DTF automatic shaker/cure build.

[johnson4]

So, I’m absolutely blown away that not only did it work, it worked so well We might be switching over 50% of our business over to it. The powder feels non existent. The print, contains so much color and details normally lost, very vibrant. Definitely better than doing it by hand. My take up roller worked perfectly, the shaker worked fantastic. My only issue was my printer wasn’t Chipless and ran out of “ ink”.

 

the samples it made, we’re comparable to retail store prints. No it’s not the softest, but compared to everything available, it’s right there with it.

 

bonkers that I made most of this with repurposed materials. Imagine how well it would work with a “proper” system. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by johnson4

[elliotiscool]

That's awesome! Can you show a video of all of it running?

[johnson4]

23 minutes ago, elliotiscool said:

That's awesome! Can you show a video of all of it running?

Thanks! I was shocked myself.

 I actually didn’t take a video unfortunately. The printer not being Chipless cut me short. I was able to print 12-14 consecutive prints before it caught me off guard and I had to cut the film due to the chips not resetting.  I’ve since made it Chipless, and will do a long run and see how that goes.

Edited February 9, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

That tiny white line on the side is from the underbase settings. I hadn’t printed with this printer in like 2 months now, so I just guessed. I’ll catch a video next time. 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

Edited February 9, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

So the changes I'm going to make:

Add a permanent extension on the roll feeder, basically like a piece of  film or teflon that I can run through the unit and connect to the film coming out of the printer to prevent waste. That way, from start to finish it will have a full pull/powder. IT sucked trying to get those first few prints through everything correctly. 

Add a temperature controller/hood to the flash dryer. The ink cured in under 2 minutes( more like as soon as it touched the hot platen), yet would be under the heater for roughly 5 minutes ( it prints 2" a minute and its 15" wide). The platen was at roughly 500 Degrees, and didn't have any ill effects, but cured it insanely fast without any issue.

 

Once that's done, I'm going to try and put the entire unit ( modified further of course) onto a cart. Printer on top, dropping into the shaker on the 2nd level( bottom) of the cart. Adding a roller so it can go from the shaker level straight over to the cure unit onto the take up roller. This way it will be a compact, 2' by 4' cart. 

I'm also going to try and make a corkscrew style powder loader. Basically, it will run across the bottom of the shaker, spiraling into another vertical spiral going up the side which is then pushed over the film, so it auto-recycles the powder that falls out onto the film- essentially reloading it. 

I'm going to try ( try is the key word here) add some alarms and stops if something happens. I can control the temperature controller with an Arduino for the flash dryer, and the power for the shaker/roller individually. so if something were to go wrong, I.E Over temp, over tension, printer stops printing etc, It would shut off the whole unit and sound an alarm.

 

Other than that, I should be in this less than $150, and I can still use the flash dryer for my screen press. 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by johnson4

[Jpop2110]

Well sign me up to buy one from ya when you mass produce them!  😜

[elliotiscool]

Thanks for the update. How are you keeping your film flat as it goes under the printhead? Is it downward tension from your diy roller?

[johnson4]

9 minutes ago, elliotiscool said:

Thanks for the update. How are you keeping your film flat as it goes under the printhead? Is it downward tension from your diy roller?

I just use the tray built into the printer mixed with the film being pulled down. I've noticed it'll hit the head easier if it hasn't printed a decent length yet, like the first print out will be the most susceptible to  do it. That'll be removed though when I add the blank film to the take up roller that connects to the output as it prints. at current, I just don't see any other way to do it without wasting a crap ton of film, or waiting for it to print and manually feeding it, risking a messed up print from touching something, improper powder etc. 

I just updated EK to have the mirror option, so I can actually just print some stuff that I sell, So I'll be doing a 30 print run tomorrow hopefully, see how that goes. Yea, I know I could have done that with the design program, but, with over 2,000 files, I wasn't trying to start something i couldn't finish

[johnson4]

I had assumed part of the " curl" was due to the roll of film. After it's printed the first bit, maybe 12 inches of film sticking out it hasn't had a head strike yet.  The downward pull is from the powder sitting in the film below the printer. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

So, I’m probably going to take this design and build up from it, since I understand the concept and it works. 
 

this build used mainly repurposed materials. I’ve always done things like that( I like making stuff) and not care about the aesthetics, I’m not a perfectionist and always want to try and utilize what I already have. 
 

