CADlink Is pretty Great

[shabby]

1 minute ago, johnson4 said:

I’m sure they will eventually, or all these “ dealers” will start dropping them because of the headache and bad view it gives them as a seller. 
 

But, I’m on the road to making it work, I’m sure eventually it’ll make sense, even if it is user error. 

Sounds good, I tried for a week to try and figure out what the problem was. It turned into a finger pointing match the "dealer" says it's Cadlink, then Cadlink says it's the "dealer". I just kept thinking it seems very unprofessional. This was the same way they handled their DIY Epson based DTG version.

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, shabby said:

Sounds good, I tried for a week to try and figure out what the problem was. It turned into a finger pointing match the "dealer" says it's Cadlink, then Cadlink says it's the "dealer". I just kept thinking it seems very unprofessional. This was the same way they handled their DIY Epson based DTG version.

I’m sorry you’ve had that experience, if it made it that far I’d personally just ask for a refund. Crazy stuff. 
 

I wonder what is making it work fine for some, and not others? 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by johnson4

[shabby]

18 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I’m sorry you’ve had that experience, if it made it that far I’d personally just ask for a refund. Crazy stuff. 
 

I wonder what is making it work fine for some, and not others? 

 

 

Yes. definitely odd. I haven't purchased yet, the plan is to wait until they get things sorted. Good luck on your troubleshooting, I hope you get it figured out soon.

[johnson4]

1 hour ago, shabby said:

Yes. definitely odd. I haven't purchased yet, the plan is to wait until they get things sorted. Good luck on your troubleshooting, I hope you get it figured out soon.

Thanks. Yea, I assumed the same thing, but I didn't expect these types of issues from the get-go. 

 

Anyway, thanks for helping me not feel crazy about it. By chance, what operating system, and brand of the pc are you are using?

[johnson4]

Got it fixed, no more hanging after one print, auto goes to reserved like it should, no more restarting. Prints a 2nd time like it should. 
 

all is well now. 

[shabby]

10 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Thanks. Yea, I assumed the same thing, but I didn't expect these types of issues from the get-go. 

 

Anyway, thanks for helping me not feel crazy about it. By chance, what operating system, and brand of the pc are you are using?

Using windows 10 on Lenovo Think Pad.

[shabby]

4 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Got it fixed, no more hanging after one print, auto goes to reserved like it should, no more restarting. Prints a 2nd time like it should. 
 

all is well now. 

Congrats! What was the issue?

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, shabby said:

Congrats! What was the issue?

When setting up the port, use LPR instead of raw. It’s in the tabs at the top when your selecting the printer port. 
 

LPR makes it indirect, it processes faster and does what it should do now. The guy told me it should be raw, and that’s all the “help” I got in that aspect, which didn’t work in my situation.
 

if usb, go in device manager and right click the printers USB port and disable power management. I use WiFi so this wasn’t an issue, but can be. 
 

you can also go under settings and check “ enable advanced blah blah” and see more printer settings. So you can run YMCKWWWW or WWWWYMCK. I had to tune down the black density about 25 percent down to 75 percent max. the white underbase to 25ish percent on a p400, stock was at 80. 
 

I also removed team-viewer, but that’s because I’m weird.

Edited April 5, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

I’ll check exactly what it was tomorrow, and post my exact settings and the photo of the results for my specific printers( p400,P800)

[JaRugz]

On 4/5/2021 at 4:11 AM, johnson4 said:

you can also go under settings and check “ enable advanced blah blah” and see more printer settings. So you can run YMCKWWWW or WWWWYMCK. I had to tune down the black density about 25 percent down to 75 percent max. the white underbase to 25ish percent on a p400, stock was at 80. 

Are you able to change ink configurations on the P400 and P600?

[johnson4]

9 minutes ago, JaRugz said:

Are you able to change ink configurations on the P400 and P600?

I could on the P400, I don't know about the P600. I could Say I'll check for you, but I'll probably forget. 

They have two options, at least on the P400, after you check " show advanced settings".

CMYKWWWW

or

WWWWCMYK

 

Guy said they are working on making each channel available to change, but I don't really see the necessity in that with the P400.

