Epson XP-15000 Setup

[johnson4]

6 hours ago, Mdrake2016 said:

 

  

 

 

Nevermind on that first question about the reds. Apparently, using Medium droplet size fixed it. I guess I didn't test the colors in Medium until now. Starting to lose track of what I've done. It looks like the density is too high as well at 100% so I will have to play with that.

Now the grain is my only issue.

I printed using these settings:

graphics

1440x1440 for both white and color

medium droplet size

1 ink level

cmyk ink  70 density ( I think, I can double check later).

when doing an underbase, start at 50 percent white, and make the white ink density 35. 
 

dtf should never require anything more than 1 pass ( ink level). I’ve never used light droplet size or anything under 1440x1440. 
 

Is that sheet without a white underbase? 

Edited May 28, 2021 by johnson4

[Mdrake2016]

On 4/6/2021 at 9:06 AM, johnson4 said:

It’s going to depend on the resolution and overall required settings. It might end up being faster than I thought though. The p400 on 1440x1440 resolution does about 2” a minute, or 35 prints an hour in roll mode. 

Hey Johnson. Can you explain this when you get a chance? How big are your prints? Why would you get 2" a minute in manual mode (I'm assuming A3 sheets....I'm getting about 2" a minute as well) but in roll mode you get 35 prints in an hour?

I'm trying to figure out how to speed this thing up a bit. Right now at 2" a minute, I'm averaging around 8 minutes per print. That's 7.5 prints per hour. It's almost twice as fast if I change the resolution to both the color and the white to 1440x720 but the banding shows when I drop the resolution.

[johnson4]

3 hours ago, Mdrake2016 said:

Hey Johnson. Can you explain this when you get a chance? How big are your prints? Why would you get 2" a minute in manual mode (I'm assuming A3 sheets....I'm getting about 2" a minute as well) but in roll mode you get 35 prints in an hour?

I'm trying to figure out how to speed this thing up a bit. Right now at 2" a minute, I'm averaging around 8 minutes per print. That's 7.5 prints per hour. It's almost twice as fast if I change the resolution to both the color and the white to 1440x720 but the banding shows when I drop the resolution.

My prints vary, that was based on a 12x10" design. The reason I said 2" a minute, I was timing my single layer prints.. I do things a bit different than most, since I started with screen-printing. Back then, I used mainly black or white ink, while I later obtained a 6 color press, i'm not trying to kill myself doing small quantity runs to add color, that kind of ran over into now, since most requests are still single color designs like black, white, red, etc. 

Fast forward to your question, That was on a "normal" design for me, meaning I printed it in black ink, or white ink. The one's that require a white underbase, I only get roughly 18 an hour with those- half as fast, Which, is still faster than DTG for me, and something that would take hours to screen-print. So while it seems like it takes forever, it's giving you a great opportunity to print something that you normally couldn't, with the expense of time( Which I would argue that is still the fastest method). 

Overall, ANY printer is going to print half as fast using both layers, to defeat that I just print them in advance, or run two machines. Right now I have the one I built, and one of Andy's mini shakers, for a combined 35 an hour, or 70 an hour single base prints. 1 24" machine could easily do the job of these two set-ups, but none of the "Epson" based printers would do any better, unless printed at a lower resolution= less quality product. 

 

Yes, If i could afford a $10,000-$15,000 machine I would buy one in a heartbeat, but right now that's not feasible, so I make due with similar output by having multiple units, which doubles over as a safety net if one were to fail. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by johnson4

[Mdrake2016]

34 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

The one's that require a white underbase, I only get roughly 18 an hour with those- half as fast, Which, is still faster than DTG for me,

 

Just to be clear on this, 18 an hour with just 1 of the shaker machines?

Man even 18 an hour is great...I timed a 10x10 print I just did for a customer right now (with a white underbase) and it printed in almost exactly 8 min on the dot. What could be the reason for this? I do 1440x1440 for color and white. I think even if I change it to 1440x720, I got 5 min out of the same print when I tried a few days ago. 18 prints an hour comes out to 3.3 min per print.

[johnson4]

3 hours ago, Mdrake2016 said:

 

Just to be clear on this, 18 an hour with just 1 of the shaker machines?

