Epson XP-15000 Conversion Some Answers and Some Questions

[cartierusm]

Interesting. So CADLink has some quirks. Or I don't know how to use it. As Johnson4 said, either here or in a PM, the Max Ink doesn't change how much ink gets laid down, just the intensity of the print. So when I first fired up the printer and printed the ink ran like crazy so I figured the max ink setting was what was wrong because when I changed it to 250 instead of 400 it printed great. So it applies the settings to the graphic as you import it. It doesn't change the settings if you import the graphic in and THEN change the settings which is really not good. So I was doing some testing and kept it at 400 and it printed fine. So no idea when I printed for the first time the ink ran. Well it prints great now, aside from some pixelization in some of the colors.

[johnson4]

7 hours ago, cartierusm said:

Interesting. So CADLink has some quirks. Or I don't know how to use it. As Johnson4 said, either here or in a PM, the Max Ink doesn't change how much ink gets laid down, just the intensity of the print. So when I first fired up the printer and printed the ink ran like crazy so I figured the max ink setting was what was wrong because when I changed it to 250 instead of 400 it printed great. So it applies the settings to the graphic as you import it. It doesn't change the settings if you import the graphic in and THEN change the settings which is really not good. So I was doing some testing and kept it at 400 and it printed fine. So no idea when I printed for the first time the ink ran. Well it prints great now, aside from some pixelization in some of the colors.

Yea, all changes made to the queue should be made without images loaded into it, those aren’t adjusted. 
 

the grainy colors are just how it works, you’ll need to find color boost, or use colors in your graphics that are solid. If not, you’ll end up over-saturating your lighter colors trying to fix that. 

 

i received acro 10.5. it processed the image and sent to the printer in 10 seconds. Acro 9 took over 2 minutes for the same image/size.
 

so the beta testers I asked a few months back said “ kinda faster” and that was after prying for info for a few days. It’s actually usable in a workflow now and that is one speed example. I shouldn’t have had to buy it to find that out- but I will be detailed with my review of it. 

 

once you use and compare the 3 rips, I think you’ll find print speed and print quality is more important than a pretty user interface and “ exact” colors that end up more grainy than they should be isn’t actually as important as having vivid, bright, solid colors and increasing your workflow by 35-50 percent at that. 
 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by johnson4

[johnson4]

If you design your artwork as a vector and make all the colors solid cmyk colors, as test printed from Cadlink, they come out good. 
 

the examples you see from most people are their “ best” and usually spend more time than would normally be spent to achieve those colors. 
 

me personally, I loaded an ICC profile into EKprint and acro. Doing this will make them also have a grainy look because it’s trying to make a perfect color, mixed with how the ICC is told to do that. 
 

when trying to get perfect colors it basically works like this: CMYK. That’s it. Everything else is a mix of them, plus white. The grain is the white showing through trying to trick your eyes into seeing that color. When lighter colors at the edge of the spectrum are used it looks grainy because the brightness comes from the white ink and nothing else. That’s why RGB has such a broad spectrum with an artificial light. 
 

well, the ICC profile also tells the RIP how to handle the halftone/dithering/ overall dot placement. So when you see “grain” you are just seeing too large a gap between the color dots.
 

this is changeable but very deep into it. You can do this within Cadlink when you make your own ICC with the add-on module. So technically these things can be fixed, or made much better- at another cost. 
 

for acro and ek, it’s based on how the ICC tells it to do it. For me, I can get the same colors from all 3 ( accurately) from all three programs using the same ICC and ink settings. Ek and acro just aren’t as grainy because this dot placement is much better handled. This can be handled much better in Cadlink, but it hasn’t been from my experience. If you can buy the add-on and do your own ICC and spend the time on it, you can make it print fantastic ( baffling) good results by adjusting this in far more detail than any other rip. 
 

But that’s an add on that costs more than the RIP, plus the high end tool for this ( like $3,000). That and you’ll have to get past cadlinks rude customer service and deal with the customer put downs in an attempt to buy this add on- at current anyway.
 

Personally if someone wants to insult my intelligence and take my money, it’s only going to be my wife. Haha. 

 

seriously though, don’t follow the crowd, don’t listen to people who spend more time editing videos than running these machines. It’ll pay off in the end if you try hard enough on your own. I have continually done things the “ mass” mock me about. I do things that are “ impossible” because they failed at it or are in disbelief. I do it all the time, I have found things I haven’t shared with a soul, even 8 months ago and people still are not doing it yet. actually, if I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t have a business anymore. 

 

keep us updated, even if I am the only one that responds a lot of people will end up looking at this over time. 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Cool. Thanks.

