johnson4

Unlikely, they lock their printheads or make small changes so you can’t. the reason the P800 works in the P600 is because it’s the same generation, and the P800 is larger than the P600, so it uses a more versatile head. Or just the “ 17”l version. The P600 head is locked to not work in the P800 head, it’s the cheaper 13” version lrinter. it prevents people from buying the printer, pulling the head, and tossing it for less than buying a head for a larger format machine. take the Epson F2100 for example. Uses the exact same head as the P5000. Yet, it’s $1,000 more. Profits. you could always try, but it’s very unlikely.

Thank you, I agree based on what I do know. I also try to mix in market awareness of certain models so I can piggy back on their support/better drivers. It’s why I fear buying any random machine. Quality, established in the market and value. My problem with established business is they usually are stuck in their ways. Last time I tried to buy an Audley they refused unless I also purchased their shaker. I talked to Andy several times ( I think he’s very busy) and I just didn’t know enough to commit and he didn’t have the time to enlighten me. have you ever heard of the Calca brand? That’s the model I am considering, it’s the same as the prestige XL2. Size looks good, many videos and has a good Cadlink driver supporting it.

What you are dealing with isn't from the powder necessarily, it's from the ink. The main things you are dealing with is: Ethylene glycol Glycerol N-diethylethanamine -Benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one For Ethylene glycol(oily stuff): Ethylene glycol breaks down into toxic compounds in the body. Ethylene glycol and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system (CNS), then the heart, and finally the kidneys. Ingesting enough can cause death. For Ethylene Glycol contact: Skin contact with liquid ethylene glycol or breathing low levels of vapors in the air is generally not harmful or causes only minor irritation. Very few individuals develop an allergic rash when the liquid is on their skin. Glycerol ( oily stuff) : glycerol is of low toxicity when ingested, inhaled or in contact with the skin. For the N-diethylethanamine: Causes burns; Inhalation may cause corrosive injuries to upper respiratory tract and lungs; Highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and skin absorption. Can result in skin burns in concentrated form. The last one is basically an anti-microbial agent, which can cause your eyes to water/burn. The adhesive does also release toxic fumes when heated/overheated, but it's not the oily stuff everywhere. That oily stuff is the ink carrier evaporating and re-condensing into it's liquid form. I do not know how much of the diethylethanamine is in the ink, nor how much is in the oil residue after it's cured. In general the ink itself has a toxicity level of 2 and should not be inhaled, consumed or make skin contact. When concentrated after evaporated and recollected,I don't know what would be left or the toxicity level at that point. In general, you should not breathe in the fumes or play with the stuff. Wear gloves, and vent to the outside or use a fume extractor. Personally, I never understood the use of a fume extractor, just vent it outside with a 4" in-line fan. $20 on amazon. More than likely it's what is in the ink that is being evaporated into the air that is bother you the most, as well as it's accumulation on things. In the past someone had dealt with chest pains and what doctors thought was a respatory infection for months due to not proper venting. When they vented properly, it went away within days. At least that is what I read. If my fan didn't work, I wouldn't be printing. It's not worth my health. It's why I have a backup fan.

It would unlikely be a setting but rather a driver/compatibility issue. it really looks like to me some form of air or drying of the nozzles. The test would tell I’d think.

I feel your pain, I have no advice for this situation but I think we have all been there. My assumptions would be the same as yours. What I do to try and purge out air bubbles or diagnose similar issues is turn up the color ink setting ( I would just turn up saturation) and make a large CMYK file of the problem color. Turn off the white ink layer and print a large block of that color. Sometimes I do 12" X 12", sometimes larger. Usually that will give an indication if it's an ink feed issue or some other issue of that nature. Me personally, I would do a 12" X 12" block of magenta for example, then immediately afterwards reprint( like as soon as it's finished the first one). This should help make sure there aren't any air bubbles, make sure the dampers are fine and that it's not drying out at the head very quickly in a new enviroment. Two large block prints one after another, if it does it again on the 2nd one after successfully printing the first, I would assume software. If it works fine, I would assume it's drying out at the head very quickly and possibly the cap isn't seating correctly. If it still does the exact same thing on the 2nd block, I would assume software.

