T-Shirt Forums banner

STS VJ628 - DTF Printer Dropped White

5K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  johnchesley 
Hi~ desperate for help...I was printing a run of 30 full back prints yesterday with white over color...got to print 26 and in the middle of the image, white faded to nothing and can't get it back...2 short cleans, 1 normal, 1 long, 2 little charges... 3 syringe ink pulls...nothing on white channels...2 new white bags, and the rest were only days old...now all are less than half and no prints. humidity is 42 heat at 70...So frustrated... anything you can offer to try...
Mod Edit: Paragraphs added for readability.
I have had the same problems with my STS Mutoh printer. Constant problems with white drying up. I have spent thousands of dollars on ink doing cleanings and hundreds of hours trying to get white to print.

The first problem with white is the 1L bags. The white settles at the bottom of the bag with the chemicals and then has to travel in too many directions; first through the needle and then though the narrow channels. The 1L bags are fine for CMYK. STS has introduced 440ML cartridges, I am trying them to see if that helps.

Next they have introduced an ink circulation system that can be installed in the first generation of printers. This has to be installed by STS or a trained technician. The cost of this is $800.00.

Next you might have to replace the white damper, about $300.00. Hopefully, those 3 changes, the ink circulation system, the switch back to cartridges, and the replacement of the white damper, will fix the white problems without having to replace the expensive head. The new generation of printers has the ink circulation system built in. Clearly STS has released this printer too early. They are using me and others who bought the system right out of the gate as beta testers. My system has been down more than up working in the 8 months that I have had it. My environment is within the recommended temperature and humidity levels that have changed a few times since I bought the printer.

The people at STS provide goes service, however, they should extend the warranty on the printer and the head because they launched the system before it was ready. I've had to make production adjustments to screen printing, print and cut prints, purchased transfers, and vinyl cad cuts. All very time consuming and costly. It has been an exhausting and frustrating experience. If I could turn the clock back, I would have waited until this relatively new technology developed and corrected all the problems with white.

I am getting the installations, mentioned above, to my printer next week hoping that this will solve the white issues. When the printer is working, the prints are amazing, the colours are beautiful, and the prints on the shirts look great and wash well. The unfortunate thing is that the first generation printers do not hold up and the white dries up. I like the people at STS, however, I recommend that you wait until they perfect the system, or try the Coldesi system.

To sum it up, STS released the printer too early, or they would not be making all the adjustments to the printer. This has cost me money, time and stress.
 
Hi Marci,

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I too am emptying the waste bottle about twice a week. I'm essentially pouring money down the drain.

Have you sold the Mutoh printer head?

What is the new system that you purchased and where did you buy it?

Ron
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top