There are many people printing with Epson 2200 based 7 color garment printers like the T-Jet2, printing direct from PhotoShop and using the standard Epson drivers. These people are not printing with white ink, they are using (CMYK,LM,LC,Lk). I believe that one of these people is using the Matte Heavy Weight paper profile with success.
I think that you might have success using the DTG inks
Well that's extremely interesting. It's hard to believe that it actually works at all, but the results in the video are very impressive. I'm sure there are many reasons the commercial DTG printers cost so much, but $15,000 more than the one you made? That's 100 times as much money.
I do understand that the cost of "doing business" adds plenty to the cost of a commercially made DTG, but I feel they are still too expensive for what you get.
I will be watching this thread for some instructions so I can try one myself.
Now I have question for the ones who have purchased the high dollar ones if they care to help.
I have read you need to pre-treat the shirts....1- Why? and what does it do? 2 - What is the pre-treatment made from?
I have only washed a couple of shirts that I printed and they look as good as they time I printed them.
I am heat pressing them with my t-shirt press to "set" the ink.
Next thing is the colors do look slightly fadded from a printed piece of paper.
I wonder if I could purchase the ink from a maunfacture of a DTG to improve the fadding or would the pre-treatment fix it?
Maybe someone could be nice and help with this.
Thanks!
Amazing! Great job. I think US Screenprint sells the prep spray called FastColor. I understand that it improves vibrancy and wash fastness. Colorstarink sells the ink for textile.
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Luis MAD Scientist JR. AKA MS2 Digital Artist. My canvas is t-shirt and my paintbrush is heat press.
Thanks Again to everyone for the great response on my creation!
I will draw up the plans this week and have them ready (at least a rough draft)
By monday 11-19
I ordered some Dtg ink this morning (thanks for the link to purchase the inks) to see if the quality could improve a little on the print. The ink cost more than the printer
The only issue with the printer now is the limit of the size of print since it is a normal paper printer. I will order an wider printer this week also to try and get it to work the same.
I would like for someone to help with the software if they could or design some possibly for ease of use or if there is some out there please let me know.
Re: Made my own DTG Printer for $150 
Well done 
Re: Made my own DTG Printer for $150 