Ok new problems, as you said I would have LOL

After 2-3 large, 13x19 Not full sheet but big graphics, it stops half way and spits out the sheet and says to replace the cartridge. Well that sucks. Is there a way to tell it to ignore cartridge changes or not spit out the sheet?

Also, it's not printing borderless 13x19 from CADLink, it's set to 13x19, but it's clipping very large images where it's close to the edge?

[johnson4]

3 minutes ago, cartierusm said:

Cool. Thanks.

Ok new problems, as you said I would have LOL

After 2-3 large, 13x19 Not full sheet but big graphics, it stops half way and spits out the sheet and says to replace the cartridge. Well that sucks. Is there a way to tell it to ignore cartridge changes or not spit out the sheet?

Also, it's not printing borderless 13x19 from CADLink, it's set to 13x19, but it's clipping very large images where it's close to the edge?

Not on the XP-15000. 

You need to reset the ink every time it runs low. If it runs out while printing, it spits out the film. This sucks for tiny 7ML cartridges. With the chipless firmware I was hoping they would fix this, but it sounds like they haven't. 

 

A little trick I found last year when I was testing this printer, just pull out the maintenance tank and put it back in real quick, it will reset the ink levels too. I don't remember if I did this while printing, but I would just pause my windows " queue" and do it when the print finished, then pull out replace then unpause. this allows it to continue printing worked like a charm. That is if you have a CISS or something. If not, Then you'll need to refill the cartridges too every reset or every other reset. 

 

That's why I was working on a damper adapter for this printer, I made it, fitted it, tested it, but never printed the final revisions and used it, I got busy with other projects. This in itself would allow the printer to run on a CISS without those cartridges, with actual dampers with filters in them. That and a timed relay setup which cost about $20 to make to automatically reset the ink levels Via disconnecting and reconnecting the waste tank while printing. 

 

This solved the problems, but is a bit complex. While It was tested and worked, I never finalized and built an actual "setup" of this. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by johnson4

[johnson4]

Not on the XP-15000. 

You need to reset the ink every time it runs low. If it runs out while printing, it spits out the film. This sucks for tiny 7ML cartridges. With the chipless firmware I was hoping they would fix this, but it sounds like they haven't. 

 

A little trick I found last year when I was testing this printer, just pull out the maintenance tank and put it back in real quick, it will reset the ink levels too. I don't remember if I did this while printing, but I would just pause my windows " queue" and do it when the print finished, then pull out replace then unpause. this allows it to continue printing worked like a charm. That is if you have a CISS or something. If not, Then you'll need to refill the cartridges too every reset or every other reset. 

 

That's why I was working on a damper adapter for this printer, I made it, fitted it, tested it, but never printed the final revisions and used it, I got busy with other projects. This in itself would allow the printer to run on a CISS without those cartridges, with actual dampers with filters in them. That and a timed relay setup which cost about $20 to make to automatically reset the ink levels Via disconnecting and reconnecting the waste tank while printing. 

 

This would allow you to roll print on the 15000 and never run out of ink, or worry about the resetting of the inks. That was my goal and was tested independently. IT was my " go to" budget DTF printer. Then I got a million orders and had to find something else that worked with less effort. 

 

This solved the problems with it though. While It was tested and worked, I never finalized and built an actual "setup" of this. with every component in place at the same time, just individually. 

[johnson4]

The reason I wanted to do the damper adapter was to prevent the ink leaking. The OEM cart's and fititngs sucks. But you can use in-line dampers on the unit and it work jsut the same with the exception of the poor fitting OEM carts. They are about .20 cents. the carts are about $5 a set, and the damper assy ( hose and tank) are about $18 delivered. 

 

Mix that with manually pulling out and replacing the maintenance tank and you should be good. Just be sure to make sure your carts are sealed well, or they will leak and destroy the printer. Using a timer and a relay you could easily intercept the one wire on the waste tank and have it "NC" and simply open/close every X amount of time that you set. Simply turn it off when not needed. 

 

Otherwise, refilling and manual resets every couple prints is not ideal, but doable. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Is the only way to reset the inks is by the maintenance menu, replace ink carts, on the epson front panel?

[johnson4]

1 hour ago, cartierusm said:

Is the only way to reset the inks is by the maintenance menu, replace ink carts, on the epson front panel?

No, just take out and put in the waste tank. It resets the ink without an issue, or it did for me. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Looks like it resets the ink when you turn off the printer. I'll double check tomorrow.