Thank you. Maybe I just was terrible with the Audley A3, I'll have to revisit that machine. I had to adjust something literally everyday. It used the basic bolt/spring tensioners for the film. 95 12" X 24" (29 meters) an hour is insane for a dual head 400 nozzle per channel printer, if it comes out looking good. 18 meters is still very good. Makes me wonder what you could get out of a 4 head machine. I think it makes sense to me now why the print speeds vary so much even though it's based on the same technology. As you say, The build quality and how perfect/firm you get your settings will determine the speed it will print. If your not exact with your alignments and settings, 6 pass will probably hide that. Then a higher eclosion would aid further in that especially for a beginner giving off a good quality transfer. If the person were persistent, they can achieve up to your stated speeds given they have the patience and the machine can hold it's alignment well. so things to consider when comparing 2 i3200 machine speeds: 1. how fast the head pass is, the physical carriage speed. 2. the 4-6-8 pass setting, for the resolution. 3. The eclosion setting ( which is the part I was missing before you started talking to me about it). 4. The printhead specs/type. 5. RIP To be conservative and to help beginners or if the machine build quality isn't "perfect" you would advertise a slower speed to meet expectations. An "advanced" user can likely take that same machine and do much more as you say. So the 6 pass/higher eclosion settings allows beginners to have a functioning setup without being a master at it and sets their expectations. Advertising such a high speed compared to " real world" beginners would just result in a ton of complaints with how tedious it would be to get it right would likely cause huge problems. If a manufacturer doesn't support 4 pass, one could assume the machine isn't capable of maintaining that setting for an extended period of time or they don't want to assist in getting the nozzles/settings/alignments perfect, so 6 pass is used. Sorry, thinking out loud as to why I am seeing ranges from 23 12" X 24" an hour up to 95 12" X 24" an hour on the same printhead/mainboard combo. It all makes sense. In your opinion, what machine brand(s) do you believe would offer a good build quality and actually have manufacturer support if you don't mind me asking?

So printing at 4 pass, your eclosion setting changes the print speed from 98 12" X 24" an hour to 59 12" X 24" an hour on the next "better quality" setting? I would be perfectly fine with that being the fastest speed if the quality was as good as or better than one of these slow machines. From your video, it looks achievable. It seems like the slower the print speed the more room for error when tuning the printer. Do you encounter having to readjust the settings often on the machine? the alignments and all that? The Audley A3 had to have some form of realignment daily.

So you have 4-6-8 pass printing which coincides with the feed resolution making up those three resolutions. Makes sense. 4 pass resolution seems like it would be perfectly fine in that aspect. I don't believe I understand Eclosion setting though. Per your reference, this slows/speeds up the prints in cadlink with Epson machines. It makes the printhead pass print width smaller/larger. If none is selected it prints all at once color and white. If fastest setting is chosen, it prints larger " ink lines" in one pass. The slower, the smaller this print line/feed rate. so say a 1" X 1" image is printed, it will take 4 head passes to fully print the fastest. If I make it the slowest, it's something like 12 with the same print quality selected. I have no idea what or why this does this, as it also seems like a quality setting. I do not understand it's function and is likely why I have issues understanding print speed. It almost seems like Eclosion is the quality, but then what is the pass/resolution? I agree entirely, It's not on the components necessarily, rather the design. That is why I haven't purchased one. I have had only the experience with the Audley A3 machine. The small 13" machine. The Epson P5000 prints much faster than this machine, with much less hassle. The difficulty of the machines settings, keeping those settings, an overall issues has given me a bad vibe about it. That's my problem, I cannot for the life of me find any supplier willing to put in any effort or explanation on their machine. I have reached out to DTFsuperstore multiple times with questions, several unanswered and some vague alongside tons of other Chinese suppliers. Anytime I get that salesman vibe over answering questions or anything related to actual information, I walk away. In the end I am just trying to find how real world print speeds, quality, and overall support on a 24" chinese machine. Because at the end of the day I want to have the tools and device needed so I can form my skills around the device and get actual use from it, not another paperweight. I want to buy a 24" machine, dual head I3200, just still haven't figured it out yet because I only have one " go" at it.

