johnson4

This is a powdering and curing issue. You are probably powdering too soon out of the printer, those who use shaker machines the arts what the preheater is for. after that your curing temperature is too high/too fast/uneven so it’s over curing some spots, (pinholes) then undercuring as a whole ( too fast). Aim for 3-4 minutes with a curing machine. Then work your way down while also increasing temperature a bit. Every step of the way has to be very specific or you get crap transfers. each one of these below requires adjustment and “tuning” individually: -printer ink settings/color accuracy -temperature/humidity in the room -film type and properly stored film( yes it can go bad) -powder adhesive and it’s use/storage( yes it can go bad, or even be bad to begin with, it can also go bad from the “oil” in the printer transfer after time) -the “pre powder” cure needs to turn the printed ink matte before powdering -once powdered, you need to make sure there isn’t any powder sticking to the film somewhere it shouldn’t, too much/too little powder as well. The more ink/wet ink, the more powder. -when curing you need proper ventilation for a good cure AND your safety. Consistent even heat, too hot gets pin holes. Too fast gets pinholes and dots on the surface(undercure and too hot), too slow and you yellow/deteriorate the adhesive. Not cured enough you have a poor finish quality and oil “seep” around the edges of the film. it seems easy, and just getting one out that looks good doesn’t mean it’s right or will work long term. It’s all very important and one thing out of whack will give you a bad transfer.

No worries, I hope it helps some. There are only 3 things that could cause that. The sensor, The Relay, or the timer if it has one. If you open it and the relay has a red light on( with the heater off) then that means the sensor needs adjusted/replaced/cleaned. IF the relay is not with red light, then that means the relay has failed " on" and relay should be replaced. I've had both happen, several times. The machines can be expensive, but the parts they are made from generally are not, even some of the $6,000 shakers take $3-5 relays that fail, or suffer from a design flaw. It's all basically " DIY" even if you buy the machines outright, unless you buy something like a Mimaki for 30K+

The post above your question has the information you need.

That’s usually a faulty damper, Improperly/I’ll fitting/seated damper, or if the damper is a “ free flow” damper too much positive pressure on the ink side. if all that checks out it’s possible the head has a seal broken. usually has to do with damper/ink pressure.

What do you mean by DTF mode? The conversion is essentially only the ink system, making it possible to clean the printhead without taking it out and the ink waste line.

I have never seen the eco-tank printers work very long, they are designed for dye based ink and are not built to last.. The downfall to an OEM chipless printer. You would need an external ink system. If you don't, It won't last long for sure. I have never seen anyone use these for more than a few months even with an ink system. The L1800 is widely used for DTF, however it's half as fast as the P800. It's like the Epson 1430, 80 nozzles per channel X6 channels. BUT it does have an external ink tank that can be shaken, just need to have an ink circulation system and it should work for quite a while. There aren't really many Epson models that are " ideal" as each will have it's own pro/con. Even those are being discontinued and being replaced with new models so aftermarket support is diminishing. If you are just doing a few things here and there for yourself, the L1800 should do you right. If you are trying to sell transfers, I think the bare minimum for that is something like the P5000/P6000. The P5000 can do 21 12" X 12" an hour, 42 12" X 12" an hour single color. The P6000 does 30 11" X 12" an hour, 60 11" X 12" an hour single color. Both are easily modified to work for the long term. I went through tons of models and have extensive experience in these models and their older siblings: -1430/l1800 -P400/R2000/R1800/R1900 -p600/R3000 -P800/3880 -P5000/R4900 -P6000 -C88 -several WF models and eco tank models. Most were accrued from direct from Epson refurbished sales, some were used models I refurbished before converting them. I had to rent a 30 yard dumpster to clear my graveyard of printers/parts that I have accrued over the years in my search/endeavors. In the end, when I stopped looking, I am running the P5000/P6000 and haven't lost one yet, which also has saved me time, money, and of course increased print speeds. I tested every angle with each model relentlessly, with multiples of each model listed above. I wanted to know why something failed, when, and how to prevent it, which ultimately results in the failure first, to learn from it. At the end, you want something reliable to invest in, otherwise man it is just awful with the cost and downtime. If you are just dipping your toes in to see if it's for you, the L1800 will do that. Most of them will do that. But know all that $$ spent will be gone within a few months if not sooner due to the learning curve. The L1800 isn't that expensive to replace parts/printheads on, so it's a good starter machine to learn on. If you are going in wallet to the wall, chinese machines aren't that bad. Just don't buy a conversion.

