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uscfsales · February 13th, 2010

This is not my image nor do I claim any ownership. I am simply referencing it to ask a question - Can the GT 541 print a shirt like this?

What happens if you print a light color on a darker colored t-shirt with the GT-541? Is it clearly visible, such as what is shown on this image? Or does it disappear? Does your printing have to be darker than the t-shirt to show up on a GT-541?

csw · February 14th, 2010

The 541 as a stand alone unit is not able to print on dark shirts. Brother has an add on (basically a second unit) that will allow you to do this. I recieved info on it from my vendor but have not seen one. My guess is the add on is simply a modiffied 541 so you are looking at doubling your footprint in the shop and in your wallet.

bredanos · February 14th, 2010

What add on is this? Can you provide some more info or links please?

Dennis Graves · February 14th, 2010

I think the add-on he is mentioning is the Polar Bear. It's a GT-541 set up to just print white ink. You have to move the platen from machine to machine, but it looks like it would work well.

If you search you will find some threads about it, including a YouTube video.

Here is a link to the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__TnYv9bXOI

Dennis Graves

DAGuide · February 14th, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by uscfsales


	This is not my image nor do I claim any ownership. I am simply referencing it to ask a question - Can the GT 541 print a shirt like this? What happens if you print a light color on a darker colored t-shirt with the GT-541? Is it clearly visible, such as what is shown on this image? Or does it disappear? Does your printing have to be darker than the t-shirt to show up on a GT-541?

Since the GT-541 printer is a CMYK only printer and the inkset is transparent (required to make all the colors from just CMYK), the artwork will only show up properly on the garment if the lightest color in your graphic is darker than the color of the garment. If not (which is the case in the graphic you used as a sample), then either the colors will be altered. Here is a post that gives you examples of exactly how a graphic will look on different color garments with just using CMYK ink and then if you use CMYK+White ink - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide.

In the example you used, nothing would really show up because you are using a black garment (or what looks like to be black) and black is the darkest color in the spectrum. If you used a blue shirt, you would be able to see some of the design. However, the part of the design that is yellow will actually come looking close to green on a blue shirt. (Remember the zip-loc bag commercial where yellow and blue makes green).

Quote:

Originally Posted by csw


	Brother has an add on (basically a second unit) that will allow you to do this. I recieved info on it from my vendor but have not seen one. My guess is the add on is simply a modiffied 541 so you are looking at doubling your footprint in the shop and in your wallet.

I believe you are talking about the Polar Bear dtg (www.polarbeardtg.com). This is not a product offered by Brother, but is sold through the distributors independently from Brother. It does require that you use two GT-541 printers. One is going to print all white ink and the other one will use the standard CMYK ink setup. The Polar Bear printer kit, which is what my company developed, includes the following items:
- Two unique, disconnect platens that allow you to move the entire platen from one printer to another without the garment shifting.
- Complete set of disconnects and an air filteration system that allows the user to drain the white ink lines to perform the proper maintenance (which is the same process that the GT-782 printer does, but slightly different steps)
- A special software program that will allow the user to use the GT-782 print driver and then split the ARP file into a white ink mask layer ARP file and the CMYK layer ARP file.

The Brother distributor will then add in the other items (i.e. white ink, pretreatment solution, maintenance solution, refillable maintenance cartridge,... and other things depending on whether the printer is new or used) you need to get started. This is why the entire Polar Bear kit is sold through the distributors. All the inks, print heads, ink lines and chemicals are the same stuff used by the GT-782 printer.

The Polar Bear concept was designed for people that already had a GT-541 printer, but either could not afford the cost of a GT-782 printer or did not have the additional space in their shop to have both printers. Either a new or used printer can be turned into an all white ink printer using the Polar Bear Kit. If the printer is used, you will want to replace the ink lines (need to be the new ink lines that are designed to run white ink) and printers manufactured before May 2008 will need to get the tube replacement kit to get the proper ink swivels. The distributor will replace the ink lines and other items when they do the install / training (i.e. info on pretreating, printing, curing and maintenance for white ink) for dark garment printing.

