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- Want to know more about the upkeep
of your Fast T-Jet? Check out this guide to direct-to-garment
printer maintenance.
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- By Harry Oster
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- As someone involved with repairing
and refurbishing digital garment printing equipment, I can tell
you that I see some machines in unbelievably dirty condition. In the same way that some screen printers neglect
their presses, some digital decorators fail to clean and maintain
their digital printers, causing themselves unnecessary headaches
and expenses. That's a shame when you consider how quick and
easy it is to maintain your digital printer.
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- If you purchased a brand-new automobile,
you wouldn't simply drive it endlessly without performing regular
maintenance tasks like oil changes and tire pressure checks.
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- Similarly, when you purchase a Fast T-Jet
Digital Garment Printer, you need to give the machine some occasional
TLC. Doing so will go a long way in extending the mileage of
your T-Jet printer, ensuring that it has a trouble-free, efficient
life. What's more, properly maintaining your T-Jet printer can
help you save ink, minimize the frequency of head-cleanings and
nozzle checks, avoid wasting garments, and avoid replacing print
heads and other components.
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- Your Regular Routine
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- Set aside five minutes at the end of each
work day to clean your T-Jet. Use a gentle liquid, like Formula
409 or isopropyl alcohol and a paper towel to wipe the outside
of the machine, for cosmetic reasons if nothing else. Then, use
a swab to gently clean the inside. Use the special swabs that
came with the printer to clean it. Avoid Q-tips, which can leave
cotton debris on the unit. Pay particular attention to the rubber
gasket on the capping assembly, where ink buildup can lead to
clogging. Also, wipe away any excess ink from the sloped areas
to either side of the print head, but make sure to avoid touching
the print head itself.
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- On a weekly basis, you should clean the
encoder strip. The strip has a nearly invisible pattern embossed
on it that tells the print head where it is at any given moment.
If that pattern is dirty, the printer can't read it. If you turn
on the printer and the print head wanders back and forth aimlessly
there is a good chance that the cause is a dirty, or scratched,
encoder strip. Clean the strip using a standard alcohol wipe
available from most drugstores, making sure to always wipe
towards the spring to avoid stretching it.
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- Drugstores also sell a product called
Swipes, an eyeglass cleaner that doubles as the perfect encoder
strip cleaning tool. Swipes look like tweezers with two circular
pads on the ends. Put a little Windex spray on the pads, squeeze
them together and wipe until the encoder strip is clean.
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- Each month, you'll need to oil the printer's
rails using an extremely light coat of 3-in-1 machine oil. Lubricate
the metal rail that the print head rides on. While you're at
it, clean out any lint from the belt that drives the print head.
Otherwise, the belt may skip during printing.
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- Spare Parts
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- This daily/weekly/monthly maintenance
routine should work well for most users. If you're a power user,
you'll want to have certain parts available as replacements,
as natural wear and tear will eventually require new parts. For
instance, keep an extra encoder strip handy - it's a relatively
inexpensive part. For many printers it is at less than $20.
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- It's also handy to have an extra capping
assembly, the part that the print head sits on. A capping assembly
acts like a vacuum cleaner, sucking out the waste ink when you
do a head cleaning. This part is constantly working, so you may
need to change it out once or twice a year. A capping assembly
runs anywhere from $60 to $295, depending on what type of machine
you have.
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- You also should keep spare waste pads.
This 2" x 2" part, which costs just a few dollars,
sits on the side opposite the print head to absorb excess ink,
keeping it from spreading all over the machine and gunking things
up. (Blazer and Jumbo models do not have these pads.) Whenever
you see a large build-up of ink on the pad, it's time to change
it out for a new one. Make this checkup part of your daily or
weekly maintenance routine. Likewise, if your machine uses an
exterior waste ink tank, keep a close eye on it. When it's getting
full, just detach the bottle from the machine and throw away
the ink. (Check with local officials regarding rules and regulations
regarding the disposal of ink.).
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- Humidity can also affect your digital
printer and its print head. In fact, the larger the machine,
the more sensitive it is to humidity. Use a hygrometer (humidity
gauge) to measure whether your shop's humidity level is in the
desired range of 40% to 80%. Digital hygrometers are available
for around $10 from a hardware store. Purchase one and hang it
on the wall by your printer. Check it regularly for proper humidity
level. A humidifier and dehumidifier will help you adjust the
room's humidity level and keep it within the desired range. Generally,
humidify in the winter and dehumidify in the summer. Your
shop's humidity level plays a crucial role in your machine's
health, so keep close tabs on it.
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- Digital printers also are sensitive to
dust and heat, so maintain a clean environment and a temperature
of 65 to 80 degrees. Think of your T-Jet as a piece of office
equipment. You wouldn't put your high-end color laser copier
next to a screen printing machine in 100-degree heat, right?
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- Finally, you will eventually have to replace
the print head. The print head will last anywhere from a few
months to a year and a half, depending on how well you take care
of it. New print heads generally run between $300 and $600. Keeping
your machine clean goes a long way to extending the life of your
print head.
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- Keep tabs on your print head's health
by performing regular nozzle checks, which print a series of
lines of each ink color. If a certain color's line is missing
or if you see jagged lines, you know you have a problem: either
a clog or a worn-out print head. You should perform a nozzle
check at the start of every print day.
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- More Machine Maintenance Tips
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- Despite your best efforts, it's easy to
let maintenance routines get away from you. Skip a day here and
there, and before you know it, you're out of the habit and neglecting
your machine. Stay on track by keeping a log where you record
your maintenance routine each day, making note of which tasks
you performed. Besides helping you remember what tasks you performed
when, this log will also come in handy for potential buyers if
you decide to sell your machine for a larger one. Naturally,
the prospective buyer will be more likely to pay a higher price
for a digital printer that has records showing the owner's regular
maintenance.
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- One area of the machine you shouldn't
mess with is its electronics. If there's a problem with a circuit
board, keep your soldering iron in the tool shed, and let your
supplier address the problem. Some suppliers also offer general
machine tuneups - a good idea, especially if you have a larger,
more complex unit.
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- Also, don't let your machine sit for days
on end without running, lest you risk getting an ink clog. Every
printer runs best if used at least once a day. Come up with
a great looking design incorporating your logo, address, web
site. If you don't have a print job that day, print a sample
shirt with that design. This way you both run the printer and
build up a supply of sample shirts to give to customers or wear.
If you're going to leave the machine idle for more than three
or four days then you should install cleaning cartridges and
flush out the print head with cleaning solution. Make sure you
flush the head out thoroughly. Leave the cleaning cartridges
in. When you're ready to start up again just remove the cleaning
cartridges, put in your bulk ink system cartridges, and resume
printing.
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- Similarly, if you don't intend on using
white ink for a long time, use cleaning fluid in its place in
the white ink bottles and cartridges. Then whenever you're ready
to start using white again, just empty the cleaning solution
and fill the bottles or cartridges with white ink. This is a
good approach, as white ink can clog more easily than other inks.
Please keep in mind that you muist have fluids in your cartridges.
Running the printer without fluid or ink in cartridges will permanently
damage the print head.
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- Another helpful tip for white ink: At
the end of each day, mildly agitate all of the canisters that
have white ink.
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- Most of these maintenance tips for the
T-Jet printers are relatively straightforward and inexpensive.
The key is getting in the habit of performing them on a regular
basis - this way, your machine will consistently performs at
its peak.
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