Users Guide & Operation Manual for HM1 Kiosk with White Ink Version 2.
Contents Important Safety Instructions............................................................................3 1. Introducing DTG Digital Printers.............................................................................4 1.1 The DTG HM1 Kiosk™................................................................................4 1.2 DTG TEX Textile Inks ...............................................................................5 White Ink Properties and Maintenance................................
8 General Care & Maintenance of your DTG HM1 Kiosk ............................................... 34 8.1 Execute a Print Head Clean at the end of production ...................................... 34 8.2 Leave the DTG HM1 Kiosk on each night ...................................................... 34 8.3 Run the Epson Nozzle Check utility each day before starting production ............... 34 8.4 Manually wipe the Print Head Face ............................................................ 34 8.
Important Safety Instructions Please read these safety instructions before unpacking and setting up your unit. It is important you follow all the warnings on the printer. Use only the type of power source that is indicated on the printer's label. All equipment must be connected to grounded outlets. Do not use the same outlet for any other system such as a copy machine or an air control unit that turns on and off. Connect the printer to a power outlet that can easily be seen.
1. Introducing DTG Digital Printers DTG Digital printers are one of the most distinct ranges of inkjet flat bed printers available today. These direct inkjet printers are capable of printing on many different materials, even materials with light and / or uneven surfaces. Using our specialised textile pigment inks, you can print directly to cotton or cotton blend fabrics, such as those used in T-Shirts.
There are many applications for DTG HM1 Kiosk™ printing. Besides T-Shirts, it can print on ladies tops, men’s polo shirts, tote bags, aprons, towels, caps, mouse pads and bibs. Some products will require pre-treatment with undercoats as well as the application of top coats to protect the print. By choosing the DTG Uni range of inks, you can print on a range of nontextile items such as wood, glass, tiles, golf balls etc.
Using Other Ink Brands Your DTG HM1 Kiosk™ package included bottles of DTG TEX Textile Inks. This is a specially formulated, water based pigment ink. DO NOT mix other ink brands with your DTG TEX Textile inks. This can create major problems.
2 Before you Get Started 2.1 Commit to Maintenance Your DTG HM1 Kiosk represents a signicant investment, not only of your money but also of your commitment to your new business opportunity with the DTG HM1 Kiosk. Whilst the mechanics of the Kiosk are essentially the same as that of a normal inkjet printer, printing on fabric is not the same as printing on paper.
3 Printer Components *Names below are used in this User’s Guide 3.1 Front A. Moving Head Unit E. Printing Bed B. Head Operation Controls F. Transportation Bracket Screws C. Waste Ink Bottle Compartment G. Print Head Carriage Cover D.
3.2 Rear A. CMYK Inks Bottle Compartment D. Transportation Bracket Screws B. Ink Chip Compartment E. Power & Comms Ports C.
3.
The Print Head itself is seated within the Print Head Carriage, and the printing face of the Print Head protudes from an opening in the base of the Print Head Carriage. The image to the right shows inside the Print Head Carriage with the Carriage Cover removed. The ink tubes from the printer ink bottles each connect to L shaped tubes which in turn each connect to a damper contained within the Print Head Carriage.
Printable Area of the DTG HM1 Kiosk The diagram above refers to the entire printable area of your DTG HM1 Kiosk™, NOT the printable area within your Shirt Platen. As the size of the Shirt Platens may vary, you will need to measure your shirt platen and set the paper size according to your measurements.
5.1 Unpacking and Positioning the DTG HM1 Kiosk™ Please read the following directions through before unpacking your DTG HM1 Kiosk™: Prepare a work area with a solid work table that will not vibrate when using the DTG HM1 Kiosk™. Allow extra room for your computer, replacement inks and space to work. See diagram below for approximate dimensions of the unit and minimum workspace area required. Carefully remove the printer from the box, taking hold of it by the sides of the black base unit.
