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DTF automatic shaker/cure build.


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5 hours ago, Mr.Carter said:

Can you please explain about your powder shaking dusting mechanism 

It just takes the same basic principle as all the other ones, I made this before any of them were available, I started in January 2021 before the cheaper mini units were available. 

 

However, It's just a Metal rolling cart from Harbor Freight, 2 pieces of sheet metal ( you could use literally anything here, wood, acrylic, etc) for the "shaker". It utilizes 2 rods repurposed from a parts Epson P800, from the paper feed mechanism. 4 flush mount pillow block bearings ( 8mm to match the rods). I did mine with three 3d printed "slapper" things per rod. 

As for the " fingers" I just 3D printed 6 fingers, two on each end, one in the middle, in an alternating fashion. You could also easily make a longer one or whatever you wanted, use a piece of rubber/silicone for the entire width with a 3D printed adapter, I mean, a ton of options here, It just needs to smack the film to knock excess powder off, it doesn't need to be the entire width of the film, at least not in my case. 

To power the shaker, I used two epson Paper feed motors ( from parts machines) alongside the OEM belt, and encoder assy since it was also 8mm and fit on the rods easily. They ran on 24V, hooked to a 24V controller for speed control.

I cut a 15" hole about 3" wide for the film to drop down from the printer into the shaker box from the top of the cart, and the shaker box exit side is slightly lower than the heat press platen, with the edges " rolled" over so it's smooth.

 

After that, I used two metal tubes, one smaller than the other with a bolt/nut flange, with a heatpress platen attached to it upside down. I used the metal tubes to find the right spot height wise, not necessary and could easily just be mounted upside down at a set length, it was here and ready to use so I used it. As for the Controller, I drilled a hole, used a rubber grommet and attached the heat press control box to the top of the cart. You could easily make your own with a SSR and a PID, but I opted to use the heat presses original components. 

 

So far, The cart, The shaker box and the curing portion have been explained. 

As for the take up roller, I used an adruino and tried a few different methods, in the end I went with a cheap distance sensor mounted from the bottom of the shaker box facing up in the middle where the film would go. It's set to the minimum, right in the bellow of the film where the powder will sit so it always works correctly since the film is transparent. The roller portion was created using a TB6000 knockoff, and a nema 17 stepper.  The rest of the takeup roller was 3d Printed, aside from a 8MM metal rod. I Made a " sleeve" that went around the 8mm rod, to make it about 2.5 inches in diameter, with a slit in the 3d printed part for the film to go in, imagine a circle, with a slit going from the outside to the center. I just push the film in until it gets stuck. I then 3D printed two gears, which one went on the motor, one went on the rod attached to the " spacer" things I printed. All of this is mounted on a "film holder" the gear side has a hole for the 8MM rod to slide in, which holds the gears perfectly in place, the other side slides down into a slot.

It's set to take up the film whenever the sensor is triggered, I also made an external button set to manually take-up or reverse when needed. One could easily do this with a simple relay instead of an adruino, but I wanted the take-up speed to be controlled and precise, since I wasn't certain which way I was going with it initially, it also has a variable speed, controlled by a POT connected to the Arduino. 

 

As for the paper roller on the P400, it's the same concept as the takeup roller, except just slides in to hold the film, which attached to the printer itself Via bolts. 

 

So, The only thing I never did was the powdering portion. The fan I made was to suck the fumes out of the slot where the film went in, because I wanted heat to "roll up" the film as it went down into the shaker sorta like a " pre cure". Well, this is the same spot the powder goes in. At the moment when I purchased a mini shaker, I was going to cut a hole above( in the top of the cart)  the heat press for a 4" flange and connect the fan there, and make a auto-powder system. a "controlled" amount that rotates and dumps " cups" of powder into the shaker. The "shaking" action itself evenly distributes the powder, so the idea was to time( it would also have a variable timer, since that changes with print speed) how much powder needed to go in to keep it covered and weighed down, as to maximize the usage. With the one's you buy, it just constantly puts powder in at a set speed, so if too much goes in it goes over the side into the recollection bin, unnecessarily making you need to fill the hopper more often. Manually, I added 1 cup every 5-12 minutes without the auto powdering dumper thing.

