Nozzle check test prints are used to determine whether or not ink flow is on track to deliver the outstanding print quality that OmniPrint products are known for. We use nozzle checks to avoid wasting consumable materials if the printer requires more preparatory steps before doing production work.
The below video demonstrates how to print a nozzle check test pattern on a Freejet 330-series printer.
Cleaning the printhead of Freejet printers is automated and can be done from the printer’s control or from its driver software. Running head cleanings is part of the production day startup process and is also useful to keep print quality high in larger production runs.
The below video demonstrates how to perform a head cleaning on Freejet 330-series printers.
White ink pigment is heavier than the pigment of the CMYK colors. Gravity will cause the white pigment to settle at the bottom of ink lines and bottles if the printer is idle for more than a day or two.
The below video demonstrates how to prime the white ink lines in a Freejet printer to flush out separated white ink and fill the white ink lines with opaque white ink to deliver a strong underbase and vivid colors in your prints.
The below video demonstrates the startup process for Freejet 330-series printers that are fully installed and already being used for production work.
The following videos demonstrate how to unbox new Freejet 330-series printers and detail the package contents.
Transferring a finished print to a garment is simple and can be done immediately after DTF printing and curing, or up to a month later. Longer storage times may be possible if carefully stored in an air-tight container and in a climate-controlled environment.
| Fabric Type | Temp (F) | Pressure | Transfer Press Time | Peel Delay (cold peel film) | Finish Press Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton | 300◦ to 320◦ | 50-70 PSI Stahl’s 5-7 | 20 sec | 60-90 sec | 10-20 sec |
| Polyester | 260◦ to 280◦ | 50-70 PSI Stahl’s 5-7 | 20 sec | 60-90 sec | 10-20 sec |
The transfer process is now complete!
This video demonstrates and explains the importance of cleaning the print head brackets, undercarriage, capping station seals, and wiper blade, along with how to properly flush out the capping station sponges and wet cap the printer.
This video demonstrates and explains the initial ink line filling, priming, head cleans, and nozzle check test of a new printer.
DTF printing comes with its own unique set of advantages so many DTG printer operations are running some of their print jobs using the DTF technique!
Freejet printers are fully capable of printing vibrant, durable, and profitable transfers. Best of all, expanding your Freejet operation to include film transfer printing is easy, requiring just a few modifications to your software and workflow!
This guide will take you through the process of importing the latest DTF Environments for the Freejet 330TX or 330TX Plus into DirectRIP, so you can try out this exciting kind of garment printing yourself!
In DirectRIP, next to your “Environment” drop-down box, there is an icon that looks like a globe with a wrench for ‘Manage Environment’.
Click this ‘Manage Environment’ icon.
The ‘Manage Environment’ window will open. Click the leftmost icon at the bottom of this window to open the ‘Import Environment Package’ window.
In the window that appears, navigate to where you saved the downloaded .kie file, select it, and click the ‘Open’ button.
You should arrive at this window:
Click the ‘Import Package’ icon. This will import the new environments and the ‘Import environment package’ window will automatically close.
Next, click the green checkmark on the ‘Manage Environment’ window to save the update and close the menu.
That’s it! The environments are now fully installed! You can now use them to print transfers!
It’s important to have a basic understanding of how the ink delivery system works and the parts that are involved. Knowledge is power, and understanding the basics of how ink gets from the bottles to the print head empowers us to use deductive reasoning to quickly troubleshoot and resolve most ink flow issues.
Here’s a full list of the components of the ink delivery system:
Since we have eight ink channels (cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and four whites), there are eight of each part in the ink path until we get to the print head.
Let’s first define the purpose of each component, and then we’ll briefly go over how they all work together to get ink from the bottles and onto the garments when we print.
Ink bottles: The ink bottles provide a reservoir of ink for each channel. These are the beginning of the ink path for each of the eight ink channels. Each bottle has a metal fitting, through which an ink line will pass as it moves out of the bottle.
Ink lines: The translucent, plastic ink lines provide the majority (roughly 90%) of the path between the ink bottles and the print head. In combination, they’re an 8-lane ink expressway with no stops and no lane changes allowed.
One end of each ink line passes through a fitting on its ink bottle and extends down to about 1/4″ to 1/2″ from the bottom of the bottle. The other end of each ink line terminates inside the gantry, where it connects to an ink tube.
Ink tubes: The short (about 3″), softer plastic ink tubes are the “last mile” of the ink path, providing a flexible interconnection between the ink bottles and the dampers. If the ink lines are an ink expressway then the ink tubes are the off-ramp where the ink has almost reached its destination.
The Ink Tube connects the ink line to the damper.
The larger end of the ink tube tightly slips around the ink line, while the small end is attached to the damper with an o-ring and copper-colored nut.
Ink clips: The purpose of the ink clips is to crimp the ink tubes and shut off ink flow when desired (such as when the printer is idle.)
Dampers: Dampers provide the final “Quality Assurance” for ink with their mesh filter, which serves to trap bubbles and any dried ink or foreign material that doesn’t belong in the ink supply. (Better to replace a clogged damper than to have to replace a clogged print head.)
Damper fixation nuts & O-rings: These two parts complete the air-tight, mechanical connection between the ink tube and the damper. The o-ring goes around the smaller end of the ink tube and presses against the inside of the fixation nut to ensure an air-tight connection when the nut is attached to the damper.
The dampers and their associated o-rings and fixation nuts are the last components in the printing ink path before the print head.
Print head: The print head is where it all comes together — literally. All eight of the ink channels feed into the eight posts on top of the print head, to which the dampers directly connect.
Print head top, with damper posts.
The purpose of the print head is, of course, to deliver the ink to the garment that we’re printing onto through the over 1,400 tiny nozzles of the print head plate, on the bottom of the print head.
All of the components listed above except the print head itself are completely passive while the printing. That is, they are simply a conduit for the ink to travel through.
Pump with capping station: Ink doesn’t actually flow through the pump when we’re printing, but it’s included here because it is instrumental for priming and for running head cleans before or between print jobs.
The purpose of the pump, with regards to ink delivery, is to pull ink through the print head nozzles when priming and running head cleans, but not when printing.
When printing, ink is jetted out of the print head nozzles by micro-piezo electronics within the print head. This creates pulses that push drops of ink out of nozzles as the carriage moves back & forth. This happens very quickly and very precisely in order to produce high-quality prints at high resolution.
You may wonder, if it’s only the print head that actively does anything to make ink flow while printing, what causes the ink to flow into the print head while printing? Essentially, it is gravity — but more specifically, the ink delivery system is a type of siphon. As the print head expels drops of ink, the siphon effect causes more ink to be drawn into the print head from the bottles, through the ink lines, tubes, and dampers.
In order for ink to flow properly through a siphon system, every component and connection in the system must be air-tight. So while this isn’t a troubleshooting guide, if one of your ink channels starts dropping out while printing after getting a perfect nozzle check, you may want to verify the following:
Contact tech support for more in-depth troubleshooting if you’re experiencing unresolved ink flow issues.