It's just confusing for me because here it shows they only do 30 10" x 10" an hour at 6 pass: https://dtfsuperstore.com/collections/dtf-printers/products/mongoose-24-dtf-printer-only-basic-package Does 6 pass really slow the machine down that much?

Thank you for that @anum11, I greatly appreciate it. I would imagine that would have to be perfectly tuned as you say. Have you ever ran this at 6 pass? What kind of speed do you get from it in that mode if you know? Right now I am at like 4.57 M/h with the quality similar to 6 pass so that's an insane increase, likely even at 6 pass that would be worth it which would probably be easier to tune an keep tuned.

That's like 18 inches a minute X the printer width or 1.5 24" X 12" prints a minute if the machine is a 24" machine. That's insanely fast. Are you certain that is correct? @anum11 I haven't really been able to get a direct answer on this. The 360 nozzle Epson does 15 24" X 12" an hour for an example. That would be 6.4 times faster and well worth the extra effort if remotely accurate. If so, That is probably 4 pass quality correct or is that 6 pass?

So that’s like 98 12”x24” prints an hour from a dual head Chinese machine?

Care to share how many 12”x24” you can produce in an hour? it’s the type of adhesive you use and how much sticks to the transfer. Getting the white ink layer just right, along with the preheater and duster/slapper settings. It’s a combination of those things that determine the adhesive layer thickness. After that, it’s on the adhesive you use.

Sorry, I’ve never used that model

Yeah, that’s crazy. I bought one conversion, it was an R2400 about 2 years ago. Not one successful print it was so riddled with problems. I’ve been doing this since the DTG days so I know Epson, and I know what works. I considered the XL2, a true Chinese machine and not a conversion. But the print speeds are so inflated and not really described. One video said that machine can do 100+ an hour. the P5000 does 21+ an hour in the fastest mode in Cadlink. There are more advanced settings available in Cadlink, you may need to enable “ advanced” settings to see them. Resolutions, ICC profiles, all kinds of stuff. if you haven’t dedicated yourself to a RIP, I would consider Acro or something other than Cadlink, I’ve been selling transfers for over a year now and can’t just swap around, people get angry. Cadlink has more grain to it than other rips at the same settings. It prints great colors, but on the lighter colors isn’t as solid as I’d like.

You can do multiple resolutions in the printer settings menu in cadlink. I think up up 1440x2880. The “speed” setting is also important to consider. Just leave it at 1440x720 and bump it to production instead of “ fastest”. It’s basically 1440x1440. it is a good machine, my problem is the speed. Are the Chinese machines faster?

Hopefully it does. They’ve been good. I learn something new all the time so don’t beat yourself up if you break something. I do it all the time, it’s how I learn.

You can change the ink order. Cadlink only allows you to use 8 channels for this driver. CMYKWWWWXX. Two channels are disabled. You choose which two. You can do 6 white, or 4. I did 4 originally and used cleaner for the other two. me personally I did the left side white and right side cmyk. You use a cleaner cart in the matte black. Acro also allows you to set up the ink channels, some other rips do not so I would make sure to commit before having to flush if you decide to change the rip to one that doesn’t support changing the link channels. the original drivers in my side are setup as OEM for CMYK to be CMYK for DTF. The “light” inks are white and Orange/green. Which, of course that can be changed. Cadlink doesn’t allow you to turn off 3 channels, or 4. It’s kinda weird actually. I can run the P5000 on two white channels, they just don’t let you disable them.

It's just a preference type of thing. You can do either. Me myself, I wouldn't want a set filled with cleaner for this machine so I would flush the OEM with the DTF straight away. The previous times I flushed with cleaner then aftermarket inks it was generally just a waste of time. You can do a ink flush in the admin menu on the printer. 1-2 of those will flush out all of the OEM ink and done if you load the DTF ink directly. Some people swear by flushing the OEM ink first, or the other way around. Either way hasn't shown any ill effect for me. For the P5000 specifically, all of mine have been new. For other models, I just went straight to the ink I wanted to use. I didn't want the extra carts wear and tear on the cap pump or the printhead. Yes, I have done it before, I just found it unnecessary.