 

As for the powder recollection, Under the shaker box ( the bottom of the cart) I cut out two square holes about 4" long each, where the edges of the film are. This lets the powder fall straight out the holes. For the recollection bin, I used 2 aluminum L channels, Cut and bolted to the cart underside. I used a " turkey" pan that you can pick up a 3 pack for like $5 at any store. It holds about 10LBS of powder. The pan just slides on the rails, so you slide it in and out.

 

I used this machine everyday, and alongside the new mini shaker. It turned out great and worked very well, aside from the annoyance of running two completely different machines at the same time. I didn't have much cost, since most everything I had was repurposed, I didn't have to buy much. I did buy the $60 cart ( I think it was). the heat press had tens of thousands of presses, I paid $200 for it new and it was just didn't press evenly anymore, it has since been replaced and was just in the " scrape pile" which would be most of the cost for anyone building it. 

 

The concept is very simple, I have even been researching building my own printer. The amount of stuff out there is insane, pre-made carriages using a regular hiwinn rail system, custom capping stations and of course converters to use different heads with OEM Epson mainboards ( So I can stay with software I have been accustomed to). 

 

Anyway, Looking back at my production, both of those machines ( the one I made and a mini shaker, both with a P400 main unit) produced over 5,000 transfers, ( I ran 15 rolls of film through them in total after counting the rolls) in about a 3 month period, the majority of them were actually in a 30 day period, so they ran non-stop. 

 

The issues I have had, I never got the auto-powdering finished on the one I made( ran out of time, got hit with business), The mini shaker, well the curing portion is wonky sometimes. So, keeping an eye on both of those things sucked. Another SUCKY thing was that both, my cart, and the mini shaker HAVE NOTHING to keep the film on the roll straight. So, As time progressed they would start "going off center" and "take-up" crooked, which in turn led back to the printer( since one side of the film would be tighter than the other) and causing head strikes. So imagine taking TP and throwing it across the floor, and trying to roll it back up. If one side slides over slightly, it keeps going until one side of the film is tighter than the other, which eventually reaches the head causing a strike. While its not the end of the world and it keeps printing, it is a ruined print/film/ink and annoying to keep aligned for 14+ hours on two machines. When I have time, I will add ends to the rolls, ( think like a roll of wire) so the film is always held perfectly on the rolls, for both my cart and the mini shaker I bought. 

 

 As for the P400 engines, I went through several issues with those, mainly from overheating after printing non-stop for 14 hours. Adding fans, running long USB cables and amping up my Router fixed the majority of my issues. I used EKprint for all of them, printing each transfer manually, with a .5 inch gap between each " print" so I could cut them and press them. I did have the heat strike issues when the take-up rollers went crooked, so I had to keep an eye on all those functions, while also printing each individual design from Ekprint about 15 ft. away. Good news, once I was done " sending the print jobs" they would just do their thing While I pressed away with the already printed transfers, which I could keep a better eye on them. 

 

With time, I'll get all the bugs worked out, but FOR SURE, you could easily make your own shaker, even printer, with enough time and spare parts. But, for the time being, you could also buy a mini shaker and a 13" printer( like the p400) for about $2,000 combined with shipping if you do enough research.

 

Overall, An awesome experience and it has taught me in the "in's and out's" of the process pretty quickly!.

 

 

 

Edited by johnson4
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14 hours ago, johnson4 said:

It just takes the same basic principle as all the other ones, I made this before any of them were available, I started in January 2021 before the cheaper mini units were available. 

 

However, It's just a Metal rolling cart from Harbor Freight, 2 pieces of sheet metal ( you could use literally anything here, wood, acrylic, etc) for the "shaker". It utilizes 2 rods repurposed from a parts Epson P800, from the paper feed mechanism. 4 flush mount pillow block bearings ( 8mm to match the rods). I did mine with three 3d printed "slapper" things per rod. 

As for the " fingers" I just 3D printed 6 fingers, two on each end, one in the middle, in an alternating fashion. You could also easily make a longer one or whatever you wanted, use a piece of rubber/silicone for the entire width with a 3D printed adapter, I mean, a ton of options here, It just needs to smack the film to knock excess powder off, it doesn't need to be the entire width of the film, at least not in my case. 

