Users Guide & Operation Manual Version 1.
Contents Users Guide & Operation Manual..................................................................... 1 Contents................................................................................................... 1 Important Safety Instructions......................................................................... 3 1. Intoducing DTG Digital Printers ................................................................... 4 1.1 The DTG Kiosk™ ..............................................................
11.2 Basic Print Techniques – Preparing Porous Materials ............................. 46 11.3 Advanced Print Techniques for Non-Textile Materials ............................ 47 12. General Maintenance and Problem Solving .................................................48 12.1 Decline in Print Quality ................................................................. 48 12.2 Waste Pad Replacement and Waste Ink Bottle Maintenance .................... 50 12.3 Resetting Ink Counter ...........................
Important Safety Instructions Please read these safety instructions before unpacking and setting up your unit. • It is important you follow all the warnings on the printer. • Use only the type of power source that is indicated on the printer's label. • All equipment must be connected to grounded outlets. Do not use the same outlet for any other system such as a copy machine or an air control unit that turns on and off. • Connect the printer to a power outlet that can easily be seen.
1. Intoducing DTG Digital Printers DTG Digital printers are one of the most distinct ranges of inkjet flat bed printers available today. These direct inkjet printers are capable of printing on many different materials, even materials with light and / or uneven surfaces. Using our specialised textile pigment inks, you can print directly to cotton or cotton blend fabrics, such as those used in T-Shirts.
1.2 DTG TEX Textile Inks Using Other Ink Brands Your DTG Kiosk™ package included bottles of DTG TEX Textile Inks. This is a specially formulated, water based pigment ink. DO NOT mix other ink brands with your DTG TEX Textile inks. This can create major problems.
2. Printer Components *Names below are used in this manual 2.
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NG: Air gets into the tubes NG: Supplies both ink and cleaning liquid Valve CLOSED 10
3. Getting Started 1. Read all instructions through thoroughly, (including the safety instructions), before unpacking your DTG Kiosk unit, and then follow the relevant directions as you prepare your unit for printing. 2. Prepare an area to set up your DTG Kiosk unit. 3. Unpack and set up the unit as per the instructions in Section 4 of this manual. 4. Fill the ink bottles as per the instructions in Section 5 of this manual. 5. Install the Printer Drivers and set up the software ready for printing.
4. Printer Set Up Please Note: Keep all packaging, holding fixtures and instructions for the DTG Kiosk™ as you will need them if you have to transport your system anywhere or to return it for repair. There is a section in the back of this manual on transporting your printer. Please ensure you read and follow these instructions. Please read the following directions through before unpacking your DTG Kiosk™: • Prepare a work area with a solid work table that will not vibrate when using the DTG Kiosk™.
• When you have placed the DTG Kiosk™ unit on the work table, remove the plastic bag covering the unit. Check the unit carefully for shipping damage. If you find any obvious damage please contact the freight carrier immediately to arrange a freight inspection. • Remove the four special holding fixtures attached on the front and back of the printer. Put these fixtures aside as you will need them should you wish to transport the printer in the future.
5. Filling Ink Bottles 1. Pour Inks into the Ink Bottles: Remove the lids of the bulk ink bottles, and slowly pour the ink into the ink bottles. Please Note: Pour the ink gently so as to avoid creating air bubbles when pouring the ink. If bubbles are formed then do not run the printer until all the bubbles have settled. 2. Open the Valves: Turn all valves to put through ink (as shown in picture on right) 3.
Please note: Pay close attention to the waste ink bottle. Always empty the bottle before filling the ink bottles. 4. Fill Tubes & Settle Bubbles Make sure all the tubes are filled with ink and there are no bubbles in the tube. 5. Clean the Printhead Press and hold the Ink button for 3 seconds to clean the head. This will normalize the head nozzles. Please Note: do this after filling the ink. From this point on, you will simply need to add ink to the bulk ink bottles as you use the system.
6. Installing & Using Printer Drivers for Windows Please note: Before starting this part of the set up process, we recommend you turn OFF all Screen Savers when installing your software and printing to your DTG Kiosk™. This section of the manual applies to Windows users only, while the next two sections apply to Mac users.