[cartierusm]

So I seem to be getting quite a few clogs today. I think it's a combo of a few things, 1. It's pretty dam hot here today and I don't have A/C and two. I might be over filling the carts and with the colored plug in it's creating a slight vacuum? Anyway, other than that and having to refill the ink carts every 3-4 prints, at least the white carts, I'm making some great looking shirts.

For those of you just getting into it, other than what I've said above, I find cold peel works way better than hot peel even though the film is dual hot/cold peel. With hot peel it starts to pull up small lettering.

Johnson4, now that I've found I like this method of shirt making what printer for conversion would you recommend that maybe doesn't clog as easy, holds more ink and possible ink circulation system? Or is it really you just need white? I won't be using this all the time and have no problem putting in cleaning carts when not in use.

[johnson4]

3 hours ago, cartierusm said:

Looks like it resets the ink when you turn off the printer. I'll double check tomorrow.

I am sure it would, but it seems like alot more time than clicking the waste tank in and out. That takes about 2 seconds if it still works. You don't actually have to take it out, just pull it out half a inch and push it back in- resets the ink levels. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by johnson4

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, cartierusm said:

So I seem to be getting quite a few clogs today. I think it's a combo of a few things, 1. It's pretty dam hot here today and I don't have A/C and two. I might be over filling the carts and with the colored plug in it's creating a slight vacuum? Anyway, other than that and having to refill the ink carts every 3-4 prints, at least the white carts, I'm making some great looking shirts.

For those of you just getting into it, other than what I've said above, I find cold peel works way better than hot peel even though the film is dual hot/cold peel. With hot peel it starts to pull up small lettering.

Johnson4, now that I've found I like this method of shirt making what printer for conversion would you recommend that maybe doesn't clog as easy, holds more ink and possible ink circulation system? Or is it really you just need white? I won't be using this all the time and have no problem putting in cleaning carts when not in use.

1. that'll do it. 

2. carts should work perfectly fine when the air vent is open and the fill hole is capped.

3. with good film you can instant peel without the smallest of detail lifting up. If you feel like you have to " pull" the film off the shirt, it's not good film and likely has too much powder on the print as well- from my experience. 

4. Everything out there is pretty much out of production. The p400 is a great printer for an upgrade over the 15000, 17ML carts, ink never needs reset. I got about 35 single color prints per refill, or 15 12X12's before refilling- I just kept pre-filled carts in a caddy I 3D printed. It makes for easy swapping in cleaner and letting it sit for however long. 

 

The P600 is the worst because of the stock ink system. 

 

The P800 works great and is a reliable machine- given you don't have a head strike. 80ML carts, prints fast and clear. 

 

Other than that there isn't an in-production printer I can recommend. I am testing the P5000 which is promising, but I don't know yet so I can't say anything about it until I complete my assessment. I feel this printer is about to be discontinued by Epson soon anyway. 

 

so all that is left is Chinese printers or finding old outdated models used. Some people use the 6 color ecotanks- I won't recommend wasting your money on that if you intend on getting good results for any extended period of time. 

[cartierusm]

What do you think about the CISS system for the XP-15000? I guess it's pretty self explanatory that it would work well other than how do you mix the white inks everyday?

[johnson4]

7 minutes ago, cartierusm said:

What do you think about the CISS system for the XP-15000? I guess it's pretty self explanatory that it would work well other than how do you mix the white inks everyday?

I mentioned it somewhere in a reply to you, I don't recommend it but it will work if you get a good seal on the aftermarket carts. You need to print with it all the time or flush the lines/carts before printing. 

[cartierusm]

Ok thanks. I found it.

Also found a new CISS system for XP-15000 that has dampers.

[johnson4]

28 minutes ago, cartierusm said:

Ok thanks. I found it.

Also found a new CISS system for XP-15000 that has dampers.

That is what I was talking about, Those dampers can be purchased for about $5 and attached to a regular CISS for a total cost of about $30. That's what they did. I tested this last year and while it works, it works for the CISS, not the carts leaking and creating a giant leak, which is why I still wouldn't use them. If you do, Just keep an eye on it. Maybe make sure the CISS has a shut off valve for all the ink lines for when you are not using it. 

 

The dampers function is to stop the ink pressure from pushing ink IN the printhead from the weight of the ink or to keep it from sucking ink out of the printhead if lower than the head, not the ink leaking from the printhead and sucking more ink out until it has drained the entire CISS destroying the printer and making a giant mess. If you can get a good seal on the aftermarket carts, you should be fine. The number of tests  I did back in the day when I originally came up with the idea showing it works great, I still have one in use now. But those carts seal on a standard Epson head, not like the xp15000 head. Some users use the OEM carts to bypass this issue, might look into that. 