To power the shaker, I used two epson Paper feed motors ( from parts machines) alongside the OEM belt, and encoder assy since it was also 8mm and fit on the rods easily. They ran on 24V, hooked to a 24V controller for speed control.

I cut a 15" hole about 3" wide for the film to drop down from the printer into the shaker box from the top of the cart, and the shaker box exit side is slightly lower than the heat press platen, with the edges " rolled" over so it's smooth.

 

After that, I used two metal tubes, one smaller than the other with a bolt/nut flange, with a heatpress platen attached to it upside down. I used the metal tubes to find the right spot height wise, not necessary and could easily just be mounted upside down at a set length, it was here and ready to use so I used it. As for the Controller, I drilled a hole, used a rubber grommet and attached the heat press control box to the top of the cart. You could easily make your own with a SSR and a PID, but I opted to use the heat presses original components. 

 

So far, The cart, The shaker box and the curing portion have been explained. 

As for the take up roller, I used an adruino and tried a few different methods, in the end I went with a cheap distance sensor mounted from the bottom of the shaker box facing up in the middle where the film would go. It's set to the minimum, right in the bellow of the film where the powder will sit so it always works correctly since the film is transparent. The roller portion was created using a TB6000 knockoff, and a nema 17 stepper.  The rest of the takeup roller was 3d Printed, aside from a 8MM metal rod. I Made a " sleeve" that went around the 8mm rod, to make it about 2.5 inches in diameter, with a slit in the 3d printed part for the film to go in, imagine a circle, with a slit going from the outside to the center. I just push the film in until it gets stuck. I then 3D printed two gears, which one went on the motor, one went on the rod attached to the " spacer" things I printed. All of this is mounted on a "film holder" the gear side has a hole for the 8MM rod to slide in, which holds the gears perfectly in place, the other side slides down into a slot.

It's set to take up the film whenever the sensor is triggered, I also made an external button set to manually take-up or reverse when needed. One could easily do this with a simple relay instead of an adruino, but I wanted the take-up speed to be controlled and precise, since I wasn't certain which way I was going with it initially, it also has a variable speed, controlled by a POT connected to the Arduino. 

 

As for the paper roller on the P400, it's the same concept as the takeup roller, except just slides in to hold the film, which attached to the printer itself Via bolts. 

 

So, The only thing I never did was the powdering portion. The fan I made was to suck the fumes out of the slot where the film went in, because I wanted heat to "roll up" the film as it went down into the shaker sorta like a " pre cure". Well, this is the same spot the powder goes in. At the moment when I purchased a mini shaker, I was going to cut a hole above( in the top of the cart)  the heat press for a 4" flange and connect the fan there, and make a auto-powder system. a "controlled" amount that rotates and dumps " cups" of powder into the shaker. The "shaking" action itself evenly distributes the powder, so the idea was to time( it would also have a variable timer, since that changes with print speed) how much powder needed to go in to keep it covered and weighed down, as to maximize the usage. With the one's you buy, it just constantly puts powder in at a set speed, so if too much goes in it goes over the side into the recollection bin, unnecessarily making you need to fill the hopper more often. Manually, I added 1 cup every 5-12 minutes without the auto powdering dumper thing.

 

As for the powder recollection, Under the shaker box ( the bottom of the cart) I cut out two square holes about 4" long each, where the edges of the film are. This lets the powder fall straight out the holes. For the recollection bin, I used 2 aluminum L channels, Cut and bolted to the cart underside. I used a " turkey" pan that you can pick up a 3 pack for like $5 at any store. It holds about 10LBS of powder. The pan just slides on the rails, so you slide it in and out.

 

I used this machine everyday, and alongside the new mini shaker. It turned out great and worked very well, aside from the annoyance of running two completely different machines at the same time. I didn't have much cost, since most everything I had was repurposed, I didn't have to buy much. I did buy the $60 cart ( I think it was). the heat press had tens of thousands of presses, I paid $200 for it new and it was just didn't press evenly anymore, it has since been replaced and was just in the " scrape pile" which would be most of the cost for anyone building it. 

