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.
What you have done is pretty danged cool to say the least!
Asking for a little to save a LOT is also a good thing, and to come on here to share that is a VERY NICE thing!
I do have something to kind'a add, in your documentation, just make sure that it's worded so people that can't
build stuff don't buy it and not have a clue, 'cause I 'magine that'll happen. heheh
You will also be getting a PM from me in a few minutes too.
Thanks for what you're doing, it takes people like you that are not greedy to make a difference, and we will appreciate all of your efforts.
After owning a Kiosk, and seeing many design flaws with it, I always considered trying to hack my own DTG printer. The most difficult thing I could not figure out was what controls the print bed, was it the printer engine itself or a separate board. Looks like you answered the question here!
Dan, that was VERY generous of you! Thank you for doing your part in making this a reality!
T, if you really are planning on putting out plans without charging for them, that's simply awesome! I can't wait to see what you provide for everyone!
This might just open up a whole new avenue for me and Mark. If you can actually use garment inks in your system, the colors SHOULD hold fast, and in that case we'd HAVE to do this!
The offer from Dan is a good example of the bonds of this board. When we help another we will see that we help all ...including ourselves
I am anxious to see how this works. I am very technology bright...I have turned the light on and off three times all by myself!....and only took a week to learn.
On the serious side, I can see where some technical expertise might be required to disassemble and re-assemble the print head and electronic gizmos...(new techie term) ...but this should be very interesting..
Pretty cool stuff, where is Atari, didn't he try this for quite some time and got next to nowhere?
Challenges that I see that you will face going to the next level will be - finding a larger format - 4 color only machine, as many of the DTG ink manufacturers do not make the light colors and without a RIP you can't assign channels. Getting the bed mechanism to re-register so that you can run a second pass - this would improve your vibrancy (the Epson driver doesn't deposit enough ink on one pass to give exceptable quality). Getting the bed mechanism consistent in height so that you can get closer to the printhead (and having it adjustable for different thickness garments). No doubt you have done a great job in getting this far.
Good luck in your trials.
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Don - SWF East
"I ink, therefore I am!"
A bit more info here. The "magic" of the commercial direct to garment printers (that are made from re-purposed Epson printers) is in there registration system and ability to print larger droplets at higher resolution - another challenge is the Epson ink cartridge chip issues. The earliest direct to garment printers that we dealt in had 5 proprietary boards in them that controlled the re-registration of the garment as well as the bed feed mechanism. I would expect that these items would be the most difficult to "hack".
Going forward - the challenge that many will face (both commercial hackers and the home hacker) will be the changes Epson is implementing in its ink delivery system - basically making re-settable bulk ink chips unworkable. I would build this on a print engine that is not yet listed as discontinued by Epson and that has a large inventory of replacement parts in the system.
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Don - SWF East
"I ink, therefore I am!"
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.
Hmmmm. You keep that up and I might just have to write you a RIP
You have many challanges to overcome... but I'm impressed. I'll be around.
Very impressive T...good for you....Not being technically inclined I always wondered what was done to modify the printer to make the bed move....I am assuming that you tapped into the mechanism that originally pushed the paper through to make the moving bed platform....what is interesting is that an earlier video on this thread showed a homemade flatbed printer where the printhead moved over a stationary bed... Homemade flatbed printer | If its funny and online then you'll find it here!.
.I guess the question would be which method would be preferable
I'm curious to see if the DTG inks can be used on this Epson engine w/o modifications to the printhead. I would think that OEM inks would not be good for durability on fabrics, and hope I'm wrong. Great work on this modification, whatever the results.
Re: Made my own DTG Printer for $150 
Re: Made my own DTG Printer for $150 