Edited April 7, 2021 by johnson4

[JaRugz]

10 hours ago, johnson4 said:

They have two options, at least on the P400, after you check " show advanced settings".

I did look for that “show advanced settings” option but didn’t find it.   Will take a closer look see...

[johnson4]

3 hours ago, JaRugz said:

I did look for that “show advanced settings” option but didn’t find it.   Will take a closer look see...

Top toolbar- Tools-options

 

check “ show advanced settings and options” 

 

is what I did. Then, to find the options for the printer, there are a few ways. But, just double click the queue, click color layer, then printer options.
 

this is where you can save it for just that queue/printer profile or you can go and manage the profiles and change them all to that setting individually so whichever profile you choose will be that. 
 

I was wrong in the order they have as options. It’s:

WWWWKCMY

or

YMCKWWWW

 

i don’t recommend the higher resolution profiles, it changes the colors a bit, takes longer, and doesn’t do much in terms of quality. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by johnson4

[JaRugz]

1 hour ago, johnson4 said:

I was wrong in the order they have as options. It’s:

WWWWKCMY

or

YMCKWWWW

 

i don’t recommend the higher resolution profiles, it changes the colors a bit, takes longer, and doesn’t do much in terms of quality

Thank you,

I did find it earlier and was messing with it a bit.  With my printer however (R3000), the config they have are YWWMNWWK,  KCMYWWWW,  &.  WWWKCMY.   I’m still getting mixed colors because my config is YMCKWWWW. 😕

[johnson4]

5 minutes ago, JaRugz said:

Thank you,

I did find it earlier and was messing with it a bit.  With my printer however (R3000), the config they have are YWWMNWWK,  KCMYWWWW,  &.  WWWKCMY.   I’m still getting mixed colors because my config is YMCKWWWW. 😕

That sucks, sorry if I got your hopes up, it’s just what mine said. That really should have been something that was available from the get-go. 
 

flushing and changing colors can be a PITA on a printer with an ink system, and the dedication to the software just to test print. 

[JaRugz]

6 hours ago, johnson4 said:

That sucks, sorry if I got your hopes up, it’s just what mine said. That really should have been something that was available from the get-go. 
 

flushing and changing colors can be a PITA on a printer with an ink system, and the dedication to the software just to test print. 

That’s ok.  I just hope the add that profile option to the software.  It’s odd that they didn’t use YMCKWWWW as one of their profiles. In researching before I converted my printer, it was one of the more popular setup for the R3000.

I really don’t want to spend more money to flush and reconfigure this printer.

[Andy - Admin]

They just followed the stock epson primary colors and then made the light colors white

[Andy - Admin]

Flush it with distilled water. It's a gallon for less than $1

[JaRugz]

1 hour ago, Andy - Admin said:

Flush it with distilled water. It's a gallon for less than $1

I realized that’s what they did with the ink config....

I’m gonna have to do that.  It’s really more the hassle than the money.  I do keep an extra set of cartridges around so I’ll have to dig em out again.

I was really hoping they would add that config option to the software and save me the trouble.....

[johnson4]

That makes sense why they chose the ink order like that, but when people ( including me) set up the printer, I doubt that comes to Mind. I had to switch mine around too.
 

I’d personally only recommend doing it if your going to buy it, or can change the ink settings in your current rip software- just in case you don’t like it. 
 

Andy is absolutely right about the distilled water, it’s more of a time consuming process than a costly process. 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by johnson4

[johnson4]

I want to add, I don’t know if they are actually going to add the individual channel settings, that’s just what he said on the phone to me when I asked. I wouldn’t hold my breath over it.

Honestly, I was disappointed in their customer service, that’s why I’m not sure if they will actually do that.
 but I can also understand why. It’s on par with the rest of them in the price range, so when I say that I only mean it’s not what I expected based on what I saw, read, and understood about them before buying it, my fault. It’s a good program though. A great program. 
 

it does print fantastic color wise, and offers an extensive amount of self explanatory features once you get it printing correctly. Something I’m itching to use is the barcode system. I genuinely make/ship hundreds of shirts a week by myself, sometimes a thousand. That feature itself, alone, is worth well over what I paid for it to me. 

