JTS

I just watched closely as it printed. The colored ink looks like it prints transparent and the black and white more solid. Is that the way it's supposed to be? I'm guessing the white is what make the transparent colored ink opaque. Either that, or my colored ink isn't too thin...

I thought the white underbase was a must for DTF...? I must have misunderstood. Every tutorial I've seen has them printing white underbase Also all the transfers I've purchased have had white underbase. I print on a lot of black shirts, so I guess it can't hurt to have a white layer in between. How do you decide when to use a white underbase? I won't have the resetter until next week. I bought 2 aftermarket maint boxes just in case until I get the resetter. On my second maint box now. I'm hopping to get the curing figured out tonight. That's the only think keeping from getting back to selling shirts.

I pirnted without underbasing to see what the ink looked like along. 125% reg color wasn't too bad alone, but when underbase was added it was too much. Seemed to start mixing with the white. Here's a breakdown of my opinion, based on my current experience level. I always use white underbase. when making a transfer. What looks like too much ink: "White Underbase"\settings\"White Base Ink Color"\Density=125% "Ink Settings"\"Ink Densigy=125% Both set to Ink Level 1 or "White Underbase"\settings\"White Base Ink Color"\Density=125% "Ink Settings"\"Ink Densigy=100% Both set to Ink Level 1 or "White Underbase"\settings\"White Base Ink Color"\Density=100% "Ink Settings"\"Ink Densigy=125% Both set to Ink Level 1 What looks like just the right amount of ink: "White Underbase"\settings\"White Base Ink Color"\Density=100% "Ink Settings"\"Ink Densigy=100% Both set to Ink Level 1

The 125% was too much ink. Didn't cause any problems, but I could just tell it was too much. Both color and underwrite set to 100% seems to be the best settings. Going to experiment with lower and lower cure Temps till I find what works. This has to be an issue with too high of heat.

Printer: Epson XP-15000 RIP: EKPRINT INK: DTF SuperStore Film: A3 DTF SuperStore Powder: Medium DTF SuperStore (The good stuff, not the budget pack) Everything is going great on the print end. My prints look great. But when I cure them I get pitting in the colored ink only, not the white. If put it up to the light I see a billion tiny pinholes. After printing if I hold it up to the light, it's solid. I'm using a countertop oven to cure, set at 325. If I leave it in for 30 seconds or under, it doesn't cure enough but no pitting. Over 30 seconds to a minute, it cures good, but get pitting. I have the oven set to "Bake" which give heat from top and bottom and I'm placing the film directly on the rack, not using a pan. It also looks like the powder might be burning and it happens more to sections with large print areas. I also notice the print will easily come off the film. I feel I may be curing too hot, but from everything I read, the numbers I'm using are at or below what other are using. I'm running a test now with the graphic print area upped to 125% from 100%.

IMO, if you have some tech skills and are motivated, the XP-15000 is the way to go to get started. The "conversion" is the easy part. Everything else is where it gets interesting. You'll need all the supplies not matter which way you go, so may as well save on the printer itself. 3/4 of the money I spent is wrapped up in everything but the printer. So if you're starting with nothing, be prepared to spend around $1,200 minimum. Any less and you won't have everything you need. I can tell you first hand the XP-15000 works for DTF. How well compared to other printers, I can't say. I can say, I'm happy I spend less than half the $ I originally thought I would to be up and running with all the supplies I need to print hundreds of transfers. To be honest, I'm really not done spending money. I still would like to have a legit curing machine. But I can do what I need to with what I now have to make my money back, then invest more if I want to. You just need to take the leap, have some fun and go into it knowing you'll have some bumps in the road. There were a few days I was kinda panicking (Johnson4 can vouch for that). But I stuck with it, asked questions and researched. This forum and YouTube are your friend.

Time for a followup on this post. Man, amazing what you what you can learn in 2 weeks... At this point I have the XP-15000 printing transfers from end to end. I'm still working out my settings for consistent powder melt, but that has nothing to do with the printer. The only modifications I've made to the printer is removing the 2 screws that hold the roller bracket in place and removing the roller bracket, installing the chipless firmware, and making a tray out of Dollar Tree Foam to keep the film close to the height it's being printed at so the film won't lift when it close to the end of the page (you'll know what I mean if you convert this printer and use sheets instead of rolls). Knowing what I know now, I could convert this printer in under 30 minutes. If I had all the needed supplies, ink, film, power, blah blah blah (which I do now), I could convert this printer and be up and printing transfers in under an hour. I received plenty of help from this forum when I ran into a few problems, mainly with EKPRINT settings. I won't mention any names, since I don't want to be responsible for them getting bombarded with messages. If any of them read this and they can volunteer their services themselves. I know there is much more in store, since I'm new to DTF, but I'm not new to tech, hardware, digital art (mostly illustrator) and working with new hardware modifications. From my experience, the hard part is over, fear of the unknown. This printer prints transfers as good, if not better than, the transfers I've purchased. I'm not saying it's better or worse than any other DTF printer, since I have no bar of comparison, but I will say that I'm pretty picky about the quality of t-shirts I sell, and I'm very happy with the results I'm getting. I no longer have to worry about buying from someone who just wants to make $ and doesn't really care about quality (The reds in my transfers are actually the same color red as my art now!). I'm 100% certain I'll run into plenty of bumps in the road since this seems to be a newer printer in the DTF scene and I'm also new to the DTF scene, but as far as getting the XP-15000 up and printer transfers, it's not tough at all. Even without help from this forum, a tech savvy resourceful person shouldn't have too much trouble. I you start out with absolutely nothing but a heat press, like me (well I do have a workshop and a lot of tools and supplies in general) you can get in the game with this printer for under $1,500. That may seem like a lot, but that's EVERYTHING you will need: Printer, RIP software, ink, film, powder, extra maint boxes, maint box resetter, multiple sets empty ink carts, print head cleaner, little sponge tip cleaner thingys, syringes, needles and a few other weird things you prob thought you wouldn't need... You'll make that money back making transfers for yourself if you run a brand or or sell custom tees using transfers. If you already have a print business, this is really low risk to see if you want to get into the DTF side of the biz. And if you're a hobbyist that kind of does a little of both, like me, it's a nice thing to have around that should easily pay for itself, and if it doesn't, it's worth the learning experience. Hope this helps. I'm more than happy to answer any questions, since others were happy to answer mine.