You can then access this driver from within the graphics program you are using. 6.2 Installing & Using the SCC Utility Software To Install the SSC Service Utility Insert the Epson 2100/2200 Driver CD into your computer. Go to My Computer and select the CD drive. Double click on the folder called SSC Utility. To install the utility simply double-click on the file called sscserv.exe. The SSC Utility will be installed on your hard disk. When it asks if you want an Icon on your Desktop, select YES.
Print Quality There is a broad variety of image types and quality levels involved in printing with the DTG Kiosk so it is helpful to have a number of Print Modes to accommodate all jobs. Simple print jobs, such as one color images that are not too precise, or cartoon graphics where the brightness of the image is more important than exact color matching, may print quite adequately at 360dpi in bi-directional mode with a lot of color saturation.
Printable Area of the DTG Kiosk Left Margin 2mm 323mm Right Margin 3mm Top Margin 0mm Non-Printable Area Printable Area Tray Guide 420mm The diagram above refers to the entire printable area of your DTG Kiosk™, NOT the printable area within your Shirt Platen. As the size of the Shirt Platens may vary, you will need to measure your shirt platen and set the paper size according to your measurements.
To Set the Paper Size for Windows. You must set the size of the garment image in the Printer Driver Preferences before you print anything. 1. In the Paper tab of the Epson 2100/2200 driver Printing Preferences, go to Paper Size where it shows A4 or Letter and select User Defined at the bottom. 2. In the User Defined Paper Size box type in the size of the garment image (Paper Width and Paper Height).
6.4 Creating Custom Print Modes for Windows You will need to create six different Custom Print Modes : Solid 360dpi, Solid 720dpi, Solid 720dpi High Speed, Process 360dpi, Process 720dpi and Process 720dpi High Speed. Solid 360dpi To make the ink colours stronger and brighter when you are printing a solid image or a simple spot color image you will need extra ink color saturation.
4. In the Advanced window on the top left, Media Type should be set for Plain Paper and Print Quality set for Normal - 360dpi 5. Leave all other buttons on the left side unchecked. Although High Speed is checked, it is not available. 6. Set Color Management on the top right to Color Controls and Gamma to 1.8. 7. Set Mode to Vivid. 8. Leave Brightness and Contrast at 0. 9. Set Saturation to +25%. 10. Set Magenta and Yellow to +5%. 11. Click on Paper Config and set Color Density to +20%.
Solid 720dpi High Speed for Windows 1. Follow the steps above for Solid 720dpi but check High Speed in the Advanced window. 2. Click on the Save Settings button and save this setting as Ksk-Solid-720HS. Click Save. Process 360dpi for Windows When creating images that have skin tones and reference colors, or those that are photorealistic, you need to create Print Modes that are more accurate with less color saturation. We will call these the Process Modes. 1.
Process 720dpi for Windows 1. Go to the Main tab in the Epson Printer Preferences menu and choose the Custom option from Mode selections. 2. Click on the Advanced button 3. Set the Media Type to Archival Matte Paper 4. Set the Print Quality to Photo 720dpi 5. Leave all buttons on the left side unchecked 6. Set Color Management to PhotoEnhance4. 7. Set Tone to Hard and Effect to Sharpness. 8. Click on Paper Config and set Color Density to +20%. Click OK. 9.
7. Installing & Using Printer Drivers for Mac OS 8.6 to 9.2 Please note: Before starting this part of the set up process, we recommend you turn OFF all Screen Savers when installing your software and printing to your DTG Kiosk™. This section of the manual applies to Mac OS 8.6 to 9.2 users only, while the next section applies to Mac OSX 10.2.8 to 10.3.x users.
Print Quality There is a broad variety of image types and quality levels involved in printing with the DTG Kiosk so it is helpful to have a number of Print Modes to accommodate all jobs. Simple print jobs, such as one color images that are not too precise, or cartoon graphics where the brightness of the image is more important than exact color matching, may print quite adequately at 360dpi in bi-directional mode with a lot of color saturation.
Printable Area of the DTG Kiosk Left Margin 2mm 323mm Right Margin 3mm Top Margin 0mm Non-Printable Area Printable Area Tray Guide 420mm The diagram above refers to the entire printable area of your DTG Kiosk™, NOT the printable area within your Shirt Platen. As the size of the Shirt Platens may vary, you will need to measure your shirt platen and set the page size according to your measurements.