The P800 prints well, the problem is it will almost always suffer from a head strike killing it. The printhead rides really close to the film. It’s also rather slow, about 10 12”x12” an hour at it’s fastest speed. if you can make a good output tray with a vacuum that goes under the printhead it would be fine. If you use a shaker it’s usually fine because it “ pulls” the film down IF you have it perfectly aligned and don’t get any side to side movement while it prints. As for the ink system, the P800 ink system is good as-is with aftermarket cartridges, just change the dampers monthly and you’ll be fine. If you don’t, and you get white sediment from the damper inside the printhead there is NO recovering it, it weakens and kills the nozzles immediately. You can risk 2-3 month damper changes, but it’s risky. i ran 3 p800’s for over a year, which was actually like 7 of them after replacing them when the heads failed, which was always my fault. I had purchased like 15 of them when they were $100 each from Epson refurbished after selling the ink, so it wasn’t a big deal and taught me a lot. The 3880 is probably the worser option, given it’s age and parts availability. good luck.

On the P5000 2 admin cleans ( power cleans) are enough. I don’t have a 4900, so I’m not sure.

I would just keep doing power cleans honestly.

You can manually flush out the old inks if you want. Put in cartridges with cleaner and hook hoses to the "air intake" port on the cartridges. You can do a few at a time or all. I do it with the printer off and unplugged in-case of spill. You remove the damper ASSY and disconnect hose before going into the dampers( will spill ink everywhere). Now, just have pump push air into the cartridges, or liquid, and it will come out of the hoses until clean. Once done, replace all dampers. Now you have full cleaned out system. You can also just run the Admin clean/flush on the main menu of the printer.

We have all been there. Generally you don't want to go that far that fast with what you are doing. Flushing the head or removing the manifold should be your last ditch effort with the expectation of failure because it usually doesn't help. From your description, it sounds like the issue has to do with the ink system itself, maybe the dampers. Not the printhead. Possibly a poor seal/damper connection to the printhead as well. Absolutely not having screws on the printhead so it can make a good seal on the cap top and wiper is pretty bad. You are correct to assume it couldn't properly be cleaned like this, including the cleaning suction. IF all of the channels are dead, it's likely a blown fuse on the mainboard, or a combination of needing a new printhead and the fuse. When my machines started giving me literally 0 problems from my day to day, is when I stopped doing these types of things to them and figured out the majority of the problems were simple maintenance items that I was unaware of, the printhead is the last thing that has anything to do with it in my experience. Me personally, It sounds like you may have done some damage that could be a simple fix, but these things are very finicky. As much as a trickle in the oscillation to the power supply to these things and you'll run into unexplained problems. Let alone everything that has happened. I would start by checking, repairing the fuses or replacing the mainboard and printhead. You risk the new printhead if you just pop it in there without repairing the mainboard. I have NEVER received a good printhead from amazon, or any other seller from any other platform that said it was " refurbished" or anything but new. Definitely not worth it from my experience. In the end, all I have to do to keep the machines happy are keep the ink circulated, ink fresh, clean the wiper/cap top daily, clean the bottom of the printhead every few weeks and change out my dampers with OEM dampers, or flush them and re-use them as they start to cause the issue you are describing. If I wait too long, or force cleans, It'll also take the printhead with it. Other than that, they work everyday and have done so for over 8 months without incident or failure. Every now and again I'll have to change a faulty capping station, but I never have to get into the printhead like that. Take a look at this guys article, it shows an explains a bit about the printheads and how they work. Cleaning the manifold and possibly replacing it is totally fine as needed. beyond that, I don't do it unless I have a new printhead on hand especially while the old one is still in the unit. https://myx900.com/x900-printhead-revealed/

Clean the optical sensor face. If that doesn't help, look and see if you can see the light on the relay. If the light on the sensor is off until something is infront of it but it keeps feeding the film, then your relay is going bad. It the light at the sensor stays on when nothing is In front of it: adjust the optical sensor, replace the optical sensor.

Crazy how much has changed from my first prints until now, haha.

You would have to buy it.

You can also attach/embed these things without the links.

If that is your method of choice. You don’t need the service program really, it has right in the printer menu the “ heavy” and “ “administrative “. The administrator cleaning takes 1-2 cleaning to flush it all out and another 1-2 to load the ink. it’s the same options in the service software, they do have a purge button but I didn’t like that one. Too much air in the lines afterwards.

you can convert it with what you have listed without a white ink circulation system. The P5000/R4900 are ready to go out of the box, no rollers to remove or anything else- It's ready to go with it's built in cutter and vacuum suction to hold the prints in place- without using the rollers.

