The art of pretreating

2143 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by equipmentzone, Apr 21, 2014

PeterLDN

Discussion Starter · Apr 19, 2014

Whilst I've got my white t shirts looking and washing great, I'm still having a few issues with dark colours such as washability and appearance (not the print itself but the pretreatment can leave a visible stain eg on red t shirts).

At the moment I'm laying the tees on a table and spraying the print area with the kit provided and rolling thoroughly/heat pressing before printing, although I find its hard to be consistent in the amount I put down each time.

Whilst at the Ipex show in London I spoke to few dealers and an Epson Engineer who mentioned the following solutions that they knew people were using

- Screen printing the pretreatment on to the shirt
- Buying custom size pretreatment paper that can be heatpressed on the t shirt
- Varying the pretreatment ratio I'm currently using Pretreatment: Water - 1:2
- Buying a pretreatment machine (I'm not doing enough volume to be able to justify buying one atm)

Just wondered if anyone had tried any of these esp the screen printing/pretreatment paper?

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EricDeem

· #2 · Apr 19, 2014

Since pretreating a shirt is the MOST important part in getting a good print on darks. What is the point in buying a $20,000 printer and then using a $10 paint roller to perform the pretreating? Spend the money and get a machine. Having the peace of mind of knowing the pretreatment is done correctly justifies the cost of a machine. Again, pretreating a shirt is the first step and the most important step in getting a good print and good washability.

That said, there are A LOT of people who have been very successful in pretreating manually. There is a technique to getting the consistent results but it obviously can be done.

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Smalzstein

· #3 · Apr 19, 2014

I would agree on this with Eric.

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equipmentzone

· #4 · Apr 19, 2014 (Edited)

PeterLDN said:
Whilst I've got my white t shirts looking and washing great, I'm still having a few issues with dark colours such as washability and appearance (not the print itself but the pretreatment can leave a visible stain eg on red t shirts).

At the moment I'm laying the tees on a table and spraying the print area with the kit provided and rolling thoroughly/heat pressing before printing, although I find its hard to be consistent in the amount I put down each time.

Whilst at the Ipex show in London I spoke to few dealers and an Epson Engineer who mentioned the following solutions that they knew people were using

- Screen printing the pretreatment on to the shirt
- Buying custom size pretreatment paper that can be heatpressed on the t shirt
- Varying the pretreatment ratio I'm currently using Pretreatment: Water - 1:2
- Buying a pretreatment machine (I'm not doing enough volume to be able to justify buying one atm)

Just wondered if anyone had tried any of these esp the screen printing/pretreatment paper?

What device are you using to spray the pretreat? Hand sprayer or power hand sprayer (which brand and model).

_

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charles95405

· #5 · Apr 19, 2014

I found that doing manual pre-treatment consist results were nearly impossible for me meaning that in comparing the first print with the 20th , one could see a noticeable difference. Neither was bad, just they were not the same. If one is truly going to do dark garments with a DTG printer, a pre treatment unit is really necessary.

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NZACO

· #6 · Apr 21, 2014

charles95405 said:
I found that doing manual pre-treatment consist results were nearly impossible for me meaning that in comparing the first print with the 20th , one could see a noticeable difference. Neither was bad, just they were not the same. If one is truly going to do dark garments with a DTG printer, a pre treatment unit is really necessary.

TOTALLY NECESSARY the difference between manual and machine pretreating is night and day .... in final print quality

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PeterLDN

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 21, 2014

Thanks Eric I take your point, as a newbie to DTG and printing in general (my background is music and have fallen into merchandising) I naively assumed the pretreatment part would be fairly easy and budgeted accordingly. None of the 4 dealers over here really mentioned it as something that was important, not a criticism of any of them just a reflection that its a new product that they are still getting to grips with.

By the sounds of it I'll need to invest in a machine, as high quality is important to my customers. I'm slightly more limited in choices being in the UK.

Whilst the pretreatment machine solves the consistent and washable prints issue, does it also solve the issue of the pretreament liquid staining/discolouring the t shirt? For black t shirts its not really noticeable but for example on a Russell Athletic Red ZT180 ring spun tee its pretty obvious.

Charles I'm using a Silverline 2 Ltr manual pressure spray, after spending numerous hours trying to achieve consistent results its reassuring to know I'm not the only one who's had problems.

Would also be interested if anyone has tried the screen printing option or the pretreatment paper options

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equipmentzone

· #8 · Apr 21, 2014

PeterLDN said:
Thanks Eric I take your point, as a newbie to DTG and printing in general (my background is music and have fallen into merchandising) I naively assumed the pretreatment part would be fairly easy and budgeted accordingly. None of the 4 dealers over here really mentioned it as something that was important, not a criticism of any of them just a reflection that its a new product that they are still getting to grips with.

By the sounds of it I'll need to invest in a machine, as high quality is important to my customers. I'm slightly more limited in choices being in the UK.

Whilst the pretreatment machine solves the consistent and washable prints issue, does it also solve the issue of the pretreament liquid staining/discolouring the t shirt? For black t shirts its not really noticeable but for example on a Russell Athletic Red ZT180 ring spun tee its pretty obvious.

Charles I'm using a Silverline 2 Ltr manual pressure spray, after spending numerous hours trying to achieve consistent results its reassuring to know I'm not the only one who's had problems.

Would also be interested if anyone has tried the screen printing option or the pretreatment paper options

You probably will not be able to get good results with a manual pump unit. At the very least you should get yourself and use a HVLP power sprayer.

Screen printing the pretreatment has been experimented with and does not work because the pretreatment has the viscosity of water.

As mentioned, your ultimate solution is an automatic unit.

_

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