Field notes
1
Nozzle check
Missing columns fake every other diagnosis.
2
Platen / gap
High side looks like ‘alignment’ in the middle of the panel.
3
Enter D/E/F/G
Only after firing is even and density is even.
4
Reprint the sheet
Done when 0 is the sharpest cell on every row. Stop turning knobs.
Live coach reads glare, sharpness, and fill before you capture. For platen calls, shoot a solid, rotate the sheet 180° without moving the phone, shoot again. Darkness that stays on the same side of the table is platen or lighting. Darkness that rides with the paper is ink. Copy the shift ticket — one tap — for the next operator. No login required.
Each cell is two line combs with a known extra offset. When the programmed offset cancels the mechanical error, the combs land on top of each other: darker lines, cleaner gaps, higher contrast. HeadAlign scores that contrast on the color’s own ink channel (cyan on red, magenta on green, yellow on blue, black on luminance) and picks the peak from −4 to +4. If two cells are close, it says so.
Grok deep review is a second pass that reads labels the way you would. Use it on a real, slightly crooked phone photo. The sample sheet is for proving the local reader, not for calibrating a machine.
Put anything true of the machine in Notes for AI. Grok reads that text before it looks at the photo. Typical examples:
Without those notes, a missing A/B/C block looks like a cropped sheet. With them, the reader stays on CMYK D–G.
Row letters (A–G / D E F G) and the −4…+4 scale often print too faint to see, or the software leaves them off. Write them on the paper. Circle the best comb. Arrow a missing nozzle. Scribble “wet pretreat” or “ignore yellow.” Then check Marks on the print and transcribe if you want. Grok deep review reads the handwriting and uses it. The local pixel pass still assumes a standard grid — that is why Grok is the second pass when labels are missing.
Alignment on a clogged head or a tilted platen writes fiction into PrintExp. Inspect first:
Photograph the garment on the platen, fill the frame with the graphic. The reader splits fixes into file (choke, halo), RIP (passes, ink limit, flash-dry white), and maintenance (clean, gap, pretreat). Pixel math sees banding period, grain, and edge halo that a tired operator at 2 a.m. will miss. Grok then names the cause. It is still a photo: it cannot smell wet pretreat or read the damper.
Enter head-install date and prints per week. Combined with nozzle health, you get a months range and a band (healthy / tired / failing). Typical Epson i3200-class heads in DTG shops last on the order of a year at moderate duty; Brother GTX heads often longer. This is not a remaining-drop counter and not a warranty.
The Vision touch screen is Head Alignment: letters A–G, one number each, ▲ and ▼, then ALIGN (circle) and RETURN. That is not PrintExp. The ticket draws that panel. Start from 0. Tap ▲ to go positive, ▼ to go negative. A, B, C stay at 0 when white is on storage fluid. Press ALIGN after the numbers — RETURN first does nothing. Reprint. The CMYK D/E/F/G grid is still the sheet reading; the panel only has one box per letter, so D–G use black (K) if colors disagree.
On Ricoma DTF/DTG machines that use Hosonsoft PrintExp, Ricoma’s own order is:
After you type a value, click Calculate. Skipping Calculate is the usual reason “nothing changed.” For Head Space, add or subtract from the number already in the box — do not replace it with zero. Small moves (±1–3) are expected.
Match row letters on the paper to the software fields. D/E are typically scan-axis / bidirectional; F/G are typically paper-step or head-space. If your sheet labels differ, trust the printed letters, not this guess.
Use the GTX Maintenance Tool. Typical order after a head change: firing adjustment, platen rolling, then white/color alignment. If white is capped or on storage fluid, skip white/color alignment and only read the color sheet. Pick the GTXpro Bulk profile (or type any Brother model under Custom) and write that in the notes.
Named problems shops Google at 11 p.m. Each one has a usual cause and a thing that is not the cause.
Looks like: A thin stripe through the graphic where ink sits on raw fiber — gold/color vanishes in a band, rest of the print is fine.
Usually: Shirt was folded or wrinkled during pretreat. That crease got no chemistry. Ink cannot wet untreated cotton.
Do: Re-pretreat FLAT. Reprint the same file. If the stripe is gone, stop. Do not raise white or align.
Not: Not a nozzle column and not Head Alignment. A gold-on-black photo is not a C/M nozzle check.
Looks like: Pale outline around the graphic, worse on dark tees.
Usually: White underbase larger than color, wet pretreat, or choke/spread at 0.
Do: Choke white 1–2 px under color. Dry pretreat. Do not raise white ink to ‘cover it.’
Not: Not head alignment. Offsetting D/E/F/G will walk the whole print.
