DTG is a relatively new fabric printing method that prints an image directly onto a garment or fabric through what is essentially a modified version of a traditional inkjet printer. Think of a regular inkjet printer which has been modified to “accept” garments instead of paper. The ink is printed immediatelly onto fabric which results in exceptional “hand” (common term in the industry referring to how a garment feels once the image or design has been printed on it), and offers more flexibility than screenprinting in terms of color variation and turn-around time (especially for smaller orders).
The G2 Direct to Garment Printer is the perfect solution for:
Quick Profits
Easy Training
Easy Maintenance
Light or Dark Shirts
Promotional items
Originally it was best suited for light garments as white ink was not available. As the technology continues to advance, however, major DTG printing providers are adding dark garments to their lists.
Since the technology is relatively new it is far more likely that small to medium-sized businesses will be able to incorporate a DTG printer in to their operation as they are quite high priced. To give you an idea, I was at a trade show in Atlantic City marveling at a DTG printer in the process of printing a t-shirt when I was told the machine would cost upwards of US$10,000. For me, the discussion stopped right there…
Long story short, DTG printing is not for everyone-at least not at this point. It suffers from mixed reviews. Determining if its right for your business will depend on your own judgement and research. How “good” or “bad” it is seems to vary depending on the kind of business, its client base, and individual experiences. It is essential to remember, however, that it is a relatively new technology and once perfected could change the lives of many a t-shirt printer due to its flexibleness.
Here is an exert from an article on www.impressionsmag.com by Mark Collins in which he pits DTG printing against Sublimation ink printing (a heat transfer process):
The DTG Process
…Direct-to-garment (DTG), also known as inkjet-to-garment printing, involves using a printer to print ink directly onto a cotton garment and curing the ink with a heat press. There is very little set-up time, which usually involves little more than sizing the image correctly in Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw. There is one limitation - I can print only light shirts via DTG because I have not yet found a printer with a “white ink solution” to inkjet print on darks that I think could work in my production environment.
Since my shop prints about 275 to 350 shirts a day using DTG, I shopped for a printer that could produce that volume without much maintenance or down time. I chose the Brother GT-541 and have found it to be a reliable and fast four-color (CMYK) printer that works for my needs.
I looked at printers with 8-color printheads that can produce a larger color gamut and finer detail, but the speed was more important to me.
Inkjet printing directly to a shirt obviously cannot yield the same image quality as inkjet printing to paper - just like printing on copy paper can’t compare to printing on high-quality photo paper. The substrate dictates the limits of your image quality.
Knowing that, I shop for blank garments that are closer to “photo” paper than “copy” paper. I look for thread count and a fine, dense weave that will offer a better print surface. I avoid garments with too much fluff, or pile, because that inhibits the inkjet process. Ring-spun cotton is softer and more expensive, but that soft hand comes from all the tiny fibers that stick up off the fabric.
These tiny fibers block some of the sprayed ink from making a solid bond with the shirt and little bits of the image wash away as the fibers wear off. These tiny fibers also can lift up immediately after being printed, exposing areas that did not get full ink absorption. Avoid both problems by using shirts woven from open-ended yarn, or yarn that is card spun.
Knowing the Basics of Heat Transfer Papers and procedures
The basic tools are not complex. They are-
* A computer
* Some type of graphics program
* A basic inkjet printer
* Good quality heat transfer paper
* An appropriate heat press
Because success needs more knowledge than just knowing what equipment and supplies to buy, we begin with basic ideas.
Heat Transfers - General
Heat transfer is what is used to apply custom printed graphic designs and photographs to 100% cotton and cotton-blended T-shirts (50/50), mouse pads, tote bags and other fabric items.
The basic concept is simple. A standard inkjet printer and regular inks are used to print on heat transfer paper (called a carrier paper in the trade).
The heat transfer paper has a film on it and this is the side that is printed on. After printing, the unprinted part of the transfer sheet is trimmed and the transfer is placed on the shirt and both are heated in a heat press with medium to high pressure.
When the heating cycle ends, the head of the press is lifted and the transfer is complete.
Heat Transfers - Procedures
To be successful, the entrepreneur must balance
the choice of what they can do with what they should do.