Good luck with it though!

Edited June 2, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Gotcha, I understand now. Thanks. I have the starter Carts that came with the machine, should I just drain, rinse with water, dry, drill a hole and use those?

[johnson4]

9 minutes ago, cartierusm said:

Gotcha, I understand now. Thanks. I have the starter Carts that came with the machine, should I just drain, rinse with water, dry, drill a hole and use those?

I never did, Some users said it worked. I never looked into it. I went the opposite path of fixing the issue rather than doing that. I had set in motion to remove the "rubber" seal and replaced it with a solid sheet, the OEM hollow seal is what causes the issues, making it a solid sheet allows a great seal. I never completed this task either. I measured and lasercut the replacement slightly thicker than OEM so it would be a bit more pressure on the solid sheet creating a good seal. 

 

Brianna or veronica might be able to help you more with this printer, My tester is still out in storage because I didn't have time anymore. I do know it's do-able with a bit of ingenuity and could easily work well in a roll printing environment reliably, it's just " fine tuning" and finalizing the adjustments needed to get there from the things I mentioned. 

 

I am more focused on the P5000 because it has quite a bit more to offer, I need to secure replacements to my P800 fleet and I need to up my print speed and maintain print quality. So, One way or another I'll make it work just like I did with these. Roll printing in sheet mode works best for me, but I doubt anyone else does that for one example. Helps achieve 12 12"X12" prints an hour CMYK+W from the P800 at 1440X1440 resolution. I am hoping to get 20 12"X12" from the P5000, or 25 10" X 10". Which would directly compete with the chinese printers in speed, and beat them in quality for less than 1/5th the price without having to use cadlink. Bigger fish to fry on my end these days unfortunately. 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Nice. You're like me. Lots of mods and experimentation.

I've got a message into inkchip people as even their website lists xp15000 as not monitoring ink levels. Otherwise roll printing would be a PITA. I'm working on how to make an external maintenance tank without drilling a hole in the side of the printer. I bought an Staples Extended Warranty.

[johnson4]

2 minutes ago, cartierusm said:

Nice. You're like me. Lots of mods and experimentation.

I've got a message into inkchip people as even their website lists xp15000 as not monitoring ink levels. Otherwise roll printing would be a PITA. I'm working on how to make an external maintenance tank without drilling a hole in the side of the printer. I bought an Staples Extended Warranty.

Yea, I don't take anyone's word for it, without verifying on my end and applying my own ideas first- on anything. 

Inkchip/chiplesssolutions will tell you the same, that is just how the 15000 works. 

 

Roll printing wouldn't be bad, you just need to attach a relay to one pin ( I forget which one It was I found would work) of the waste tank. Attach a basic timer ( $12 on amazon in a acrylic case) and just turn it on when you are printing. Have it reset the inks every half hour or so, by simply opening the circuit for 1 second then closing again for another 30 minutes. It doesn't mess up the prints if it's that quick and it resets the ink levels. 

There is a nozzle back in the printer that goes into the waste tank, since the waste tank must be present you could drill a hole in the waste tank and have it drain in a hose from the tank, or by pass that and cut the tank in half for the chip, and attach a hose/clamp directly to the waste ink nozzle for one example. Other than that, I never minded. I just emptied it out daily, shouldn't fill up that fast unless something is wrong. For me it was one head clean each cartridge change and it did fine. Each morning i did 2-3 head cleans and was good for the whole day ( plus when I changed the carts). With the CISS, I did a head clean every 2 hours or so. Again, not enough to fill it up for a few days. Simply dump the waste back into an old ink container and done. 

[cartierusm]

I was having clogs today so I was doing a lot of head cleaning and it filled up a lot. I did some head cleanings with solution so hopefully that helps tomorrow when I fire it up.

[johnson4]

I roll printed with it for several hours on a bum roll of film with this idea and it worked flawless by the way. Kind of comes with the price tag though unless you spend the time modifying it. If I spend 2 hours working on 2 printers a day, running 8 hours a day I can make $700 a day. that is with 6 hours printing, 2 hours down time. It's worth a few inconveniences for certain, enough of them though and you'll want to fix those inconveniences. Just don't focus on them before they become an issue, or you'll never get to printing. Been there done that. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by johnson4

[cartierusm]

Cool. That's a lot of printing.

[johnson4]

1 minute ago, cartierusm said:

Cool. That's a lot of printing.

It's not bad, I mostly do other things while they run. After it's all setup, it's pretty much self running.