Looks like: Even stripes the width of a pass. Solids look corrugated.
Usually: Too few passes, too much ink per pass, or bidirectional error.
Do: Add passes (8 / 720) or drop ink limit 5–10% before you touch alignment.
Not: Not a platen level problem if left and right are equally banded.
Looks like: Lines in the print direction. Same place on every shirt.
Usually: Dead or weak nozzles, a starving damper.
Do: Nozzle check, power clean, recap. Align only after columns fill in.
Not: Wiping the platen will not move a streak that is in the ink.
Looks like: Ink dragged, fuzzy in the carriage direction, sometimes a scuff.
Usually: Head too close, garment sitting high (seam, collar, extra pretreat).
Do: Raise one notch. Set gap from the HIGH point.
Not: Not ‘more pretreat.’ Extra pretreat makes it sit higher.
Looks like: Spray around edges, weak small type, grain in solids.
Usually: Head too high, or pretreat too light / not dry.
Do: Drop the head one notch. Confirm pretreat coverage on a scrap of the same fabric.
Not: Raising ink limits makes mist worse.
Looks like: A second edge offset in the scan direction.
Usually: Bidirectional (row E-type) error, or the garment shifted on the platen.
Do: Tape the shirt. Then bidirec adjust. Then reprint.
Not: Not a RIP resolution problem.
Looks like: Color hangs off the underbase, or white peeks on one side.
Usually: Head space between white and color, or the garment moved between passes.
Do: If white is installed: head-space (additive). If white is pulled: you should not see a white plate.
Not: Don’t chase this with CMYK D/E on a CMYK-only machine.
Looks like: Print breaks when you stretch. Shirt feels like a sticker.
Usually: Too much ink, undercure, or a heavy white plate on a stretchy fabric.
Do: Drop ink, add a pass, confirm cure with a wash. Stretch-test before the box.
Not: A photo cannot certify cure. Alignment will not soften a brick of ink.
Looks like: Color bleeds into white or the fabric tint contaminates highlights.
Usually: Polyester dye migration from heat, or wet-on-wet on a 50/50.
Do: Lower cure, blocker/underbase, flash white. Treat poly as a different process.
Not: Not a clogged yellow channel.
Looks like: Gradient down the panel. One side sharper than the other.
Usually: Platen pitch or a garment that is thicker at the collar.
Do: Level, then gap off the collar. Reprint a solid before you align.
Not: Entering +3 on every row will not level a table.
Looks like: Small type fills in. Edges look pre-blurred.
Usually: Low-res file, RGB JPEG, or choke/spread in the wrong direction.
Do: 300 dpi at print size, or vector. Choke white, don’t spread it.
Not: Power-cleaning will not sharpen a 72 dpi PNG.
Looks like: Stripes at a dead-regular interval that survive a clean.
Usually: Dirty encoder strip, failing encoder, or a stepper that’s skipping.
Do: Clean the encoder with the right wipe. Then a solid. Then a tech, not more RIP profiles.
Not: Another power clean on magenta will not fix an encoder.
Fold or wrinkle during pretreat leaves a line with no chemistry. Ink will not stick there. Re-pretreat flat and reprint before you clean a head or open alignment.
On the Ricoma Vision Head Alignment screen, enter A–G then press ALIGN (the circle). RETURN backs out without sending the numbers.
A–G and −4…+4 often print too faint. Pen them on the paper, circle the best cell, arrow a clog. Check ‘marks on the print’ and run Grok — it reads the handwriting.
Wet nozzles look recovered, then starve ten minutes later. Align after the second nozzle check, not the first.
Collar, seam, print, zipper. The middle of the panel is a lie. Crush on the high spot, satellites on the low.
Damp pretreat is sandy solids, halos, and ‘the RIP is bad.’ It is not the RIP.
On PrintExp, add or subtract from the number already in the box. Zeroing it is how people spend an afternoon.
Typed numbers that were never Calculated did not go to the head. This is the usual ‘nothing changed.’
If white is installed, circulate on the shop’s schedule. If it is on storage fluid, say so in Notes so the reader does not hunt A/B/C.
Low humidity + idle = morning dropouts. Cap overnight on cleaning fluid before you buy a head.
RGB at 72 dpi with a fat white plate looks like a dying head. Check choke, resolution, and color space before you power-clean.
A photo cannot prove cure. If it looks cooked but cracks or washes pink, the tunnel/time/temp is the next experiment — not alignment.
Regular, perfectly spaced horizontal banding that survives a clean is often a dirty encoder, not a RIP setting.
This thread is only the Guide. Stays until you close the app.
Empty until you type or attach a photo. This thread stays on guide chat until you close the app.