Man even 18 an hour is great...I timed a 10x10 print I just did for a customer right now (with a white underbase) and it printed in almost exactly 8 min on the dot. What could be the reason for this? I do 1440x1440 for color and white. I think even if I change it to 1440x720, I got 5 min out of the same print when I tried a few days ago. 18 prints an hour comes out to 3.3 min per print.

With or without the shaker machine, 8 minutes seems like quite a long time for a 10x10 design, but I could be wrong. Printing in 1440x1440 for a single layer I have gotten an average of 35 prints an hour ( timed by the minute at 2 minutes, or by the hour at 35 prints in that hour) printing the same 12x10 design using an Epson P400. During my testing of the XP-15000, The timing was the same, for the same design. I very rarely print with a solid white backing, which I didn't test. But again, that shouldn't have any time difference. Generally I print with white over any colored pixel, excluding black with doing an under base.

All the shaker machine does it auto powder and cure it, so it shouldn't have any bearing on how long it takes to print, unless you factor in that time as well for the powdering and curing side.

 

I have used a total of 2,600+ feet of film, and it always has about the same average depending on the print size. I would question if you are using higher than Level 1 for your ink level, since that means how many ink passes it makes before advancing. It sounds like you might be running that on level 2. If level 1 takes me two minutes, lowering my ink density and raising the ink level to level 2, will now take that print 4 minutes to complete, which I'd imagine would take even longer using CMYK+W for an under base. Honestly about the only thing I could imagine, but I could be wrong.

Edited May 29, 2021 by johnson4

[Mdrake2016]

On 5/29/2021 at 5:57 PM, johnson4 said:

With or without the shaker machine, 8 minutes seems like quite a long time for a 10x10 design, but I could be wrong. Printing in 1440x1440 for a single layer I have gotten an average of 35 prints an hour ( timed by the minute at 2 minutes, or by the hour at 35 prints in that hour) printing the same 12x10 design using an Epson P400. During my testing of the XP-15000, The timing was the same, for the same design. I very rarely print with a solid white backing, which I didn't test. But again, that shouldn't have any time difference. Generally I print with white over any colored pixel, excluding black with doing an under base.

All the shaker machine does it auto powder and cure it, so it shouldn't have any bearing on how long it takes to print, unless you factor in that time as well for the powdering and curing side.

 

I have used a total of 2,600+ feet of film, and it always has about the same average depending on the print size. I would question if you are using higher than Level 1 for your ink level, since that means how many ink passes it makes before advancing. It sounds like you might be running that on level 2. If level 1 takes me two minutes, lowering my ink density and raising the ink level to level 2, will now take that print 4 minutes to complete, which I'd imagine would take even longer using CMYK+W for an under base. Honestly about the only thing I could imagine, but I could be wrong.

I've done some crazy amount of testing since your last few posts and I realized why my 10x10 print (circular....so it should be even faster) was taking 8 minutes. I put the ink density to 60% in the white underbase settings but EKRip automatically changed it to 600%. I guess I have to choose the defaults on the drop down.

However, after changing it to 75%, I'm now printing that design in 4:28 which I start timing immediately when the printhead starts laying down the first pass. At a full A3 page (11 x 15 to leave 2 inches of space at the bottom), I'm getting around 5.5 minutes for a rectangular design with a white underbase. 

On 5/27/2021 at 8:35 PM, johnson4 said:

 

cmyk ink  70 density ( I think, I can double check later).

when doing an underbase, start at 50 percent white, and make the white ink density 35. 

I somehow overlooked the underbase settings you suggested here. Just to be clear here, you mean I need to move that "Opacity contrast" slider to the -35 (more white ink side)? 50% density alone when I tested last week absolutely did not look good at all. The color of the shirt basically showed through the print.

 

Also, anyone that has this printer, can you tell me if this is what it looks like under your cartridges (pic attached)? It looks like ink from the other cartridges somehow flow over each other. It hasn't affected my prints at all but wondering if this is normal. I made sure there were no leaks when I put the cartridges in. Even cleaned them multiple times and they always end up like this.

