# Brand new R1800 problems !



## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Hi all,

Ive just spent an hour unpacking my r1800 + artainium ink kit and following the instructions exactly as sawgrass show in their setup guide.

The last instruction is to "run the auto nozzle check routine from the utility section of your printer driver" ................well I cant because the r1800 is totally refusing to work with the artainium / sawgrass cartridges ! It wont do anything, not even a test print and keeps telling me to change them !

When I installed my epson d88 with a sawgrass kit I did not have this problem and although the printer constantly reminds me that the cartridges are not genuine epson, it still lets me use them.

So, if anyone has any ideas please let me know because I have £800 worth of kit that I cannot use at all for anything !

Thanks


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

This is not good !
Ive left it overnight and just tried again, still the same and ive even tried reseating the carts just to make sure the chip is being read. I spent a long time thinking about the cost of this machine and now that ive finally taken the plunge into the world of A3+ sublimation I cant do anything !

Am I right in saying this is a chip reading issue ?

Thanks


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

Same here, I've just bought R1800 with Artanium bulk system and cannot get it to print. Heads appear to be clogged and I can't unclog them. Had to reset my old, but trusty 1290 with bulk system back up. 
Jim


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Jim,

Are you getting the red warning lights above the cartridges on the machine ? Mine are all on which means the epson is refusing the information on the cartridge chips.

I thought sawgrass used original oem epson carts but they appear to be slightly different from the packaged epson carts that came with the printer.

Unless there is a solution im going to need a complete new sawgrass bulk ink set, or a new set of chips.

Either way, im not happy about it.

Cheers


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

No red lights, just very faded and heavily banded prints, especially the black which is a light grey. All the symptoms of clogged printheads. Tried head cleanings with no success. To add to the problem I've accidentally pulled 2 of the tubes out of the cartridge.
I had to set the 1290 back up despite the problem of the waste ink leaking from the bottom. I now wish I bought a new 1290 instead of the R1800
Jim


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Have you tried calling Sawgrass or your supplier for support? I had trouble getting my chips to work with my Sublijet ink, but they sent me a new set of chips and that fixed the problem.


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Hi Rusty,

My reseller has sent me a new set of chips which did not solve the problem, I then tried the original epsons that were packed with the machine and at first it rejected them but then charged up and accepted them, I did not want to use the epson cartridges as I had budgetted to sell them for aprox £50 to help towards the cost of the setup.

I then tried swapping chips about from sawgrass to epson and epson back to sawgrass and still this problem with the epson rejecting.

The reseller then sent a whole new sawgrass kit next day and this immediately fixed the problem.

It appears that the original sawgrass kit had dodgy grommets in the bottom of the carts which allowed them to move too much - thus moving the chips against the epson chip contacts.

It all appears ok now but im short of about 6 hours of my time and can no longer sell the 8 brand new epson carts. 

Reseller has been great, very helpful and trusting and he has informed sawgrass of the whole unfortunate incident and im hoping that something will be done to cheer me up a bit !

The second sawgrass kit had a badly aligned pipe clip which has almost punctured all 8 tubes but luckily not gone all the way through. This has been a totally different experience to setting up my D88 last year.

My entry into the world of garment printing has been bad all round, I had to send back my cap press before I even used it, I got ripped off heavily on a small cutting plotter and im having untold problems with press marks on almost everything I do.

Thanks for all your help, this forum is very handy


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Hi,

Well im still out of pocket on the above issue and it looks like its staying that way.
Worse is the fact that I now have clogged nozzles, shades of gray are red or purple, and no amount of head cleaning will solve it.

Anyone got tips for this ?

Thanks


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## Cathybun (Dec 7, 2006)

Are the ink bottles below the level of the printer. This apparently is very important. We just set up our bulk ink system too the other day with our r1800. Are all the tubes straight, no twisting?


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks for the reply,

Its all exactly how it was when setup and I think its more to do with the fact it hasn't been used for a while.

Im leaving it overnight in the 'parked' position which ive been told can help soften up the dried up ink. I hope it works because ive had enough of problems with print machines !


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

I never got mine to print, have sent the Artanium bulk system back and received refund.
Going over to the Sawgrass system. Ink is a lot more expensive plus it's an 8 colour system. Had sample sheets printed in black which I transfered to aluminium and you have to see and compare with the artanium to believe the difference, the Sawgrass is truly jet black.

Jim


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Im a bit confused, Artanium is made by Sawgrass ?


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

Artanium was originally the brand of Tropical Graphics, but following a law suit by Sawgrass, who hold the patent for dye sublimation on small format inkjet printers, Tropical Graphics became part of Sawgrass. They also took over Rotech, thats why Sawgrass sell 3 brands of ink, ther own, Artanium and Rotech.
When I first started sublimation years ago I used Sawgrass ink cartridges in the 980 but had problems with clogging but their ink has changed over time and I believe it is much more stable.
As I said it's a lot more expensive but as I do a lot of black printing I consider the extra cost justified.
Another point to consider is they have stand alone colour correction software which is not reliant on Corel or Photoshop.
The inks for the R1800, which are in mylar bags instead of bottles are 8 colours, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, red, blue and jet black.