If it isn't causing any issues, I don't see a problem with it. It's the same concept just backwards. Some of us with under-sized shakers have to run the dryer hot at faster speeds to achieve a proper cure as well. Generally you want a 2-3 minute dwell, but if you are able to cure without pinholes, residue, or any other issue then it's fine. The main issue is overheating, if your unit isn't doing that and it comes out perfect, who cares right?

It’s the size you make the artwork if you are using a gang sheet. It depends on what RIP you use, some you can make the gang sheet inside the RIP. Some rips have a pre-set print area, while others do not and base it on the image. It varies wildly depending on the RIP and version.

You can figure out the speed by just dividing the inches into what you need. if you do 12"- 14" wide it will do 252 inches an hour. If you do 14"-17" wide it will do 228 inches an hour. so if you did 24" long sheets it would do 10.5 sheets sized 12-14" wide X 24" long sheets an hour. The same for the 14"-17" width would be 9.5 sheets of 14"-17" X 24" an hour. I just break that down into 12" X 12" so it's a square foot and easy to calculate any which way. The P6000 will do 15 23" X 12" an hour, or 32 11" X 11" an hour, however you want to see that. The carriage pass speed is slower on the P6000 so you don't get a ton of speed increase over the P6000. Still, overall, that is 2,016 inches of 12" transfers in 8 hours on the P5000. 168 12" X 12" in a work day per machine. 1,440 inches in 8 hours on the P6000 by 23" wide. So 120 12" X 23" in a work day per machine. If you print white only, you can double that speed for both machines. The dual head i3200 24" machines can do 320 12" X 23" prints in a work day per machine for reference, given you don't get any clogging printing at the same quality as the Epson machines.

I print 10-40 foot long prints on it all the time. Not sure why there would be a perceived limitation. I think the longest run I’ve ever done on one non-stop was a bit over 100 feet. even then, you can print back to back jobs without any waste, it backfeeds and starts where it left off on the previous print. It’s a very capable machine.

You can do 21 12”x12” prints an hour with the P5000. It does 19 16”x12” prints an hour. Roughly 13 13”x19” an hour from the P5000.

1-2: sounds like overheating. Lower temperature increase time. Problem with machines like that is it’s not the “temperature” it’s the cycle that cures. Those bulbs heat up to 700F in a few seconds easily. If the bulb stays on for 15-20 seconds before actually heating up the unit and temperature probe, then you’ve just put your transfer in a 700F oven for 20 seconds. The bulbless machines aren’t as bad, but still develop hot spots. So while the probe may read and stay at 248F, the temperature at the film can have easily reached 700+ before it registered that. my recommendation: for testing, pre heat machine by turning it on as if you were curing a sheet but with nothing in it. Then, immediately after while it’s still hot, try to cure a sheet and see if it changes. 2. I cure mine at about 71C ( preheated, always on) for 3 minutes. The bulbs only cycle on to maintain the temperature, which is about 3-5 seconds on time. Perfect cure. Another machine I have cures at 98C, about 3 minutes. If I did 75C on the first machine, my film would be kinda crinkly, yellow, and pinholes. it’s not really about the temperature, it’s about the cycling of the bulbs and the airflow. Each machine design will be a bit different. Testing is required, especially for a Chinese machine. the other issue is probably a compatibility issue with the film/ink.

The 4900 is the older model of the 5000 so they probably function about the same. The 4900 did come out in 2010, so it could be anywhere from 13-6 years old, can’t say how long it would work for you at that point. Any older/used models I’ve converted never lasted long without needing overhauled. Old Oem ink turns into a clog forming gel, so just about everything is bound to need manually cleaned and flushed if you want the best case scenario from it. me personally I’d remove the damper assembly and flush the ink system from the cartridges to the printhead, replace the dampers (with oem) and the capping station. Otherwise all that stuff would be flushed through the printhead. i like sticking to current gen machines as printheads and parts are readily available and usually not price hiked if they are out of production. New Printhead from Epson for the P5000 is $810. sounds silly doing all that, but if you want reliability you need a new machine or refurbish an old one first. Otherwise it’s just issue after issue. A new P5000 is around $1900 delivered. Sell the oem ink for $300. Buy carts and a resetter, about $150. use BHphoto and use their interest free credit card. It’s like $158 a month, no interest. after 3 months you’ll need to flush the oem white ink lines, OR at that point with your profit invest in a white ink circulation system, it’s about $100-$150 to add and bypass the white ink cartridges. don’t go sticking aftermarket dampers on it if you want reliability and longevity. there are several very detailed posts here about the P5000. good luck

P5000 is a beast. I run 3 of them.