#1 FIX - DTF Printer Out of Paper / DTG Feeding Error Light On - PET Film L1800

In this blog, we’re going to work on the DTF printer. More specifically, we’ll cover what to do about a “printer out of paper” error.

Checking Your Printer

You may notice the printhead moving, and then the printer light comes on again. If you go back to your computer, you’ll see that the job status is stuck at “printing.” It might also tell you that the printer is out of paper. If you cancel the job, you will see both the page feed and the ink light flashing, so go ahead and turn that off. You want to shut off the main switch, but before we go any further, we should discuss how the paper is fed through the machine.

If you stand in front of the printer, you should see the sensor on your right-hand side, so when you feed the paper, the paper will push the lever and move it away from the PCB board. You want to make sure you feed the film correctly. The big, half-circle wheel controls the back plate. If you have a printer that’s already converted to row feeding, the wheel’s position doesn’t really matter.

As you guide the film in, push to the right side to trigger the paper sensor. Note that your right side becomes your left if you’re standing behind the printer. Press the page feed a couple of times to make sure the printer catches paper. You may need to load and unload back and forth until the page is parallel to the output.

Now you need to make sure the printer is okay. Cancel any remaining jobs from your computer and turn off the entire printer, including the main switch. Now turn back to the main switch, waiting a good two minutes before turning the printer on. When you turn on the printer, do a quick and firm push. Do not hold on—you will need to release pretty quickly.

Looking For Software Errors

Wait another five to six minutes. If you don’t get another page feed error, your issue is probably not with the printer itself but your software. One thing that might be wrong is your printer model, and this is most likely because you bought an Asian model. There are a lot of Chinese-modified printers, so you don’t have the equivalent US model.

If this is the case, you will likely receive an L1800 error. Select R290 from the dropdown menu. R290 is actually a regular-sized printer, so whenever you print, you’re going to get an error—just ignore it. You can also select 1390/1400, but if you click on any of the others, you’re going to get a page error. R290 typically has a better color than the other option, so we will select that model for this demonstration.

Second, you should check your port, but if you get this error, then your port is probably okay. You might still want to take a quick look, though. The other thing you need to check with the software is the spooler. Do not start printing immediately. Instead, change the default setting to start printing after the last page is spooled. Ideally, your “check paper size” should be switched off.

If you’re not using the L1800 printer, you might just need to play around and change the printer settings until you find one that works for you. If everything looks good, you can proceed to printing. If you get an error saying that the printing size is different, just click “yes.” Now check to see if the problem is fixed.

We hope we enjoyed this blog. Visit us at bchtechnologies.com, or locally at our Greensboro, North Carolina location. Cheers!