Windows 11 updates have caused some Freejet customers’ DirectRip installations to lose access to the R2400 device driver.

See the Printer Missing in DirectRip after Windows 11 Update article for a set of preliminary checks and to download a utility that will resolve the Windows Update issue.

When these two lights are flashing back and forth, with one on while the other is off, we need to reset the waste ink pad counter before we can continue printing.

There is nothing that you need to do when your Freejet printer’s ‘Ink’ light comes on.

The ink light will come on from time to time because part of the print head’s supporting electronics monitor ink usage and have noted that nearly a cartridge worth of ink has been used for one or more of the 8 ink lines.

Since FreeJet printers use a bulk ink system rather than ink cartridges (to reduce your ink cost and maintenance time) you can safely ignore the ‘Ink’ light. Your printer includes an Ink Reset feature that will automatically notify the ink monitoring system that a new ink cartridge has been installed, and the ink light will then turn off. Note that the ink light will flash just before the reset is completed, but nothing needs to be done by the operator as this is an automated function.

You also have an option to perform a manual ink light reset process with the following steps:

1. Press ‘Function’ + ‘Stand-by’
2. Pause for 4-5 seconds
3. Press ‘Function’ + ‘Stand-by’ a second time

To run a full ‘double pass’ print with no manual interaction (a white underbase followed by the color & highlight layer) it’s necessary that the Layer setting be set to ‘B’.

If your Freejet is set to ‘A’ and you’re in the middle of running a 2-layer print, just tap the ‘Stand-by’ button after the underbase has finished printing — once the gantry has settled back to its rear home position. The gantry will then move to the front ‘Print ready’ position and the color layer will print.

See the below video for details on how to change the Layer setting to ‘B’ so you won’t need to tap Stand-by between layers.

Color vibrancy is mainly determined by two factors: pretreatment and color strength.

If a garment is not properly pretreated then too much ink may be absorbed into the fabric. When working with unfamiliar garments, it’s often necessary to experiment to find the proper pretreatment amounts.

Increasing color strength by a few percentage points can also add more vibrancy to colors.

However, adding too much ink by boosting the color strength may cause the ink to bleed so it’s best to optimize pretreatment before boosting color strength.

Since we know that the Freejet printer’s ‘Ink’ light does not indicate that we need to refill the printer’s ink bottles, how do we know when they should be filled?

The chromed bracket holding the ink bottles on the rear of the printer has a vertical slot cut out at each bottle position, so we can visually monitor the ink level for each color channel. We want to make sure that the ink level in each bottle is at least halfway up the distance of that slot (represented by the red lines in the below image), and recommend checking the levels at the beginning of each printing day and refilling at this time, as needed.

Be careful not to overfill the ink bottles, as doing so can cause leakage of ink into the body of the printer, through the outer sheath that carries the ink tube into the printer’s chassis. Only fill each bottle until the ink level reaches the top of the bracket — no higher than that.