Hi, The OEM ink system in the P5000 seems to clog/fail from the white ink sediment after about 3 months. It can be flushed out, but will need done monthly after that or else you'll run into constant issues. If you don't and you suck the white ink sludge into the printhead from the damper- that's when it gets really expensive to fix. You also need to consider the white ink needs mixed and circulated, if not, that's quite a bit of waste every time you go to use the machine and build up in the damper. Dampers usually get filled with the white ink pigment after 2-3 months as well. All in all, it's a learning experience and you'll make mistakes. Your question is preference based, so technically you could do either or. Other than that, it works well. That's my experience with the P5000 anyway.

Very nice, I bet that took some time to complete. Great job on this.

Here is the same brand SSR, not that it matters but it's there: https://www.amazon.com/MYSWEETY-SSR-40DA-Single-Semi-Conductor-24-380V/dp/B073B4R4LS/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3DBY84ZZPKGW8&keywords=SSR&qid=1687873782&sprefix=ssr%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-4 If you read some of the more serious reviews, it doesn't look like these are good quality. The first link I sent, I've used several times and work well.

The relay on the bottom is for your take-up roller. The relay on the top/right is for the heater bulbs. There is a red light on both of them. The red light indicates it's receiving a signal and that everything else is working when powered on. If no power is going to the bulbs, and bulbs appear intact and the wire inside appears solid and that relay's red light is on when powered on, then it's likely the relay. I can't tell from the photo, but does the top/right relay say 15A? Replacement can be bigger. Usually I do 40A, doesn't hurt anything and doesn't strain the relay. This is the maximum ampacity that can flow through the relay before failure. Chinese stuff, that rating is usually overexaggerated. Doing 40A ensures it's far away from it's maximum limit which usually extends service life. Here is a link for a replacement: https://www.amazon.com/SSR-40DA-3-32VDC-Output-24-480VAC-Plastic/dp/B08GPB7N2T/ref=sxts_rp_s_a_1_0?content-id=amzn1.sym.3432eb1a-1558-4445-9430-9bb3e7f7b9b7%3Aamzn1.sym.3432eb1a-1558-4445-9430-9bb3e7f7b9b7&crid=3DBY84ZZPKGW8&cv_ct_cx=SSR&keywords=SSR&pd_rd_i=B08GPB7N2T&pd_rd_r=7b082041-d4dd-48ba-acc7-d5b2a07712b2&pd_rd_w=3KGAX&pd_rd_wg=pis09&pf_rd_p=3432eb1a-1558-4445-9430-9bb3e7f7b9b7&pf_rd_r=J99NR27A6B1DJDB4QZQA&qid=1687872519&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=ssr%2Caps%2C219&sr=1-1-5985efba-8948-4f09-9122-d605505c9d1e You can easily test if relay is bad, but I do not know your skill level and it can be dangerous. These relays fail often, usually in the "on" position but not always. The way these are wired is with 2 hot wires if it's a 220V device. One wire is connected to power continuously on the other side of the bulbs, which you don't see here. The relay breaks the other side( the two wires in the top) to turn them on/off. This is how it normally works with something like a household light switch as well except with a neutral instead of a hot. One wire in the top of the relay is ALWAYS on when plugged in. The other wire goes to the bulbs. On the relay on top, the white wire on the right, that's to the bulbs. The red wire on the left on the top, is the other hot for the bulbs. BOTH wires can hurt you when plugged in. Without a return path(neutral for 120V systems) or the oscillation of the other 120V hot leg, it won't work, so if the relay has failed there is no path for the other side of the bulbs power to cause them to work. With that said, if you have a 120V/220V voltmeter you can test the relay output or use other " unsafe" methods to test the fuction bypassing the relay to test the other components of the unit to know if the relay is bad. You could also just replace the relay, as that is likely the problem if you are using the proper input power source for the shaker.

Unplug the machine, take off the silver cover with buttons and send a photo of that inside.

Do you have a photo?