DTG Connection X2 Printer Installation Guide

Connection X2 Printer
Installation Guide

INSTALLATION

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

• Put together waste ink tank & set bottle securely on the ground
• Insert CMYK ink into printer
• Shake W1 & W2 for 50 seconds before plugging into printer
• Connect power cord & switch back switch to | (ON)
• Press & hold sub power button for more than 2 seconds and let go
• Plug Ethernet cable or set up Wi Fi
• Turn heat press on & set to 330° F
  

Heat Press Equipment

• All garment inks are required to reach a certain temperature and time to be properly cured, if this temperature or time is not properly adjusted on  your heat press you risk the possibility of the shirt washing out during the wash cycle. Keep Heat Press at least 1011 from printer.

• Heat Press Setting: White or light shirts using only CMYK: 356°F (180°C) for 30 seconds

• Anything using white ink: 330°F (165°C) for 90 seconds.

• All prints can be run at this longer/colder setting if you are alternating from light to dark.

• Pressure — Pressure should be set to a Medium to medium —high settings. If not enough pressure is applied the ink will not cure and will wash out. 40-50 PSI

• Location — Heat press should be set at least 10 feet away from the printer. Having
  the heat press too close can heat up electrical components and damage them.

• Heat press Protective sheets — Always use a heat press sheet to protect both the shirt and the heat platen. Below are some acceptable heat press sheets
  • DTG Connection Soft Touch paper / Parchment paper
  • Stahls Kraft Sheets
  • Teflon Sheets – creates a very shiny finish to the image.

• Good heat ensures the ink cures into the shirt and good washability

IMPORTANT NEED TO KNOWS

• Always leave your printer on to allow the machine to perform the necessary automatic maintenance.
• Any time white ink is loaded into the X2 the printer MUST run the auto maintenance to avoid issues. If you know you will be away from the printer  for more than 7 days, contact Technical Support for flush instructions.
• Remember, if the printer cannot clean itself while white ink is loaded for long periods of time and the print head carriage warranty may be voided.
• Do not run the printer dry.
• The printer will stop performing the auto maintenance if any of the ink carts reads 0%.
• It is recommended you replace your ink carts at 5% to avoid the possibility of your machine running dry and stopping the auto maintenance cycle.
• Remember, if the printer cannot clean itself without ink loaded and the print head carriage warranty may be voided.
• Perform daily and weekly maintenance.
• Each DAY it is recommended that you run a nozzle check.
• This will help you understand how your print heads are firing and will help you to see potential issues before they become problems that can’t be solved.
• Each week, if white ink is loaded, you MUST clean the heads and the maintenance station, EVEN IF you’re not printing with the machine.

ENVIRONMENT SPECIFICATIONS

SUBSTRATES

• DTG uses aqueous (water-based ink) and works best with cotton fabrics.
• The quality of the garment can affect the outcome of your print!
• For BEST results, we recommend 100% Combed Ringspun Cotton
• Its always recommend to test the fabric first to see what kind of color result you get, in some cases different fabrics will require different ink settings.
• For high poly blends or 100% Poly, we recommend to do DTF (Direct to film)

PRETREATING (DARK GARMENTS)

• Pretreat is a liquid primer that is necessary for the white ink to adhere onto a colored garment.
• You MUST use pretreat if you are using white ink on your print
• Pretreatment can be hand sprayed or applied with a pretreatment machine
• Pretreat must be applied evenly and consistently onto a garment for best print results.
• A higher quality garment will require less pretreat, while a low quality one will require more
• Not all shirts are the same and testing may be required to find the correct amount to apply.
• You can buy shirts that are already pretreated and skip the step of spraying them yourself.

PRETREATING (LIGHT GARMENTS)

• Pretreating light garments using CMYK inks is optional
• You need to use a treatment dedicated for lights only, dark treatment will not work for CMYK without white ink
• You can achieve brighter, sharper prints using a light pretreatment
• Light treatment works with white poly as well!
  

GRAPHIC SPECIFICATIONS

• True to size
• 300 dpi resolution
• Transparent background
• Create images in RGB
• Cropped to exact size of graphic (no dead space)
• Save/Export as .png
• If you have black in going onto a black shirt, omit the black in the graphic, you will get a nicer print!

TURBORIP

• Images MUST be placed into TurboRIP before sending the job via Wi-Fi, Ethernet to the printer.
• You CANNOT just plug an image onto a USB directly into printer
• TurboRIP is NOT a graphics program.

