# HELP Faint Black or grey specks on finished products



## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

Hope everyone had a great holiday... Since the new year is coming, i would like to fix a few problems that i have been having to deal with lately...
I own a C88 Epson printer, I am on like my third printer, trying to get away from faint black speks, grey like that is trasfered to my finished products... 
I cant see them, on the paper that i print my image to, i use a clean piece of paper to cover the item before pressing what ever i am pressing.. I use sawgrass ink the power driver IQ that they have, a teflon cover, the green spongy thing sometimes if the product requires it, i use the correct pressure and heat, clean my blanks with alcohol, ...
I do everything that is instructed, and still get those darn black faint dots.. 
I am wondering if it is the C88 problem, or if it is another cause for it.. I am up for a new pronter prefferable a wider print (any recommendations on that in my budget is great) 
ANy body else have the black dot problems, i would love to hear how your fixed the problems or any info..

Please any suggestions would be great.. i know i have asked this before, but no one knows what i am talking about.. but thought that since it is now and not then, someone may know the answer now...
thanks and Happy New Year
Jess


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Is it ink you are seeing? could it possibly be lint that is getting trapped between the paper and the garment when you press? Try using a lint roller first on your garment before you press your transfer and see if this helps. Alot of times lint will be on the garment that you cant see until you press your transfer. Hope this helps


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

Hi!
Thanks for the reply, but nope it isnt a lint problem... Ithought that too.. but actually it happens on shirts, mugs, dog tags, anything really... it is almost like over spray of ink. you can barely see it on the paper transfer if at all then after it i go through the process it is really on the finished product.. if i new how to post a picture of what i mean on i would but i cant figure that one out..


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Have you tried printing with a dpi, if it is overspraying that I would think would lesson it from happening. I know there are alot of people who use those printers on here, I am not one of them though hehe. If it is spitting too much ink though a lower dpi might work.


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

hmm never thought of the dpi output 
i will have to look into what dpi i have my program set up to be.. any dpi suggestion? i dont want it so low that the photo looks bad...but i also do just vector logo pieces and it still does it.. 

do you sublimate?? what printer do you use to do it with if so?
sorry for all the ??'s


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I use a direct to garment printer. That is why I thought of dpi because that is something I am always adjusting to get just the right amount of ink.


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

thanks for your help.. i will try the dpi output and see if that helps. i am not familiar how the direct to garmet printers are... but somthing if the matter and i really really need to fix the problem.. i hate letting things go out if i dont like how they appear.. I do address the problems or concerns i have with my customers, and they dont seem to mind the black dots, they dont see them till i point them out or corce.. but it has to be perfect for me to be happy to put my name to it!
thanks again
jess


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Jessica,

What type of paper are you using? I tried some older paper (almost 2 years ago) and it left little blue lines on primarily shirts. They would even show up in areas that there was no ink on it. Might want to see if you can get a sample of another type of paper and see if that resolves the issue. Best wishes.

Mark


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

Thanks for the reply... i use accuplot from johnsons or novachrome..
it isnt that old, matter fact one package if brand new the other maybe 3 months if that... 
what printer do you use.. 
thanks
jess


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## dabneytr (Feb 13, 2007)

I have the exact problem....shows up on mugs and white items clearly! 

I had Epson send us a new printer and we get the same specs on our prints with the new printer.

We use the C88+ with TOG dyesub ink and Truepix or JPL paper. We also use refillable cartridges from JBL...We also use clean paper to cover all the prints while pressing to see if that will fix the problem...but it didn't help.

We have tried to use the slower setting and thought that woudl fix the problem...but no help!

maybe the settings....we use the recommended matte heavy paper setting with best photo quality setting.??

I beleive it has to do with the color profile and/or setings...I did a print test page and it printed fairly well with the standard test settings....but when I printed the test page with the C88 Tog profile and the recommneded setting the specs are clearly visable on the test print! So that rules out the paper, cartridges, ink, ect.


Any help would be appreciated!
Tom & Julie
Advance Signs & Graphics
703.359.8005


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## dabneytr (Feb 13, 2007)

Well... I tried all kinds of settings. The specks appear to be minimized when I print with the basic color profile from epson ...but the colors are off as expected! I changed paper settings to glossy photo and it seemed to improve while still using the C88 profile from TOG, but again the color is off...but only by making the yellows more of a red! Has anyone tried the C120??

TD


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

Are you using RGB colors? An RGB white should spit out no ink...however if you are using a CMYK white there will be tiny amounts of ink put down.