Protect any carpet or floor covering with mats or old carpet as there is a risk of spilling wet ink when you refill the bulk ink bottles. Place the DTG HM1 Kiosk™ close to the heat source that you are using to cure the ink so that you have a smooth workflow, but ensure that heat does not radiate directly on to the DTG HM1 Kiosk™. If you have more than one DTG HM1 Kiosk™, place them around the heat source or close to it.
Remove the tape holding the Print Head Carriage Cover closed. Remove the tape holding the inkjet printing head in place. Remove any tape holding the waste ink bottle in place. Connect the power supply cable and the printer interface (USB or parallel) cable with your PC. Do not use an interface cable that is longer than 3 metres. Do not use a USB Hub or USB extension cable as erratic prints may result.
5.2 Filling Ink Bottles Pour Inks into the Ink Bottles: Gently shake the White Ink bulk supply bottle. Remove the lids of the bulk ink supply bottles. Remove the Ink Bottle covers from the rear of the printer. Remove the lids from the ink bottles at the rear of the printer (or open the cap of the Ink Pouring hole and insert a funnel), and slowly pour the ink from the bulk supply ink bottles into the corresponding printer ink bottles.
Drop the agitation “pill” into the printer white ink bottle Ink levels in the printer ink bottles should be maintained at ½ to ¾ full at all times. In particular, the White Ink level must never be let go below 40%, doing so could cause the ink tubes to draw air into the system, requiring a re-charge of inks to re-fill the ink tubes. 5.3 Installing Ink Counter Chips As discussed previously, your DTG HM1 Kiosk™ is based upon the Epson R2400 Stylus Photo desktop printer.
5.4 Installing & Using Printer Drivers for Windows Please note: Before starting this part of the set up process, we recommend you turn OFF all Screen Savers when installing your software and printing to your DTG HM1 Kiosk™. If you have any problems installing the Printer Drivers or the RIP software, please call the Support Department at your DTG Agent / Dealer for help. In your DTG HM1 Kiosk package you received the Epson R2400 Printer Driver CD.
Copy all files from the CD to a suitable location on your computer’s hard drive. Open the folder containing these files from your computer’s hard drive. Double click the Sentinal Protection Installer 7.3.0.exe file & follow the prompts – this will install the necessary files to allow your computer to recognize the Maintenance Program security device. Please note that the Maintenance Program will not operate without this security device. Insert the security device into a USB port on your computer.
Click on the Ink Charge button. The dialog should now display a status bar, and the HM1 Kiosk should start “pumping” ink from the ink bottles through to the print head. Once the Ink Charge is complete, you will be presented with an information box saying “Ink Charge has been completed properly”. Click OK. You will probably need to repeat the Ink Charge several times to draw the ink fully through the ink tubes and into the Print Head.
5.7 Monitor and Empty the Waste Ink Bottle as Needed Please note: Pay close attention to the waste ink bottle. Always empty the bottle before filling the ink bottles, and monitor the waste ink level regularly during the operation of your DTG HM1 Kiosk™.
6 Basic Printer Operations 6.1 Control Panel & Head Operation Controls Before you attempt to print anything with your DTG HM1 Kiosk, you need to understand the Control Panel & Head Operation Controls, and what their buttons and lights mean: Control Panel The Control Panel is located at the very front of the printer, and allows control of both the movement of the Moving Head Unit (forward / back) and the movement of the Printing Bed (up / down).
The Down button, when pressed, will lower the level of the Printing Bed and anything that may be positioned on the Printing Bed, such as a Garment Platen). Press once for a small movement, press and hold for larger movements. The Gap On/Off button, when pressed, will turn on or off the Gap Sensor in the Moving Head Unit. The Gap Sensor uses lasers to sense objects (such as a wrinkle in a garment) that are in the path of the Print Head.
