# Epson 1390 alignment printing problem



## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

First off sorry if i have posted this in the wrong section but i could not see a subforum for epson dtg printers.

I have recently got a epson 1390 dtg flatbed printer and the problem i am having is that when i print the white underbase then push the bed back in and print the colour over the white its not lining up correctly its not consistent it varies each time, the printer bed does its little dance then drives in to print each time but the colour never lines up with the first white cycle.

I was going to attach some pictures to illustrate the problem but cant seem to find the manage attachment tab can anyone shed any light on what could be wrong with the printer and why i cant upload attachments.
Thanks for looking.


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

Here is a picture i knocked up in paint to illustrate the problem i am having i am using acrorip software,
does anyone have any ideas why its doing this?


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

Bump
Can anyone shed any light on the problem i am having please
Thanks


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## sawdust (May 13, 2009)

No expert but is you rear sensor loose and moving. but could be a soft ware problem


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

sawdust said:


> No expert but is you rear sensor loose and moving. but could be a soft ware problem


Thanks for your reply, the sensor seems tight and in the correct position
i am using acrorip print whit then print colour do you have any recommendations of other software i could use as to eliminate it being the acrorip software that might be causing the problem.


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

Fergal said:


> Thanks for your reply, the sensor seems tight and in the correct position
> i am using acrorip print whit then print colour do you have any recommendations of other software i could use as to eliminate it being the acrorip software that might be causing the problem.


Well since you did not get many responses I will input some experiences I had with my 2200 version.

I had and still have similar issues. The registration between the white layer and color layer was off sometimes...and sometimes it was off ahead of the color and then behind. Sometimes a millimeter and sometimes up t0 5 or 6 mm.

Several things can cause this. First for me was that the sensor wheel was a bit dirty. The sensor wheel will be attached to the flatbed drive motor shaft and is a clear piece of plastic with marings. Actually if you could look real close it has very very small lines or hash marks around the edge. It uses these to count it's position.

If this encoder wheel gets a bit of shmutz on it it will skip a count and you can have small registration issues.

Seems your issue could be this since you are off a small amount but one that seems to change.
Try gently cleaning the wheel. i just use windex and a foam swab. I have a lens cloth i use also to wipe anything off I can't get with the swab. I have seen small ink splatters on mine.

The other issue could be mechanical in nature. I am not familiar with anything other than the 2200 build but most have to be similar. So however your platen bed is driven that needs to be reliable....byt that if it is driven by a belt than the belt has to be tight enough so that it does not skip a toooth when you manually push the bed back in. Although I do not know what drive mechanism your usues.
Whenever a servo system does not repeat to the same position it is usually either an encoder wheel issue...ie dirty or worn ( causing skips like a dirty CD)....or there is something slippin in the drive mechanism.

i worked robotics for years and the drive for these printers is a simple servo motor with an encoder feedback. 

Personally I would doubt there is any issue with software....if it was consistently off the exact same amount possibly but even then I would say no.

think about it...software is reliable in that it does not get worn, dirty nor does it stretch or get slop in it over time.

Mechanical components on the other hand are subject to all of this. 

This issue is most certainly mechainical by nature.

I actually finally built in a small registration function into my platen so i could make small mm adjustments to it while it printed just in case. I print a series of small registration marks on a 1/2" piece of tape I put across the top of my shirts when i print white underbase. that way I see if it is off even slightly before it starts the artwork.
May seem excessive but I hate even the smallest white peaking out.
Scott


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

shughey said:


> I actually finally built in a small registration function into my platen so i could make small mm adjustments to it while it printed just in case. I print a series of small registration marks on a 1/2" piece of tape I put across the top of my shirts when i print white underbase. that way I see if it is off even slightly before it starts the artwork.
> May seem excessive but I hate even the smallest white peaking out.
> Scott


Thanks for all the advice, the platen is driven in by a rubber timing belt the teeth seem to be ok, but there is no adjuster to adjust the tension of it,
i am trying to source a place in the uk to buy another, the numbers on it are
zammu R522mxl
0358-apr 010409
i have cleaned the encoder wheel and checked the drive shaft all seem to be ok.