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, Mdrake2016 said:

I've done some crazy amount of testing since your last few posts and I realized why my 10x10 print (circular....so it should be even faster) was taking 8 minutes. I put the ink density to 60% in the white underbase settings but EKRip automatically changed it to 600%. I guess I have to choose the defaults on the drop down.

However, after changing it to 75%, I'm now printing that design in 4:28 which I start timing immediately when the printhead starts laying down the first pass. At a full A3 page (11 x 15 to leave 2 inches of space at the bottom), I'm getting around 5.5 minutes for a rectangular design with a white underbase. 

I somehow overlooked the underbase settings you suggested here. Just to be clear here, you mean I need to move that "Opacity contrast" slider to the -35 (more white ink side)? 50% density alone when I tested last week absolutely did not look good at all. The color of the shirt basically showed through the print.

 

Also, anyone that has this printer, can you tell me if this is what it looks like under your cartridges (pic attached)? It looks like ink from the other cartridges somehow flow over each other. It hasn't affected my prints at all but wondering if this is normal. I made sure there were no leaks when I put the cartridges in. Even cleaned them multiple times and they always end up like this.

I don’t remember exactly, but 50% was a good starting point. The contrast puts more white down, anything after I think 25 it starts adding white behind black. 
if 50 won’t do it, then you could do 75, and up the contrast a bit. You can type in certain percentages, some work some don’t. I’ve been meaning to email and ask him, I always end up fighting it because “perfect” is around 60-65 percent to me, not 50 or 75. 
 

as for the cartridges, mine didn’t look like that after the two weeks I used it, until I wet capped it, which siphoned the ink into the cartridges. If you wet cap, it could be that. 
 

I do agree color+ underbase is insanely slow, I wish it were faster. Especially  if you print like a 12” long print and only the last 3” needs the white, that really sucks. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by johnson4

[nas333]

Hi,

I have the following problem:

My XP-15000 is chipless, the ink tanks are full, I make about 10 a3-page printouts with large, full motifs.

Then comes the message that the white ink is empty (although there is still plenty of ink). The printer only continues when I change the tanks. I press OK, don't move the tanks, now comes the part where the printer initializes the tanks. Then comes the test printout: and here yellow are suddenly gone. Then I have to wash more often, then yellow comes back. Instead, either blue or black is gone. And there is enough ink in the tanks.

If the printer did not assume that the tanks were empty, this would not happen. How can this be turned off? The device is chipless, the tanks do not have a chip on top, and it still calculates the fill level.

Please help.

[johnson4]

43 minutes ago, nas333 said:

Hi,

I have the following problem:

My XP-15000 is chipless, the ink tanks are full, I make about 10 a3-page printouts with large, full motifs.

Then comes the message that the white ink is empty (although there is still plenty of ink). The printer only continues when I change the tanks. I press OK, don't move the tanks, now comes the part where the printer initializes the tanks. Then comes the test printout: and here yellow are suddenly gone. Then I have to wash more often, then yellow comes back. Instead, either blue or black is gone. And there is enough ink in the tanks.

If the printer did not assume that the tanks were empty, this would not happen. How can this be turned off? The device is chipless, the tanks do not have a chip on top, and it still calculates the fill level.

Please help.

mine did this as well, Personally I pulled the ink tank plug instead of the clear plug over the sponge, it made for better inkflow. Just be sure to put them back on before removing the tanks or you'll make a huge mess. 

As for the ink counter, I leave the "ink remaining" page up, so after every print I can see what is left. To reset all the ink cartridges without initiating a clean, just remove and reinsert the waste tank while it's not printing. After some experience/use, you'll see a pattern in how often you need to do it, so then after X prints just  pull and push the waste tank and be done.

Edited June 3, 2021 by johnson4

[JSteger]

Hi All,

I want to get into DTF, with that said I am looking at the Epson XP 15000. I need to know what I need to purchase to convert the Epson XP 15000 to do DTF and where to buy the supplies. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[Contracandles]

How the hell are you guys getting any results? I'm pretty sure I just fucked up two of these printers attempting a DTF conversion. The first one I was sure I must have screwed something up, but this is the second time now. Regular OEM cartridges work fine, DTF ink does not print AT ALL. Maybe I'lll get a little bit of yellow if I clean if 5 times in a row. Using DTF Pro ink. If I didn't see reports on the internet of this thing being used for DTF, I would have cut my losses and assumed it was impossible.