 

The concept is very simple, I have even been researching building my own printer. The amount of stuff out there is insane, pre-made carriages using a regular hiwinn rail system, custom capping stations and of course converters to use different heads with OEM Epson mainboards ( So I can stay with software I have been accustomed to). 

 

Anyway, Looking back at my production, both of those machines ( the one I made and a mini shaker, both with a P400 main unit) produced over 5,000 transfers, ( I ran 15 rolls of film through them in total after counting the rolls) in about a 3 month period, the majority of them were actually in a 30 day period, so they ran non-stop. 

 

The issues I have had, I never got the auto-powdering finished on the one I made( ran out of time, got hit with business), The mini shaker, well the curing portion is wonky sometimes. So, keeping an eye on both of those things sucked. Another SUCKY thing was that both, my cart, and the mini shaker HAVE NOTHING to keep the film on the roll straight. So, As time progressed they would start "going off center" and "take-up" crooked, which in turn led back to the printer( since one side of the film would be tighter than the other) and causing head strikes. So imagine taking TP and throwing it across the floor, and trying to roll it back up. If one side slides over slightly, it keeps going until one side of the film is tighter than the other, which eventually reaches the head causing a strike. While its not the end of the world and it keeps printing, it is a ruined print/film/ink and annoying to keep aligned for 14+ hours on two machines. When I have time, I will add ends to the rolls, ( think like a roll of wire) so the film is always held perfectly on the rolls, for both my cart and the mini shaker I bought. 

 

 As for the P400 engines, I went through several issues with those, mainly from overheating after printing non-stop for 14 hours. Adding fans, running long USB cables and amping up my Router fixed the majority of my issues. I used EKprint for all of them, printing each transfer manually, with a .5 inch gap between each " print" so I could cut them and press them. I did have the heat strike issues when the take-up rollers went crooked, so I had to keep an eye on all those functions, while also printing each individual design from Ekprint about 15 ft. away. Good news, once I was done " sending the print jobs" they would just do their thing While I pressed away with the already printed transfers, which I could keep a better eye on them. 

 

With time, I'll get all the bugs worked out, but FOR SURE, you could easily make your own shaker, even printer, with enough time and spare parts. But, for the time being, you could also buy a mini shaker and a 13" printer( like the p400) for about $2,000 combined with shipping if you do enough research.

 

Overall, An awesome experience and it has taught me in the "in's and out's" of the process pretty quickly!.

 

 

 

Good information,  did you anytime ran into the problem with Powder stick on the film even after shaker is hitting the film with great force

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13 minutes ago, Mr.Carter said:

Good information,  did you anytime ran into the problem with Powder stick on the film even after shaker is hitting the film with great force

I have encountered it, but only when it's not " smacking" the film enough. Certain films release the powder easier than others. The Glossy finish films ( transfers turn out glossy) the powder basically just falls off with a flick. The Matte films I tried( finished prints are matte), The powder sticks to it a little more, so I need to turn up the " smacker" speed. 

 

If the powder is sticking around the design like a " halo" it's probably too much ink and the moisture is " wicking" away into the surrounding pre-treatment. This is why some machines have a pre-heater, So that the film/ink will dry out a bit and become" gelled" so the powder doesn't stick to it as much. 

The film also needs kept in a dry enviroment. If I have a roll open ( like I do now) and let it sit for a week or two in the humid area, it will stick to it pretty badly. The manufacturer says to dry it out before using it again, that it should be stored sealed and in a dry cool area. I have left my roll out intentional to see how bad it prints after 2 weeks in a 60%+ humid area, then put it into a vacuum chamber for a few hours to pull out the moisture and see if that helps. 

If you see little " cirlces" or "swirls" or maybe even " dots" on the film, it has been exposed to moisture too long and probably will give you a hard time. 

Edited by johnson4
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8 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

I have encountered it, but only when it's not " smacking" the film enough. Certain films release the powder easier than others. The Glossy finish films ( transfers turn out glossy) the powder basically just falls off with a flick. The Matte films I tried( finished prints are matte), The powder sticks to it a little more, so I need to turn up the " smacker" speed. 