Could you explain a bit more on how you built in a small registration function into you platen so your could make small mm adjustments to it while it printed
as i think this is going to be what i will have to do
Thanks.


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

Well first off my platen, when sitting inside the platen box, has room to move side to side and front to back. Maybe 1/2' an inch either way.

Since my registration is never off side to side I did not worry about that. 

My front to back registration is usually only out a few pixels beyond my choke setting to maybe a max of a few millimeters.

Oh I have tried everything imaginable to get it to register perfect everytime but....still have a few times it can be out a mm or so.

Now this was a very simple and basic idea. Exact idea may not work on your setup but...the concept will work as long as your shirt platen has some for and aft room when set in the platen box.

Basically I did this. I needed something in the rear to provide a spring force to push against that would allow the platen to be pushed back for a rear adjustment but also provided some spring tension to push the platen forward if the registration was off that direction.
In keeping it simple...and relaizing I only need a few mm of movement....I used....and don't chuckle......small rubber stoppers. These are available in any hardware store and are the kind that go inside of a small bottle neck. they are rigid enough to not loose shape over time and apsirng back to original shape after compressed. yet just soft enough that you can compress against them.

So a couple of these were attached to the rear of the platen box at a height that they would contact the rear of the shirt platen. So now I have a spring force to push against.

In the front of the platen box right in the center I drilled a hole and installed a furniture nut. This was a 1/4-20 thread nut that is pressed into the hole in the platen box. This allows me to now use a simple 1/4-20 thumb screw to be screwed through the platen box in front.


Now...on the shirt platen itself I had to have something metal for this thumb screw to screw against. Since the thumbscrew was lower than the edge of my shirt platen...intenionally as I do not want to screw against the plywood edge of the platen itself.....I simply got a piece of metal corner bracket and screwed that UNDER the shirt platen with the face of one side facing down so that the thumbscrew would contact it.


Just as a note...I put a brass acorn nut on the end of the thumbscrew on the inside so that it had a nice brass rounded edge pushing against the bracket on the platen. 

Now when I put the platen into the platen box....I tighten the thumbscrew enough to get a preload pressure on the whole thing. this way if I have to move the platen back I can but...also if it needs to move forward you have to have a preload pressure enough to push it forward.

Now....every shirt I do with a white underbase has a small registration artwork at the top.
A series of 4 lines about 1 to 2 mm in width and a few inches long...as well as a few simple shapes on the sides.
I use a piece of 1 inch blue painters tape and put it across the top of the shirt.

The printer prints the registration marks on the tape first then goes to the shirt artwork next. 
When I push it back in for the color print I watch and see how it prints the first line...if it is off I make an adjustment in or out.
Since I have 4 lines I have enough time to make several adjustments.
Sounds like a lot of work but not really. I never print artwork to the very edge of the top of the platen so losing an inch or less is no big deal.

When done just pull the painters tape off.

i will pos a pic later.
You get the idea though. I kept it simple...nothing complicated or expensive. Cost me like under 10 bucks for the hardware and it is all available at an Ace hardware or Lowes.
Scott


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

Cheers Scott for sharing how you achieved this, it would be great if you could post some pictures of the set-up as that would be most helpful
Thanks.


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

Fergal said:


> Cheers Scott for sharing how you achieved this, it would be great if you could post some pictures of the set-up as that would be most helpful
> Thanks.


Well forgive the somewhat mess....it was my third attempt at solving this issue. tried a couple other similar things before this worked.
Stupidly simple...but works well.

I am adding a scale along the side of the platen so I can see how much I move it. Really just going to use a small ruler glued on.....

