The less cotton content the worse the print. 100% cotton is the DTG standard. Even if you get a decent print it is unlikely that it will wash well.
IMHO.
IMHO.
Problems printing on 50/50 shirts with Sprint
Hey all,
New Sprint owner here. We've been messing with the printer for a month and still are unable to get a decent quality print on colored 50/50 shirts (half cotton, half polyester). I am aware that the anabright inks do not adhere to synthetic fabrics and therefore are theoretically only sticking to half the fibers in the shirt. Still, I've heard that some people have had success adjusting their settings so could anyone give me some advice? I'm currently using a Heavy ink drop size at level 3. I've turned content based printing off for the white pass as leaving it on gives me an even WORSE looking garment. Also, I seem to be having the most trouble with shirts that only have white on them (ie. text, logos, etc.). Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!
New Sprint owner here. We've been messing with the printer for a month and still are unable to get a decent quality print on colored 50/50 shirts (half cotton, half polyester). I am aware that the anabright inks do not adhere to synthetic fabrics and therefore are theoretically only sticking to half the fibers in the shirt. Still, I've heard that some people have had success adjusting their settings so could anyone give me some advice? I'm currently using a Heavy ink drop size at level 3. I've turned content based printing off for the white pass as leaving it on gives me an even WORSE looking garment. Also, I seem to be having the most trouble with shirts that only have white on them (ie. text, logos, etc.). Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!
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Thanks for the info! I am aware that 100% cotton is the standard, however that is unacceptable for our purposes. Out of all our t-shirt customers, EVERY one of them of them request 50/50 blend shirts. We have tried selling 100% cotton but are unable to move that product. While I understand 50/50 shirts will never look as good as 100% my boss says that this is unacceptable quality. So at this point I'm just looking to see if anyone out there has had some success with other settings.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
Anajet does sell ink so you can print on poly.
True, but I'd still be faced with the same issue as Polybright inks won't adhere to the 50% of cotton fibers in the shirt (only the polyester). Also, they don't make a Polybright white ink as far as I'm aware of (which is why they say Polybrights are only to be used on light colored garments).
Dont think you are going to be able to have your cake and eat it to, in this case.
Sorry not more help.
Sorry not more help.
Oh no I understand. I appreciate all the feedback thus far! As I said before, I'm merely looking to see if anyone has had success printing with other settings (ie. "try level 2 and ink drop size light"). I've experimented some but had no success.
I'm not sure if I read this to quick or missing something... Have you tried the poly pretreat from dtgpretreat.com. We've used it with good results on 50/50.
I've only tried the pretreat liquid that Anajet supplied with the printer. I tried going to the site you mentioned and nothing comes up. Was it a typo? If not I'll assume the site is just down and try again tomorrow. Thanks!
Also, do your settings reflect mine when printing on a color 50/50 garment? heavy ink drop size at level 3 without content based printing selected?
Also, do your settings reflect mine when printing on a color 50/50 garment? heavy ink drop size at level 3 without content based printing selected?
There you go. I fumbled on the keyboard. No Anajet. I didn't mess with any of my settings when i used used it. Just treated it like a cotton.
I'll have to pick up this new solution then and give it a try. Thanks a bunch!
the solution from DTGinks.com is only for light colored garments or garments that do NOT have white ink. and on those items it works great. the problem is getting a good white underbase. what happens with polyester is the dye sublimates into the white underbase due to the heat, and causes the dulling/greyish appearance. i've had polyester sublimate days after the print was cured. you can always spray an extra layer of pretreat, but then you risk the print washing out.
there are some fleece options (Hanes PrintPro) that have a 100% cotton face, but i don't know of any t-shirt options with this. you may want to explore using opaque transfer paper for your 50/50 dark items. DTG printing just isn't a good option on dark polyester. honestly, if this is unacceptable for your business' purposes, then it was unacceptable to go the DTG route. this method has never been advertised for the poly market, other than maybe the Kornit ink sets.
if you aren't using white ink, then the poly pretreat will work great, and you'll see much brighter colors and darker blacks.
there are some fleece options (Hanes PrintPro) that have a 100% cotton face, but i don't know of any t-shirt options with this. you may want to explore using opaque transfer paper for your 50/50 dark items. DTG printing just isn't a good option on dark polyester. honestly, if this is unacceptable for your business' purposes, then it was unacceptable to go the DTG route. this method has never been advertised for the poly market, other than maybe the Kornit ink sets.
if you aren't using white ink, then the poly pretreat will work great, and you'll see much brighter colors and darker blacks.
We've found that using regular white ink with regular dark garment pretreatment prints fine and washes fine. The only issue that you will find is when curing the ink the color of the garment tends to "bleed" through the white ink and distort the color of the print.
I print on blends, But all we can expect is that the artwork will need to look good as "vintage" on purpose. Putting more ink will just make it worse. More pretreat will look better intially, but soon look bad in the customers hands... Not something you want to get out the door. It seems to adhere and wash OK after multiple cycles, it just does not have the pure white pop and picks up a tinge of the substrate color.