PLACING AN IMAGE
You can drag and drop an image into the white grid area of TURBORIP
Or
go to FILE – PLACE IMAGE – then open the image you want to insert into the program

Operation Display

1. Status bar
   Press/Drag down the status bar to open the status screen menu.

2. Machine status
   There are 4 possib le colors.
   Green: The printer is fully functional.
   Yellow: The printer is fully functional, but there is a warning on the status screen.
   Red:
   The printer is in an error state where printing and auto maintenance are not functional, which may lead to damage of the printer.
   White: The printer is busywith some function such as printing or maintenance.
   Displays the print progress during printing

3. Printing the image preview
   Displays the printing image preview.

4. Number of prints
   When printing the same image multiple times, specify the number of prints. Displays the number of prints if it has been specified on Turbo RIP.

5. Machine information
   Displays the printer temperature and humidity, the amount of ink in ink cartridges, and the waste ink bottle capacity level.

6. [STORED JOB] You can check the recent images used for printing and print directly from the stored folder or from jobs sent via network cable.

7. [USB] You can choose a print job from a USB device. Supported file type: Files with the extension “.prn”

8. [SET] Press to move the platen to the printable position.

9. [STOP] Stops any current movement of the platen and allows you to cancel the print job.

10. [EJECT] Press to eject the platen from the printable position sothat the media can be placed on the platen.

11. Function Tabs
    Switches the menu displayed on the touch screen.

Status Display

1. Status details
   Displays the printer status in detail and shows any warnings or errors.

2. Ink status
   Displays the current ink percentage levels in each installed cartridge. Each ink appears as their respective colors. Cleaner cartridges are displayed as clear. If no cartridge is installed, X and NC appear.

3. Waste ink bottle status
   Displays the status and fill percentage of the waste ink bottle.

4. [WASTE INK RESET] Reset the counts of the waste ink bottle. Press [WASTE INK RESET] to reset the percentage back to 0% after the waste ink bottle is manually  drained/emptied.

IMPORTANT!
Resetting the waste ink without actually emptying the waste ink bottle can result in the ink overflowing from the waste ink bottle. Also, if the waste ink  bottle is full (100%), the machine will be in an error state, and the auto maintenance will not be performed. This could cause damage to the machine.

Maintenance Screen

1. [NOZZLE CHECK] Prints a nozzle check pattern result. It is recommended that this is performed daily to monitor the printer.
2. [AUTO HEAD CLEAN] Performs head cleaning automatically using systems components.
3. [REGULAR MAINTENANCE] Allows the carriage to be released. The front cover can be opened in order to manually clean the print heads (during maintenance or troubleshooting) and the maintenance station.

Settings Tab

1. [INK PATH CONTROL] Performs the ink path control. If you press this button, you can flush the printer.

2. [OPTION] You can change the following settings via the Option screen.
   – Set IP Address
   – Drying Time
   – White Amount Adjustment

3. [INFORMATION] Displays the general information of the printer such as Serial #, Control panel firmware version, Engine (CTL) firmware version, and Sub control board firmware version.

How to Perform a Nozzle Check

Auto Head Cleaning

Adjusting Table Height

Adjust the height of the platen by turning the height adjustment knob under the platen.

• To lower the platen, turn the height adjustment knob clockwise
• To lift the platen, turn the height adjustment knob counterclockwise.

Important!
If the garment is not flat, the platen height will not be set properly and will not print properly. Be sure to flatten the garment.
Having the head too far away from the printing surface can cause poor prints in addition to interfereing with the encoder function, causing an error due to excessive ink mist. This can also cause damage to other components. It is important when changing from a thicker fabric to a thinner fabric that the height adjustment of the platen must be peformed.

1. Press the [SET] button to send platen in with flattened garment loaded

2. If there is a problem with the height, the screen below will appear and prompt you to turn the height adjustment knob

3. Keep turning the height adjustment knob until the following screen appears

4. Press the [SET] button to send platen in with flattened garment loaded
   If the red screen appears again, turn the height adjustment until the white screen appears.
   Repeat Step 4 until the platen is fully accepted into the machine.

PRINTING – BEST PRACTICES

Always press the shirt 5-10 seconds before printing. This will remove the moisture and lay down all fibers on the shirt.
Be sure not to touch the area where the print will go after you press. If you do, the fibers of the shirt will stick back up.
Lay the shirt on the platen with the collar on closest edge to you. Make sure the collar falls off the edge of the platen.
After you put the hoop on, look at the shirt to see if there are any raised bumps. If so, gently pull the sides and corners of the shirt to flatten it.
Make sure the print area is always raised above the seams of the shirt by using the correct platen or placing something underneath.

THANK YOU!
FOR MAINTENANCE VIDEOS /TIPS & TRICKS / VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
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References

• DTG Connection | Your Ultimate Source For Direct-to-Garment Printing

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