Emergency Stop Button The Emergency Stop button should only be used in an Emergency, for example where there is immediate threat of injury to person or persons by the movement / operation of the DTG HM1 Kiosk. Engage the Emergency Stop by pushing the red knob forcibly. This will interrupt A/C power supply to the DTG HM1 Kiosk and all current printer operations will cease. Release the Emergency Stop button by turning the red knob in a clockwise direction.
Ink Lights (1-7) As discussed previously, your DTG HM1 Kiosk™ is based upon the Epson R2400 Stylus Photo desktop printer. This standard printer uses 16-20ml ink cartridges instead of the dampers and bulk ink system used in the DTG HM1 Kiosk™. The standard printer uses micro-chips on the ink cartridges to “count” ink drops that pass through the print head during printing, head cleaning and ink charging to determine when a particular cartridge is getting low on ink.
6.2 Printing a Nozzle Check Pattern To check that the Print Head is fully charged with Ink and ready to print, you will need to print a Nozzle Check Pattern. You should also print this Nozzle Check Pattern each day before production and often during production if lines or gaps start to appear in your printed output.
Click on Print to start the printing of the Nozzle Check pattern. Once the pattern has printed, the Moving Head Unit will move to the ejected position. The Nozzle Check pattern that has printed will look something like the pattern displayed on your computer screen and in the screen shot shown here. The major difference will be that the “light” colours shown on screen and to the left here will print as white on your printed Nozzle Check pattern.
6.3 Print Head Cleaning Should your printed Nozzle Check pattern (see previous section) have missing segments, you can execute a Print Head Cleaning in an attempt to clear those missing segments. If you clicked Clean from the Nozzle Check dialog, or if you clicked on Head Cleaning from the Maintenance tab of the Printing Preferences dialog of the Epson R2400 printer driver. Click on the Start button to execute the Head Cleaning function on the printer.
7 Printing on Textiles with the DTG HM1 Kiosk™ Printing on textile items with the DTG HM1 Kiosk™ is a very simple process involving four easy steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. Create an image in any of your graphics programs Load a T-shirt or other textile item onto the printer Set-up your image for printing with the RIP program Press the Print button. Once you are comfortable with the basic operations of your DTG HM1 Kiosk™, you are ready to proceed! 7.1 Basic Steps for Printing T-Shirts 1.
Pour the pre treat / Underbase into the fluid container of your Wagner HVLP /W550 Spray Gun. Set your spray gun to deliver roughly 5ml of pretreatment (underbase) in three seconds for an XL T. For the Wagner 550 this is accomplished by setting the adjustment screw three turns from maximum setting. Approximately 10ml 15ml of pre treat is recommended for coverage of a typical area of 14in x 17in (35.5cm X 43cm).
Light coloured garments where you are not planning to print any white ink generally do not require any pre-treatment process. 3. Put the garment into the GARMENT HOLDER / PLATEN. Place the garment on the GARMENT PLATEN. Put the metal HOLDING RING around garment and flatten out the printing surface. Any excess garment should be pushed into the space between the top and bottom of the Garment Platen.
7. Print Your Image. Refer to the separate Quick Start guide and manual for your RIP. 8. After Printing Has Finished. After DTG HM1 Kiosk™ has finished printing, the Moving Head Unit will automatically eject to the rear of the base unit. 9. Remove the GARMENT PLATEN. Remove the Garment Platen by simply lifting it slightly up and forward from the Printing Bed. Carefully remove the holding ring and remove the garment from the holder.
You may have to use trial and error to perfect the curing process to ensure maximum binding of the ink pigments to the garment, without any heat damage to the garment. 13. WASHING Garments Garments printed with the DTG HM1 Kiosk™ can be laundered as normal. It is a good idea to give your customer the following washing instructions: Turn the garment inside out before washing and drying, use cold water only and a medium dryer temperature. 7.