Even on white ink thet will stick to poly (KORNIT) the bleed problems can still persist. It's sad to say... If your customers expect dark blends and they want opaque white, You have the chosen the wrong method of decoration for this segment. With screening you have to choose the right ink for the job. Unfortunatly, the right ink does not yet exist for direct to garment and with my experience with thin film printing, I do not expect it to any time soon.
Even on white ink thet will stick to poly (KORNIT) the bleed problems can still persist. It's sad to say... If your customers expect dark blends and they want opaque white, You have the chosen the wrong method of decoration for this segment. With screening you have to choose the right ink for the job. Unfortunatly, the right ink does not yet exist for direct to garment and with my experience with thin film printing, I do not expect it to any time soon.
I appreciate all the help, everyone! Although the circumstances of my situation are unfortunate, I'm sure I can figure out a solution that will make my boss happy. It'll just take some creativity (maybe find a way to convince people to buy 100% cotton pre-shrunk shirts?) For the record, printing on light colored 50/50 shirts DOES give us an acceptable looking product. Thanks again!
I work with a ton of 50/50 material on my Sprint. What I've found is that people just aren't using enough ink and pretreatment. The photos I've included are for a Hanes Comfortsoft 50/50 full zip hoodie. Not only is the print over the zipper but the white is gleaming bright.
What I do is spray a little bit more pretreatment than I would normally use on a 100% cotton hoodie but then quickly squeegie it in all 4 directions (left, right, up and lastly down.) On the down stroke I will apply significant pressure in order to mash down the fibers. During printing, I'll go with a heavy 3 or heavy 4 on speed setting for the white underbase. I also NEVER use content based white printing on anything. I'm not that interested in sacrificing image quality in order to save a few cents. Occasionally I will have to use 2 layers of white because I didn't get the pretreatment right.
WHen you're testing out what works for you, you should be printing the white layer while the ink level on the color pass is set to 0. This way, you can add more white ink before running the color pass by itself if you have to. Hope this helps.
What I do is spray a little bit more pretreatment than I would normally use on a 100% cotton hoodie but then quickly squeegie it in all 4 directions (left, right, up and lastly down.) On the down stroke I will apply significant pressure in order to mash down the fibers. During printing, I'll go with a heavy 3 or heavy 4 on speed setting for the white underbase. I also NEVER use content based white printing on anything. I'm not that interested in sacrificing image quality in order to save a few cents. Occasionally I will have to use 2 layers of white because I didn't get the pretreatment right.
WHen you're testing out what works for you, you should be printing the white layer while the ink level on the color pass is set to 0. This way, you can add more white ink before running the color pass by itself if you have to. Hope this helps.
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those look really nice! how do they wash? i've had some blends wash with no problems and others crack and peel.
Problem I have had with using heavy pretreat is that about 5- 10 washes it begins to peel. Looks great at first then........
I'll have to try that next! Just ran out of white ink though so won't be able to run any tests for a few days.I work with a ton of 50/50 material on my Sprint. What I've found is that people just aren't using enough ink and pretreatment. The photos I've included are for a Hanes Comfortsoft 50/50 full zip hoodie. Not only is the print over the zipper but the white is gleaming bright.
What I do is spray a little bit more pretreatment than I would normally use on a 100% cotton hoodie but then quickly squeegie it in all 4 directions (left, right, up and lastly down.) On the down stroke I will apply significant pressure in order to mash down the fibers. During printing, I'll go with a heavy 3 or heavy 4 on speed setting for the white underbase. I also NEVER use content based white printing on anything. I'm not that interested in sacrificing image quality in order to save a few cents. Occasionally I will have to use 2 layers of white because I didn't get the pretreatment right.
WHen you're testing out what works for you, you should be printing the white layer while the ink level on the color pass is set to 0. This way, you can add more white ink before running the color pass by itself if you have to. Hope this helps.
For the record, I have tried running two passes of white ink before running my color. It's looked SLIGHTLY better, but not by much. Still, your ink settings and pretreatment tips will be put to the test ASAP. Thanks!
I haven't had any problems yet with cracking. I believe that it all comes down to the way that you use the squeegie. When I watch most people do it (and the way that I remember Anajet teaching us) they are actually "scraping" the top of the shirt. I use a 6" plastic putty knife with a beveled edge that is a little more flexible than the scraper that Anajet provides when you buy the printer. I use more of a downward pressing motion and mash the pretreatment into the shirt along with all the little fibers. It is definitely a workout on 10oz hoodies but the regular 5-6oz shirts don't give me too much trouble.those look really nice! how do they wash? i've had some blends wash with no problems and others crack and peel.
I have one hoodie that is on wash #7 and one edge of the print has lost quite a bit of color. From the looks of it, I blame this on missing the edge while pretreating. Other than the ones that I've printed for myself, I haven't had any customer complaints. I've been pretty happy with the results compared to a lot of the brand name skate/surf type stuff that I buy in retail stores. The only reason that we even started on it is that we get a ton of requests for full zip hoodies. I haven't found an 80/20 version that I was very happy with.
Remember to apply a ton of pressure while doing the down stroke with the squeegie
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