Trouble shooting again...does it ever end.

Cocolroo said:

I was printing last night and I noticed I was getting some red on my white lettering.

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Is there red in your artwork? This doesn't tell us much and without a visual its hard to help. It could be a number of things but need more information.

Cocolroo said:

Is this a matter of Just doing the head cleaning cycle until I get just white or something else I need to be aware of.

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No, it could be something else. Hows the humidity near the computer? How are your nozzle checks? How old is the capping station?

Cocolroo said:

Also I noticed many times after my tray goes through the first pass for the under base and its supposed to
slide back for the color coat but the tray stops and the load light blinks and I have to manually push it back and push load and then it might do it automatically.It happens alot and its frustrating because frequently I have to power off the machine.

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Have you called tech support? It sounds like software but I can't quite understand what you mean.

It prints the white under-base and stops at the end of the white layer and doesn't come back to the beginning.

Are you sure its the load lights and not an error?
What settings are you using?

Cocolroo said:

Does it ever get any easier with these machines..

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Yes, Yes it does... must have faith

Cocolroo said:

I don't think there has been one time that I have used it since I bought it a month ago that I haven't had a problem I need to get through.I would be happy to get some consistency out of it.Ive gotten some good prints from it but here and there but the work I have to go through,and cant imagine if I had a real order of 50 shirts and everything going smooth. I cant even get 1 shirt without problems.
I was telling myself last night selling this thing might be the next option if it doesn't get any smoother.
Alright im done whining.

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A month?????? are you serious??? is this your first DTG printer?


If you are giving up after a month then DTG is not
for you. There is a classified section here on the forum its best you sell it cause there are many people who have been successful with DTG and know the steps it takes to get
it consistent and working correctly. I will give you a tidbit of advice if you think you can handle it.


CHANGE THE INK SYSTEM IMMEDIATELY

unless its on a proper bag system, you might as well take your wallet, checkbook, and any money you have and flush it down the toilet. seriously, no April fools joke.. just head to
the toilet and flush it down every time you turn it on.

You mean there is hope?
Like i said id hate to have an order of 50
with this thing but I will try to keep the faith.
Here is a picture of 2 G's that I printed last night.you can see the different colors in it.
You can see the white Ethan print that was printed the night before last night that looked ok without any other color in it.
I didnt have any other color in the program besides white and my setting were on underbase photo 1440
and on 1440 color coat.Ive tried it at different settings though.
Quick question when I print white only say white lettering should I be doing underbase with highlight and no colocoat or underbase only and colorcoat.
Another note is that this is my practice shirt so the prespray was sprayed a couple of day ago.
Should I be prespray each time?
What I meant on the tray loading is when I have underbase 1 coat setting and colorcoat 2 passes
sometimes after the first pass for the undercoat it
it doesnt reload.Just flashes error red.
Catch 22 with these machines is shouldnt run it without reading and memorizing the manual so you know what to do right and how to handle problems
but yet you cant wait until you get the manual and machine software down because the machine has to be run everyday to keep circulation.
New name for them should be Tjet Catch 22.
I agree with Charles but im trying to be patient but
He is right.The time you spend troubleshooting etc youd be better off contracting out.
But im not giving up yet.
I dont know how old the capstation is but I did get a new one with pump wiper and cap station with it that I could put in but afraid to F%$# it up as dlicate as these things are unless I really have to.
FATKAT what would be the difference between my
bulk ink system vs the bag ink system?
Thanks

Cocolroo said:

You mean there is hope?

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Yes

Cocolroo said:

I dont know how old the cap station is but I did get a new one with pump wiper and cap station with it that I could put in but afraid to F%$# it up as delicate as these things are unless I really have to.

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They aren't as delicate you just have to know what you are doing and also know EVERYTHING about your printer.

Do you always buy or run "used" equipment without knowing everything about it? I guess so..think about it this way. Would you drive a "used" car without knowing if there is oil in the engine?