This section looks at some important choices.
Heat Press vs. An Iron
No matter what brand or type of paper you use, you will always get superior results with a heat press. That’s it. End of story. Even the smallest, cheapest heat press provides consistent and even, heat and pressure. Even the most expensive iron can do neither.
There is one situation, however, where an iron might make sense. That would be where you are producing very small quantities of items and basically giving them away. Small quantities shouldn’t wear your arm out and if it’s free, the recipients shouldn’t complain.
Professional Grade vs. “Store Bought” Paper
There is a lot of difference, between the two. What is available at an office supply or department store is a generic paper, developed specifically for the low-end home iron market.
There is no successful professional (even part-time) using “store bought” heat transfer paper. The quality is just not good enough.
It has nothing to do with price (our professional grade paper is actually cheaper), only with the quality and durability of the transfer. The choice is yours.
Inkjet Printers vs. Laser Printers
Unless you already own a color laser printer, we usually suggest using an inkjet printer, for two factors.
First, an excellent inkjet printer costs considerable less than even a cheap laser printer. Second, not all laser printers produce good heat transfers.
It has nothing to do with the print quality (which can be excellent). Rather, it is because many laser toners do not hold up to washing. We wouldn’t want to see you buy a laser printer and then find out it wasn’t suitable.
If you already own one, then get a small sample pack of paper and test the results (printing and washing). You may be very pleased.
“Soft Hand” vs. “Hard Hand”
In the trade, “hand” refers to how a transfer feels, before washing and after. A soft hand can certainly be felt but is not objectionable. A hard hand, as the name implies, is very stiff and can be objectionable.
Our heat transfer paper has a relatively soft hand, after transferring and is even softer after the first washing. However, you will always be able to feel it. There is no escaping that truth.
Be wary of advertising that claims to have “practically no hand” or “a hand so soft you can barely feel it” or some other nonsense. While you certainly don’t want a cardboard feel, there has to be enough film to make the image stick on the garment. Also, because there is not much film, colors can be quite dull.
More importantly, you don’t want a lot of expensive re-do’s because the transfer won’t hold up in the wash.
“Clear” Transfer Paper vs. “Opaque” Transfer Paper
These two transfer paper types have two totally different functions. “Clear” transfer paper is for white and light ash gray fabrics and “opaque” transfer paper is for colored fabrics. We provide exact details on the next page of your tour.
“Preprinted transfers” vs. “Your inkjet printed transfers”
Again, these are two completely different types of transfers, which serve completely different needs and needs.
99% of preprinted transfers are screen-printed on a special type of paper. When the transfer is put on a shirt and heated in a heat press, the ink becomes soft and sticky. When the heat is removed, the ink is stuck on the shirt so tightly that the paper back is easily removed and nothing remains on the shirt except the picture.
A lot of of our clients produce shirts with preprinted transfers, in addition to printing their own, on an inkjet printer. This is a viable option, for large quantities of the same thing.
Unlike preprinted transfers, 99% of inkjet printed transfers involve custom images (like photos) with multi-colors and often under 100 pieces. This customization, with no setup costs, and very low startup costs, as well as fast turnaround times, are the main strengths of printing your own heat transfers.
These competitive strengths are so important that even many screen-printing companies also offer inkjet printed transfers.
The most important fundamental to remember about inkjet printed heat transfers, is how it works.
By itself, ink has no ability to stick to a shirt! It requires some type of film to make the image stay on the shirt. This film covers the paper sheet. This also means that if you do not trim unprinted areas off of your transfer, the film in that area will also be on the shirt.
There is no way to get around this fact. Of course, a rectangular or square image is really easy to trim (we have done a few hundred thousands in our time). The potential difficulty is in trying to trim an irregular shape.
This is why many pros will put a “box” around an irregular shape and then apply a colored background fill (to make the transfer into a square or a rectangle).