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

I'm suppose to be using RGB colors with my profile driver, but ya know i think my default page is set up as cmyk when i dont click on a color (make sence) ...but even then i myself tried and made sure all was RGb, but still had that problem, but it seemed to have minimized it. i will try it again here on this order and see what i get..... 
what do you use for you sub inks?? and what printer?
thanks again for the replys


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## saraj (Dec 4, 2007)

Hi Jessica , I have what I assume is the exact same problem with my C88+. In fact I posted about this in early Dec, and I am on my second printer, and also my second bulk ink system. I just installed the second bulk ink system today, and the first print had the same specks

In early December, T-Shirt Wizard rrc62 had some suggestions, but to no avail. I am using RGB, and subtracted out the background of the image so taht it shows as transparent/clear in photoshop, same problem. I have changed the paper type from matte to glossy in an effort to use a lighter spray, no change with dots.

I'm quite discouraged, any input about whether this issue has arisen with other printers than the C88 would be great to know. How long ago was the similar D88 issue resolved?

Epson support personnel have been very bad (even when I didn't acknowledge using 3rd party inks), and when i complained they offered me the new 120 but there is not a sublimation system immediately available for it, so I didn't take them up on it. I will also try turning off the "process white" although I'm not sure what that is either, so I will google that . . .


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## dabneytr (Feb 13, 2007)

We have the same problem...and it is definitely the C88 printer. If you talk with Epson they will change the printer out...provided it is stillwithin the warrenty period....but if it fixes the problem it will probably be temporary. I am on my third one and it should be arriving this week.
TD


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## recrisp (Oct 25, 2007)

dabneytr said:


> We have the same problem...and it is definitely the C88 printer. If you talk with Epson they will change the printer out...provided it is stillwithin the warrenty period....but if it fixes the problem it will probably be temporary. I am on my third one and it should be arriving this week.
> TD



Mine has done this from the start, but for the designs I do, it doesn't bother me, but if I needed a white background, it sure would.
(Even the white ones I did do it's not too bad, and if it wasn't pointed out, it wouldn't be noticeable, on mine anyway)
I guess it's just the way it is with Epson printers, I know that before I got into sublimation, I swore I'd never own another, but here I am again. 

I doubt there'll be a fix for that though, maybe a solution, but not a fix.

Randy


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## jpkevin (Oct 22, 2007)

It is the printer. All C8x series printers have an "overspray" issue. It does it with the Epson ink also, but it is so fine that you can not see it on the paper. When you press something, everything gets a bit bigger, and that is why you can see it after you press it. It is only in the cheap C80 series printers. Do not know if it happens with the C120 yet, which is replacing the C88+. If you put a background color or pattern behind your image, you should not see the speckles.

Kevin Lumberg
Sublimation Specialist
Johnson Plastics


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## saraj (Dec 4, 2007)

My speckles show up against both pale pink and pale blue backgrounds. . .are you sure it doesn't happen with the more expensive printers? when will the 120 sub ink system be available?


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## aliscia86 (Nov 4, 2008)

Hi Guys! Did you end up fixing the over spray problem? 

I have a C110 and I am noticing the speaks also. I deep etch all images onto a transparent background and the specks come out like crazy! It's not fair, I'm wasting so many mugs and shirts on this error. 

It's weird because I've printed 10 sheets of vector fonts and maybe 1 out of the 10 will have specks in it, so it is really temperamental and confuses me like crazy!


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## saraj (Dec 4, 2007)

We were not able to fix it and i tried everything!! I went with the epson 1400, it was 200ish but works great, knock on wood!!!


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## conde tech (Nov 15, 2007)

Your post said C110...do you mean C120? Do you have a bulk ink system installed?


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## aliscia86 (Nov 4, 2008)

Hi guys, I'm from Australia so maybe they have different printers, but mine says it's a C110 epson. It is bulk fed yes. Oh no, you guys can't fix the problem!! what do you think, we should all get a refund and forget about this business? I feel like doing it! grrr


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## conde tech (Nov 15, 2007)

Don't give up. Install the Epson carts that came with the printer and print a few images. When you install the Epson carts...make sure you get a good nozzle ck before printing images. You maybe getting overspray. 

Let me know how the images come out. We will go from there.


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## aliscia86 (Nov 4, 2008)

I purchased this product from a company and they set up the printer for me with all the inks, so it was all ready to go for me. I did a nozzle checks, cleaned the heads, and my first print had the black overspray with it, so that's what I couldn't understand, it should have been perfect!
Thanks for your interest!



conde tech said:


> Don't give up. Install the Epson carts that came with the printer and print a few images. When you install the Epson carts...make sure you get a good nozzle ck before printing images. You maybe getting overspray.
> 
> Let me know how the images come out. We will go from there.


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