cartierusm

I second that. Have you printed successfully before, is this a new printer? When I first turned on my XP-15000 I never put in the stock carts. I just ran the new firmware to make it chipless and put in my refillable carts with DTF ink. The first print ran like crazy, I mean a puddle. I'm using CADLink, turned down the white a couple times and then it printed fine if not light on the white. When I was putting the carts in for the first time I noticed the area where the carts go was a little moist-ish almost oily. I think there was cleaner in there or something from the manuf process cause after those first prints I then went up even higher than default settings in CADLink for white. So it was something already in the print head that dilluted or made the ink run. After that it's always printed great. In CADLink, it's mostly stock settings, no change in color, max white is at 62%, Under black white is 60%, make sure you turn on all options in one menu or you can't see everything in properties. Make sure you change your printer mode to 1440 x 1440, this is in properties not the drop down menu on the main screen to the bottom right. That will always say 1440 x 720 unless you change the profile name, which I didn't.

Ok so all good info. 1. I like CADLink and with multiple printers CADLink right off that bat prints on the XP-15000 pretty dam accurately to what's on my screen, my screen is calibrated by a SpyderPro (not necessary, but if someone says what I just did on an uncalibrated screen that means nothing.). 2. Some people have trouble with the XP-15000 some do not. I did and didn't. My first one broke with a bad paper sensor after a couple weeks and about 100+, almost, full page DTF prints. Epson warrantied it, plus I bought it through Staples with a 4 year complete warranty for $54. Includes spills and drops so they can't say anything about how I'm using it. So what I'm trying to say is I got AMAZING results right off the bat with this printer, but for a business application I don't think it'll hold up. I have an Epson 3880 and P800 waiting in the wings if this new XP-15000 goes bad. So far printing amazing. 2b. For the XP-15000 conversion is easy, lots of tutorials out there and on this forum. Remove front rollers, Install a level correct height outfeed table, install chipless software from 2manuals.com, get refillable chipless carts for cleaning solution, get a CISS system (refillable carts will work to get your started but if you're doing any amount of printing you'll need to refill them, especially the white, quite often, like every 3rd print. Its a pain. Get a maintenance tank chip resetter, remove cover for maintenance tank and modify the maintenance tank (some people drill holes and such, but I don't modify a printer that's new so I can warranty it. So I just remove the packing from the tank drill a hole in front of the tank and attached a hose barb and hose and a snapple bottle.). Get a RIP and you're good to go. 2c. For storage you can take out the CISS carts and put the whole thing, tank and all, inside a large Ziploc bag. You should do this with any cart, with bottom caps on of course. But I wouldn't put the stock ink carts in the printer, you should sell them and make some money back. Epson DOES NOT USE STARTER CARTS, other companies do, but Epson doesn't. These are FULL STOCK CARTS. The problem is when you start a printer for the first time it uses quite a bit of ink to prime the system and then people think they are less capacity than the new ones you buy on their own. I would buy a set, they're pretty cheap off Amazon, of refillable carts and use those with cleaning fluid. So if you're shutting down for more than a couple days, remove your CISS or Refillable carts with ink them, cap them, put them in a sealable plastic bag, put in your cleaner carts, run a couple head cleanings and print a nozzle check. Do this until your nozzle check is clear. Your printer can stay like this for ever. Mind you most of this info was from Johnson4, thanks again for all the help. 2d. For the CISS you may or may not need dampers. The CISS has been without dampers until recently for the XP-15000. If you already have without or want to add them that's ok too. Also if you have to wait to afford something always do your research but check Aliexpress. Very cheap, but can take some time as it's directly from China. Most of the time it's only a few weeks. So for the damper CISS i have I had to put it on the printer by the rear feed to get it to work, gravity and fluid dynamics and all. Or maybe I didn't have it primed correctly, but it works for me so I'm leaving it there. Maybe I'll move it down where the instructions say it should be and try it again now that I know it prints. With no dampers you'll want to keep it on the same surface as the printer so it doesn't siphon and flood the printer. Make sure at the end of the say or even a long lunch to plug up the CISS Tank.

Ok thanks.

I've bought quite a few printers lately, XP-15000, P800 and a 3880. I'm only going to need one and have the others as backup. I find the XP-15000 to print really well and it's under warranty plus my extended warranty from Staples so I'll be using that. For my other two printers what should I do for long term storage? What I plan on doing unless I get better suggestions is put in my cleaner carts, run from my 2manuals Epson Adjustment Program the Initial Ink Charge options and flush all the lines. Then do a nozzle check and if that's clear with no ink then I'm good to go. I won't do wet capping as technically if I did everything right I shouldn't need to. Plus the normal wet capping solution from here says not for long term use, just use daily if using the printer daily and to use normal cleaning solution for long term, like vacation. So cleaner for the wet cap. So if that sounds good then do I need to keep the cleaner carts in? I only ask this as I have the P800 and 3880 which use the same refillable carts and I'd like to clean the other one, then there would be one printer without.

I'm a little confused at what you're asking. You say the CISS you bought came with sublimation inks, you can't use those for DTF printing you need DTF ink and I'd recommend Kingdom DTF or here DTFSuperStore, DTFSuperStore is cheaper on both product and shipping. Don't worry about the cost a good CISS system shipped in the US is about that. You only find them real cheap on Aliexpress, but then you're waiting almost a month with no support, or very little, and if you need to return its a PITA. You always need refillable carts for this printer. I've been using it for about a month and right off the bat it prints DTF beautifully! You'll need one set of carts for ink and one set of carts for cleaning solution. So if you're not printing everyday that means nothing. I need to know when you do print how many prints will you be making? I started with the standard refillable carts and had a few large printing jobs to do and refilling the carts, especially the white, every 3rd print as a major pain. I bought the CISS from Vibrant Ink with the built in dampers and I'm told they work better, but mine didn't work until I set the ink tanks on top of the printer which if you don't have the dampers will flood your printer. So respond with my questions and I should be able to help you out further. Also, what RIP are you using?