Since everyone asks, there is no way to take a single GT-541 printer and have it run CMYK+White ink in it. There are not enough ink cartridge bays and the size of the print head carriage is not large enough to hold the necessary print heads to print with white ink. This is why we need to use two GT-541 printers.

Stating this, if you can find a good price on a GT-541 printer in good shape, your cost to get into doing dark garment printing could be substantially less than some of the other options out there.

Hope that answers everyone's questions. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask them.

Mark

BETO · February 15th, 2010

Wao Mark you make me now think in look for an other gt541 used like me firts that i bought for $9,000 dollars i hope find one more. by the way do you know how much s the cost for one of the white polar ? and if i will find one gt 541 how much will they will charge for the ajustments or update to transform in a white polar? Thanks
Robert.

DAGuide · February 15th, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by BETO


	Wao Mark you make me now think in look for an other gt541 used like me firts that i bought for $9,000 dollars i hope find one more. by the way do you know how much s the cost for one of the white polar ? and if i will find one gt 541 how much will they will charge for the ajustments or update to transform in a white polar? Thanks Robert.

Robert,

You really need to talk to the Brother distributor that you work with. Just buying a used GT-541 printer may require additional replacement parts. (See the comment above about printers made before May 2008). Just buying any GT-541 might not be a good idea for using as a CMYK printer. Need to make sure that the printer was taking care of. I only say this because the print heads are kinda expensive. To run white ink through any print head, the print head needs to be working properly. The same can be said for the capping station. I am not against buying a used GT-541 printer to turn it into a polar bear, but it would recommend you working with a distributor that can also let you know what other costs might be needed to get the printer ready.

Stating that, the cost for the Polar Bear Kit is up to the distributor. I only provide some of the necessary items as stated above. The distributor must provide the other items (ink, pretreatment,...). Then you are going to need to be trained on how to print dark garments. One of the things that Brother distributors have done that I think is positive for them is they require the printer is installed by a tech and training is done before the user goes on their own. As far as I know, Kornit is the only other manufacturer that requires this. Dark garment printing can be done, but it requires more training than CMYK printing. So it is not that easy for me to tell you what the cost to create a polar bear printer when there are all the factors that I mentioned above. On average, you will see these cost range between $3,000 to $4,000 (but may go higher depending on where the customer is located or the condition of the printer).

In the end, you should work with your Brother distributor to get more of a concrete plan. Hope this answers your questions.

Best wishes,

Mark

BETO · February 15th, 2010

Thanks Mark that was a lot good information.
Robert.

TPrintDesigner · February 16th, 2010

Hi Mark

Do you have anyone performing the Polar Bear modification in the U.K? If not, has there been any interest in taking the project on?

DAGuide · February 16th, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by TPrintDesigner


	Hi Mark Do you have anyone performing the Polar Bear modification in the U.K? If not, has there been any interest in taking the project on?

Hello. I have receive several requests from Brother owners in UK and other countries in Europe. Currently, we are working with the U.S. distributors to develop all the technical support documentation to help reinforce the initial training. The GT-541 printer has really spoiled a lot of dtg owners. Being built from ground-up, it is a very reliable printer. However, printing on dark garments adds additional challenges. Some users will pick up the dark garment printing process (pretreating, printing, curing, maintenance) very quickly and others will need follow up assistance. Since this process was developed outside of Brother, the distributors are solely responsible for the support. So we are in the process of creating this support to assist the distributors. There are modifications done to the ink lines that an authorized technician should do and other items (as mentioned above) that you will need to get from the Brother distributor. So for these reasons, it is just going to take some time before we will launch the product outside of the U.S. for now. I will post information when it is ready to go outside the U.S. markets. I hope you can understand.

Mark

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