DTF Printer Won't Print? Here's How to Fix It

If you’ve been having trouble getting your DTF printer to print, you’ve come to the right place. Today we’re going to look at why it might be that your printer is refusing to print at all and how you can resolve the issue.

I’m specifically talking about a case where you’re sending your printer something to do, which just doesn’t respond. You check both of the printer’s power supplies – both the one in front and the one in the back – and both are on and hooked up properly. You receive no error message, but your printer won’t work.

Clear the Jobs Queue

First, go to your printer and delete any remaining print jobs (if you haven’t already). This option is located within your printer’s “printer and devices” menu. Find the tab with your DTF printer in this menu and click on it. If you follow along with the video I have about this on my YouTube channel, you’ll see that the printer’s status is listed as “offline.”

One of the most common reasons this happens is that the USB cable either isn’t plugged in all the way or it’s plugged in incorrectly. Check the connection on both the printer’s end and the computer’s end. The status should then change to “idle.”

After you make sure that the connection is good and the status changes, go back to your computer and click on the “open print queue” option. You can see in the video that the print queue for the printer I was working on, for example, is empty.

If you open your print queue and it’s not empty, right-click on the job. You should be presented with a drop-down menu with an option to cancel the job. Click on that and empty the queue.

Restart the Printer

When the print queue is completely empty, go ahead and restart both the printer and the computer. For the printer, shut down the power in the front and wait for the light to go out entirely before shutting down the power in the back. To turn it back on, work in the reverse order. Wait at least 30 seconds between turning on the back power and turning on the one in the front.

The light above the power button in the front should be a solid green if everything’s going according to plan. If you see it flashing a yellow color, it’s most likely because your waste ink tank is full. I have several videos about how to fix this on my YouTube channel, Kevin at BCH, and some about installing an external waste ink tank (which is easier to empty).

If you didn’t do the first step to cancel all of the jobs in your print queue, that also might cause an error. When the startup is finished, and the light is solid green, it’s time to check the RIP software.

Depending on which version you have, you might not be able to set the white ink level to 0%. If you do it anyway and send the job to the printer like that, it just won’t print. You should test it out to see whether or not this will happen with the version of the RIP software you use or not.

Next, make sure that your color mapping is correct. Getting it wrong will create a lot of confusion. Then you need to check your printer. I was using the 1800 model in the video, but I find that using the 280 setting instead for the RIP software gets you a much better color. You also need to make sure that the port is selected correctly. You can refer to this timestamp in my video for the other settings.

Thanks for reading! I hope this blog helped you fix the problem.