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Digital DTG Printer Preventative Care: An Overview

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windyzhao
Digital DTG Printer Preventative Care: An Overview

Digital DTG printers have two or three head cleaning cycles that must be completed before they can be turned on. You'll be off to a good start, and your printer will make sure all of the inks, especially the white ones, are activated. The events of the previous day will no longer hang over your head, allowing you to think more clearly.

Late in the Day

In addition to wiping out the exterior of the digital DTG printer with some cleaning fluid and some paper towels or rags, you need also to do the following.

Place of Capture

After a long day of work, your top priority should be to clean the capping station of the DTG printer. This is the tray that fits over the top of the head assembly. Doing so prevents the printhead from becoming clogged. This approach, when repeated, further protects the subject's skull from harm. Doing this on a regular basis will keep the same capping station from collecting ink fragments, especially white ink.

Since the vacuum that collects these inks from the head, flushes them to the waste tank, and still retains some ink, the print head cleaning cycle also plays a role in this. The remaining ink on the foam's cap is then sent to the sealing machine. These inks will eventually pool and dry, it's only a matter of time. Also, just to give you a little extra push to keep up with this routine. The printing head will become blocked fast if these capping stations are unable to manage capping, and once this happens, there is no way to fix it. You may expect to spend around $500 to replace this. A foam-tipped swab, available from your printer manufacturer, is all you need to clean this part. Cotton residue can be left behind if Q-tips are used. These swabs can be purchased at any pharmacy or medical supply store. Use a cleaning solution on the capping station, such as Formula 409, window cleaner, or plain water. You can also use isopropyl alcohol.

Capping Station Moisture Maintenance

Remember that foam I talked about in the last paragraph? This is it. It may also absorb so much ink that it dries out and loses its suppleness. Prevent this from happening by maintaining a wet capping station throughout the day. Put on a few drops of this cleaner before you head out the door.

A Windscreen Blade

The purpose of this wiper blade is to clean the print head's base. This is another area of the DTG printer that, due to the volume of ink used, eventually becomes stained. Since the wiper touches this area, it stands to reason that white ink would build up there. The same cleaning solution was suggested earlier, and you should use it.

Lower Section of a Printhead

It is common knowledge that the best results from a direct-to-garment (DTG) printer on dark shirts (or any shirts) may be achieved by positioning the head very low and close to the material. This will eventually lead to ink buildup on the clothing as the print head picks up lint from them. Think of this as extra insurance so that the wiper will do their job and make sure the area is clean. Swab the print head's base and edges using cleaning fluid-soaked cotton swabs. Take care not to scrape the print head base when you execute this technique.

Make Sure You Have Enough Ink

With an open ink system, this is a typical occurrence. With this setup, your DTG printing machine may access a greater supply of ink and keep printing uninterrupted. Open ink systems let printers cope with issues like insufficient ink supply by facilitating easy ink mixing. Its time-saving slide-out ink drawer design is another perk for the user.

However, the print head's base is inextricably linked to the ink bottle height in this configuration. The ink can be siphoned off later using gravity if the bottles are placed high enough. If it gets too low, you'll have printing problems.

Overfilling these ink cartridges and bottles is the only method to get around this setup. Keep in mind that the ink level indicated on the bottle or cartridge is likely to be inflated by the manufacturer. You could try getting ink refills more often as a workaround.

Specifically, the White Ink needs to be shaken.

In contrast to white inks, CMYK inks look fine even if they aren't used frequently, as was previously mentioned in this piece. Overnight, you may notice that bits of this ink (TIO2 pigment) have settled. No amount of shaking will prevent the chunks from sinking back into the ink. The process of obtaining this TIO2 pigment has been refined by modern ink manufacturers, leading to "soft settling." The ink will mix together regardless of its consistency when shaken. To get around this, agitate the white ink vials by gently spinning them. Do this in the morning before you begin printing and again in the evening when you're done. If you shake these ink bottles too roughly, air bubbles will form in the ink, which is not what you want.


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