Intro to my Kornit Blog

Kornit Blog Introduction

My name is Erik Mickelson, and I am the Operations Manager with our family-owned embroidery and direct-to-garment company. We are celebrating our 45th year in business, 1977-2022. We have been loyal Kornit owners since September 2011, when we purchased our first Kornit Storm 2 printer. 
As you all know, the Kornit printers have glitches and can be very frustrating. I have searched the internet for blogs or tech tips regarding Kornit's problems and issues and haven't found one that was any good. The best so far is probably the Kornit Facebook group, where you can see posts about printer errors and general Kornit feedback. 

​The Kornit community is a small select group that should work together to better the Kornit ecosystem and the direct-to-garment industry. I will create a blog about our trial and tribulations with our Kornit Storm Hexas to better other Kornit owners worldwide. Today will be my first blog, and I hope you find it informative and helpful on your Kornit journey.

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What is a FIFO queue using a bank line as an example

​A queue is a FIFO Data structure (First, in-First out). It is also known as FCFS (First, come-First served). A real-life example of a queue is a line in a bank where the teller serves the first person in line. New people entering the bank will stand at the end of the queue (line). We add new elements at the end of the queue and remove them from the front of the line. 

FIFO Error
Today we received a FIFO error on both our Kornit Storm Hexas. The error caused the design to print out of registration. This glitch is a FIFO error, which means First In and First Out. The printer isn't receiving all the design data, and possible data corruption. 
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Check data transfer from the server to the printer.
The first thing you need to check is the connection from your server to the Kornit printer. The data from the server to the Kornit can become corrupted on large designs. The way to test this is by copying the design to a USB thumb drive and transferring the design directly to the printer to rule out any ethernet cable connection issues. 

Check the size of the design.
The size of the design file may cause issues. If the design file is big, like a Photoshop file, it will cause a FIFO error. We tried different file types; .png, .tiff, and .jpg and found out the .png worked the best and solved our FIFO issue. ​

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Update on the Kornit FIFO Errors as of August 23, 2022

I may have spoken too soon about the FIFO error fix. Today we are experiencing additional FIFO errors, so I had to create a new case with Kornit Tech Support at $150.00 per hour. Here is our situation and what I have tried before the Kornit techs have a look. 
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1. I replaced the Kornit controller card on the computer. We had another card that we swamped out
2. Added four gigs of RAM. The computer has a total of 8 gigs

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Some things recently that happened with the computer.

1. IDS upgrade in March 2022
2. We upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Software Issues:

1. In a few months, we had to reinstall the Kornit program. We booted up one day, and it didn’t recognize our Storm Hexa software. We had to reload the entire program, and I think there are possibly ongoing issues.
2. When we open the Kornit software for the first time, it shows 5000 prints. We just hit the reset button.
3. The software doesn’t drop the tray during turn-on. We manually must get underneath and press the tray drop button.

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Kornit owners, please help me with my blog.
The hardest thing about writing a blog is finding interesting and essential content. I need other Kornit owners to help me with topics, interviews, videos, and tech tips to better the Kornit Universe. 
Topics I would like to interview Kornit owners.

• Tips and Tricks to keep your Kornit running.
• How to market your Kornit shirts? 
• How do you price your shirts?
• Keep your comments POSITIVE. 
• Anything else you can think of

Please reach out and lets chat ideas
​ Erik Mickelson at erik@nwcustomapparel.com or call 253-922-5793. ​

Author

Erik Mickelson is a 2nd generation embroider who has been in the industry for 25 years. Feel free to reach out to Erik at erik@nwcustomapparel.com