8 General Care & Maintenance of your DTG HM1 Kiosk Whilst your DTG HM1 Kiosk is built with many standard components from the Epson R2400 printer, uses the standard Epson R2400 Windows printer driver, and shares the ease of use of a standard desktop printer, that’s where the similarities end.
8.5 Keep the capping station and wiper blade free of ink build-up The Capping Station and Wiper Blade both play a critical role in cleaning the Print Head and preventing ink clogging in the Print Head. It is therefore very important that both of these components be kept in good working order. The biggest challenge to keeping these components performing at their best is the ink itself. Over time, excess ink can build up and harden on and around the Wiper Blade & Capping Station.
8.6 Clean the Encoder Strip The Encoder Strip is the thin plastic strip that runs behind the Print Head for the length of the carriage area. It looks to be clear or at least slightly grey in colour, but is in fact clear with hundreds of fine vertical marks on it. There is a sensor that sits behind the Print Head carriage which “reads” these vertical marks so that the Print Head knows exactly where to spray the ink.
8.8 Clean the Drive Roller and Belt The Drive Belt & Roller can collect a build up of pretreatment, dust & lint in their “teeth”. An excessive build up can cause the Print Head to “skip” during printing. Use a small brush or mini-vacuum cleaner to clean the teeth of the Drive Belt and the Drive Roller. You may also need to use a small sharp object and/or a small pair of tweezers to remove stubborn build up.
8.12 Avoid White Ink Separation As explained earlier in this User Guide, by it’s very nature, white ink (of any brand) is prone to “separation”, i.e. the separation of the pigment (the bits that give the white ink it’s opacity) from the binder (the bits that bind the pigment to your garments). If you do not print from your printer every day, you should leave your printer turned on.
8.16 Aligning the Print Head If you notice any vertical or misaligned lines on your prints, or banding of any kind, you will need to do a Print Head Alignment. There are several ways in which the Print Head may become mis-aligned – it could simply be through normal use, or if the Print Head hits a garment or the metal Holding Ring during printing, or during transportation of the unit.
8.18 Resetting the Waste Ink Counter You can use the HM1 Kiosk Maintenance Program to reset the Waste Ink Counter. 8.19 If Printer is Not Used for Some Time If the printer is to be left idle for a long period of time (1 – 2 weeks), then you should flush the system with flushing solution – please see the section on “transporting your printer” for instructions on flushing the system of ink. Do not leave ink in the system unused for a long period of time. 8.
9 Trouble-shooting 9.1 Control Panel Light Indicators Symptom Individual Ink Lights Solid Possible Causes Remedies Printer “thinks” it’s out of ink for corresponding ink colour Turn printer off, disconnect mains power for 1-2 minutes before reconnecting. You will need to cancel any print jobs still processing.
Symptom Possible Causes Remedies Prevention blocked or interrupted by foreign object job from RIP & Windows print queues.
Symptom Nothing happens when you send a print job from the computer Possible Causes Remedies Error with RIP program flashing or solid (refer to symptoms above) Printer not powered on Ensure the printer is turned on, and that the Power and Load lights are both solid Printer not connected to the computer via USB cable Ensure that none of the Ink Lights is flashing or solid (refer to symptoms above) Error with RIP program Print jobs take a long time to print See Remedies Ensure that the USB cable
Symptom Images print “out of registration” between white & colour layers Possible Causes Remedies Dirty Encoder Strip Clean the Encoder strip (Section 8.6) Dirty Encoder Sensor (behind the Print Head Carriage) Clean the Drive Belt & Driver roller (Section 8.
Symptom Cannot achieve a “good” Nozzle Check test, despite several Head Cleanings Possible Causes Remedies Nozzles in the Print Head are blocked with dried ink Check Valve positioning (Section Error! Reference source not found.
Symptom Images print with large bands in the print, or only partial images Possible Causes Remedies Dirty Encoder Strip Clean the Encoder strip (Section 8.6) Dirty Encoder Sensor (behind the Print Head Carriage) Clean the Drive Belt & Driver roller (Section 8.
