# How's this for a BAD Nozzle Check?



## Stitch-Up (May 26, 2007)

Well, I guess I was due a problem . 9 months into ownership of my NeoFlex DTG and not a hint of a problem.

Yesterday morning I was carrying out my daily maintenance and printed the customary nozzle check on the bed. Colours appeared okay but I wasn't to sure about the white - it's hard to see against the alluminium. So I stuck a bit of black card on the bed and did another nozzle check - this is the result!!










Yikes, what to do! A power-clean followed by another nozzle check, it was getting worse! I knew some of my ink levels were low so I swapped the carts for new followed by another power-clean and a nozzle check. This time NOTHING at all. I tried channel flushing using 'Printer Jockey' - things were getting worse!

Being a Sunday evening I didn't expect any help from All American but anticipating a long haul to recovery, I put together an email to their Tech Support including a picture of the bad nozzle check. Within 15 minutes I had a reply from Justin Vice President of AA (on a Sunday). Justin made a few suggestions like checking the printhead and flushing. Never having done this before, I reviewed the maintenance videos I'd shot during my tutorial at FESPA in Munich last year.

Being the first time, it took me a while to get the head off and flush but everything seemed fine. Flushing fluid easily coming through the nozzles and I was able to draw off ink through the dampers without any hardship. I reassembled everything and tried a quick clean followed by another nozzle check = NOTHING. So I decided to stop for the night and give it a rest. Just before going to bed, I updated All American with the results thus far.

This morning when I got up, there was an email from AA asking that I ring them, I did and spoke to Pete their service manager. Based on the info I'd provided he suggested that I swap out the capping station seal with a new one. This is the little beastie, easy to remove;










I put the new one in, a little fiddly to attach the plumbing pipes  did a power-clean followed by a nozzle check and; 

"Oh, what joy, 100% perfect".

I learned a lot in the process and gained so much confidence.

I have to extend a huge thank you to the guys at All American for their absolutely amazing support - thanks guys, I have complete confidence in you. This is better than it should be.

John


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

I second that; these guys are top-notch when it comes to service. IF you need them, they are there! I'm not gonna promise that they are always going to respond on a Sunday afternoon, but it has been my experience that they certainly don't keep normal business hours! Any time I have had a question, someone has responded to me in short order. 

The capping station is soooo important to the operation of the machine - if there is not a good seal, all the cleaning cycles in the world aren't going to be effective in cleaning the print head, because no real suction exists to pull the ink through! Most DTG distributors would agree that the capping station should be viewed as a regular-interval replacement part, to ensure continuous trouble-free operation of your DTG printer. I have been fortunate that I have not needed to replace mine, yet (although my production manager completely removes them every couple of weeks to do a thorough cleaning), but I know the time will come...... My plan is to buy extras and have them on hand, for when the inevitable happens.

Thanks for the honest and thorough reporting, John! And of course, thanks for the pics. 

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." - Ben Franklin


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## Stitch-Up (May 26, 2007)

There are many enquirers on this forum asking questions like; "Which is the best DTG machine"? These questions seem to be asked nearly daily!

I think it's so important to look beyond just the printer. We've already discussed the importance of the RIP software and the latest NeoRip Pro from All American is definately up there with the best. It's ease of use and capabilities make the NeoFlex system usable after just a few hours of installation.

There is of course another dimension often overlooked in the question; "Which is the best DTG machine", and is probably of equal importance - AFTER SALES SUPPORT & BACKUP. Just a few hours reading the threads on this forum, one soon gets to read the horror stories of non-existent support despite the promises made before selling the hardware. From my own personal experience, *All American* have been quite amazing in their response times and also quality of advice given,* far exceeding my expectations.*


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