Jim


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Yeah, I just had to order 3 refill bags for my R1800 at $234 a pop. So to re-fill 3 of my 8 bags, I just spent over $700. Yikes.

You're right, the Sublijet black is true black. But it also lays down too much black ink causing thin black lines to become thick black lines. And the colors can really give you a headache too, trying to get them to come out looking like they do on the screen.


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

Are you using Powerdriver? If you set for plain paper, which I use for Artanium, it should lay down less ink. I also use Epson Photo Quality Paper which does not release as much ink as some of the high release papers.

Jim


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Now im even more confused.
How or why would you want to use epson photo paper with sublimation ?

I thought these specialist inks could only be used with paper like truepix ?


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## jimc (Jan 31, 2007)

When printing transfers with the ordinary inks you need a paper that is specially coated which transfers both the coating and the ink. However with sublimation the ink adheres only to polymer, polyester shirts are of course polymer. Hard goods are polymer coated so you dont need the specially coated papers. The only coating required is the type that stops the ink from sinking into the paper. I've always used the Epson paper, in fact the UK Sawgrass distributor reccommend that paper. It's instant dry, A4, A3 & A3+ available locally and is cheaper than those so called sublimation papers.

Jim


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## draig (Jul 29, 2007)

I've only ever used Epson ink jet paper on mugs, metal all the hard substrates in fact, I started doing subli like Jim with the early Sawgrass inks but was using an Epson 850 (those were the days eh £95.00 for a black cartridge  ). I changed to Rotech when I found them, and have been using them since, in fact I still use my Epson C82.

I use Texprint XP for fabrics though.


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## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

Is the ink that came with the printer good for printing on tees? I would love to up-grade to a large format printer. I'm using the c88+ now. It's ok, just does not print big enough for me.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

jimc said:


> Are you using Powerdriver? If you set for plain paper, which I use for Artanium, it should lay down less ink. I also use Epson Photo Quality Paper which does not release as much ink as some of the high release papers.
> 
> Jim


Yes, I'm using PowerDriver. There is no setting for "Plain Paper" with PowerDriver, because you are supposed to be usine sublimation paper, not plain paper. If you don't want to release as much ink, they make low-release sublimation papers, which is what I use for hard substrates.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

jimc said:


> It's instant dry, A4, A3 & A3+ available locally and is cheaper than those so called sublimation papers.
> 
> Jim


"So called Sublimation papers" are specially made to release the ink vapor onto the substrate through channels that are perpendicular to the paper. DyeSub ink will evaporate off of pretty much any carrier, even another shirt, when heated to 400 degrees, but that doesn't mean it's a good carrier to use for sublimation printing.  But, if you're happy with the result, I guess that's all that matters. But I'll stick with the sublimation papers.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Buechee said:


> Is the ink that came with the printer good for printing on tees? I would love to up-grade to a large format printer. I'm using the c88+ now. It's ok, just does not print big enough for me.


No. Sublimation requires sublimation ink.


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## Buechee (Dec 22, 2005)

It uses the same type of ink as the c88+. Not Dura, but it is still a pigment type ink. That's all Ive been using for the last year. I never changed anything about the c88, just started printing. If it uses pigment ink, why would I have to change it?


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

Buechee said:


> It uses the same type of ink as the c88+. Not Dura, but it is still a pigment type ink. That's all Ive been using for the last year. I never changed anything about the c88, just started printing. If it uses pigment ink, why would I have to change it?


No printers come with sublimation ink. It has to be bought specially. Pigment ink is not sublimation ink.


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Ive now got this sorted by leaving the head 'parked' overnight.
Just done a test print of a detailed graphic on a white teddy tee and its perfect.

With regards to using non dye sub paper on hard surfaces I might try it but im having great results using truepix paper on mugs and im a believer in the phrase "if it aint broke, dont fix it" !

Thanks


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

What did you do to get the head in the "parked" position? I'm having a clog problem right now and head cleanings doesn't seem to be helping either.


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## ukshirtguy (Nov 23, 2006)

Hi Rusty,

Stop head cleaning if it doesnt work after a couple of times, you will waste tons of ink.

I found the info on another site, forget where though.

Perform a manual head clean and when the cycle has finished (dont do any tests) pull out the power lead from back of machine. Leave overnight and test next morning.

The head should be on the far right of machine and in its down position before you unplug the cable. Make sure no lights are flashing when you unplug it.

This worked for me after doing about a dozen head cleans the day before.


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