Digital, Screen and Graphics Printing Products and Equipment for Everyone: 07/08/14

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

DIGITAL PRINTING Q & A from RhinoTech.

The Burning Question:

Is there an easy way to decorate garments digitally without the expense of purchasing a DTG printer and a pre-treatment machine?

The Simple Answer by RhinoTech:

Great question! But, first, here is what pre-treatment is and why it is necessary in DTG (Direct-to-Garment) printing.

When using a DTG system to print on dark t-shirts, for example, each shirt must first be sprayed with a pre-treatment fluid. This fluid prepares to receive the ink (toner). It is a crucial and needed step in this type of printing situation so that each and every print will last and pass the wash test.

Pre-treatment can be tricky when applying the fluid, however, because if too much is used, the final image will start to flake off after the initial wash. If too little is applied, the surface to be printed will be inadequate and the final print will not be the high caliber image sought. Compounding the issue of pre-treatment is that the correct amount of fluid found to work on one brand might not be the same for the next brand of t-shirt, the same or next batch, color or style used. And, finally, cost factor is another consideration.

So…. The answer to the question is a solid, YES. There is an alternative to using a digital printing system that doesn’t require pre-treatment of dark or light garments.

The solution is to use a DIGITAL heat transfer system that utilizes laser heat transfer papers and printers. Time and money saved!

Choosing the Correct Digital Printing Set-Up.

This step involves research, but the following options help reduce decision-making time when it comes to determining the best system for your specific business and space needs. The following digital and inkjet heat transfer systems for apparel printing don’t require any pre-treatment. It’s just all about creating, printing and heat transferring the image to the garment.

With the RT SunAngel DARK series of heat transfer paper and printers, the operator can create vivid transfers for both light and DARK garments simply by printing the image and heat pressing it directly onto the DARK shirt. The apparel/fabric can be 100% cotton, a 50/50 blend and/or 100% polyester. There is no preference toward brand, batches or style.

The final results are sharp, highly defined designs with dazzling colors in Fluorescent color and white and/or by using traditional CMYK + white toners. Because this is a laser system, SingleStep™ heat transfer paper can also be used with this system.

The next option is SingleStep™ that is a weedless, laser paper for white and light color garments. Once the image is printed onto fabric, it leaves no window – only the toner transfers. The resulting design is soft and feels as if it had been screen printed.

SingleJet™ is heat transfer paper used with inkjet printers, only. This paper involves a simple, refined one step process to printing on white and light color fabrics and garments. Vibrant images result. You can also print a photo, flat color design text, block graphics or spot colors with this system.

With exceedingly low upfront costs of a digital printing system in tandem with bypassing the several step process involved with pre-treatment and DTG systems, the printer saves time, effort and money.

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