Discuss the various aspects of direct to garment printing. DTG printers include Brother, T-Jet, Flexi-Jet, DTG Kiosk, Kornit, Mimaki, Tex-Jet and others! Discuss and learn about this up and coming printing technology.
US Screen had it's new AutoTreat Express at its booth at the SGIA show. It was working nonstop throughout the entire 4 day show. This and the larger AutoTreat machine were the only pretreatment method US Screen was using at the show. No spray guns at all. It seemed to apply a perfect amount of pretreat to the shirts in only a few seconds.
With the Express, after the shirt goes through the machine, you have to press the treated shirt with a heat press for a few seconds (the larger Autotreat machine has a built in heat press). The shirt is loaded on a shirt holder, a button is pressed, the holder is pulled into the machine, the shirt is sprayed as the holder is moved through the machine, and then the holder is then shuttled back out of the machine. The spray length is controllable by a sliding switch on the side.
It seemed to work great in production at the show. The US Screen people were loading shirt after shirt on it and then printing the treated shirts on the several Fast T-Jet printers they were running at their booth. The prints came out beautifully with very bright white ink.
From walking around the show I can also say that the US Screen AutoTreat machines were the only working automatic pretreatment systems there.
What I like about the Express is that it can be used by the owners of any brand printer. It should eliminate the learning curve of proper application of pretreatment and give everyone repeatable reliable results. The list price was $3495.
Last edited by printerguy; October 28th, 2007 at 04:13 PM.
I wonder if you can change out the pretreatment solutions depending on the shirt you are running? Also, did you notice if it is just a spray or does the pretreatment get rolled / wiped into the fabric at all?
It seems that rolling / wiping is a "preferred" method with many users (including myself) for getting better consistency and results.
What are the filters for on the sides and bottom of the inside of the machine?
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if you are printing a light shirt and want to use fastcolor all you have to do is hit a button and it switches from the regular pretreatment to fastcolor.... at least that is how the larger machine works and from what I have heard how this one does.
The Express sprays on the pretreatment. The filters are there to catch any misting. On the larger AutoTreat machine you can select from 2 different type pretreatments by pushing a button. The Express sprays only one type of pretreatment at a time. US Screen said they would offer an additional tank so that you could easily unplug one tank and plug in another tank with a different type of pretreatment.
As for your question on if its worth it? The one comment we always seem to hear from users of all the printer brands, that use pretreatment for white ink, is how hard it is to get consistent results when they spray on the pretreatment. In the 4 days I spent at the SGIA show, constantly walking past the US Screen booth and also spending time in the booth, the Express never stopped working. The results were always great. The pretreatment laid down so fine that if you put two piles of shirts together it would be difficult to tell which pile of shirts was pretreated and which wasn't. The pretreatment was sprayed on, not rolled or wiped, and again the resulting prints looked great.
This seems to be the only automatic pretreatment machine currently available and the price is 5 thousand dollars less then the original machine they were offering...This is very impressive and a great solution to the labor intensive manual pretreatment method.....However....this is my question.....How do they hold up to washing?.....I have been doing dark shirts awhile now and I found that it was easy to over-apply the pretreatment and get great results everytime BUT when over-applying the pretreatment the print will drastically fade and even flake off even after 1wash.....I have tried every method over the years to consistantly apply the right amount of pretreatment that will stand up to the wash and allow the white to lay down nice and bright. The only method I have found that works everytime is to mist with water and wipe with a sponge. This is the way I teach my employees to do it and they can do it the first time they try. Having said this I must also say that I have developed a really good "eye" where I can just use the paint-sprayer without misting and sponging and achieve the same results...I do it this way for large orders...but this is something you have to practice for quite awhile to learn......So does the T-Jet machine hit that "sweet spot" or is it just overspray?.....I would like to see the wash tests before passing judgement
Last edited by PinkFreud; October 29th, 2007 at 09:05 AM.
Very good question on washability. I got home Saturday night from the show. I had "borrowed" 3 sample shirts that had gone through the Express machine for pretreatment before being printed on the T-Jets with the new bright white Fastink. I've washed them 4 times already. I deliberately did not take any special care with them. Regular detergent, warm water, clothes dryer with medium heat. I am very impressed because it actually looks like there was no fading whatsoever on any of the shirts.
The long awaited answer to consistent white ink printing results appears to be here with these automatic pretreat machines. Again, I saw them working nonstop throughout the show without any problems. They appear to be simple and "idiot proof" to use. The washability seems great. I think US Screen has a winner with these and the nice thing is that they can be used for any brand printer.
As a T-Jet owner I'd like to wait a few months and see how other people fair with them. How these things hold up over time will be as important as the washability of the shirts. How much maintenance is required to keep them running like they were at the show? What parts on them wear out quickly, and how often can you expect to replace them - for how much?
Does it require an outside air line, or is it self contained? How heavy is it? I see 3 filters there, but is anything happening to actually suck the overspray through them? The ones on the side look like they're just sitting in there propped up against sheet metal. I know how quickly overspray from Pretreatment #1 can become messy.
Any additional information would be very helpful! Thanks.
I have been doing research into this machine and the larger model. I found that you can adjust the spray vertically but not horizontally so you can pretreat an area all the way across the shirt at one inch.
I was visiting relatives in the Arizona area so I decided to get a look at the pretreat machines up close. I was pleased to see that they are very industrial and solid machines.
I got to pretreat a shirt with the machine (well put it on the platen) and then see it printed with the T-jet Blazer, which I now have a man crush on. Here are some pictures of the print AFTERONE WASH as I forgot to take pictures before. Needless to say I am very pleased at this point and will wash the shirts a couple more times. This print was done with fastink3
T-Jet AutoTreat Express Automatic Pretreat Machine 