One thing that you will see is I have another bracket and set screw mounted along the side. This is not adjusted for anything other than to keep the platen from twisting sideways when screwing in the front thumbscrew. 
Actually...I was just using simple wooden wedges for this. They worked fine

so here are the hi tech rubber bottle stoppers used for rear springs.....real NASA technology here.
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This is the front adjustment screw and setup. Nothing fancy....works well...but gives an idea to work from maybe.
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...and this one shows both the front thumbscrew and the one on the side I use to keep it from sliding sideways when adjusting the front for registration. When printing on light colors I just back the front screw out enough and leave it be. if you look in the top left by my knife you will see two wooden wedges I used to keep the sideways moving from happening before I added the screw. Worked fine.
The only issue I am fixing is to change the rubber feet on the bottom of my shirt platen. i will use furniture slider feet. This makes the whole things slide for and aft easier than rubber.
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Sorry it is not a fancy setup. It was done rather quickly a few months back to try and solve the issue of random registration problems..which...were costing me shirts. I tried everything to cure the root cause but never could. this worked well enough enough I never remade it into a cleaner setup yet. I intended on remaking the box and platen soon just to clean it all up from all of the scars from prior attemps...
This does save alot of anger and wasted prints.


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

That is a really good and easy solution you have come up with there Scott, the simple ideas are always the best

I have a friend coming over tomorrow who is into electronics and drives to take a look at it to see if he can find out what the problem is with the colour not lining up to the white base,
My platen has a scissor assembly bolted in between for adjusting the platen up and down so if my friend can not fix the alignment problem i will have to have a think on how to modify the top plate so it can be adjusted back and forth and still be raised and lowered.
Thanks again for all your help its appreciated.


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

Not a problem. Sure hope he figures it out.

It has to be dropping some counts from the encoder wheel in some way or another. This is why, like mine, it is off alittle here and a little there either way but not always the same amount.

Could be slippage in the drive...loose wire or connector, etc etc.

If you can't find the porblem you could always do something like adding a second platen board on top of the original one and make that one slide back and forth but not side to side. Since you have a nice scissor jack setup for adjusting height you can easily drop it down.
you can go to Lowes or Home depot and have them cut a piece of MDF board to shape. 
Or find a way to to remove the OEM shirt board and make that slide front to back a few mm...? 
Hopefully though you figure out the issue.
Love to hear how it goes...!!
Scott


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## ywane (Jun 18, 2011)

hii dude ..i try test acrorip (7.09) with original epson 1400/1390 and original ink,when i print white its seem no diferent with colour,ill try all setting in there but still the same...any idea


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## dimmy (Jul 6, 2011)

shughey said:


> Well forgive the somewhat mess....it was my third attempt at solving this issue. tried a couple other similar things before this worked.
> Stupidly simple...but works well.
> 
> I am adding a scale along the side of the platen so I can see how much I move it. Really just going to use a small ruler glued on.....
> ...


i made something similar with my china epson 1390 flatbed printer.. i skrew an piece of wood at the ends of the platform to use is as stop and also a piece of foam to stop it gentle. since that prints good white and colour since now always starts from the same point... simple...


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

dimmy said:


> i made something similar with my china epson 1390 flatbed printer.. i skrew an piece of wood at the ends of the platform to use is as stop and also a piece of foam to stop it gentle. since that prints good white and colour since now always starts from the same point... simple...


Plus it allowes to really drop the choke to a bare minimum and save minute details....as best as is humanly possible!!


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## ywane (Jun 18, 2011)

try check the ribbon cable from printhead


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## Fergal (Nov 10, 2011)

Sorry its took so long to reply been busy with xmas and family
My friend came round and checked all the sensors which were fine he adjusted the belt tension on the encoder drive and also altered the position of the drive shaft that this belt is attached to as he said it was not in line causing the belt be on an angle,
I don't know which one was the cause of the miss alignment but he has fixed it
i have ran numerous tests, printing a small rectangle white underbase then colour on top and its bang on every single time 
I will post some pictures of a dark tee as soon as i have sorted the colours as i am struggling to get them looking vibrant, any ideas?
Thanks.


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## scmznain (Oct 4, 2012)

dimmy said:


> i made something similar with my china epson 1390 flatbed printer.. i skrew an piece of wood at the ends of the platform to use is as stop and also a piece of foam to stop it gentle. since that prints good white and colour since now always starts from the same point... simple...


Hi Dimmy, can u pls attached on how you do on your 1390 flatbed printer? I'm also having same problem.


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## Stuart21 (Mar 9, 2011)

Not sure if OP still has this problem, but what I found on mine was that the manufacturer changed the paper edge sensor from an IR gate type (high accuracy) to an IR reflective type - much less accuracy.
Change back to original gate type, I suggest.


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