While inkjet printed transfers are not the solution for every conditions, the market is so huge that literally tens of thousands (and probably more in the summer) of shirts are sold every day with this process.
direct transfer garment, || copyright Direct Transfer Garment Printer || Back Link Url || http://bintang-production.blogspot.com/2011/09/dtg-printer.html || Tema, Judul, Artikel, Posting || Direct Transfer Garment Printer ||
direct transfer garment printer, || copyright Direct Transfer Garment Printer || Back Link Url || http://bintang-production.blogspot.com/2011/09/dtg-printer.html || Tema, Judul, Artikel, Posting || Direct Transfer Garment Printer ||
MelcoRIP Printing Software || copyright Direct Transfer Garment Printer || Back Link Url || http://bintang-production.blogspot.com/2011/09/dtg-printer.html || Tema, Judul, Artikel, Posting || Direct Transfer Garment Printer ||
The G2 Direct to Garment Printer is the perfect solution for:
Quick Profits
Easy Training
Easy Maintenance
Light or Dark Shirts
Promotional items
Originally it was best suited for light garments as white ink was not available. As the technology continues to advance, however, major DTG printing providers are adding dark garments to their lists.
Since the technology is relatively new it is far more likely that small to medium-sized businesses will be able to incorporate a DTG printer in to their operation as they are quite high priced. To give you an idea, I was at a trade show in Atlantic City marveling at a DTG printer in the process of printing a t-shirt when I was told the machine would cost upwards of US$10,000. For me, the discussion stopped right there…
Long story short, DTG printing is not for everyone-at least not at this point. It suffers from mixed reviews. Determining if its right for your business will depend on your own judgement and research. How “good” or “bad” it is seems to vary depending on the kind of business, its client base, and individual experiences. It is essential to remember, however, that it is a relatively new technology and once perfected could change the lives of many a t-shirt printer due to its flexibleness.
Here is an exert from an article on www.impressionsmag.com by Mark Collins in which he pits DTG printing against Sublimation ink printing (a heat transfer process):
The DTG Process
…Direct-to-garment (DTG), also known as inkjet-to-garment printing, involves using a printer to print ink directly onto a cotton garment and curing the ink with a heat press. There is very little set-up time, which usually involves little more than sizing the image correctly in Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw. There is one limitation - I can print only light shirts via DTG because I have not yet found a printer with a “white ink solution” to inkjet print on darks that I think could work in my production environment.
Since my shop prints about 275 to 350 shirts a day using DTG, I shopped for a printer that could produce that volume without much maintenance or down time. I chose the Brother GT-541 and have found it to be a reliable and fast four-color (CMYK) printer that works for my needs.
I looked at printers with 8-color printheads that can produce a larger color gamut and finer detail, but the speed was more important to me.
Inkjet printing directly to a shirt obviously cannot yield the same image quality as inkjet printing to paper - just like printing on copy paper can’t compare to printing on high-quality photo paper. The substrate dictates the limits of your image quality.
Knowing that, I shop for blank garments that are closer to “photo” paper than “copy” paper. I look for thread count and a fine, dense weave that will offer a better print surface. I avoid garments with too much fluff, or pile, because that inhibits the inkjet process. Ring-spun cotton is softer and more expensive, but that soft hand comes from all the tiny fibers that stick up off the fabric.
These tiny fibers block some of the sprayed ink from making a solid bond with the shirt and little bits of the image wash away as the fibers wear off. These tiny fibers also can lift up immediately after being printed, exposing areas that did not get full ink absorption. Avoid both problems by using shirts woven from open-ended yarn, or yarn that is card spun.
Knowing the Basics of Heat Transfer Papers and procedures
The basic tools are not complex. They are-
* A computer
* Some type of graphics program
* A basic inkjet printer
* Good quality heat transfer paper
* An appropriate heat press
Because success needs more knowledge than just knowing what equipment and supplies to buy, we begin with basic ideas.
Heat Transfers - General
Heat transfer is what is used to apply custom printed graphic designs and photographs to 100% cotton and cotton-blended T-shirts (50/50), mouse pads, tote bags and other fabric items.
The basic concept is simple. A standard inkjet printer and regular inks are used to print on heat transfer paper (called a carrier paper in the trade).
The heat transfer paper has a film on it and this is the side that is printed on. After printing, the unprinted part of the transfer sheet is trimmed and the transfer is placed on the shirt and both are heated in a heat press with medium to high pressure.
