Troubleshooting Ink Flow Issues in L1800 DTF Printer: Fixing Printhead and Capping Station Problems

Question: I have an L1800 DTF printer and recently replaced the ink system, including the tubes, printhead, and dampers. I flushed out the old ink and added fresh ink, making sure it flows through the tubes to the dampers. After performing multiple nozzle checks and head cleanings on white paper, I’m getting black ink, but not much of the other colors. Even the black doesn’t look sharp. What could be preventing the ink from flowing properly? The printhead I purchased is from https://amzn.to/3TcsNCL

Answer: 

Thank you for reaching out! On behalf of BCH Technologies, thank you for your support and joining us in our journey — specifically on our YouTube channel. The questions and what feedback you will give me will allow us to dive deeper on printer-related issues in order for us to provide a more personalized solution.

The effort that you have made with replacing the ink in the system and flushing out that old ink has been excellent work, but there are one or two other things that need to be done here.

1. Capping Station Maintenance

One other common issue users don't notice especially when replacing a new printhead is the state of their capping station. The capping station maintains the cleanliness of the printhead and also helps to pull ink through when cleaning heads. A dirty clogged or even prevents suction and that hinders the ink properly flow through it again some inconsistent nozzle checks.

Examine the capping station and ensure it is free of obstructions or debris, especially dried up ink. When doing a head cleaning, you should also monitor through the waste line. If you see no ink being drawn into the waste line, your capping station is probably at fault…not your printhead. We have a couple of videos addressing this issue:

2. F1 Fuse on Mainboard

If you are getting some ink on the paper/film, the F1 fuse on mainboard in printer is still good. This fuse is for the power supply to printhead,if it was broken you cannot print any ink. But if you ever found a case where the printer prints blanks but the capping station can draw inks out, the fuse could easily be suspect no. 1 to check on your list of suspects.

3. Printhead Quality Concerns

The major issue is probably the printhead you are using. According to you, You bought a brand new printhead of around $18 which is unbelievably cheap for the range of L1800 printers. The price of a refurbed L1800 printhead is typically $300-400, and it will be from the range $400 to $600 if new.  As you've seen in Amazon reviews, it does enough to have done physical damage to even some of the printers of existing users by burning out their mainboard.

I am glad to hear that there was no permanent damage done to your printer though I would replace it with one from a more reputable source. This is because very cheap options tend to be of poor quality, which could cause damage in the long run or worse complications. We also have a video that we posted about these types of scams which you may want to take a look

4. Final Steps

Step4: Replace the capping station if faulty and make sure your mainboard working OK. Upgrade a stable printhead, after all but if was really important only spare that is worse than nothing. After fitting a good nozzle check should sort the ink and stabilize the flow. Then it should show in the color vibrancy and sharpness especially black ink.

Printer issues are among the most difficult to troubleshoot, as they often involve hands-on problems. Which means we cannot give remote troubleshooting, tips and support on your printer repairs. Inkjet Printer Repair Service, Local Diagnostic Facility [https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service]: We offer an in-person evaluation & repair service due to high demand up front basis. If you drop off or mail your printer to us it may be several weeks before we are able to evaluate it.

We offer full printer repair, as well as individual repairs of parts along with instructions on how to mail them in or drop off locally. We do know that our prices may not be in everyone budget so Vimeo is packed with online-content reasearch materials. We have hundreds of Youtube videos to help you resolve different issues, check out at our YouTube channels