Hypnoandy
Newbie to Printing
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2021
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 3
- Points
- 3
- Printer Model
- Epson 3800
Hi guys
I'll be upfront my 3800 forms part of a dtg t shirt printer, but the 3800 part is the issue here. And my mental health, well its not been good lately and the frustration of this...
So on Wednesday I had recovered from flu and was busy printing t shirt orders. My machine had been idle for a week so I did power cleans to get it up and running after having had the print head over towel soaked in cleaning fluid. I'd also cleaned the capping station and wiper.
It was printing nicely but the magenta wasn't coming through strong, for some reason I couldn't get really vibrant reds.
So the 3800 workings in this texjet dtg are pretty easy to get to. Capping station is easy to clean etc. It runs garment inks with white ink so you can print of dark fabric etc. The white ink is the usual culprit of clogs but here it was all running fine.
Then after 16 or so shirts, the colours suddenly lost vibrancy. Everything was faded and muddy looking. It was getting late so I thought it was time to tackle it the next day. So I cleaned and wet capped for the night.
Next day I decided that maybe the pump cap was to blame. I had a spare which I had stripped and cleaned so I replaced it. At this point I also thought I'd look at the dampers. I understand they're seen as a consumable part. I'd bought spare from China but up until now had chickened out. I'd also got a 3800 from ebay for spares so I thought I'd try to really treat my machine to tlc
I took the damper assembly off, undid the assembly until I could get to the dampers. Swapped about 4 and put the damper assembly back on the print head. Ink had flowed freely from the ink tubes so they seemed not worth replacing. Got everything screwed down, connectors back on only issue was working out where a thin strip of metal had come from but realised it lived under the selector motor and fastened by the ground wire screw.
Turned the machine back on and no explosion, no fountains of ink so maybe I had done a good job. Did 2x power clean as I thought I'd need to get ink back to the head. Tried a test print and hardly anything being printed. Totally deflated I went home.
Next morning I thought that the capping station I had serviced may be at fault so I found a brand new spare I'd bought a few months ago from China. Swapped that. Thought I'd remove the damper assembly for a visual check
New dampers were still empty of ink. I'd seen a video online where someone put a syring to the damper and pulled the plunger saying if ink came out and stayed then the damper was good. I figured this may help pull ink through. Maybe some sort of air lock that the cleaning couldn't shift. The syringe bounced straight back like the damper was somehow sealed. Now like I've said I hadn't messed with dampers before so not at all confident in what to do. But I had the spares 3800 sitting there so I figured I would swap the damper assembly on that for this one and surely then all would be good. So I did that, again the ink tubes dripped ink all over my hands so at least there's ink to there.
Reassembled and switched on. Noticed during the printheads initial dance that the pads on the pump cap are still looking disturbingly white, same after a power clean and again. Taped paper to the platen and tried to print an image
And nothing, no ink coming through it seems
So another frustrating day yesterday. Got orders I need to print but no clue how I can get my printer printing again. I bought the epson adjuster program but tbh that's not installing so even that made me feel more of a failure.
Logic tells me it must be fixable. But how is eluding me and just making me feel useless
Hope you guys can help
I'll be upfront my 3800 forms part of a dtg t shirt printer, but the 3800 part is the issue here. And my mental health, well its not been good lately and the frustration of this...
So on Wednesday I had recovered from flu and was busy printing t shirt orders. My machine had been idle for a week so I did power cleans to get it up and running after having had the print head over towel soaked in cleaning fluid. I'd also cleaned the capping station and wiper.
It was printing nicely but the magenta wasn't coming through strong, for some reason I couldn't get really vibrant reds.
So the 3800 workings in this texjet dtg are pretty easy to get to. Capping station is easy to clean etc. It runs garment inks with white ink so you can print of dark fabric etc. The white ink is the usual culprit of clogs but here it was all running fine.
Then after 16 or so shirts, the colours suddenly lost vibrancy. Everything was faded and muddy looking. It was getting late so I thought it was time to tackle it the next day. So I cleaned and wet capped for the night.
Next day I decided that maybe the pump cap was to blame. I had a spare which I had stripped and cleaned so I replaced it. At this point I also thought I'd look at the dampers. I understand they're seen as a consumable part. I'd bought spare from China but up until now had chickened out. I'd also got a 3800 from ebay for spares so I thought I'd try to really treat my machine to tlc
I took the damper assembly off, undid the assembly until I could get to the dampers. Swapped about 4 and put the damper assembly back on the print head. Ink had flowed freely from the ink tubes so they seemed not worth replacing. Got everything screwed down, connectors back on only issue was working out where a thin strip of metal had come from but realised it lived under the selector motor and fastened by the ground wire screw.
Turned the machine back on and no explosion, no fountains of ink so maybe I had done a good job. Did 2x power clean as I thought I'd need to get ink back to the head. Tried a test print and hardly anything being printed. Totally deflated I went home.
Next morning I thought that the capping station I had serviced may be at fault so I found a brand new spare I'd bought a few months ago from China. Swapped that. Thought I'd remove the damper assembly for a visual check
New dampers were still empty of ink. I'd seen a video online where someone put a syring to the damper and pulled the plunger saying if ink came out and stayed then the damper was good. I figured this may help pull ink through. Maybe some sort of air lock that the cleaning couldn't shift. The syringe bounced straight back like the damper was somehow sealed. Now like I've said I hadn't messed with dampers before so not at all confident in what to do. But I had the spares 3800 sitting there so I figured I would swap the damper assembly on that for this one and surely then all would be good. So I did that, again the ink tubes dripped ink all over my hands so at least there's ink to there.
Reassembled and switched on. Noticed during the printheads initial dance that the pads on the pump cap are still looking disturbingly white, same after a power clean and again. Taped paper to the platen and tried to print an image
And nothing, no ink coming through it seems
So another frustrating day yesterday. Got orders I need to print but no clue how I can get my printer printing again. I bought the epson adjuster program but tbh that's not installing so even that made me feel more of a failure.
Logic tells me it must be fixable. But how is eluding me and just making me feel useless
Hope you guys can help
