print I put the ink carts back in, run a few head cleanings and start printing away. I have had no problems and nice sharp prints.

I also clean the encoder strip and clean around the head with a swab.

That's awesome! It's easy to do to is it not? Keeping it clean will ensure that your print head and capping/pump assembly will last a long time. Thanks for the update!

 

[sandmanbjj]

It is very easy and much faster than I anticipated. I also have moved my heat press across the room. It was right next to my printer. That's supposed to help as well.

 

[lazographics]

Moving the heat press away from the printer will definitely help.