[johnson4]

8 hours ago, Contracandles said:

How the hell are you guys getting any results? I'm pretty sure I just fucked up two of these printers attempting a DTF conversion. The first one I was sure I must have screwed something up, but this is the second time now. Regular OEM cartridges work fine, DTF ink does not print AT ALL. Maybe I'lll get a little bit of yellow if I clean if 5 times in a row. Using DTF Pro ink. If I didn't see reports on the internet of this thing being used for DTF, I would have cut my losses and assumed it was impossible.

Did you remove the air plug on the ink cartridges? 

[johnson4]

10 hours ago, Contracandles said:

How the hell are you guys getting any results? I'm pretty sure I just fucked up two of these printers attempting a DTF conversion. The first one I was sure I must have screwed something up, but this is the second time now. Regular OEM cartridges work fine, DTF ink does not print AT ALL. Maybe I'lll get a little bit of yellow if I clean if 5 times in a row. Using DTF Pro ink. If I didn't see reports on the internet of this thing being used for DTF, I would have cut my losses and assumed it was impossible.

The XP 15000 isn’t the best printer to use, since it’s newer and has weird cartridges, but it does work well, just easier to destroy with mistakes. 

 I use the 2 p400s at the moment, I have a 15000 and p800 set up as well. Personally I believe the p400 to be the easiest to use and maintain for beginners. 
 

anyway, the printer is only a tool, you need to learn how to use them and maintain them. Anything can work given enough persistence. In the last 30 days I have made over 5,000 13”x10” transfers on two 13” machines, with thousands to go. I wanted to rip my hair out and run them over with my vehicle on several occasions, but I didn’t. I took a step back, and kept at it until I figured out the root of each issue and fixed it, even with serious time constraints.  Blaming anything on anything is only an excuse to give up. finding the problem and learning from mistakes is the solution, like any learning experience. It takes time and a ridiculous amount of patience sometimes. 
 

I am 30 years old and have spent countless hours “learning” , countless “ all nighters” skipping sleep at least twice a week for months at a time. I have made a ton of mistakes, some very costly. Sometimes I have to take a step back, but I always get right back into it because giving up isn’t an option. I’ve always treated anything I wanted that way. 
 

because I did that, and learned how to use the tools of the trade, I now have the ability to make over $5,000 a day from two Epson photo printers, costing a mere $1,000 combined( printers only). My beginnings were VERY difficult and time consuming. But right now, it starts to pay off for me hopefully. 

You don’t make that kind of money for buying a photo printer, removing the rollers and adding some special ink. It’s the experience that does it, that everlasting “ I’m going to do this” attitude that gets you through the hard times. My experience is only one example, and you could easily make less or more than me. it’s not about the money, it’s about doing what works for you, what you have a passion for and stick to that. If your not struggling, your probably not doing it right. 
 

 It’s not hard, it’s a learning experience, dealing with it and learning it is only the first step of many to producing and selling products/transfers, each with their own set of “ learning experiences” and downfalls. 
 

my point is, if you are keen to giving up when it gets difficult, it’s probably not for you. Many people have already made this into a huge profitable business, with the Chinese printers and with converted printers. I don’t make a lot of money, but it’s a hell of a lot better than any job I could be hired for, by far. 
 

I wish you luck, hopefully you see the things I said as positive, I’m only saying don’t give up, that’s the worst thing you can do if you REALLY want to do this. 
 

 

after you get it printing, there are still a ton of things to go wrong and learn from, before you are “experienced” and know how to fix those issues and it turns into a push button operation, in my opinion it’s worth it. The real question, Is it worth it to you? 
 

 

good luck!

