Andria

I saw ONE video on it by Hangry Muscle and it looked like a pain in the ass! He was sucking the ink out of the cart from the screen in the bottom and THEN, spent 45 mins doing this repeated with water until it ran clear....I'm like HELL NO! I might try to drain the ink out of them and if works it works, if it doesn't screw it. He kept saying something about a "bag" inside the cart...I dunno.

I had a thought, but I'm thinking perhaps there is a reason no one has speaks this: The empty carts I received from Aliexpress are crap. Despite having my dampers in place, it seems as tho there is just WAYY too much ink leaking out of carts. Is there any reason why I can't remove the chips from the OEM carts, clean them out, drill the holes needed, and use those instead?? Is the DTF ink too think? Even if just the white is too thick and needs these other carts, I was thinking I could use those crap carts for the white ink, the converted OEM carts for the remaining colors. Any thoughts or experience with this?? TY!!

Of course I was kidding about the blocking! I'm sure your inbox IS full. So, yes, I filled the carts exactly as you explained, but I'll check the yellow again and see if there is a bubble somewhere. I did "suck it" (lol) until ink came into the syringe, and of course, did not put it back in into the cart, I put it back into the yellow tank. I mounted the the dampers on the side of the CISS, and the CISS is on the side of the printer with heavy duty velcro and the bottom of the tanks is three inches from the bottom of the printer - so I'll try raising it even higher. It's not that only plan to print on weekends, it's that I only have weekends to work on all this troubleshooting. I work from home and have a good four - six hours (depending on when I drag my butt out of bed) in the mornings that I can print. I DID only ONE head clean, so I'll try that as well. I'm going to try it here in a few minutes. Thank you, as usual SOO much for your advice. I'll get on it here in a few. ~Andria

I tried to send this to you directly, Mr. Johnson4, but it said you couldn't receive messages? Or, maybe you are tired of me being a pest and blocked me?? 😢 It's ok...I"ll try here: Hey There! It's been a while. Finally got my new bottles of white ink, so THAT'S good. I'm going ask you something that at first glance, may seems STUUUUUUPIID, but here goes anyway...this has to do with that "trial and error" thing you spoke of. haha My CISS system has been set up for a very long time, today is the first day I put ink into it. Now, all the cart's pads have ink on them, with the exception of yellow - it's dry - go figure - so yea, I'm not printing YET, but as I briefly reviewing my connections (Cause I gotta get to bed!) I was thinking about the dampers....of course they come with no instructions, but I would ASSUME, that the arrows indicate the ink flow and therefore should be point away from my tanks and up into the lines, no? Now, when I primed the carts, I made sure I followed a video and made sure the empty part of the tank was filled before the sponge and then I made sure I pulled out a bit of ink to ensure it was full. I run a test from the printer's properties and all I get are tiny black dashes that look like they are going in a diagonal. I suddenly decided to attach a pic. Any ideas?? I pulled the carts for now and put the cleaner carts back in because I'm not going to have to time work on this again until next weekend. Any ideas? I am NOT adverse to starting over with a new CISS system because I did put the inks in wrong order the first time (ONLY in the main holding tank - nothing went thru the lines, but DID seep thru the dampers, which I also cleaned). After everything was cleaned and thoroughly dried. I tried again. That was yesterday. I only attempted a print today - that when I realized, I have no idea how to "increase my bounding box"!! Shit. Anyway, the pic I attached is just a print head check. I haven't tried putting the OEM carts back in and seeing if it works....but I can....😔 It you some MORE wisdom to share, it would sure save me a few more grey hairs! Thanks!! Andria

Ok, so good news. The guy agreed to replace the two liters of White Ink ASAP. And for me, it's lesson learned: Don't buy so damned much ink at one time! I was just under the impression that it uses a LOT of ink to do DTF. Even just my temp install of the OEM carts, there was a LOT of waste in the bottom of my waste jug. Hey, here's an important question for you: How do we dispose of the ink in the waste tank? Environmentally speaking? Thanks!

