Epson Stylus Pro 9600 printing on polycotton

[piers]

hi folks
bit of an update
I bought some oil cloth (if that is what is called) from Dunelm. The sort of plastic backed cloth you use to cover picnic tables. Anyway rolling that up with the printable cotton fabric greatly improved the way that the fabric went through the printer. You still can't walk away but there is a certain amount of adhesion between the two materials and the oil cloth is heavy enough to avoid rucking. It still seems important to have a certain amount of tension on the bottom of the printable fabric however. I will attach some video of the printing process. One problem I can't fathom is the occasional 'vomits' of ink onto the fabric. I can't see any reason, no wrinkles etc. It doesn't even look like a head strike in that it just seems as though the printer has decided to squirt an ounce of ink out.

Sorry about the pattern in the photos, my 22 year old son, for whom I intend to make a shirt, is still starry eyed enough to think we have a chance sigh !

 

[Andreas S]

Hi piers,
I think that the "vomits" are related to the platten gap. Rising up the gap should help you.
Andreas

 

[piers]

Thanks Andreas, much appreciated. I think I have enough for a shirt with that last print, but i will try with the next pattern and let you know how I get on. I noticed 'platen' gap when scrolling through the menus but didn't know what it meant. I have just looked it up and can see what you mean. Will post here again to let you know how I get on !

 

[Andreas S]

You are welcome piers. There are two ways to have "vomits", either condensation or the gap between printhead and substrate. As there is no heat by using an 9600 …
Andreas

 

[piers]

Hi Andreas I increased the platen gap to wide and had another go at printing this time I went for a whole scene, raphaels trasfiguration. I intend to use it as a lining for a jacket I am making for my parish priest ! As you see I still had the 'vomits' .The print started with the head of Christ coming out first, the first row of blobs appeared to occur when I adjusted the fabric coming out in the hope of avoiding smudges. I think something in the movement caused the problem. The others just appeared spontataneously, but seemed to appear after the fabric had passed through the head. Could ink be building up somewhere and then touching the fabric ? There is still plenty useable but it is annoying to have the picture ruined.
BW Piers

 

[guymark]

Hi Piers.

I have the gap set to maximum and the material so taut that I do not think there is any chance of head contact - yet I too find the "vomit" of ink is an issue. It will print fine for several inches and then "drips away". I am trying to work out what could cause it - as if the print head is NOT making any contact with the cloth, then I cannot see how it "knows to do anything different" from printing on paper. Clearly though something is going on.

One VERY unlikely possibility - but I am starting to run out of ideas - is that the material being pulled over a rubber roller is generating some static which is trying to "pull the ink" from the head. This seems unlikely as the surplus ink still has to come from somewhere. It is most notable at the edges of the print with me - though can happen at any point.

I am going to VERY lightly dampen some cloth with a tiny amount of salt water just to ensure there is no static charge whatsoever and see if it makes a difference. I am not overly optimistic but other than static, I cannot see ANYTHING that could "pull" the ink that paper would not also be prone to.

I did once have vomiting when printing polyester canvas but once I had altered the platen gap to max I have never had a problem since (other than with printing material). If the dampening of material works, I will let you know - but it might be a few days until I can do this - as absurdly busy at the moment and "on the road" a lot for the next 10 days or so.

So frustrating - especially as your photo above shows some otherwise excellent results!

 

[piers]

Hi Guy, thanks for the reply, actually that is an interesting concept. As I siad it doesn't appear to be to do with head strikes. BTW the cloth above was prepared with the home made bubble set though I doubled up on the soda crystals as I read somewhere that they werent 100% sodium carbonate and upped the water as I didn't want so much alum owing to the head clog issues I had before. I was pretty happy with the output, though it still requires a lot of drying time before I could use the fabric. As this will be cut for garment making I can work round the 'vomit's but it still means I need to print 4 yards of fabric to get 2 yards useable.

 

[The Hat]

@piers, Is one of the dampers on the head leaking by any chance...

 

[piers]

Hi the hat, how would I know ? inded what are the dampers and where would i find them

 

[Andreas S]

Hi piers,
The dampers are filters to prevent pigments of big size to go into the printhead. They are fixed directly on the printhead with the ink assy.

I had a problem with ink vomits on my 1400 converted to b/w printing. I found out that the vomits came only when using the epson driver and Gutenprint. When I'm using printfab there are no vomits. You can try the printfab rip. There is a free trial for 30 days to download here:
http://www.printfab.net/
Andreas