[Contracandles]

Wait, you need to remove the plugs when printing? I didn't see any kind of hole like that on the stock cartridges. I thought the plugs were for filling the cartridges only. And I appreciate the words of encouragement. Unfortunately it looks like I bricked my printer trying to clean it as the motherboard rests directly beneath the print assembly, and the fluid WILL leak if the ink pump doesn't immediately suck it up with a cleaning cycle. I'm definitely trying to stay positive, it's just such a frustrating market right now. I can't even buy a used P400 even if I wanted to, and then the print head would literally cost more than 2X brand new XP-15000 if it ever needed to be replaced. And the printer I REALLY wanted was something in the R1800/1430 range, which are now selling for double/triple since being discontinued, and I'm starting to suspect that the head price is also going to get jacked up in the near future.  I still have my trusty R280, but I NEED something that can do A3. As infuriating as it is to deal with this printer (XP-15000), I feel like learning the quirks now is probably a better option than desperately trying to cling to 20 year old printer scavenging rapidly diminishing parts. And as awful as it is to feel like I'm bricking these printers consecutively, for $300 they are basically disposable anyway. My background is in CNC, so I am much more used to knowing all of the fundamentals of how machine works than with these inkjet machines. I know the R280 like the back of my hand and that definitely made me a little overconfident when hacking the XP-15000. I have another one on the way so hopefully I manage to not brick this next one.

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, Contracandles said:

Wait, you need to remove the plugs when printing? I didn't see any kind of hole like that on the stock cartridges. I thought the plugs were for filling the cartridges only. And I appreciate the words of encouragement. Unfortunately it looks like I bricked my printer trying to clean it as the motherboard rests directly beneath the print assembly, and the fluid WILL leak if the ink pump doesn't immediately suck it up with a cleaning cycle. I'm definitely trying to stay positive, it's just such a frustrating market right now. I can't even buy a used P400 even if I wanted to, and then the print head would literally cost more than 2X brand new XP-15000 if it ever needed to be replaced. And the printer I REALLY wanted was something in the R1800/1430 range, which are now selling for double/triple since being discontinued, and I'm starting to suspect that the head price is also going to get jacked up in the near future.  I still have my trusty R280, but I NEED something that can do A3. As infuriating as it is to deal with this printer (XP-15000), I feel like learning the quirks now is probably a better option than desperately trying to cling to 20 year old printer scavenging rapidly diminishing parts. And as awful as it is to feel like I'm bricking these printers consecutively, for $300 they are basically disposable anyway. My background is in CNC, so I am much more used to knowing all of the fundamentals of how machine works than with these inkjet machines. I know the R280 like the back of my hand and that definitely made me a little overconfident when hacking the XP-15000. I have another one on the way so hopefully I manage to not brick this next one.

I see a new refurb p400 for $1,000 on ebay. Printheads can be purchased ( limit 1) for under $500 directly from Epson for it. 

On the carts, You are supposed to move the little clear plug when printing. If not, ink gets sucked out, creates a suction and ink can't flow. Personally, I removed the tank side plugs, but that could be stupid, It just worked better for me. I do agree the carts seem to poor poorly designed for the printer, which I've seen due to a few peoples struggles. Usually on stock cartridges, under a sticker somewhere you'll see a tiny little " crevice" which the air is sucked into the cartridge. Usually in the front, where the clear round plug is on the aftermarket carts. 

 

In order to find a good price on things, you must be diligent. I got my P400's for under $500 delivered, Through research I found some heads for it from a Epson distributor.  I found the capping stations for $50ish. I have overheated them both at least 5 times each, with no permanent damage( fortunately to me).

 

All in all, being a shortage on printers due to the pandemic and work from homers, mixed with a shortage of production, and the discontinued status on most of them, it brings out the hoarders, the people who like buying and reselling. I see people routinely pick up a P800 for $800-$1000 and turn around and sell them for $4,000 as DTF printers, without maybe spending an hour's worth of work in them converting them to DTF, and maybe $500 in supplies. That is a good example of it right there, because with that one sale, you can buy up 3 more, essentially tripling your profits. 

 

You are right, the XP-15000 in my eyes is disposable, it's not made like the P series at all, but on a budget it will work. I didn't really have any issue, other than learning it's quirks to get mine roll printing. I will say though, it's not as robust as the others, but it's not discontinued, and it's usually available cheap. I'm not going to lie though, I didn't use the printer anything like I use the P400's, I just wanted a back-up plan, as I always do.

