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SoCalShirts · September 10th, 2007

Hi, I am thinking about purchasing an HM-1 and went to SWF Mesa for a demo. They game me some samples and I just washed the black shirt. After the first wash there is some major peeling in the ink. Is this normal? Is it typical for HM-1 prints to peel at all? How is the quality when you print on black shirts? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Printzilla · September 10th, 2007

Flaking is usually caused by under curing the shirts with to much pressure. It can also be caused by too much pretreatment.It is an issue with inexperienced operators, which it seems from time to time, that even the manufacturers run up on.

White ink printing takes lots of practice to perfect. It is not something that you can just start producing quality shirts from day one.

For what it is worth, I love my HM1's. Of course I have only had them a few days, but I like them way better than my tjets!

PinkFreud · September 11th, 2007

In all fairness Zilla the fact that you like your new HM1's better then your old T-Jets may be a bit misleading to some....All of the newer digital printers have improved upon their older models...There may be someone out there who upgraded from a kiosk to a T-jet3 who would express similar sentiments.... obviously you can say what you want but I just wanted to put it in the proper perspective

DAGuide · September 11th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalShirts


	After the first wash there is some major peeling in the ink. Is this normal? Is it typical for HM-1 prints to peel at all? How is the quality when you print on black shirts? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

What you are describing is something that can happen to any brand of machine. As Printzilla stated, there are a couple of factors that need to be done correctly in order to get the best print with great washability. The one statement that is said over and over is Printing White Ink is an Art. If it was a science or something much easier, you would see a DTG machine in every Walmart and tourist trap place in the world. It still does require a skill.

Pink, that is the beautiful thing about the 2nd and 3rd Generations of all of the different brands of DTG machines - whether it comes from US Screen, SWF, Sawgrass, Anajet... All the newer machines seem to have learn from the earlier editions and made some improvements. Hopefully, the trend only improves from here. Just need to get the ink side to progress at the same rate as the equipment and we all will be in a better place. I am sure Printzilla would probably say that he likes the HM1 better than the Kiosk he owns (or used to).

Printzilla · September 11th, 2007

I partially agree with Pink. Most of the new generation machines have improved over the earlier ones. The HM1's have better features, speed, etc....than the original tjets, thus why I like them better.

However not all newer generation machines are better, in my opinion. I would not trade one of my old red tjets for a tjet 3. I wouldn't trae one for 2 tjet3's if I had to use them.

csquared · September 11th, 2007

Marc you didn't like using a T-jet3? I found them to be very nice machines that put my tjet2 to shame with speed and amount of ink layed down. Not personally using a hm 1 I cannot compare the two but maybe at the next show I will make don show me the latest and greatest from DTG.

Printzilla · September 12th, 2007

I just have seen to many error lights when using the tjet 3. I have heard privately from 3 different owners that they have registration issues. I have also seen posts here and on the private tjet board regarding users having to rig the machines with card board and other items just to get it to work properly.

At the demo I had it seemed they had to restart the machine to many times for blinking lights.

I am sure the tjet 3 is a great machine, I know I really liked my old ones, just not for me.

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