porl

Oh, that's not something I knew of. I believe the PrintX driver/management software has head voltage settings in it. How do I know what range is safe to try? I've not seen info on this before. It does kind of make sense though; there are a lot of "weird" things with the printer firmware - the built-in nozzle test pattern prints from halfway into the film and finishes not just outside the film area but off the whole metal platen itself, Setting the white head offset by the calibration pattern is nowhere near correct (was off by an order of magnitude), and other small weirdnesses. I've been able to work around them all, but the more I learn the better!

Thank you, I'll be back in front of it in a few hours so I'll definitely try that test.

Thank you, I'll try that when I get back in front of the printer tonight. If it is software, what kind of setting do you think would need to change? I'm using cadlink of that helps.

For anyone interested, the printer ended up being a Locor model and works under Cadlink using the Hanrun i3200 driver (though I had to physically change the ink order to get it working).

I'm not sure how better to describe this, but I am running a new "Generic Chinese" printer using i3200 print heads. Everything seems to be working okay (or at least has a workaround) except for one major issue. Any time a colour channel is not used for a short time (even within one print image) it appears as though there is a blockage. After a small delay it is back to normal again. Basically, the start of any image, or the start of that colour in a region of the image, it looks like I need to run a head clean. But then the problem goes away until that colour channel "pauses" again. I've attached a small sample of this (sorry about the photo quality) where you can see the problem at the top. This will happen even immediately after a head clean/nozzle test. I suspect it is to do with air bubbles, but I have done everything I can to remove them from the dampers, and there seems to be no change. If it was one colour I'd suspect maybe the damper or tubing has a small leak, but this is a new machine and it is happening to various degrees on basically every channel. Is there perhaps a way to remove air from the i3200 head itself? Could this be the cause? Working in my other job on a large format sublimation printer I have had issues with air bubbles trapped inside the head itself, however that has the effect that the print starts okay and then fades out. This seems to be the total opposite. I'm at my wits end with this machine. We have had very little support and it is now nearly a month since I received the machine and I still have not sold one print I really appreciate any input.

Did you end up getting one of these? Those prices look very cheap and possibly suspicious.

I am currently awaiting a shipment of the printer from this page: https://www.arguraprinttech.com.au/product/30cm-dtf-printer/ It is using Epson i3200 heads (x2), however I don't know much else about the printer itself. I've seen a similar looking model with various rebrandings by many Chinese sellers, but I don't know anything beyond what is on the page. It comes with shitty Maintop Rip software, and I'll try to make do as best as I can, however I am wondering what is required (or if it is possible) to use an alternative RIP software. If it is possible, what do most people recommend as the best for DTF printing? In my other work I have dealt with Ergosoft which is clunky but flexible, but I don't know what is normally considered good for DTF. Once I get a hold of the printer, is there anything else I can do to find out whether it will be compatible with another RIP software?