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DTF automatic shaker/cure build.


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1 hour ago, josualo said:

yo en acrorip uso para la r2400 cmyk 20% y white 30%

That’s pretty close to what I used. I’m using ek print right now- trying to figure out what’s going on with all the lines in my prints from any dx5 head aside from having perfect nozzle checks.

Edited by johnson4
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  • 6 months later...
On 7/4/2021 at 6:02 PM, 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!.

 

 

 

Thank you for all of your excellent information. I have a question, if you don't mind.  I am just about to give this a go and this is something that I don't understand.  I see that some instructional videos describe how important it is to keep the film absolutely flat as it comes out of the printer, so that the ink does not run. This is usually PET sheets, not a roll.  Then I see the roll printers with automated shakers and that film comes out of the printer and goes down vertically to be powdered and whacked with the shaker.  So how is the ink not just running all over the place when it's vertical?  What am I missing?  Is this a function of the type of ink and film?  Should I be looking for a specific brand that doesn't have the problem?  I think that some of the non-diy printers may have a heated bed under the film prior to powdering, but I didn't see diy-ers on this forum mention that this is needed.  Thanks for your help.

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8 hours ago, jmojo said:

Thank you for all of your excellent information. I have a question, if you don't mind.  I am just about to give this a go and this is something that I don't understand.  I see that some instructional videos describe how important it is to keep the film absolutely flat as it comes out of the printer, so that the ink does not run. This is usually PET sheets, not a roll.  Then I see the roll printers with automated shakers and that film comes out of the printer and goes down vertically to be powdered and whacked with the shaker.  So how is the ink not just running all over the place when it's vertical?  What am I missing?  Is this a function of the type of ink and film?  Should I be looking for a specific brand that doesn't have the problem?  I think that some of the non-diy printers may have a heated bed under the film prior to powdering, but I didn't see diy-ers on this forum mention that this is needed.  Thanks for your help.

not a problem. 
 

Freshly printed film can be held entirely vertical and not run. If you have ink running- your doing something very wrong. 
 

heated bed- not needed unless it’s really cold when your printing. 
 

the reason it needs to be absolutely flat out of the printer is to prevent head strikes usually. 
 

the cart I made, it came out of the printer and within 3-5 inches it went straight vertical for at least 10 minutes down and up before hitting the upside down heat press to cure it.
 

The best advice I can give- stop preparing  and watching others and “do it yourself”. That’s when you’ll really understand- as you face the problem. 

When you run into an issue, that’s when you stick with it and understand it better. 

 

these people you watch, most of them are for just that reason- so you watch. 

Edited by johnson4
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  • 9 months later...
10 hours ago, painted said:

Hi there i love what you builf maybe ive mist it but how did you made thus do you have some plans for it, because i also want to build one.

Greetings 

Rinaldo

It’s there somewhere in the post. 
 

it’s kind of outdated now but still worked well.
 

I am currently working on ( in my free time) a more proper/commercial style shaker. 
 

I am aiming to keep it at or under $1,000 total and making it modular in 13”, or 17”, or 24” configurations with various pre-heater options and things like film suction, cut sheet options, built in automatic extraction fan, options of standard dump/fill powder box or automatic recycling powder box( not with air). Just various things that I have encountered over the last 2 years that would be good for various setups. User upgradable as they grow. 
 

I am also only using readily available components so there isn’t any hard to find crap or replacement part issues. No proprietary stuff other than the sheet metal which I will include the DXF files for. 
 

i know I can’t spend $3,500-$6,000 on a fancy shaker, so I am going to replicate the outcome with a basic kit+ upgraded options to keep pricing more flexible and so it can be grown into. 
 

I'm pretty far into it, but still have a bit to go before it’s finalized. So far it’s a 120V unit with about a 1200W power requirement with the preheater. 
 

I am documenting it properly this time so I can share the build instructions/ part list.  The kit could also be purchased outright at a 30% markup with support when finished, or about $1,300. 
 

it’s not difficult to build one from scratch that works well. It is time consuming to build one that is designed well without flaws left in the final product or overlooking real world use. So I have to test each variation. 
 


 

Eventually I’ll get there, haha. 

Edited by johnson4
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