 

With that said, Since I’m taking it serious this time, I’ll do a few things differently to make a better, almost as cheap end result. 
 

I will make a list of materials, cost, and where I obtained them. I will also make very specific instructions, with photos. Any code or “ self made” designs I may make can be shared. I of course would also be here to help. 
 

 

basically, it would be a tutorial, including everything but materials to make the same thing at home with some possible substitutions for places that can’t obtain specific things. Aside from the printer etc, I’d like to keep the unit under $300, and at a level that anyone could make it if they wanted. So In essence, a $300 Auto DTF machine, minus the printer and accessories.
 

is that something anyone would be interested in? 

Edited February 14, 2021 by johnson4

[reptilesink]

I'm going to have to start playing with some ideas myself as I have plenty of printers now and growing weekly so its time to pull my finger out.

So far there's 2x R3000, 3800, p600, p800, 3x L1800, 4x L805.

I have ideas for similar to yours but keeping it as small as possible.

Presumably some things would need lengthening depending on the printer as the L1800 is popular but very slow so a short run between the printer, powder and curing would be possible but for faster printers a longer run would be required so it has a larger heating area to make sure its done before leaving the heating area.

Do you know if it makes any difference if cured from above or below?

[johnson4]

57 minutes ago, reptilesink said:

I'm going to have to start playing with some ideas myself as I have plenty of printers now and growing weekly so its time to pull my finger out.

So far there's 2x R3000, 3800, p600, p800, 3x L1800, 4x L805.

I have ideas for similar to yours but keeping it as small as possible.

Presumably some things would need lengthening depending on the printer as the L1800 is popular but very slow so a short run between the printer, powder and curing would be possible but for faster printers a longer run would be required so it has a larger heating area to make sure its done before leaving the heating area.

Do you know if it makes any difference if cured from above or below?

I’m pretty sure curing below cured the ink first, then the powder. The way I have mine there is a thick aluminum on one side, element on the other. Basically it heats up the aluminum and heats from both sides since it radiates. The people that only cure from the powder side mention bubbles in the prints face. 
 

I went with that as well, small as possible anyway. The temperature is what’s going to make that time to cure. This reaches upwards of 800F ( not the position of cure, but at the source) and is cured almost immediately at 6” away. 
 

the redesign will hopefully put it all in one 2x4’ cart. Something you might want to be aware of, you need some sort of hood, depending on how much you print it can produce fumes if you run it hot. I didn’t think about it initially. A small airflow would suffice if you find it necessary. 
 

I will be working on the new design until it’s finished, hopefully it won’t take long. As always, I welcome your ideas as well

Edited February 15, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

I took a 3”x4” cart and attached a printer, shaker, the powder thing you see, roller and a hot plate to make an auto dtf machine. So far it’s working well,  just gotta fine tune things to make it almost fully automatic. My main issues are the last transfers printed, so I’m going to add a following blank sheet length just like in the beginning. That and some way to easily recollect the powder, OR some way to prevent the film from lifting up from the bottom of that powder pan, so the powder stays in the roll of the film indefinitely. Still deciding on that. 

 

It has a vent, to suck fumes out, which are directed to an output port, that also doubles as a “ pre-heater” to slightly remove moisture from the ink from the printed film before hitting the powder, which is the excess heat from the curing portion “ rolling” up the printed portion of the film.  I have an extra 4” fan from my laser cutter to save space, so I’ll be using that and a laser cut hood for the fumes. 
 

just for reference, 350-375 degrees easily cured the ink as it printed. 
 

i have a few variations of code for the take up roller, a timed version adjustable by a Pot, and I am also working on one that reads the encoder from the printer and duplicates that once it hits 1” printed, it will take up 1”. That way, if it stops printing, or something happens it all just stops, since it follows the printer. The best part, it’s completely portable, and only takes up 3’x4’ of space, runs on one standard 15A outlet. 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

9 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I took a 3”x4” cart and attached a printer, shaker, the powder thing you see, roller and a hot plate to make an auto dtf machine. So far it’s working well,  just gotta fine tune things to make it almost fully automatic. My main issues are the last transfers printed, so I’m going to add a following blank sheet length just like in the beginning. That and some way to easily recollect the powder, OR some way to prevent the film from lifting up from the bottom of that powder pan, so the powder stays in the roll of the film indefinitely. Still deciding on that. 