Thanks!

Thanks. I did think it detected the actual waste build up. MicahG, where did you see a resetter for $25? Cheapest I could find was $49, unless some that are not tagged as XP-15000 compatible will work.

Can I just mod the printer to drain to an external tank so it never fills? And if it never fills it will never trigger the chip to replace the tank?

I'm a bit new to the scene. What exactly does this mean?

Will I need any kind of syringe kit to fill the empty carts? Or does the ink come with everything I need to refill? I purchased the 250ml inks from Andy.

Ya, I originally downloaded the firmware on the front page, them made the mistake of following the instructions... I understand it's not going to print DTF pretty slow, but in terms of printing pictures as a regular printer, it's fast, even at high res.

On a side note, this thing prints full page pics in about 6 seconds.

Okay. I think I'm back in business. The chipless firmware site I used (https://chiplesssolutions.com/) had the correct firmware on the main page, but also had a link to a different version on the instructions page. I assumed the instruction page was the most recent, but I was wrong. I used the firmware from the main page and it's printing fine. I didn't do an extensive testing, but it would F-up pretty quick with the other firmware. It also never prompted for auto tray close when powering off with the other firmware and now it's prompting all the bells and whistles. Also before I ran the activation code, it showed the carts at half full (I was printing full page pics). After running activation code and rebooting, it shows full carts. Now on to ordering empties, ink, film and powder. Almost there. Oh, and I did download the EKPRINT demo.

After doing some tests, look like it has something to do with the chipless firmware. If I install the original Epson firmware it works fine.

I think got a bad printer... I bought brand new, so not an issue with it being used. I keep getting, "The print head may require maintenance because the printer was not turned off correctly. It is recommended to perform a print head nozzle check before printing. To turn off printer be sure to press the @ button." If I try to run any maintenance tests, the print head just moves up and down a couple times then the screen says, "Turn on printer again, see your documentation for more details." Don't see anything in documentation that addresses this behavior. It's been doing this since I set it up. For a short while it actually worked correctly. The I printed a full page picture. The very last corner of the picture was all messed up and it went to the "Turn off printer error again." It printed 99% of the picture perfect and crashed at the end. Now it's back in the printer head/power on loop. Guess I'll be taking it back tomorrow. Sucks cause I think it was the last one....

Have the XP-15000 at the house now Setting up so I can flash the firmware for chipless. Once that's done going to do some print tests just to make sure it's working correctly out of the box. Once that's done I'll do whatever conversion steps I can do until I get the rest of the supplies.

@johnson4 How do you like the quality of the XP-15000? What ink do you recommend. I'm going to be doing a lot of knockout black with tight lines. Will the granular size of the powder matter? I don't want any edge overflow.

The empty cart swap seems like the way to go. There's gonna be times I prob won't print for a while so the clean and store method is perfect. Glad I joined this forum. I figured I'd be researching the printer side for another day or so. Now on to what ink, film and powder...

johnson4, you must have posted at the same time I did. Thanks you, sir! You filled in the grey area! I grabbed the chipless firmware earlier today. Once I have it installed I'll buy activation code, unless there's a free version I missed. Will scrap the CISS idea. Just thought that would be the way to go. Is there any US based companies that sell the empties at reasonable price? I don't want to wait weeks for aliexpress.

uhim, tanks for the input! Yes, I did take that into account and from my investigation, EKPRINT supports the XP-15000, so that does not look to be a problem. My concerns still lie with the other questions in my original post. Hopefully I can get some guidance on those points as well. I've worked on projects like this before and going in blind always ends up spending money when I don't need to.

Hello, all! New to the forum and had some questions... I'm purchasing an Epson XP-15000 and I've pieced together the basics of what I need to do to get up and running. somewhere during my travels on the internet I read that the XP-15000 has issues moving certain transfer films through the printer. Can anyone verify this? If this is true, is there a recommended transfer film to use with the XP-15000? Looking for a CISS kit as well. Found one for around $150. Seems a bit high, but to be honest, I couldn't find much for the XP-15000 and I really don't know what the going rate is for these kits. It's also shipping from the US, which is a plus since the other kits I found were out of country. Was wondering if any of the universal kits on Amazon would work. Any recommendations for CISS kit? And one last thing. As I mentioned, I've kind of pieced together what I need to do from YouTube and other forums. I was wondering if there's a detailed or dare I say, "complete", DTF conversion guide for Epson XP-15000?