To Set the Paper Size for Mac OS 8.6 - 9.2 You must set the size of the garment image in the Epson Printer Driver before you print anything. As your DTG Kiosk has a printing bed size of 32cm x 47cm, this is the standard size you will set up in your Printer Driver. To print on odd sized items you can use either the standard printing bed size and create a printing Template to use, or you can set up your own custom sizes for these items.
Solid 720dpi for Mac OS 8.6 - 9.2 1. Go to File/Print Setup or Page Setup. Select your Paper Size. Note: Mac OS 9 does not allow you to save the Paper Size with the Printing Modes. This would have to be re-set for each image printed through the Epson 2100/2200 printer driver. 2. Go to File/Print. Bring the Media Type menu down and select Enhanced Matte Paper. 3. Set the Mode to Custom. 4. Click on the Advanced button. 5. Set the Print Quality to Photo - 720dpi. 6.
Process 720dpi for Mac OS 8.6 - 9.2 1. Go to File/Print Setup or Page Setup. Select your Paper Size. Note: Mac OS 9 does not allow you to save the Paper Size with the Printing Modes. This would have to be set for each image printed through the Epson 2100/2200 printer driver. 2. Go to File/Print. Bring the Media Type menu down and select Enhanced Matte Paper. 3. Set the Mode to Custom. 4. Click on the Advanced button. 5. Set the Print Quality to Photo - 720dpi. 6.
8. Installing & Using Printer Driver for Mac OSX 10.2.8 to 10.3.x Please note: Before starting this part of the set up process, we recommend you turn OFF all Screen Savers when installing your software and printing to your DTG Kiosk™. This section of the manual applies to Mac OSX 10.2.8 to 10.3.x users only, while the previous two sections apply to Windows and Mac OS 8.6 to 9.2 users.
Print Speed The Epson 2100/2200 can print in both single directional and bi-directional mode (or high speed). High Speed mode can have similar problems to printing in 360dpi, such as minor banding or a slight double image to the fine details in the printed image if the print heads are not in perfect alignment or the nozzles are blocked.
Printable Area of the DTG Kiosk The following diagram will give you the measurements for the printable area of your DTG Kiosk to assist you in creating Custom Print Modes. Left Margin 2mm 323mm Right Margin 3mm Top Margin 0mm Non-Printable Area Printable Area Tray Guide 420mm The diagram above refers to the entire printable area of your DTG Kiosk™, NOT the printable area within your Shirt Platen.
To Set the Paper Size for Mac OS X 1. Go to Page Setup or Print Setup. 2. Under Format select the Stylus Photo 2100 printer driver. 3. Bring the Paper Size menu down and select the desired page size – because we are printing to an inkjet printer, we need to tell the printer driver what our standard paper/shirt image size is. You can also make your own “paper” sizes for odd size items.
Solid 720dpi for Mac OS X 1. Go to File/Page Setup or Print Setup. Under Format for select the Stylus Photo 2100 printer driver. Bring the Paper Size menu down and select the desired page size. Click OK. This step needs to be done before you print from each file. This setting CANNOT be saved. 2. Go to File/Print. Select the Stylus Photo 2100 printer driver. Bring Copies and Pages menu down and select Print Settings. 3. Leave the Media Type set to Enhanced Matte Paper and Print Quality to Photo 720dpi.
7. Save this setting as Ksk-Process-360. 8. Bring Presets menu down. Choose Save As. Name the Preset to Ksk-Process-360. Remember: When you go to print again, re-set your page size. Then go to File/Print. Bring the Presets menu down and select the new Preset of Ksk-Process-360. Process 720dpi for Mac OS X 1. Go to File/Page Setup or Print Setup. Under Format select the Stylus Photo 2100 printer driver. Bring the Paper Size menu down and select the desired page size. Click OK.
9. Printing on Textiles with the DTG Kiosk™ Printing on textile items with the DTG Kiosk™ is a very simple process involving four easy steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. Create an image in any of your graphics programs Load a T-shirt or other textile item onto the printer Choose the appropriate Print Mode Press the Print button. Before you start the process you need to understand the Control Panel and what its buttons and lights mean. Read this section again before you start the process. 9.
