DTF Printing L1800 Ink Issue

[nikogarabiles]

Hi,
I'm new to DTF printing but I have this Epson L1800 for quite a while now. My issue is that when printing in film, I'm encountering like a leaking ink in the print (kindly refer to the screenshot. those circled in red are not part of the print design).
The things I already did in the printer:

- Push printhead with cleaning solution using syringe
- pull the inks from damper using syringe
- Head Cleaning
- Put Cleaning Solution overnight in the capping station

But the problem still remains. Do I already need to change my printhead?

Hope you could help me.

 

[LazyHeat]

Epson printhead carriers have check valves that are known to cause leakage like this due to sticking open. It can also be damaged nozzles, requiring a new printhead. I have never worked on Epson printers, just Canon and HP, but maybe this will give you a starting point. Sorry, that's all I have.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

It appears to me that the foil is touching the printhead from underneath because the foil is not staying flat. Do you have the same problems when printing on regular paper or photo paper ?

 

[nikogarabiles]

It appears to me that the foil is touching the printhead from underneath because the foil is not staying flat. Do you have the same problems when printing on regular paper or photo paper ?

Surprisingly, the smudges doesn't occur on a regular bond paper. But then if the issue is the film touching the printhead because, as you've said, the film is not staying flat, how can I fix that? I've been observing while printing and I can't notice any misalignment in the film. For me it was flat so I'm not getting what do you mean by the film not laying flat.

 

[nikogarabiles]

It appears to me that the foil is touching the printhead from underneath because the foil is not staying flat. Do you have the same problems when printing on regular paper or photo paper ?

I think I discovered the cause. Remember in my main post I mentioned doing some things in the printer like pushing printhead with syringe? It was to fix my initial issue which is the thin white ink on print. I forgot to mention about putting the ink tank higher than normal position (see first image, Image 1). So a while ago I tried checking if that's what causing my issue. I printed 2 same designs where ink tank is in normal position and I did not have that smudge (see 2nd image, Print 1). Now I tried putting it again in the high position in my 3rd print and surprisingly, I encountered the issue again. I did my 4th last print in the normal position and I did not encounter the issue (see image 3, Print 2. The one with red circle was the one with issue). But even if I think that confirms the cause of my problem, I just want an expert's thought about this. Does putting ink tank in higher position really causes this?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Why would you raise the tanks that much - that's completely changing the overall hydrostatic situation between the tanks and the nozzle plate, the inks are taken from the bottom of the tanks, and this level must be a few centimeters below the level of the nozzle plate, there must be a very small underpressure, the nozzles must suck the ink from the tanks or you get an overflow condition. Please place the tanks into their normal location, and report if you get problems this way.

 

[The Hat]

I forgot to mention about putting the ink tank higher than normal position

Raising the external tanks up beyond their normal level can be a very bad idea, and can cause you to lose all the ink out of them when not in use, syphoning and gravity can work again you big time, if you need to have them higher then try raising the tank unit 10 mm at most..

 

[nikogarabiles]

Why would you raise the tanks that much - that's completely changing the overall hydrostatic situation between the tanks and the nozzle plate, the inks are taken from the bottom of the tanks, and this level must be a few centimeters below the level of the nozzle plate, there must be a very small underpressure, the nozzles must suck the ink from the tanks or you get an overflow condition. Please place the tanks into their normal location, and report if you get problems this way.

Yup, it solved my problem. I didn't encounter the ink smudges anymore. I read this in a link somewhere to solve the white ink issue. Thanks.

 

[nikogarabiles]

Raising the external tanks up beyond their normal level can be a very bad idea, and can cause you to lose all the ink out of them when not in use, syphoning and gravity can work again you big time, if you need to have them higher then try raising the tank unit 10 mm at most..

Yes, newbie mistake. Now I know. Thanks for the info.