When the heating cycle ends, the head of the press is lifted and the transfer is complete.
Heat Transfers - Procedures
To be successful, the entrepreneur must balance
the choice of what they can do with what they should do.
This section looks at some important choices.
Heat Press vs. An Iron
No matter what brand or type of paper you use, you will always get superior results with a heat press. That’s it. End of story. Even the smallest, cheapest heat press provides consistent and even, heat and pressure. Even the most expensive iron can do neither.
There is one situation, however, where an iron might make sense. That would be where you are producing very small quantities of items and basically giving them away. Small quantities shouldn’t wear your arm out and if it’s free, the recipients shouldn’t complain.
Professional Grade vs. “Store Bought” Paper
There is a lot of difference, between the two. What is available at an office supply or department store is a generic paper, developed specifically for the low-end home iron market.
There is no successful professional (even part-time) using “store bought” heat transfer paper. The quality is just not good enough.
It has nothing to do with price (our professional grade paper is actually cheaper), only with the quality and durability of the transfer. The choice is yours.
Inkjet Printers vs. Laser Printers
Unless you already own a color laser printer, we usually suggest using an inkjet printer, for two factors.
First, an excellent inkjet printer costs considerable less than even a cheap laser printer. Second, not all laser printers produce good heat transfers.
It has nothing to do with the print quality (which can be excellent). Rather, it is because many laser toners do not hold up to washing. We wouldn’t want to see you buy a laser printer and then find out it wasn’t suitable.
If you already own one, then get a small sample pack of paper and test the results (printing and washing). You may be very pleased.
“Soft Hand” vs. “Hard Hand”
In the trade, “hand” refers to how a transfer feels, before washing and after. A soft hand can certainly be felt but is not objectionable. A hard hand, as the name implies, is very stiff and can be objectionable.
Our heat transfer paper has a relatively soft hand, after transferring and is even softer after the first washing. However, you will always be able to feel it. There is no escaping that truth.
Be wary of advertising that claims to have “practically no hand” or “a hand so soft you can barely feel it” or some other nonsense. While you certainly don’t want a cardboard feel, there has to be enough film to make the image stick on the garment. Also, because there is not much film, colors can be quite dull.
More importantly, you don’t want a lot of expensive re-do’s because the transfer won’t hold up in the wash.
“Clear” Transfer Paper vs. “Opaque” Transfer Paper
These two transfer paper types have two totally different functions. “Clear” transfer paper is for white and light ash gray fabrics and “opaque” transfer paper is for colored fabrics. We provide exact details on the next page of your tour.
“Preprinted transfers” vs. “Your inkjet printed transfers”
Again, these are two completely different types of transfers, which serve completely different needs and needs.
99% of preprinted transfers are screen-printed on a special type of paper. When the transfer is put on a shirt and heated in a heat press, the ink becomes soft and sticky. When the heat is removed, the ink is stuck on the shirt so tightly that the paper back is easily removed and nothing remains on the shirt except the picture.
A lot of of our clients produce shirts with preprinted transfers, in addition to printing their own, on an inkjet printer. This is a viable option, for large quantities of the same thing.
Unlike preprinted transfers, 99% of inkjet printed transfers involve custom images (like photos) with multi-colors and often under 100 pieces. This customization, with no setup costs, and very low startup costs, as well as fast turnaround times, are the main strengths of printing your own heat transfers.
These competitive strengths are so important that even many screen-printing companies also offer inkjet printed transfers.
The most important fundamental to remember about inkjet printed heat transfers, is how it works.
By itself, ink has no ability to stick to a shirt! It requires some type of film to make the image stay on the shirt. This film covers the paper sheet. This also means that if you do not trim unprinted areas off of your transfer, the film in that area will also be on the shirt.
There is no way to get around this fact. Of course, a rectangular or square image is really easy to trim (we have done a few hundred thousands in our time). The potential difficulty is in trying to trim an irregular shape.
This is why many pros will put a “box” around an irregular shape and then apply a colored background fill (to make the transfer into a square or a rectangle).
While inkjet printed transfers are not the solution for every conditions, the market is so huge that literally tens of thousands (and probably more in the summer) of shirts are sold every day with this process.
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