This software is a complete game changer for me and well worth the price. I suspect that this is a “ introductory price”, but I have no real idea, I know it’s a great value, especially as the DIY knowledge base on it forms so their customer service isn’t needed, or overwhelmed as much as it is now. 
 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by johnson4

[Cameronhjensen]

Hey how has this RIP been holding up for you? I’m trying to decide between it and Kothari

[johnson4]

4 hours ago, Cameronhjensen said:

Hey how has this RIP been holding up for you? I’m trying to decide between it and Kothari

I would recommend trying the free trials, Both offer them. No refunds are given if you don't like either one. 

[chaudhryis]

18 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I would recommend trying the free trials, Both offer them. No refunds are given if you don't like either one. 

Hi.. I am currently using acrorip 10.. but not really happy .. so downloaded the trial for cadlink today. Question... what settings did you end up using for your P400 for best results. any screen shots if you can kindly share... Thank you. 

[johnson4]

45 minutes ago, chaudhryis said:

Hi.. I am currently using acrorip 10.. but not really happy .. so downloaded the trial for cadlink today. Question... what settings did you end up using for your P400 for best results. any screen shots if you can kindly share... Thank you. 

The settings are pretty much pre-set. From what I understand, basically someone makes a profile for the printer( like a dealer), and that is what is used under the " supported" printers when you install your printer in CAD link. While you can modify it, it's pretty " expert" to do so. I changed mine to print in 1440x1440, and messed around with the ink settings. I Honestly don't remember what all the exact settings are, because there are a lot to change. 

 

I'll be honest, While I like cadlink, I haven't really used it that much. I keep finding myself just not using it, and using EKprint instead.  I've been using ekprint for years and it's simple and straight to the point- and very easy to use and learn- plus I already know it.  My opinion, starting out, if your going to learn something, cadlink seems great to do that with. For me, Cadlink Has ALOT to offer. However, to me, I also like simple and easier controls over printing ( ink settings, where it prints on the page and saving templates for easy on the fly printing)- instead of photo editing and design editing( a big negative for me anyway, since it cannot be saved or exported for later use). 

With EKprint,  I make like 6 templates. I open ekprint multiple times( you can run multiple instances of ekprint at once), and each "window" has a template I made open, like a template for White only prints, a template for CMYK only prints, A template for CMYK and white prints, etc. I have the page made, and the "space" on the edges setup so it prints exactly in the middle, and exactly the same space apart so when I cut the film, it's minimal waste. for me, Nesting is cool, but I find it a PITA when trying to cut something out X hundreds of designs, plus my designs are full size anyway so it is usually isn't even an option. 

So all I do, Is look at what I need to print, load the design, size it, mirror it, and click print. Over and over- perfect results every time- quick and simple. It takes me about 10 seconds to see, load, size, and click print- and another 15-20 seconds for EKprint to send the completed print job ( in which case, I switch over to a different open window while that one is processing, and print from that duplicate window instead of waiting). so In general, Acrorip( PartnerRip), Kothari, Cadlink, WhiteRip, And some other one I tried awhile back, Just doesn't even come close to the speed and ease of ekprint for me- So If I had a reason to not use cadlink, that alone is it. 

 

Now, my main issue with EKprint is the colors, they tend to be off with their "generic" color profiles ( which is what the dealers spend so much time tweaking on cadlink, and the main plus for cadlink). 

However, I did find a program for ekprint, and instructions on how to Print a color chart from my DTF printer, with all color management off( including ekprints built in color management), So I can pay $65 for a fully function CMYK profile that will color match my setup so the colors are identical to on screen, which is what I am in the process of doing right now :). I would simply load the color profile within EKprint, and be done. 

 

So if I successfully complete that with Ekprint, Then I personally don't have a reason to use cadlink over ekprint. CADLINK offers a ton of GREAT features for the price in comparison, and offers new users " simplicity" in printing. Now I haven't used CADLINK alot, so I'm not completely " knowledgeable" on the software either and could be wrong. I just know the results I was getting from cadlink were great, just still too time consuming to work with my workflow so my dongle has been gathering dust on the shelf for quite awhile. In the future I am sure I will use it for specialty orders, or for some of it's perks, but I doubt it will ever replace EKprint for me. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by johnson4