 

If the powder is sticking around the design like a " halo" it's probably too much ink and the moisture is " wicking" away into the surrounding pre-treatment. This is why some machines have a pre-heater, So that the film/ink will dry out a bit and become" gelled" so the powder doesn't stick to it as much. 

The film also needs kept in a dry enviroment. If I have a roll open ( like I do now) and let it sit for a week or two in the humid area, it will stick to it pretty badly. The manufacturer says to dry it out before using it again, that it should be stored sealed and in a dry cool area. I have left my roll out intentional to see how bad it prints after 2 weeks in a 60%+ humid area, then put it into a vacuum chamber for a few hours to pull out the moisture and see if that helps. 

If you see little " cirlces" or "swirls" or maybe even " dots" on the film, it has been exposed to moisture too long and probably will give you a hard time. 

Mmm can you tell me what is the approximate rpm of your smack  

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21 minutes ago, Mr.Carter said:

Mmm can you tell me what is the approximate rpm of your smack  

I honestly have no clue. Imagine the stock Epson paper feed motor, attached to the encoder/rod as in a stock printer. Ran at 24V, I run it at about 70 percent of that. at least a few hundred RPM.

 

For the mini shaker I bought, It's on low usually. about 1/4 of the max speed, much slower than the one I made, But faster than all the Chinese videos. 

 

In general I don't think it's specific, I have to change the speeds from time to time depending on the film and how well the powder is coming off, but not so fast/hard that the ink falls off, or too much powder falls off since it can knock too much off too. If your making one, just give it a good variable. I watched a video awhile ago about some guy using a corded drill with tape on it, or some " rachet strap" material, so it's not insanely technical.

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16 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

I honestly have no clue. Imagine the stock Epson paper feed motor, attached to the encoder/rod as in a stock printer. Ran at 24V, I run it at about 70 percent of that. at least a few hundred RPM.

 

For the mini shaker I bought, It's on low usually. about 1/4 of the max speed, much slower than the one I made, But faster than all the Chinese videos. 

 

In general I don't think it's specific, I have to change the speeds from time to time depending on the film and how well the powder is coming off, but not so fast/hard that the ink falls off, or too much powder falls off since it can knock too much off too. If your making one, just give it a good variable. I watched a video awhile ago about some guy using a corded drill with tape on it, or some " rachet strap" material, so it's not insanely technical.

Thanks for help have a good day😊

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About one inch wide, length varies. I spaced them so the left one would hit, as it turned away the right one then the middle as the right one turned away. Repeat. 
 

the Chinese ones use a silicone sheet for a “ flapper” which would probably be easier/better. 

 

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2 hours ago, johnson4 said:

About one inch wide, length varies. I spaced them so the left one would hit, as it turned away the right one then the middle as the right one turned away. Repeat. 
 

the Chinese ones use a silicone sheet for a “ flapper” which would probably be easier/better. 

 

Hey Johnson...I got a couple quick questions about your shaker (the premade one)

First, does the take up reel pull the film? Or is it the printer pushing the film? The reason I ask is because if I get one of these, I may not want to wait for all of my prints to finish before I decide to start cutting them off the take up reel. I'm thinking of possibly just letting it print and letting it come out of the machine into a box or something instead of having it roll up, but I guess this depends if it's the reel controlling the whole thing or if it's just the printer.

My other question is on the last print of the batch, how does the film keep going through the shaker if the printer is done printing? 

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1 hour ago, Mdrake2016 said:

Hey Johnson...I got a couple quick questions about your shaker (the premade one)

First, does the take up reel pull the film? Or is it the printer pushing the film? The reason I ask is because if I get one of these, I may not want to wait for all of my prints to finish before I decide to start cutting them off the take up reel. I'm thinking of possibly just letting it print and letting it come out of the machine into a box or something instead of having it roll up, but I guess this depends if it's the reel controlling the whole thing or if it's just the printer.

My other question is on the last print of the batch, how does the film keep going through the shaker if the printer is done printing? 

Yea, These are very good questions that I didn't get answered either. It's questions like these and the " vague" ness that make me skeptical of buying anything.

However, Since I did buy it anyway, I can help :)

 

1. First, does the take up reel pull the film?

Yes it does. The printer needs to be at a good angle/slightly higher so it drops from the printer into the slot, the weight of the powder pulls it down into the shaker. Then the take-up reel pulls the film through the machine. The printer doesn't really do much but feed the machine.

