[Comanch]

Hi. I'm looking for advice. We have DTG printer Brother gt-381. Every black t-shirt we pretreatment. Then we use heat press and after printer.

The problem is, that every black shirt has frame after heat pressing. Is any way to fix it? Can I use lower press without risk, that the picture could be destroyed after wash?

I don't know what should I do.
Here is picture of sweater with the frame. Check the different of color on the top of sweater up. The same result is also with 100 % cotton t-shirts.

Thank you for advices
Honza

 

[Skinbus]

More than likely too much pressure, but should come out after washing. Don't wash for 24 hrs. after pressing.

 

[andreas2000]

to much pressure do not use so much pressure

 

[Comanch]

Thank you for replies. The frame really comes out after washing.
Do you know, how much press (in bars) is ideal?

 

[EricDeem]

Less than 1 bar...the heat press should be touching the garment but no "real" pressure should be put against the ink.

 

[g.lupo]

Are u using brother pretreat papers. If so the can be a cause also because it doesn't fade out. I use medium pressure on all but use duping ink and image armor pretreat which is differnent than brotger

 

[HN1164]

Are u using brother pretreat papers. If so the can be a cause also because it doesn't fade out. I use medium pressure on all but use duping ink and image armor pretreat which is differnent than brotger

Are you using Brother Printers? If so are the Ink and Pre-treat you use comparable to what Brother offers? Do the colors match for the CMYK?

 

[ghostofmedusa]

I have beaten this dilemma...

The box means you are applying too much PT. Heat Press pressure really hasn't much to do with the box you are experiencing. The aqueous vapor escapes pretty diligently as the image cures. There is such a thing as too much pressure, but most likely the main culprit here is excessive PT. That box you see is the binding agent slightly burning which in turn causes a slight rectangular brown box where your heat press perimeter hits the curing shirt. Does Brother make a proprietary PT? I know their inks are. There 2 things we do to effectively combat this...

I use Image Armour now (notorious for the "box of death", but IA really improves the wash fastness and reduces White Ink cracking significantly). So we bought an 1800Watt Garment Steamer and have been steaming out the perimeter of the entire print afterward, on all our outgoing product. You'll be surprised at how much PT staining disappears with the superheated steam breaking everything up in the garment fibers. Don't worry if you run past the printed image here and there, it wont effect it much at all. Just follow the affected area with the steamer nozzle and get as much out as you can. The rest should wash out as someone already pointed out here.

Also, dark Tees require the prescribed 3 mins curing interval at 330 degrees. The process actually doesnt require to receive 330 degrees of pressed heat all at once though. We break this up into 2x 1 min and 30 sec intervals. This reduces the likelihood of the binding agent in the PT to become too hot to fast, and thus prevents scorching of the PT at the edges of the heat press. All the un-evaporated PT tends to collect there and if it cooks for too long in one place it will bake into the shirt... I have learned this info the hard way in life, beaten myself up about it etc... Then I tried the aforementioned and was triumphant in beating the box... Glue is Glue, and Heat is Heat... I just needed a way to make that heat wet, versus a dry one... Steam was the logical solution, and it breaks up the binder efficiently. Try it out, capable steamers run from $50-125 and are readily available

Hope this helps

 

[ghostofmedusa]

Also, had a quick daydream about platen design that should help decrease the collection of binder around the edges. Something that should help eliminate "brown rectangle" syndrome:

If the edges of a platen were rounded versus right angled, wouldn't this allow the H2O in the pretreatment to escape/evaporate more efficiently, thus preventing the collection of binder around the perimeter of the press? Water vapor follows the rounded edge upward, Glue/binder follows the bottom rounded edge downward - and possibly into some containment area.
I included a shabby little diagram to help explain the idea...

 

[joey1320]

I have beaten this dilemma...

The box means you are applying too much PT. Heat Press pressure really hasn't much to do with the box you are experiencing. The aqueous vapor escapes pretty diligently as the image cures. There is such a thing as too much pressure, but most likely the main culprit here is excessive PT. That box you see is the binding agent slightly burning which in turn causes a slight rectangular brown box where your heat press perimeter hits the curing shirt. Does Brother make a proprietary PT? I know their inks are. There 2 things we do to effectively combat this...

I use Image Armour now (notorious for the "box of death", but IA really improves the wash fastness and reduces White Ink cracking significantly). So we bought an 1800Watt Garment Steamer and have been steaming out the perimeter of the entire print afterward, on all our outgoing product. You'll be surprised at how much PT staining disappears with the superheated steam breaking everything up in the garment fibers. Don't worry if you run past the printed image here and there, it wont effect it much at all. Just follow the affected area with the steamer nozzle and get as much out as you can. The rest should wash out as someone already pointed out here.

Also, dark Tees require the prescribed 3 mins curing interval at 330 degrees. The process actually doesnt require to receive 330 degrees of pressed heat all at once though. We break this up into 2x 1 min and 30 sec intervals. This reduces the likelihood of the binding agent in the PT to become too hot to fast, and thus prevents scorching of the PT at the edges of the heat press. All the un-evaporated PT tends to collect there and if it cooks for too long in one place it will bake into the shirt... I have learned this info the hard way in life, beaten myself up about it etc... Then I tried the aforementioned and was triumphant in beating the box... Glue is Glue, and Heat is Heat... I just needed a way to make that heat wet, versus a dry one... Steam was the logical solution, and it breaks up the binder efficiently. Try it out, capable steamers run from $50-125 and are readily available

Hope this helps

Good idea. I was thinking of trimming my bottom pad to see how it would work. I think by rounding off the edges it will be less noticeable.

Great minds think alike lol.

Sent from my HTC One X using T-Shirt Forums

 

[ghostofmedusa]

Good idea. I was thinking of trimming my bottom pad to see how it would work. I think by rounding off the edges it will be less noticeable.

Great minds think alike lol.

Sent from my HTC One X using T-Shirt Forums

Hey Joey - just wondering if you tried to trim it at all... If so - what were the results?

 

[joey1320]

Hey Joey - just wondering if you tried to trim it at all... If so - what were the results?

Not yet. I havent had many heatpressed orders recently, so I haven't thought about. I still want to do it, so ill update the thread once I do. Maybe tonight

Sent from my HTC One X using T-Shirt Forums