Anyone printing on 50/50 poly cotton?

I have done a few Gildan white on 50/50 using the DTGPretreat.com treatment and they seemed to come out better than without it.

However all my prints are coming out better the more I get to know my MP5.

you can't go wrong with using the pretreat! if your price allows you to spend the extra time, then go for it!

I agree with Sean. Even on white shirts, the pretreatment will make your dark colors deep and your light colors vibrant. It also keeps your image from fading in the wash. I see that you've already completed these shirts but in the future, be careful of your curing temp on your heat press when pressing neon. A lot of the time you'll end up pressing the color right out of the shirt.

PS. Google Honey Badger don't care. It's a funny viral Youtube video

When you pretreat for a 50/50 shirt are you using the same pretreatment solution that Anajet sells for pretreating dark shirts? How much pretreatment do you put down? Light coverage? Medium?

Thanks,
David

I pretreated the shirt the same way I pretreat for light garments. The particular shirts I initially asked of radvice on were neon yellow 50/50 shirts and had an all black design on the front and back. I used light pretreat which Anajet does not sell or say you need to use. I like the result as opposed to not using light garment pretreat....but the trick is to only lightly spray the garment (I mean very lightly). I actually dont use a wagner to pretreat garments.

So if your printing on 50/50 dark garments....either switch to 100 all cottons or be prepared to see some bleed thru. One thing I did which did help was increase the amount of white I laid down on the design.

I've wondered about this myself. I have a sprint and have been able to print some 50/50 sweatshirts with the regular pre-treatment. Can you tell a big difference? We came up with several honey badger designs and they are close to being my best seller out of 5,000 designs. Kids

We have a new poly pretreat that seems to yield great results on the blended materials. It also works for 100% poly. You will have to call in to order it, but should have it on the store very soon.

Karl T said:

We have a new poly pretreat that seems to yield great results on the blended materials. It also works for 100% poly. You will have to call in to order it, but should have it on the store very soon.

Click to expand...

Karl...is this different than the one I got a few weeks ago that comes in a little plastic bottle?

If the bottle looks small and only holds a few ounces and then makes 2 liters, that's the stuff.

Is this new pretreat for use with shirts being printed on the Mpower machines?? And, are you saying you can print on 50/50 and 100% polyester material using this pretreat and an Mpower machine with standard Mpower ink? Please be precise and tell us EXACTLY what to expect. Not a sales answer, please!

Thanks
David

sondzin said:

Is this new pretreat for use with shirts being printed on the Mpower machines?? And, are you saying you can print on 50/50 and 100% polyester material using this pretreat and an Mpower machine with standard Mpower ink? Please be precise and tell us EXACTLY what to expect. Not a sales answer, please!

Thanks
David

Click to expand...

David, the Poly pretreat has been around for a while (before MP) and it alows improved adhesion of CMYK on to polyester garments. This does not mean white ink. You can use this for printing process colors on garment other than white, for instance, black on red or black printed on safety orange or lime, but you will not be able to create a yellow on red or a green on a navy. These colors on a dark shirt require white ink behind the process and white ink will not reliably stick to this pretreat even if used in conjunction with standard white pretreat.

Thanks for that explanation. I would like to be able to do some sports garments - poly and poly blends - but I was under the impression I could only print on cotton or mostly cotton garments with the Mpower machine. If I wanted to print on poly material I would need to do sublimation.

Well said Z,
David, email me at kt@AnaJet.com and I will get you some of this treatment to try. I think you will be pleased, then you can share your results here for everyone else.
Thanks

MarieF1111 said:

I'm confused. I'm reading here that there is a light garment pre-treat, also?

Karl, I'd love to see a chart that indicates the pre-treatment that Anajet recommends using the MP5. Something like this:

Shirt Color Material Pre-Treat Recommended
White 100% Cotton ?
Light 100% Cotton ?
Dark 100% Cotton ?

White 50% Cotton ?
Light 50% Cotton ?
Dark 50% Cotton ?

White 100% Polyester ?
Light 100% Polyester ?
Dark 100% Polyester ?

We've got our MP5 up and running, but we've only been printed white shirts. We're going to start experimenting with the pre-treatment this week. So it would be nice to have a clear idea of what we should do.

BTW Love this forum!! We've learned a lot from all of you, especially through the weekends!! Thanks.

Click to expand...

Marie,
Just so we're clear, you cannot print dark poly. Again, Dark garments must be mostly cotton and preferably 100% for white ink to stick and have good brightness and washability. If you are going for a vintage look, you can experiment with blend garments and find that some work OK. Do not expect "athletic" or photographic quality on any dark garment that does not have 100% cotton or other plant based fabric.

Look in the section of this forum about pretreatment. There is all kinds of great info. There may be some science to this, but you have to experience the feedbck and try the techniques on many different brands to find The way that works for you. I took the class from Anajet over 5 years ago, and the way I ended up doing is has evolved depending on a lot of variables.

Hi Marie,
There are two types of pretreat. The standard treatment is used for white ink printing. This is the one that comes in a 2 liter jug.

The other pretreatment is for polyester printing. It comes in a small 2-3 oz bottle and makes ~two liters. This is used for light 100% polys or blends.

I have a tutorial I will post on this subject later today.

Thanks Z and Karl for the clarification.

Another question, then.... can I want print on a Gildan 64000, dark heather color, which is 35% cotton/65% polyester, if I use the poly pre-treat?

correction: can I print...