Cocolroo said:

FATKAT what would be the difference between my
bulk ink system vs the bag ink system?
Thanks

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Air
Sediment
Poor prints
Waste of money
Ink mixing colors
Problems
Problems
Oh, more problems

FatKat.
I wouldnt be that stupid to not have checkedf it out before buying it.
I saw it print on both light and dark shirts.
I was givin a new pump and capstation as well as sellerhad all inks full and refurbished it before selling.
I repeat yes I saw it in action.
Since then I had a few good prints of my own.
Emphasis on few.
The machine was bought new in 2007 and was well maintained by a business who sold it to get a bigger one.
This is my point.
Just look a the post history on these things and see they are consitently problems with them so although I appreciate your help you cant always blame the user
or "a used machine".
Every night I siringe the white and run a head cleaning on it.
I keep it inside the house and keep a little bowl of water with sponge for humidity.Also a cover on the whole thing.
I dont think the technology is quite there but im willing to overlook it and get passed these problems.
As far as the red goes that was on another print.
These were after printing again.My point was they have other color in them.
On my pretreat I use a wagner sprayer and do just like the videos show.
That part that you see flaking is where I scratched it a little with my finger so It doesnt normally do that.
If changing over to bagged ink would solve many problems i would do in a second.
right now it has the bulk ink bottles.
Thanks Again.
P.S. Judging by how active youve been just today on helping not just myself but others to I think thats awsome.
I get so frutrated I would even be willing to pay for support because.
1.EZ is not open on weekends
2.They charge 90$ hour,which i think is taking advantage.
EZ should really appreciate what you do for them indirectly.

Cocolroo said:

Just look a the post history on these things and see they are consitently problems with them so although I appreciate your help you cant always blame the user or "a used machine".

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I don't blame the "user" or a "used" machine. I blame the original/bulk ink delivery system and its half *** attempts to
do right by the customer. Read my 5000+ posts on how I helped many people with the same problems you have.

The Kiosk 2 and T-Jet 2 are modified Epson 2200 inkjet printer that was poorly designed to work with an open bottle textile ink system. Even though you have carts you still have air access to your bottles and you are adding new ink to old ink that has settled with sediment and air particles.

So eliminate the air and sediments you have a proper flow of ink which is what its suppose to do. Look at what an Epson 2200 ink jet printer looks like doesn't look like it was manufactured as a textile printer with open bottles. So you must recreate the same atmosphere that Epson did.

Cocolroo said:

Every night I syringe the white and run a head cleaning on it.

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Why??

Cocolroo said:

On my pretreat I use a wagner sprayer and do just like the videos show.

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But, you didn't get to feel the shirt that was pretreated on the video. As Charles mentioned, its a perfected technique.


Here as some pics done with the bag ink, they are basic prints and could have been done in vinyl but they came out great. Poor camera pics but you can't deny the white ink.

honestly, i have owned a fast tjet 2 for 3 years, and no, it never gets easier, you only learn more about how to fix the quirks as time goes by. i just sold it THANK GOD! and i felt like i was passing a curse on to the poor guy who bought it, bless his soul. I rebuilt EVERYTHING in mine, twice. You learn what you can and cant get away with, dark shirts or big detailed shirts in 1440 print mode are a joke, takes FOREVER to print, almost always inconsistent prints, the first 5 or so start off amazing and you feel guilty for cursing the machine, but then, sure enough 10 prints in and you remember why you hate the GD thing. i would sell it if i were you, not trying to discourage and i know there are people out there who would disagree with me, but from my own personal experience, they are great for like 1 or 2 shirts, but to do a job of 100, which shouldnt be unheard of, its a joke. Not to mention the hih price of ink and pretreat, i was finding i had to charge my clients 12-15 bucks a shirt just to be making any money, good luck finding too many suckers wh will pay that. and what about all the 'botched' jobs you have to comp because red ink decided to bleed into the white or half way thru the print it for some reason got lighter, oh man, i feel for ya, really i do.