2. The reason I ask is because if I get one of these, I may not want to wait for all of my prints to finish before I decide to start cutting them off the take up reel.

Not really a question, but no, you can't do this. Everything needs printed in advance. Let me tell you, it's MUCH faster to do it this way. If you decided to convert the machine to use some sort of pressure wheel to roll out the film, you'll need to make it longer since it will have had to cool before the " wheel" could safely touch the print side. 

I print everything in advance, wait till it it finishes, I "fashioned" a roller stand and just unroll/cut in reverse all at once. Keeps everything in order, and works well, takes about 10 minutes for 50 prints or "cuts". 

 

3. how does the film keep going through the shaker if the printer is done printing? 

This is where the "controls" on the one I made come in handy. I push a button to manually feed the cut film through the shaker. Generally, I think people waste this part of the film normally. I just extend the film from the printer right before the powdering, cut the film and manually feed it through the machine, and "pull it back" through the printer ( the unprinted portion). 

For the premade machine, same thing, except I turn the takeup roller wheel manually after it has reached a certain point. Every " roll  print"  session with the machine I bought, I waste around 24" of film in length, if not, I risk damaging the last two prints, but it's doable if your really careful. It's really meant for bulk printing. 

 

But, I understand what you are getting at, and I'll touch on this a bit.

What I did, I'm going with my two roller printers, So two p400's, two mini shakers, basically two " bulk print" stations. 

Then, to resolve what I'm going to call " the best of both worlds" I'm also going to have a printer WITHOUT the mini shaker, which also roll prints. EXCEPT, I manually cut each design after it's printed from the roll, so I don't deal with sheets, wasted film, or any of that crap or the mini shaker. So it's print from the roll, cut, manually powder, sit in the cure oven, do it again. When the 2nd one is done printing, the first one is done curing. ( again, an old upside down heat press, with a metal box around it). 

I've also kept a DTG machine so I can print one off's in the event something fails me. 

 

While it's probably possible to use a method to do it the way you want, it wouldn't be efficient, at least if your printing multiple things. If your not going to print more than 20-30 prints at a time, honestly the mini shaker is a waste of time if you don't ever plan reaching that point. If you want single prints on demand, the mini shaker isn't going to do that. having the best of both worlds, is to have both a mini shaker/roll printer, and then a standalone unit for single prints from a roll printer. 

I also want to point out, don't get the idea that you can use the mini shaker to cure sheets. It cannot. The way they heat, it will cause the film to curl ( since it's not in roll form with pulling on both sides) it curles up, hits the heating element and catches on fire basically. 

 

 

 

Edited by johnson4
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3 hours ago, johnson4 said:

While it's probably possible to use a method to do it the way you want, it wouldn't be efficient, at least if your printing multiple things. If your not going to print more than 20-30 prints at a time, honestly the mini shaker is a waste of time if you don't ever plan reaching that point. If you want single prints on demand, the mini shaker isn't going to do that. having the best of both worlds, is to have both a mini shaker/roll printer, and then a standalone unit for single prints from a roll printer. 

I also want to point out, don't get the idea that you can use the mini shaker to cure sheets. It cannot. The way they heat, it will cause the film to curl ( since it's not in roll form with pulling on both sides) it curles up, hits the heating element and catches on fire basically. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the explanation about all of this. I suspected pretty much everything you said but wanted to be sure.

I mean there is always work to be done but I feel like it would be more efficient if there's a way to get it to print into a pile instead of a roll so we can begin heat pressing immediately.

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9 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

Thanks for the explanation about all of this. I suspected pretty much everything you said but wanted to be sure.

I mean there is always work to be done but I feel like it would be more efficient if there's a way to get it to print into a pile instead of a roll so we can begin heat pressing immediately.

Yea, You could make something to do that I'm sure, I Doubt it'll ever be something you can buy though, at least from what I have found so far. 

Like I said, What I do is just print things in advance, and while I'm printing more I'm pressing the first batch, and that continues. Other than that and individual sheets, I don't really see a way around it. The machine has to have a decent amount of "pull" on the film or else the smacking/powder weight would just pull it right down and not work. 

