TexJet printers: Ink consumption during cleanings

The amount of ink waste that is consumed during printhead cleanings on TexJet DTG printers.

The frequency of printhead cleanings depends on a combination of factors. For instance, the ambient temperature and humidity levels of your workstation, the maintenance and downtime of the machine, how worn out the consumable parts of the printer are, the remaining shelf life of the inks and of course the image size and printing resolution may be just a few of the causes that will require the performance of printhead cleaning at least once.

All TexJet printers are equipped with two printhead cleaning functions. The first is labeled as “Print Head Cleaning” and is the lighter one and the second as “Heavy Head Cleaning” and it’s the strongest.

Print Head Cleaning

This particular type of cleaning is considered normal, meaning the occurring ink waste is low. It is the one that you will use more frequently, especially if your printer is maintained properly. The normal cleaning is necessary at the start of every printing day, when the nozzle test is not acceptable (a lot of missing nozzles) or in the case that you don’t get the desired outcome (faded colors) after printing on numerous garments,.

Common practice has shown that a normal cleaning is required when printing 40 designs on light-colored fabrics or when printing 20 designs on dark-colored fabrics. These numbers can be affected by the aforementioned parameters and can change depending on the print size. For large-area print jobs, you have to carry out normal printhead cleanings more frequently compared with small-area print jobs.

During a normal printhead cleaning cycle, the total amount of ink wasted is 12ml. Each cleaning cycle consists, approximately, of 50% CMYK inks and 50% White ink.

Heavy Head Cleaning

Heavy Head Cleaning is available at echo and echo2 printer series. This stronger printhead cleaning is more powerful, as a larger quantity of inks are running through the ink flow system. This type of cleaning is required when the printer has been idle for a longer period of time or in the case the daily maintenance has not been sufficient. By performing a heavy head cleaning instead of a normal one, you ensure that fresh ink from the cartridges is replacing the stationed ink on dampers and ink system tubes.

During a normal printhead cleaning cycle, the total amount of ink wasted is 40 ml. Each cleaning cycle consists approximately of 50% CMYK inks and 50% White ink.

For a sales forecast of printing 20 shirts/per day, during a 20 day period each month, the ink usage, runs up to 500 ml, due to cleanings. Per year one can estimate at 6 L of ink usage.

Ink Charge 

This process is followed typically on the installation day of the printer, where the ink flow lines must be filled with fresh ink. The ink charge procedure is basically an ink fill and hence, the ink consumption is very large, as we need to be sure that the lines are perfectly full and the system contains no air. During the fill, the total amount of ink wasted is 70 ml and the usage is approximately 50% CMYK inks and 50% White ink. The cartridges that contain black ink share in a way the consumption, so the ink level will be a bit higher compared with the other inks.

TexJet users must follow a different ink charge process depending on their printer model. The Texjet echo/echo2 users must perform the process via the Adjustment program. You can find the detailed guide here: Unboxing & Installation of TexJet echo2

If you are a TexJet shortee2 user then, you can perform the Ink Charge procedure through the Digital Factory software. Learn how to here: Unboxing & Installation of TexJet shortee2