Well, and it would be REALLY silly for me to try and find a way to finance a big, fancy DTF printer when I have never even tried one out. I have to start somewhere. I wasted so much money trying to get into Sublimation about 10 years ago, I purchased what I thought was a great deal, it was an already converted printer w/CISS and my heatpress (with multiple attachments) some small bottles of ink, a few polyester blanks and paid over $600....I still use the heatpress.....I ended up chucking the printer in the trash because it sat for so long I "assumed" it was shot, if only I knew then..... up until recently, I had no idea how easy it is convert nearly ANY Epson printer - So, I did it again, but this time because I learned I could do sublimation and was no longer limited to JUST polyester and light colors...like always, I got over-zelous bought $500/worth of EasySubli from Conde and I paid some joker $600 for an already converted Epson 2720 (or 2728?) with a CISS system installed and some little bottles of ink and got really excited...until I learned that printer retailed for about $70....it did print nice subs, though...better than the Sawgrass SG500....I'm sad that I sold the Epson ET and purchased this Sawgrass....it prints lovely on mugs and using reg sub paper to print on Light colored, polyester, but I'm not as impressed with the EasySubli as the people in the videos made me think I would. Also, it is heavy on the shirts. And then there's the fact that I don't know how I am going to afford the ink carts when it comes time to replace them. They accidentally sent me the larger carts, so that was a bonus, but other than that, I haven't even been able to SALE the SG500. My first intention was to get the ET-15000 (like ANYONE could find them) convert it and sale the Sawgrass. I found the XP15000 and decided it would be better since it was photo quality and was going to convert it to Sublimation.....then, I saw DTF. On the UPside....my options are still open...I could still do Sub with the XP...but I really don't want to. Ok, I getta log on for work. Have a good day! ~Andria

I don't have a 24" printer, that was just part of the deal when I ordered the bundle so I figured I could cut it to the size I needed. I have the XP-15000. I'm a long way from being fancy enough that I have to make long runs off of a roll....lol....hell, I haven't made a run at ALL yet. I have not put ANY ink into ANYTHING yet. I did fill empties with cleaner tho, since I had originally put in the OEM carts. I'm in the middle of going around with the company now. I even called some Chinese guy in CA who is the the US distributor for this manufacturer - but I don't know for sure if he is the seller. He says those dates are "manufactured" dates and not "expiration" dates. Now, I've sent off about six emails with pictures, one of which came from the seller from Walmart.com, which I am pretty sure is the same Chinese guy I talked to, but who the hell knows. Only thing I know for sure is that I bought as much as I could as inexpensively as I could and it all STILL cost me $611....and I'm still paying on it because I used Affirm. I had no clue that the crap would expire. I have 11 lbs of hot melt powder that I can't see myself every using up....and it expires after 2 years. I couldn't afford the ink off of DTFSuperStore, no more than I could afford to buy AcroRip from them....you know where I got it. Well, I probably could've afforded their ink if I had purchased tiny bottles, but I got this impression that this DTF printing uses a TON of ink, so I wanted to make sure I had a lot. I get what you are saying about the ink sitting around, BUT we both know they do not walk thru the warehouses of these manufacturers and shake bottles all day every day! This is the website in CA that I called today. I was gonna call China, but I reached CA first. https://www.sign-in-global.us/ I'm tired. ANOTHER weekend accomplishing VERY little for my business. The printer IS ready, the CISS is in place and all....it just needs ink. I've only been trying to get this all going since JUNE. It's because I spent $500+ on this Sawgrass 500 and another $500 on a role of EasySubli only to realize I really do not like the way the EasySubli feels on the shirts and I do not want to only do light colored polyester shirts. Then I saw DTF!! I'm still sublimating...just not on fabric. I've printed some beautiful Latte Mugs. I'll keep it up until I run out of ink in the SG and can't afford $177/each for new carts!! Maybe someone will figure out a way to non-OEM them by then. Gotta work tomorrow so I'm going to bed. Goodnight! ~Andria

I'm wondering what y'all know about ink expiring....here we go again...lol (but crying REALLY loud!!) SO, back in June, I placed the order below via Walmart.com - it was a big investment considering my printer still doesn't have ink in it and was still in the unopened box when I ordered all this crap. CALCA 23.6" x 328Ft DTF Transfer Film Roll 5 Bottles of 1L DTF Inks ( C M Y K W ) & 11 Lbs DTF Hot Melt Powder (Bundle) $512.63 and 1 additional Liter of White Ink. $67.13 The bottles are still sealed because I have been in the slow process of converting and setting up my printer. Today I was finally ready to put the ink into into my CISS system and upon looking at the bottles of ink, they all state they have a 12 mo. shelf life. I did not know this because the ad on Walmart.com makes no mention of this. I do not know if the dates stamped on the bottles are the dates of expiration or manufacture. This is of major concern because the 2 bottles of white have a date of 11/25/2021 and the four colors are dated 03/07/2022. This means, that either all of the ink was ALREADY expired when it was sent to me, or I have ONLY 3 months to use up the 2L of white and 7 months to use up the colors, IF the dates stamped are the date of manufacture. Considering the size of the bottles, this is a MAJOR problem. I have not even printed my first print. It did not occur to me to check for a date when the order arrived, or that I would even need to be concerned about expiration because I have 10 y/o sublimation ink that still works. This was a MAJOR investment for me and now, I don't think I can use even a 1/4 of the product before it expires - or at all if it is already expired and it's probably too late to get my money back. I have not contacted Walmart yet. I wanted to allow Calca the opportunity to resolve this matter first. I am having a lot of trouble finding the actual Calca website, even tho they are listed as the Seller on Walmart.com. I can only write 1000 characters via Walmart.com and that is simply not enough. I found a few websites that the Internet point to when I look for the manufacturer, but emailing the Chinese website the email was returned, but there was a link to the US website. I'm gonna try to call China! Their phone number is listed along side my order. *smh really hard*

