Marc, thanks for posting this, in fact it's the exact way we've been pretreating for the last 6 months (started doing it over the winter because it was too cold to do pretreatment outside) I've been hesitant to bring it up or mention how well it has worked for fear of having to defend the process, we have no print quality issues due to too much or too little pretreatment.I am getting the best prints of my life on a refurbed four year old $5000 printer. I no longer have a pretreatment machine, I do it all by hand with a $0.99 plastic spray bottle from the dollar store. Yes there are better machines than others, and it is important to pick the right one, but if you do enough research and talk to end users, you can figure out pretty quickly what to buy.
Agree 100% and I don't think it could have been said any better.I have seen alot of posts talking about how bad these Epson based printers suck, they are "toys", bota anchors, blah, blah, blah. I am here to tell you that it is simply untrue, and you can make considerable amounts of money with them, IF you take the time to learn them, understand their weaknesses (no process is perfect for everything) and have a decent marketing plan. Don't let those that have failed dissuade you. Look at those of us that have made a succesful venture out of this great technology.
Taking over the soap box..The key is the bagged ink from Belquette has really taken much of the nightmare away. Since converting to that ink earlier this year, I almost have almost no issues, and those I have are usually my fault, or can be fixed in less than 15 minutes.
I am getting the best prints of my life on a refurbed four year old $5000 printer.
Everyone just getting in the business should thank the Tahoe Tomahawks, Pink Freuds (there's one you old timers hadn't thought of in a while!!!), Printzilla's, Sunnydaze's, Justin Walker's, Jerrid Hill's, Dan Selgado's, etc....of the world. We went through the serious growing pains, so now you don't have to!!
Yes. It is strange. I talked to one of the main engineers at a un-named machine manufacturer at the NBM show yesterday about a bunch of things, primarily about making a long lasting durable print...The sad part of all of this is the Manufacturers and Distributors refuse to recognize these problems and incorporate these solutions into their machines. It is left in the aftermarket and those systems are bashed by the distributors. I can't even get the OEM to talk about these things, let alone fix the problems.
We have a lot more customers than this using our bagged ink systems on their machines. The one's here, are the most vocal on these forums.It is VERY exciting to hear that the bags work from the 2-3 people here!
Our bagged inks are degassed (the air removed from the ink), which is the biggest key to successful printing with the fewest problems. If you were to buy a machine and convert it over to our bagged inks, your warranty would be voided. I would only recommend this if you were buying a used machine or your warranty period is over.but what is the difference i.e. what IS bagged ink? is it just in a bag instead of a cartridge? what makes it sooo much better?
do you simply switch out one ink system for another? or just hook up hoses? does it void warranties?
Air in the lines and degassed ink have nothing in common other then both are talking about air....the common denominator is when you have white ink separation in a bulk system, carts, or bags you have to shake/invert them to mix the ink, in all but a bagged/degassed system when you do this you introduce more air into the ink thus causing microscopic bubbles that can damage the print head and ruin the jetting process.The higher engineer (I didn't get his card) who works on the machines said that 1. They had bought and tried the bag system and it "didn't work" (!!!) and that 2. There were Air Bubbles in the lines above the heads, on these systems, negating the results.
I don't think he was outright lying in the least, but maybe this could be a prepared response explaining away the bag systems so I would buy their current machine...
We have a lot more customers than this using our bagged ink systems on their machines. The one's here, are the most vocal on these forums
maybe just little vocal.. but do ya blame me the system works..
hahaha, not complaining in the slightest.
), and learn from our mistakes. The next phase of the ink system is to reintroduce the circulating system. I don't have a time frame because we want it to be right before it's released. But when it's released, expect the best to get better.
It sounds like the same principle, although I don't know if they actually degas the inks. I don't know the process for vacuum filling, I can only assume they are in order to avoid air build up. That's something I would ask Resolute.Are vacuum filled cartridges and degassed bags the same principle?
We will check our sales records to see if we can identify who the high-er engineer might be?Yes. It is strange. I talked to one of the main engineers at a un-named machine manufacturer at the NBM show yesterday about a bunch of things, primarily about making a long lasting durable print...
Before leaving the booth, I brought up the "Filtered, Degassed Bag System as a true success - allowing huge progress in stable DTG printing. I brought up that Kornit Degasses their inks in the heads, and that brother Degasses their inks in Japan...
The higher engineer (I didn't get his card) who works on the machines said that 1. They had bought and tried the bag system and it "didn't work" (!!!) and that 2. There were Air Bubbles in the lines above the heads, on these systems, negating the results.
Thank you, the white ink bags have been used successfully for two years.It is VERY exciting to hear that the bags work from the 2-3 people here!
This is very interesting. Are you able to describe the technique?I no longer have a pretreatment machine, I do it all by hand with a $0.99 plastic spray bottle from the dollar store.
Sure.This is very interesting. Are you able to describe the technique?
Cheers
John
This is already done by some ink distributors. Although better than open bulk systems, it's not optimum for DTG applications.I would like an explanation as to why it cannot work with the 48XX series of printers. I do not get why you cannot just bag the inks and put them into the carts just like OEM Epson.