The EJECT button ejects the printer tray to the ejecting position. After the tray is ejected, the EJECT light will turn on. Always place the print media in the printer tray when the printer tray is at this position, and press LOAD button to load the printer tray. Please Note: When the printer is turned on for the first time, both the LOAD and EJECT buttons turn on. Press EJECT button to eject the tray and place the print media, and the press LOAD to load the printer tray.
9.2 Basic Steps for Printing to T-Shirts 1. Turn the DTG Kiosk™ unit on Press the POWER button to turn the unit on. 2. Put the garment into the GARMENT HOLDER. Place the garment on the GARMENT HOLDER. Put the metal HOLDING RING around garment and flatten out the printing surface. Any excess garment should be pushed into the space between the top and bottom of the Garment Holder.
• • • • • • • • • shirt holder. It is possible to print up to 31.75cm (12.5”) without using the Holding Ring. After selecting the Epson 2100/2200 driver in your graphics program, choose the appropriate Configuration - Print Mode in the Advanced window Custom Setting. If using Mac OSX bring the Presets menu down and select Custom settings. For critical photorealistic images choose the Photo setting. For simple spot color or cartoon type graphics choose the Cartoon setting.
Remove any ink spots with a standard Spot Removal Gun before the print is heat cured. It is almost impossible to remove spots, stains or smudges once the ink has been heat cured. Be careful NOT to spray the wet print with the Spot remover or you will remove some of your image. 11. HEAT CURE Your Finished Print The final step is to heat cure your finished prints to completely set the ink.
the print job and start again. To cancel a print job, click on the job file in the Print Manager, then go to the File pull down menu and choose Cancel All Documents. Cancelling a Print Job with Mac OS 8.6 – 9.2 Open the Print Manager. Click and highlight the print job. Click the Trash icon. Then close the Print Manager. Cancelling a Print Job with Mac OSX Open the Print Centre or Printer Setup Utility. Double click on Stylus Photo 2100 or SP2100. Click and highlight the Print job. Click Delete.
10. Printing Other Textile Items with the DTG Kiosk ™ You can print on anything that can be held in place with the DTG Kiosk™ and you don’t need a clamp to hold them in place. Bags, Tea Towels, Mouse Pads, etc can simply lay on the Garment Holder. The most important thing is to remember to check the head clearance. Items that are smaller can be placed on smaller Garment Holders or you can make your own fixtures to hold items.
11. Printing Non-Textile Items with the DTG Kiosk ™ The DTG Kiosk™ can print on many different materials with different combinations of coatings and print mode. Below are some of our common print combinations. We recommend finding your own combination using this manual as a starting point.
Move the bottle slowly across the media to make sure the coat runs on the entire surface of the media. To clean the coating, wash it with warm water and soap. Drying Method Drying Booth (Vinyl) Halogen Light Heater The drying place should not be dusty. Use vinyl booth or a shade for drying the media naturally. Use halogen light to heat the media to accurate the drying time. Please Note: We recommend drying the undercoat for at least 24 hours before print.
In the Advanced window, make sure that Color Management is set to Color Controls Set Mode to Automatic Take off High Speed check Click OK to close all printer settings and start printing. Please Note: If printed images have many cracks or overflowed spots, try printing a new sample twice with “CD-R” mode. If possible, dry the sample between the first & second print. 11.2 Basic Print Techniques – Preparing Porous Materials Porous materials are materials which absorb water.
11.3 Advanced Print Techniques for Non-Textile Materials The DTG Kiosk™ can print on many different materials. Explained below are some other special printing techniques we use. To print on irregular surfaced print media, we recommend multiple coating. Especially if the material is water-repellent, apply at least three layers of coatings. Please Note: the DTG Kiosk™ can print gaps up to about 4mm. If the gap exceeds more than 4mm, the images will become fuzzy.
12. General Maintenance and Problem Solving 12.1 Decline in Print Quality If the quality of your printed images declines, either with dots or lines missing, or you have an unexpectedly light print, you may need to clean the print head to unclog the ink nozzles. Letting any of the ink bottles run dry or leaving the printer sitting without use for a few days may also dry out the ink nozzles. As the cleaning process uses a lot of ink, only clean the print head if you are experiencing poor quality prints.