Thanks to both of you for responding, so, I'll try to explain this all a bit better. First, I should say, I am nowhere near ready to start really doing business - I want things working in a way I am satisfied with AND comfortable with before I start trying to sell my work - let alone taking custom orders. I started out doing Sublimation. I had a little Epson 2720 and I had purchased a $500 roll of EasySubli so that I could print to all substrates. Amen - sort of. I found myself getting gorgeous prints, but they were offset incorrectly and I was convinced it was the Epson (it was actually a setting in my Silhouette software when using print and cut, but anyway...), so I quickly sold it off and invested in a Sawgrass SG500. The Print Manager software helped, but the quality of the prints could not compare to that of the Epson - not to mention the price of the ink carts for a Sawgrass. I went round and round with Sawgrass Tech support and still wasn't happy. So, then I start reading all the raves about the ET-15000 for sublimation...I knew from many years ago how inexpensive sub ink is (for Epson) and I had previously (about 10 years ago) owned an Epson converted to CISS, so I know how to use the system and I knew that move would alleviate the cost of those outrageous SG carts. I searched and searched and could not find the ET-15000 - and if I did find one, they sellers were gouging for over a thousand dollars. But then I found the XP, and knowing it is photo quality, I decided I was going to set it up on a CISS and use IT for Sublimation and sell the Sawgrass. (The SG has been used like 5 times since I bought it in March.) Everything still sitting unopened, I started reading up and watching videos about DTF. I was amazed and decided I wanted to learn it, at least for my soft lines, and I could still sublimate on mugs, etc. So, I've kept the Sawgrass. (I wouldn't have had any idea where to get an entire XP bundle w/software for $500!!!) I paid more than that just for the printer and I've been buying everything a little at a time. The only thing I don't have right now is the RIP software, because I can't afford it right now - I think the cheapest I have found is $395 and I am coming up to rent week, so it's going to be another few weeks. But as I've been watching more videos about using the XP for DTF, I am seeing some people using the CISS system, and others using refillable carts. (I'm trying to figure out if they are using chipless carts or not?) Yes, the CISS system I purchased for the XP came with Sublimation Ink - I do know that I cannot use this INK for DTF - but I would think the CISS system itself is the same either way - it came with six empty CHIPLESS carts and it all came assembled - just need to convert the printer and it's ready to go. What I was trying to find out is if there is any reason I would not be able to simply use the carts (without the CISS connected) so that I would not have to worry about storing a lot of ink right now and I could fill them as needed. I read somewhere that I could take out the DTF carts and cap them when I was not actively printing and put in the reg carts to protect the print heads. I don't know if that's true. I had no idea about what a "damper" was until now - you guys wrote it, I read about it. Now, I know. I'll order the dampers and load up on empty carts. I purchased an entire bundle of Calca 1L bottles of Ink (and an extra bottle of white ink), a roll of film and 11lbs of white powder (I don't know if I need 11 lbs, but that's how the bundle came....lol.) (When does one use/need black powder?). You both have been a great help! I guess the million dollar question now would be: What would you recommend as the cheapest and easiest to use RIP software? I've been reading about them all, but as I said, can't really afford any of them YET, but it would be nice to know what you might think would be good for a noob. Thanks again to both of you!!

Hello All! My name is Andria, and I am JUST beginning the process of DTF printing. I've done Sublimation for years, and I actually purchased an XP-15000 (because no where on earth could I find the ET!!!) as well as a CISS System w/Ink. Nothing has been set up yet. I want to know EXACTLY what I'm doing before I risk screwing up this printer. My question is this: I have been reading the forum and have seen conversations about CISS over refillable carts, and that refillable is better if I'm not printing everyday. SO, can I simply disconnect the lines from the empty chipless carts and use those, or do I need to purchase an entirely different sort of cart? Kinda pissed because I'm seeing posts of ppl paying very little for their printer, and cart/CISS setup - I paid $124 from InkXPro for the CISS Sublimation package with small bottles of ink. I'm about two a weeks past the 30-days-to-return this system, so, I'm thinking why just shelf the stuff and buy new carts if not necessary. Thanks in advance to everyone! ~Andria