[skdave]

As promised, I rather a number of sample DTG printed shirts at the recent SGIA Oct.15, 08 in Atlanta, Ga.
I cut each in half and I wash them using Costco Kirkland washing Soap in a new Kenmore front load. These shirts all were washed and dried 16 times.
The washed halfs are on the right in all pictures and the unwashed halfs are on the left as posted.
Each has the name of the DTG printer. Each was printed by the companies selling the printers at the show.

You can decide which is the best and the worst.

 

[skdave]

The DTG Printers did a good job at the SGIA SHOW.

 

[zhenjie]

thanks Dave, from what I can see

Kornit - pretty bad wash quality of the colors on white ink.
Anajet - Very nice all round, especially for 16 washes
T-jet - White ink is peeling and cracking. I would have thought the new white ink/pretreatment they have would have done a better job. Perhaps they over pretreated BUT, wouldn't they have been using their $10k autopretreatment machine?. Their white t-shirt is pretty bad too, do you know if they pretreated the white t-shirts?
Flexi - On dark looks very good. On the white t-shirt it looks terrible! How/why would they give those out as samples is beyond me. Doesn't give me much faith in whatever inkset they used.
Brother - I want to make LOVE with it right now.

 

[joeshaul]

Thanks for the posts/updates/photos. I'll have to take a good look at the different printers again when ISS rolls around. Seemed like consistency and maintenance were always a big issue with them when I was at the shows previously. Consistency seems to be getting better. Hopefully this year I won't go walking by a booth where there's a 50% chance the printer is off, the case is open, and someone says "maybe it's the other fuse"

I want to check the new Brother out too, but it'll definately exceed my alloted spending.

 

[zhenjie]

Did you pickup any Brother prints on white t-shirts?

 

[Ceejay]

I was told that all the DTG's run the same Du Pont ink. Is this true? If so, how come such a different result?

 

[Ceejay]

By the way Dave, thanks for a great post.

 

[skdave]

Did you pickup any Brother prints on white t-shirts?

No sir I did not pick up a Brother sample on white. I own a Brother 541 and can assure you that I have printed thousands of shirts without one complant, from me or my custormers.

 

[skdave]

I was told that all the DTG's run the same Du Pont ink. Is this true? If so, how come such a different result?

Most do, but Brother does not.

 

[zhenjie]

I was told that all the DTG's run the same Du Pont ink. Is this true? If so, how come such a different result?

That use to be the case but now there are many different inksets. However most people still use the same Dupont white ink (except for Kornit and Brother).

 

[martinwoods]

Thanks Dave for doing all those wash tests. It is always nice to see from real people, of course you never know how they are pretreated and how normal people are going to do them but it is nice to see the white getting good results.
I have the anajet and have had good results on the wash tests from them but man I want a brother so bad.

Can't wait to see all that happens in the coming months. Thanks again for all the effort put into showing everyone the washability

 

[skdave]

Thanks Dave for doing all those wash tests. It is always nice to see from real people, of course you never know how they are pretreated and how normal people are going to do them but it is nice to see the white getting good results.
I have the anajet and have had good results on the wash tests from them but man I want a brother so bad.

Can't wait to see all that happens in the coming months. Thanks again for all the effort put into showing everyone the washability

The Anajet sample with the swords did quit well.

 

[martinwoods]

The Anajet sample with the swords did quit well.

It looks like it
I have one from about 2 years ago and it still looks fine. My husband even wears them to work to save his own shirts and they go through a lot.

 

[sunnydayz]

Where are the samples from DTG? I see all the others but them. Did you get any other white shirt samples besided flexi, tjet and Mimaki? I guess not probably since they arent on there. Great job getting samples and doing wash tests . It is amazing how much the white shirts faded, I never get fading that way. They must not have been curing them well or something. Or it could even be that I am still using the R and H inks in my machine

 

[skdave]

Where are the samples from DTG? I see all the others but them. Did you get any other white shirt samples besided flexi, tjet and Mimaki? I guess not probably since they arent on there. Great job getting samples and doing wash tests . It is amazing how much the white shirts faded, I never get fading that way. They must not have been curing them well or something. Or it could even be that I am still using the R and H inks in my machine

No I didn't get the DTG. I missed them somehow.
Yes I was amazed with the fading on the whites.

 

[Kimsie]

Wow, thank you for your hard work and time of course doing all of this!!

Dave do you have a Brother dtg?

Bobbielee do you have a DTG?

 

[sunnydayz]

Kimsie, I have the dtg HM1

 

[TahoeTomahawk]

I think the Mimaki did the best on white shirts. Is that a discharge printer? No noticeable filibration. Good job.

 

[skdave]

Wow, thank you for your hard work and time of course doing all of this!!

Dave do you have a Brother dtg?

Bobbielee do you have a DTG?

Yes I have a Brother 541 and soon a Brother 782.
We also have 42" Sublimation printer for those over size printed t-shirts

 

[Rodney]

Thanks for the GREAT post, Dave. The side by side pictures are great! Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share your results!