 

It has a vent, to suck fumes out, which are directed to an output port, that also doubles as a “ pre-heater” to slightly remove moisture from the ink from the printed film before hitting the powder, which is the excess heat from the curing portion “ rolling” up the printed portion of the film.  I have an extra 4” fan from my laser cutter to save space, so I’ll be using that and a laser cut hood for the fumes. 
 

just for reference, 350-375 degrees easily cured the ink as it printed. 
 

i have a few variations of code for the take up roller, a timed version adjustable by a Pot, and I am also working on one that reads the encoder from the printer and duplicates that once it hits 1” printed, it will take up 1”. That way, if it stops printing, or something happens it all just stops, since it follows the printer. The best part, it’s completely portable, and only takes up 3’x4’ of space, runs on one standard 15A outlet. 

 

Sorry, 2'X3' cart, not 3x4. 

[johnson4]

[johnson4]

[johnson4]

“Proto type #2” updates, seems to be working good. 

[johnson4]

About halfway done, or 3/4 of the way done if I don’t consider cosmetics an object. It will give me a great idea on what to expect on a more professional unit, for under $700 including the $500 printer, excluding films and supplies. Quite a bit of repurposed and self made parts went into it, as you can tell, lol.

Edited March 16, 2021 by johnson4

[uhim]

In your photos, I realized that you manually pour the powder onto the film yourself? And one more question what kind of engine is over the stove! Does it draw or force air into the stove?

[johnson4]

55 minutes ago, uhim said:

In your photos, I realized that you manually pour the powder onto the film yourself? And one more question what kind of engine is over the stove! Does it draw or force air into the stove?

At current, I have a design in mind that will work fine I’m certain for the powder hopper, so it’s my final “ to do”. If you get the shaker speed just right though, one “ powdering” can last a good 10-15 minutes of printing. 

that would just be the fan to suck away the fumes/heat.

the curing portion is just an upside down heat press. Works fantastic. The take up roller and the film coming out of the shaker box are at a specific angle to pull the film down on both sides of the press, so it’s running flat across it. It actually can get too hot, but I’ve got the temperature down. The cart itself acts like a hood, and keeps it hot in that side, and also vents the smoke from the same cutout that the film goes in, another perk, it’s like a “ pre heater” with that warm air coming out of that hole that the wet film goes down in. 

The entire unit runs about 1500W in total, with a UPS for all but the heat press. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

So, I’m able to get about 70 normal sized prints on 3/4 of the ink carts ( about 15ML each, leaving 3-4ml left each). That’s mixed of course, about 30-35 cmyk only prints, or 30-35 white only. Combined around 70. I’ve done this twice today, swapping the carts mid print is pretty easy to do. I need to dump powder in it about 6 times an hour, until the “hopper” is finished printing, then I’ll give that a go.

I ran into a bum roll of film, other than that it’s been working great and definitely pushing me towards a larger unit. 

Edited March 22, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

Forgot to say It does 35ish prints an hour of cmyk, or white. Combined ( cmyk+w) is running at about 20 an hour, 11.5” wide by generally 10”-16” tall. 

Edited March 22, 2021 by johnson4

[Jpop2110]

So when ya gonna start making them for us?!  😂

[johnson4]

51 minutes ago, Jpop2110 said:

So when ya gonna start making them for us?!  😂

Lol, It's not bad, I just wish it printed a bit faster. It wouldn't take someone much to replicate it, or something like it. I always like to build things before I commit, I don't want to be that guy who drops 10-15K on something that turns out to be a bust. Hell, My Daily driver cost me $1500 5 years ago, if that puts it into perspective, lol. 

I'll post files/instructions whenever I'm finished though, if you are interested in building something like it, or any ideas from it.