Symptom Possible Causes Remedies Prevention on the Ink Tube, that the Ink tube is pushed “home” into the damper, and that the brass connecting nut is firmly finger fastened on the Damper Establish a good “siphon” after initial or subsequent INK FILLs, or after longer periods of printer inactivity by running a few Head Cleans. Clean Capping Station to ensure good suction when the Print Head is capped.
Symptom Possible Causes Remedies Prevention Check Valve positioning (Section Error! Reference source not found.) Prints are blurry or fuzzy Image resolution is too low Re-sample the image in the graphics software to a higher resolution Media to be printed on is set too low below the Print Head Raise the Printer Bed so that the Media (T-shirt, etc.) sits just below (1-2mm) the side walls of the Printer Bed. Print Head may be out of alignment Undertake a Print Head Alignment (see Section 8.
Symptom White Ink is printing “muddy” white colour Possible Causes Remedies Waste Ink from capping station has “back-flushed” into Print Head or Dampers Purge dirty ink from Print Head & Dampers either by way of INK FILL button or by a series of Print Head Cleans Clean Capping Station Prevention Ensure that if individual Valves are turned off during INK FILL, they are turned back on before the INK FILL button is released Check that Waste Ink (during Print Head Clean etc.
Symptom Possible Causes Remedies excess siphon 50 Prevention
9.3 Problems with Curing / Washing Symptom Prints loose too much vibrancy after Curing Possible Causes Remedies Too high a polyester content in fabric, particularly with white ink prints n/a Too much pressure on heat press Temperature on heat press is too high Prevention Best results are achieved with 100% cotton.
Symptom Prints peel or rub off, wash out, or fade after only a few washes Possible Causes Remedies Too high a polyester content in fabric, particularly with white ink prints n/a Too much or too little pressure on heat press during curing Prevention Best results are achieved with 100% cotton.
10 Transporting or Storing Your Printer It is extremely important you observe the following before transporting or an extended shut down of your DTG HM1 Kiosk™: 10.1 Preparing the printer for transportation If the printer is to be transported over a long distance, and/or by a common carrier (where you cannot control the “care” with which the printer is transported) it is best to flush the printer of ink to avoid the possibility of ink spills and the ink drying in the print head.
10.2 Preparing the Printer for an Extended Shutdown / Storage If the printer is not to be used for an extended period of time (more than 1 – 2 weeks), we recommend that you thoroughly flush the printer of all ink to avoid the possibility of ink drying out in the Ink System (ink tubes, valves, dampers & print head): 1. Turn the Power button on the Control Panel off, but leave the printer connected to mains power. 2.
11 Product Support Our Support Policy We offer FREE support for the DTG HM1 Kiosk™. Operating the unit is relatively easy, particularly if you follow the guidelines covered in this User Guide. Support can be obtained by contacting the DTG Dealer or Agent from whom you purchased your DTG HM1 Kiosk™. Support will generally be available during the Dealer or Agent’s normally business hours. Before calling, please have your serial number at hand with specific details of the problem.
12 Requirements for PC Minimum System Requirements for Windows • Microsoft Windows compatible PC with a Pentium II 266 MHz (Windows 98 or Me) or 350 MHz (Windows 2000 or XP) or (Pentium III 500 MHz recommended). • A minimum of 128MB of RAM is recommended. • A minimum of 200MB on your hard disk. • A display monitor with high resolution. • CD-ROM or DVD drives for installing the Printer Drivers. • USB connection: a USB that complies with Windows.
13 Printer Specifications 57
Limited Warranty Registration Card Remove this page and copy and mail or fax within 10 days of receipt of machine to: Impression Technology Pty Ltd Unit 1 / 176 South Creek Rd Cromer NSW 2099 Australia Phone: +61 2 9972 9155 Fax: +61 2 9972 9400 Email: support@dtgdigital.