 

It's not a problem at all, I hope it helps some. I think that is the biggest thing of them all, patience and learning from mistakes. I see so many people blame so many things, when experienced users don't have the same issues, It's not to belittle the issues, rather you get over them and find more issues that you still don't know about, at least that's what happens to me almost daily. 

It really is a PITA and the xp-15000 is probably not the best printer for beginners to work on, however, I didn't have any issues with mine. It's just the best go-to since it's available and not over $1,000. I recommended it to many because I had it going for under $200 ( they were $200 when I bought them) and sheet/roll printed around 100 prints on it before cleaning it and putting it up for a rainy day, just to make sure it would work for me. Unfortunately , I didn't really consider the learning curve that happens with this type of thing, and how susceptible the 15000 was to those mistakes. 

 

 

[johnson4]

I wanted to add, before removing/adding the carts, basically anytime they are not installed, always have both plugs in place to prevent leaking, Especially if you pull the tank side plug, it will leak BADLY if you remove it from the printer with that plug removed. 

[johnson4]

Overall though, I'm curious of the issues you have that make you believe the printers are trashed? 

[Contracandles]

One printer is stuck in "inspection mode", won't take emergency firmware update, and gives a fatal error when I try to boot it into normal mode. I have zero clue what could have cause this. The second one was definitely 100% my fault. I have an ultrasound machine I use for cleaning print heads, with the R280 you can leave the print head in the carriage, park it over the capping station, and then suck the cleaning fluid from the waste tank with a syringe. I assumed that my problem was that the ink was horrifically clogged, and assumed it had to do with the fact that normal ink was dye rather than pigment. So I tried to purge it out the way I normally would, as head cleaning was not the problem. The ink/fluid overflowed and leaked onto the motherboard, now it will not even turn on at all. 

[johnson4]

What is the fatal error code? I have the booklet for the 15000 with all that in it. 

 

That makes sense, I've always wanted one of those but they are pretty expensive. It's spare parts though

[Mdrake2016]

On 6/5/2021 at 4:26 PM, johnson4 said:

I wanted to add, before removing/adding the carts, basically anytime they are not installed, always have both plugs in place to prevent leaking, Especially if you pull the tank side plug, it will leak BADLY if you remove it from the printer with that plug removed. 

Yes this is important and something I failed to do a few times. 
 

It’s basically like when there is liquid in a straw and your finger plugs the top. When you let go, the liquid falls out. This helped me realize how these cartridges work. 

[Mdrake2016]

On 6/5/2021 at 4:19 PM, johnson4 said:

 

You are right, the XP-15000 in my eyes is disposable, it's not made like the P series at all, but on a budget it will work. I didn't really have any issue, other than learning it's quirks to get mine roll printing. I will say though, it's not as robust as the others, but it's not discontinued, and it's usually available cheap. I'm not going to lie though, I didn't use the printer anything like I use the P400's, I just wanted a back-up plan, as I always do.

 

It's not a problem at all, I hope it helps some. I think that is the biggest thing of them all, patience and learning from mistakes. I see so many people blame so many things, when experienced users don't have the same issues, It's not to belittle the issues, rather you get over them and find more issues that you still don't know about, at least that's what happens to me almost daily. 

It really is a PITA and the xp-15000 is probably not the best printer for beginners to work on, however, I didn't have any issues with mine. It's just the best go-to since it's available and not over $1,000. I recommended it to many because I had it going for under $200 ( they were $200 when I bought them) and sheet/roll printed around 100 prints on it before cleaning it and putting it up for a rainy day, just to make sure it would work for me. Unfortunately , I didn't really consider the learning curve that happens with this type of thing, and how susceptible the 15000 was to those mistakes. 

 

 

I would say I’m a beginner (10 years of printing but to this day still struggle when it comes to clogs. I’ve thrown away printers after failing to clear clogs that somehow happens within 5 minutes of modifying a printer to use sublimation inks), but so far the XP-15000 seems to be easy to use. 
 

The only thing I worry about is trying to clear a clog since that has been my biggest issue all these years. I have 1 clogged nozzle that a printhead cleaning (through the menu) isn’t clearing up and I thought I could take the printhead out and use those little tubes to put into the nipples of the printhead, inject printhead cleaning solution in it until the nozzles are all clear, but I obviously can’t do that with this printer since it uses the foam cartridges. 

