How to get nice white prints?

6538 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Dark and Wilder, May 21, 2018

Le fever

Discussion Starter · Jun 13, 2014

Hi there, I'm looking for the key to getting top notch looking white ink prints. I feel I'm right on the cusp, but I can't quite reproduce the quality I saw from the trade show samples I had made and what I made during my training. Basically, the issue is this: the prints come out nice and bright, no real holes in the printing, but it just doesn't have that thicker smoother finish. Photo 1 shows a print I just did today and Photo 2 is a print I did during my training. Here are the settings I used for the shirt in Photo 1:
- Cotton Heritage ringspun 100% cotton t-shirt
- Direct Ink Dark Garment Pretreatment
- Underbase set to 2880x720 (no color layer)
- Heat press w/ silicone-coated curing sheet
- Pressure 0 (just a bit less than 1)
- 90 seconds x 2

At first I just thought it was from printing on Alstyle open end cotton shirts but I've tried Spectra ringspun tees, Cotton Heritage tanks, etc. Needless to say, it's not the shirts.

I've also played around with different print resolutions, printing just the underbase, letting it sit before heat pressing, hovering the heat press with no sheet, etc. Any tips would be super helpful!

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printheaddesigns

· #2 · Jan 12, 2015

Le fever said:
Hi there, I'm looking for the key to getting top notch looking white ink prints. I feel I'm right on the cusp, but I can't quite reproduce the quality I saw from the trade show samples I had made and what I made during my training. Basically, the issue is this: the prints come out nice and bright, no real holes in the printing, but it just doesn't have that thicker smoother finish. Photo 1 shows a print I just did today and Photo 2 is a print I did during my training. Here are the settings I used for the shirt in Photo 1:
- Cotton Heritage ringspun 100% cotton t-shirt
- Direct Ink Dark Garment Pretreatment
- Underbase set to 2880x720 (no color layer)
- Heat press w/ silicone-coated curing sheet
- Pressure 0 (just a bit less than 1)
- 90 seconds x 2

At first I just thought it was from printing on Alstyle open end cotton shirts but I've tried Spectra ringspun tees, Cotton Heritage tanks, etc. Needless to say, it's not the shirts.

I've also played around with different print resolutions, printing just the underbase, letting it sit before heat pressing, hovering the heat press with no sheet, etc. Any tips would be super helpful!

View attachment 93057 View attachment 93065

Did anyone ever help you with this issue since It seems I am in the same boat as you were. Any help is greatly appreciated thanks.

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OmniPaul

· #3 · Jan 13, 2015

Please give us a call here at Omniprint, i am sure we can help you with this.

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printheaddesigns

· #4 · Jan 13, 2015

Thanks I will

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printheaddesigns

· #5 · Jan 21, 2015

Got help from Jose on this and it is printing awesome now thanks for the help.

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HilcoAthletic

· #6 · Apr 24, 2015

Can someone help me with this also. i have a 330TX and i cant seem to get a Good White. I dont have time or patience to sit on the phone with people either. If someone could post here so others that have the same questions can get the answers also that would be great.

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OmniEAST

· #7 · Apr 24, 2015

HilcoAthletic said:
Can someone help me with this also. i have a 330TX and i cant seem to get a Good White. I dont have time or patience to sit on the phone with people either. If someone could post here so others that have the same questions can get the answers also that would be great.

Just spoke with Cory...great opportunity for the NEW OmniPrint East Coast office to help in situations like this. Paying the Hilco Team a visit next week to lend a helping hand!

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TCP

· #8 · May 2, 2015

OmniPaul said:
Please give us a call here at Omniprint, i am sure we can help you with this.

I'll be giving you guys a call next Monday if that's fine, having the same issue.

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OmniPaul

· #9 · May 8, 2015

So I just wanted to bring something up here and share some info. If anyone ever has an issue not getting a good white please call us so we can make sure you have the training and knowledge you need. It is definitely just a learning curve or reminder on how to do it. Now here is were I may be putting a stick in the mud. We use Dupont ink for the fact that it is Dupont, they just have the best quality control and well knowledge of ink. Plus they make there out pigments and binders. I have noticed that the introduction of another brand of ink is going to gum up the machine and cause problems. I am not mentioning who but if you want to share your experience with another ink and had this happen I would like to hear it from the end user and not me. We know what works and stand behind it. If you are having an issue and you made change to another brand and the problem happened then please share. It is not right for the end user and us when the problem is related to outside products.

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HilcoAthletic

· #10 · May 14, 2015 (Edited)

Hello All,
Well Ken from OmniPrint Came out last Wednesday and helped us out. We determined that our maintenance station was pretty shot. Also the White ink we were using (firebird Ink) was all hard on the bottom of our ink bottles. When we shook them it all appeared like a Good White but it wasnt very good at all. We switched back to the Dupont DirectInk and Pretreat. , Changed the maintenance station and got it working back up to par with what we were used to.

Disclaimer
If you are using the Firebird ink, Everything works pretty well for a few months and then the ink starts to gum up and you wont be producing great whites after that. Check your ink bottles to make sure there is no settled gummy ink on the bottom. We got lucky this time that the heads didnt get super gummed up with the white ink.

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OmniPaul

· #11 · May 14, 2015

Cory, thanks for bringing that up. It's really important to know and I hope that you save someone else from your experience. sorry you had to go through that though. Anyone else had the same problem? Once again thank you for setting the story straight Cory.

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ghostofmedusa

· #12 · Nov 12, 2015

late to the party... lose the 2880x720 setting. use the 2880x1440dpi setting and your white prints will be solid. It will simply lay down more ink.

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Dark and Wilder

· #13 · May 21, 2018

This seems to be an older posting but I as well am trying to figure out what's going on with these little "holes" in the while underlay.

Trying to muniplute the rip software but I can't seem the find a serting that would change how the underlay goes down.

Ive read that an all white underlay isent desireable for cost and colour considerations. The printer had run into an ink feed issue in which it printed the white underlay as normal (gradient) but stoped with and error before a reset and reprint in whuch it put down a second white underlay before doing the colour pass. The results are a bit better as far as detail in thr print. Im not sure gow the washabity would be, but certainly there must be a better way of getting a brighter, clearer print without a double underlay.

My first question would be how to adress this "little holes/gaps" in the underlay.

Thanks for any input!

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