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Q. How long does it take to print a shirt?
A. For a 10"x10" design printed on a white or light colored shirt, it takes between 40 and 70 seconds. The printing time depends on the design, size, material and desired ink saturation level. Black shirt printing takes about two and a half to three minutes per shirt for a typical design.
Q. Do the garments need any post treatment after printing?
A. Yes. To insure wash fastness, heat treatment is needed. You can use a heat press or textile oven. Typically it takes about 30 to 90 seconds of press depending on the ink and material.
Q. Will the prints withstand washing?
A. Yes, with the post-printing heat treatment. Extensive wash tests show that white shirt prints have as much durability as any screen-printed garment. Our textile ink pigments bond deeply inside the fabric fibers. Our black shirt prints will last without losing white inks, wash after wash, if the pretreatment is applied properly. Black shirt prints, however, will not last as long as white shirt prints.
Q. How much maintenance is required?
A. Like any other commercial production equipment, all inkjet garment printers require regular maintenance.
Q. How is a garment loaded into the printer?
A. With the provided Hooped Table, you can either simply place the garment on the print table for a quick and easy loading and unloading process, or place the hoop over the garment. The hoop is particularly useful to hold the garment, or non-garment items like tote bags, flat on the table.
Q. Can you print on other fabric items besides shirts?
A. Yes, any garment or textile product that you can place on the flat printing table can be printed on. Examples are dresses, blouses, aprons, pillow cases, golf towels, etc.
Q. How many colors will the printer produce?
A. CMYK inks allow you to produce MILLIONS of different colors. These are the same ink colors used by 4 color process printers when printing brochures or other professionally printed pieces.
Q. What is the difference between printing on a white garment versus a dark garment?
A. When printing on a white garment, you only use CMYK inks - the garment IS the white background. When printing on a dark garment, you will print a layer of white ink first, then print the CMYK colors on top of the white layer. This extra layer of ink will make the ink thicker on the garment and you will feel the difference. You may also notice a slight difference in colors if you print the same image on a white garment and a black garment. This is because the colored inks soak deeper into the white garment, but on the black garment the colored inks bond to the top of the white ink layer.
Q. Should I use adhesive spray to hold the garment?
A. Adhesives are not necessary unless the garment will not lay flat in the platen.
Q. Can you print on sleeves?
A. Absolutely, if you can get it under the print head and make it lay flat, you can print on it.
Q. What are the advantages of digital printing over traditional screen printing?
A. Traditional screen printing may still be best suited for very large production jobs, but for smaller jobs some of the advantages are:
- Save money and time - on operations, preparations, labor, space, and ink.
- Flexibility - never turn away a job because it's too small. Small custom jobs can now be your most profitable item!
- No hazardous chemicals to store or clean up. For pretreatment sprays, normal precautions to prevent inhalation of the spray should always be taken.
Q. Does direct-to-garment printing cost more on dark shirts?
A. Yes, the process is more expensive due to the pre-treatment and white under base. (The white under base makes the colors more vibrant.)
Q. How close to the edge of a shirt are you able to print?
A. Within 0.25” typically--closer may be possible but would be determined on an individual basis.
Q. Does direct-to-garment printing cost the same regardless of the number of colors?
A. Yes. One big advantage of DTG printing is that it does not matter how many colors there are. They are laid down at the same time.
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