[johnson4]

8 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

I would say I’m a beginner (10 years of printing but to this day still struggle when it comes to clogs. I’ve thrown away printers after failing to clear clogs that somehow happens within 5 minutes of modifying a printer to use sublimation inks), but so far the XP-15000 seems to be easy to use. 
 

The only thing I worry about is trying to clear a clog since that has been my biggest issue all these years. I have 1 clogged nozzle that a printhead cleaning (through the menu) isn’t clearing up and I thought I could take the printhead out and use those little tubes to put into the nipples of the printhead, inject printhead cleaning solution in it until the nozzles are all clear, but I obviously can’t do that with this printer since it uses the foam cartridges. 

I’ve always said that doing that method is the same as throwing it in the trash. 
 

the head is only capable of dealing with so much pressure, in the 2-5psi range usually, something easily overdone with a syringe. Using a ultrasonic machine, is a different story. 

I have done at least 10 heads this way. And 8 of them either failed immediately, or soon after. I was very careful, but “waterfalling” the head is literally the brink of putting to much pressure on it, especially if you are trying to force clogs out. 
 

now, in the other hand, head soaks mixed with head cleans has always fixed my issues. Using the right fluid, and doing it several times is a TON better than tearing the head out, and damaging it that way. unless you are very experienced with it I do not recommend it personally, because I rarely see it work outright without any repercussions.

 

think of it this way, the cleaner can’t do its job if there is no flow in the nozzle, since the cleaner cannot flow through that nozzle. However, attacking it from the outside, where it’s clogged, can and will soften it and allow it to unclog. Otherwise your just forcing cleaning solution through the unclogged nozzles. 
 

the machines that do it this way, soak the head and “waterfall” it with a very accurate monitor, something that cannot accurately be reproduced by hand. 
 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by johnson4

[Mdrake2016]

2 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I’ve always said that doing that method is the same as throwing it in the trash. 
 

 

I'm glad I asked! I thought that was the recommended thing to do.

Now I suddenly came across another problem I hope you can help ASAP. I'm currently using A3 sheets and suddenly, EK Print is starting the print 2 inches from the top of the sheet. I haven't changed any settings and the last 200 prints I did started exactly where I placed it at the top of the print (usually about .5 inches from the top). Any idea what could be happening there? This is causing my 14.5 inch prints to print too low at the bottom of the page, and causing the printhead to smear the last bit of the image. 

[johnson4]

30 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

I'm glad I asked! I thought that was the recommended thing to do.

Now I suddenly came across another problem I hope you can help ASAP. I'm currently using A3 sheets and suddenly, EK Print is starting the print 2 inches from the top of the sheet. I haven't changed any settings and the last 200 prints I did started exactly where I placed it at the top of the print (usually about .5 inches from the top). Any idea what could be happening there? This is causing my 14.5 inch prints to print too low at the bottom of the page, and causing the printhead to smear the last bit of the image. 

are you using a different table size by chance? In the Custsize.ini file you can change how far down it starts each print, IF the "offset" on the main window doesn't make it close enough to the top. Each 720 is 1" in that file.

 

Some people can successfully do it, and it works great on some heads. Some are more fragile than others though. I myself did the same for the same reason. It's just so much easier to use the appropriate cleaners and wet cap/ clean the system then try to manually do the head, especially if you have no experience in it. 

 

By the way, if you wanted to do that, just use a cartridge filled with cleaning solution and use a syringe at the fill port, of course be easy with it, it's prone to leaking with too much pressure, not saying it's not a pain to do that way, but it's possible.

Edited June 7, 2021 by johnson4

[Mdrake2016]

16 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

are you using a different table size by chance? In the Custsize.ini file you can change how far down it starts each print, IF the "offset" on the main window doesn't make it close enough to the top. Each 720 is 1" in that file.

 

I am using a Custsize.ini file but the thing is, it was working great, 0 issues. Then suddenly a print started printing 2 inches from the top. 

I restarted my computer and printer and now it suddenly worked. Very strange.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Mdrake2016