You could modify a shaker, where you have a metal rod (x2) one with rubber rollers ( like pulled from an parts Epson printer) and have the film sandwich between them. Add 4X fans and leave around a 10-12 inch gap between the exit and the " sandwich" rollers so it has plenty of time to cool. Just run the DC motor ( maybe even the same one from a stock epson used for the paper feed) with a speed controller or gear reduction. 

with a 3D printer and a few days to tinker with it, it should be easily modified. This way, you could cut them and use them right away. it doesn't seem like it would be hard, and you could leave the OEM roller in place, and use whichever method seems the best way since it plugs in with a power plug, it would be easily swappable so you could do either method, just mount the fans out of the way. 

 

It's actually a pretty good idea, I might work on this myself since it would give me options. 

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1 hour ago, johnson4 said:

You could modify a shaker, where you have a metal rod (x2) one with rubber rollers ( like pulled from an parts Epson printer) and have the film sandwich between them. Add 4X fans and leave around a 10-12 inch gap between the exit and the " sandwich" rollers so it has plenty of time to cool. Just run the DC motor ( maybe even the same one from a stock epson used for the paper feed) with a speed controller or gear reduction. 

This would be great if the take-up reel can still be used, attaching it to the sandwich rollers. I like how the sensor works to trigger the take-up reel whenever the film gets close to it so it would be amazing to keep that mechanism working. I just unfortunately have no clue how this can realistically be done by ME. I'm sure you could do it but I'm beyond stupid when it comes to electrical stuff.

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24 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

This would be great if the take-up reel can still be used, attaching it to the sandwich rollers. I like how the sensor works to trigger the take-up reel whenever the film gets close to it so it would be amazing to keep that mechanism working. I just unfortunately have no clue how this can realistically be done by ME. I'm sure you could do it but I'm beyond stupid when it comes to electrical stuff.

I'm sure you could, Have to make mistakes to learn from them. I usually make things 3-4 times before getting it right-ish.

 

Well, the idea in my mind would be to leave it original, and make an add on "mechanism" that is removable, I'm certain I could use parts from a parts Epson printer to do it too. I'll check it out when I get the time. 

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12 hours ago, johnson4 said:

About one inch wide, length varies. I spaced them so the left one would hit, as it turned away the right one then the middle as the right one turned away. Repeat. 
 

the Chinese ones use a silicone sheet for a “ flapper” which would probably be easier/better. 

 

Well ok but i dont think that full size flapper will work perfectly it just pushes the film n we dont want that 

We want the whole force at single point 

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7 hours ago, Mr.Carter said:

Well ok but i dont think that full size flapper will work perfectly it just pushes the film n we dont want that 

We want the whole force at single point 

When it rotates fast enough and has weight on it from the powder, it doesn’t do that. 
 

the fingers worked well too, there isn’t an exactness to it, just enough to smack the film, but no so much it smacks the backside of the shaker box. 

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  • 1 month later...

Where it is at now, and yes that powder all over the top, is melted to it. The box addition you see is the powder solution I came up with. It drops half a cup of powder every 5 minutes, and can run for an hour between fills. I also moved the vent, so it doesn’t interfere with the powder and to keep the “oil” away. This one also has the white ink mixing/circulation system. 
 

crazy it’s all on one 2’x4’ cart and is still mobile. 

DBE758DD-08D0-438A-A9AA-3EADA6C9FDD3.jpeg

Edited by johnson4
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5 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

Where it is at now, and yes that powder all over the top, is melted to it. The box addition you see is the powder solution I came up with. It drops half a cup of powder every 5 minutes, and can run for an hour between fills. I also moved the vent, so it doesn’t interfere with the powder and to keep the “oil” away. 
 

crazy it’s all on one 2’x4’ cart and is still mobile. 

DBE758DD-08D0-438A-A9AA-3EADA6C9FDD3.jpeg

Wow great👏

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Right now I’m stuck with using Acrorip( PartnerRip) with this red printer because it’s based on the R2400, and EKprint is looking into an issue, Cadlink doesn’t support it. 
 

Aside from the extremely slow processing, it’s not that bad- just not as good as EKprint. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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