This process will use several sheets of A4 size paper. Lay the paper on top of the GARMENT HOLDER butting up against the upper right corner of the Printing Bed. Then click Print Nozzle Check Pattern in the Utility dialog box and follow the on-screen prompts. 4. After the Nozzle Check Pattern has printed out check to see if there are any gaps in the printed lines. If there are no gaps or lines in the Nozzle Check Pattern, click Finish.
8. If pattern 4 has the least noticeable banding, click Next. If there was another pattern that was better, enter that number and click on Realignment to print out another test page. 9. After the test page has been printed, remove and reload the test page with pattern set 1 on the right side. 10. Click Print to print the pattern on the next test page. 11. When that test page has printed out, reload it again to print the next test. 12. Repeat these steps until you have a third test pattern. 13.
start to blink. 6. Release the Roll Paper and Sheet buttons. 7. Then, press ONLY the Roll Paper button for 10 seconds. 8. The Power light and Ink lights will turn solid in colour and remain permanently on, and then the Print Head will start to move. 9. Turn OFF the unit at the Power button on the circuit board. Let the Print Head return to the park position and then turn ON the unit at the Control Panel Power button. 10. Replace the blue cover.
position The Printer is now ready to receive data to print. o Green POWER button and INK lights are flashing The printer may have Ink Pads that are full andthey will need to be replaced o Printer stops in the middle of a print routine and stops communicating with the computer. The Epson 2100/2200 drivers are prone to occasionally simply lose communication with the Windows XP operating system. The simplest solution is to re-install the printer driver.You will need to delete the current one first.
physical memory, the file may take a long time to process or not print at all. To reduce the size of the spool files you may need to export the file as a low-resolution jpeg, then bring the file back into Corel Draw using the Import function. If the bitmap was created in Adobe Photoshop, open it in Photoshop. Reduce the resolution to around 200dpi. Save this file and Import it back into Corel Draw. Try to print from a different program like Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Illustrator.
12.10 Miscellaneous Problems o The Image is Inverted, as if Viewed in a Mirror. Turn the Mirror Image off or flip the image horizontal. o Printer Prints Black Pages • Check to see that your printer is selected in the Print window for Windows users; check in the Chooser, Print Centre, or Printer Setup Utility if using a Macintosh. • Clean the print head. o If You See Wrong Characters • Check your printer to computer cable connection and make sure they are secured in their ports correctly.
12.12 Uninstalling and Reinstalling the Printer Software There are times when you may have to uninstall and reinstall the printer driver and utilities. For Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click the Start button and go to Programs or All Programs. Put your cursor over the Printers name and choose the Printer Software Uninstall. In the next window, select the Printer name and click OK. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
12.13 Trouble Shooting Non-textile Printing To print on irregular surfaced print media, we recommend multiple coatings of undercoat. If the material is a water-repellent material, you may need to apply at least three coatings. Ink Cracking: When printing solid colors (such as black. red, blue etc), small cracks appear all over the printed area. Cause: Too much ink is applied on the coated surface. Solution: 1. Take off “High Speed” check in the “Advanced” window.
13. Transporting Your Printer It is extremely important you observe the following before transporting your printer: Preparing the printer for transportation If the printer is to be transported over a long distance, and/or by a common carrier (where you cannot control the “care” with which the printer is transported) it is best to flush the printer of ink to avoid the possibility of ink spills and the ink drying in the print head. 1.
14. Product Support Our Support Policy We offer FREE support for the DTG Kiosk™. Operating the unit is easy so most of the support you will need will involve problems in using the Epson 2100/2200 driver or printing from the vast range of different graphic software programs. Our FREE support is available either by phone or e-mail contact. Phone Support While DTG Kiosk™ support is free it is not a toll free service.
14. Requirements for PC and Mac Minimum System Requirements for Windows • Microsoft Windows compatible PC with a Pentium II 266 MHz (Windows 98 or Me) or 350 MHz (Windows 2000 or XP) or (Pentium III 500 MHz recommended). A minimum of 128MB of RAM is recommended. A minimum of 200MB on your hard disk. A display monitor with high resolution. CD-ROM or DVD drives for installing the software. USB connection: a USB that complies with Windows.
15. Printer Specifications Method of printing: Ink-Jet Print Resolution: Max.2800×1440dpi Max Printable Width: 328mm Max Printable Length: 500mm Max Print Media Thickness: 125mm(Max.
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