Again, good info. Thanks.

Do you have to remove the Epson 3880 cover to change the dampers?

Ok I'll do some more research. I did print a white graphic last night and it printed fine, but it was in the center of the page and didn't fill the whole page up like this graphic. It does seem like it's separating and then diluting the ink under it, or I assume as the red is washed in there as well. Which DTF Superstore ink the regular or their Super CMYK and which white? Haven't tried another RIP I'll do that too from EK and see what happens.

It's pretty much starts right away after the first inch or so. I shook the inks before starting today, then ran two print head cleanings from the printer menu and did a nozzle check. This was the third print of the day, the first two did the same thing more or less. I was trying to get a more opaque white under coat like I can get with the XP-15000. So I started at 45%, then 40% and back to what I had it set before 35% so at first I thought it was just too much white ink. I did notice the last print I did a few days ago it did this on the edges of the print, but when I re-did the graphics so it was 2 Up instead of 3 up, it worked fine. Same film, same ink although this ink is new to me. I ran out of the Kingdom DTF ink that I use for the XP-15000 so this is from garmentprinterink. But I have been getting decent results with it on this printer, not great, but enough to complete the job I had.

Ok what could this be? Is this a symptom of the dampers?

Ok thanks. Will do.

Will do. I ordered some dampers. I’ll print some other stuff after this job is pressed on shirts. Do you think I should just replace them or of it’s a software problem not replace unless I have a problem?

Really, RIP issue, that would be weird. But good to know. Thanks.

Ok totally weird. Printed the same graphic 2 up instead of staggered on a page 3 up. Printed perfectly!! No idea.

Very possible I still have cleaning fluid in there. I reoriented the graphic to 2 UP and in the middle of the page. I'll see if that makes a difference. If not I'll do a heavy cleaning from the 2manuals program I bought. Ok interesting. Can filter be added or use a filter like you do when you put automotive paint into a spray gun? I was using KingdomDTF's inks and they worked great, but the colors I needed were out of stock, as well as this web store, so I went with garmentprinterink.com. Prints last night before switching graphics were fine. As far as heavy cleanings you mean run the 2manuals program and do a heavy cleaning with the ink carts in there, right? CL1-CL5, CL5 is initial charge, so somewhere inbetween?

LOL no, I switched the printer to matte black on the control panel and in the software. I did a head clean or two to clear the lines besides the charging of the lines when it switches from the different blacks. I did read you should change the dampers every few years. You think I should just do this anyway as a precaution? Also, it's doing the same error in the same spot. So I printed the same page 3 times now. The first one on the page is great. The second object on the page has a bit too much white in one area and the third one is light and also pooling and missed an area (strip) altogether. Does this still sound like a damper issue. See pics below. 1. Middle graphic where it's pooling in only one spot. 2. Overall pic. 3. Last object on page where it's doing weird things.

Weird. The print just now, first object was fine, second one on the same page was a little lighter and the third one has a run. I'm now shaking (turning the carts gently) to mix the white and try again.

OK printing went great yesterday. The last print of the day at 10pm the white ink started to run again. So I just ended the print for the night. Shook all the carts this morning and turned on the printer. First print the white was way lighter than last night. So I ran a nozzle check on a piece of film. A missing pixel here and there, but a pretty good nozzle check. So I ran another print and could see the white gradient from top to bottom of print. So I'm assuming this is normal for startup in the morning cause there's no way to shake the white ink in the lines? So what procedure should I employ in the morning? Here's some pics, the first one is the first print of the day. The second one if you zoom in you can see the white getting darker down the print.

LOL NO idea. Google came up with nothing. I mean the printer drivers that CADLink installed has a separate one for roll printing that XP-15000 drivers didn't, but I don't see any accessory out there that is made for it, but I have a full machine shop so I'll make one if it gets to that stage. Thinking of getting a mini shaker from china and save $1000. I did order a curing station from china last week and it says it's already in the country. Got a really nice one for $250 shipped.

Yeah the XP-15000 printed pretty quick wit that, but once I changed to 1440 x 1440 it slowed way down, but I like the 1440 x 1440 quality better. I had to turn the white underbase way down. Stock is was set to 55%. I'm down to 35%. Seems to be printing great.

Thanks. I just noticed the number of nozzles to print with for the XP-15000 is missing from the 3800 profile in CADLink. There other new options as well.

Spare cart or damper? I just took the MK cleaning cart you said to leave in there, put the PK chip in and put it in the PK channel and did the same for the PK cart with black already in it. Printed and pressed. Looks great. A bit slow printing, about the same as the XP-15000.

Ah, thanks, good to know. That was my problem printer is up and running no more black streaks!! I'll do a cure and test print and see how it looks. So far the ones it did print but mess up, colors and quality look great.

I left the piezo flush in for about a week. Is that bad? Even peizo flush says leave in for 24-48 for bad clogs. I thought you can leave cleaner in indefinitely. Or did you mean like the really potent ones used for really bad clogs? I did find out just now this is a pretty common problem with the 3880 it's usually a bad damper but most likely a bad switch where it switched form matte black to photo black. Luckily for me the new CADLink update that just came out allows you to assign ink channels. So per the webs suggestion I'm switching my black carts and chips and see if printing from MK solves the problem If not I'll just remove a white channel and be good.

Ok so mine is dropping ink on the page. Anyone know what causes this? It seems to be printing pretty good other than that. Obviously the prints are usable with the ink drops. You can see it in the star graphic on the right, on the left edge of the page and other places.