DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
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DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
My question would be though: why would you want to
All the money you spent on the DTG that will print directly to both white and dark garments without the need for transfer paper with MUCH better quality than an inkjet transfer, you basically wouldn't need heat transfers after you have a DTG.
It does what heat transfers can do, but better
Maybe you can explain what you may be thinking of, which would help us to share possible other methods for doing it.
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
The purpose would be to prepare transfers for an event, and take the trannsfers and a heat press and not have to lug the DTG around. At sporting events for example, being able to print up shirts, hoodies as they are ordered. I dont want to transport the DTG and risk damage to it or me....
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
I actually think you can. Pigment inks on an inkjet printer (that you use to print your regular inkjet transfer paper) are technically waterbased inks, and thus similar to your waterbased DTG inks. But like Rodney, the big question is, "Should you?". DTG inks are very expensive, so it would be more practical to just buy a regular Epson inkjet printer. Another option is to just buy the cheaper laser transfers and go to some copy-print shops and have them print your transfers. Still another would be to order screenprinted plastisol transfers to take to your events.
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
The simply is yes you can. A dtg printer will drop more ink than a standard printer, so you need to pull down the ink curves or limits. A lot of Brother users were doing this a while back using the Print Cut technique. However, it typically does not print as sharp of a design as most people want and forget about doing small text unless you can get the paper really close to the print head without getting a head strike.
Like everyone else stated, dtg ink is much more expensive and is really not designed for this application. Most events by me use plastisol transfers. The reason is at events, it is all about speed! If you are doing pre-planned designs, then you can do either inkjet / laser digital transfers or plastisol transfers. Most inkjet / laser transfers will take 40-80 seconds to print (5-10 seconds to align up, 30 seconds to press, 5-30 seconds to peel depending on hot / cold peel). The average plastisol transfers can be half that time because most press times are below 10 seconds. The savings in 30 seconds does not sound like a big deal, but this added time of being able to talk to a potential customer can help you close a much higher % of deals.
So my recommendation is to go with plastisol transfers and use them at multiple events and sell shirts after the events if they want.
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by giniweslowski
The purpose would be to prepare transfers for an event, and take the trannsfers and a heat press and not have to lug the DTG around. At sporting events for example, being able to print up shirts, hoodies as they are ordered. I dont want to transport the DTG and risk damage to it or me....
Ahhh...I knew there was something I was missing. That makes sense. I totally forgot about the portability factor.
Re: DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer?
The other factors to consider when taking a dtg printer on the road is you need to be aware of environmental factors (humidity, temperature), dust / other containments floating around, space and electrical requirements (running a heat press, printer and laptop can cause a breaker to flip in some cases). Some dtg printers do better when it comes to doing on-site event production than others.
This is a discussion about DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer? that was posted in the Direct to Garment (DTG) Inkjet Printing section of the forums.
DUMB DTG Question Is it possible to print heat transfers with a DTG printer? 
