# T-shirts printed on both sides tearing off



## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

Hello all!

It seems that when I print both sides, chances that the shirt gets tore off are very high. Don't need to stretch it hard or anything like that. A normal use is enough to destroy it.

I wonder if the cotton gets burned or something.

I use a HM1-C and I cure each side at 365 F (185ºC), for 180 seconds, sometimes with paper on top, sometimes just a telfon sheet. As for pretreatment, I use both DTG pretreatment and FastINK White Pretreatment from EquipmentZone's.

I also noticed that the prints get often STICKED after washing. I do my tests with cold/warm water, never more than 50ºC

Does anybody know what could be the problem?

Thank you very much!


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## IYFGraphics (Sep 28, 2009)

elTostador said:


> Hello all!
> 
> It seems that when I print both sides, chances that the shirt gets tore off are very high. Don't need to stretch it hard or anything like that. A normal use is enough to destroy it.
> 
> ...


Albert,

We would need a little more info.....

What brand of shirts and the cotton content.
The time & temp you stated "365 degrees and 180 seconds" is that what your using for dark shirts or white and dark shirts.

What do you mean by "STICKED" ? that the print area stickes to itself when washed?


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

Jon,



IYFGraphics said:


> What brand of shirts and the cotton content.
> The time & temp you stated "365 degrees and 180 seconds" is that what your using for dark shirts or white and dark shirts.


They are all 100% cotton and 180gr/m2 (premium weight)

They are mainly Spanish brands, so I'm afraid that won't tell you much. But we've been using this t-shirts for plain transfers and screen printing for years with no problems.



IYFGraphics said:


> What do you mean by "STICKED" ? that the print area stickes to itself when washed?


Yes, they stick to themselves, and when you unstick them, the print gets damaged.

Last washing test I did it last night with totally cold water and they were all sticked. Weird, I didn't see that when I perfomed my last washing tests several months ago.

We've been warned by our own clients, that prints got sticked and damaged and garments tearing off... :-/


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## erich (Apr 15, 2009)

when you cure the first side of the shirt after the first print you should separate the front and the back of the shirt in the heatpress. Same theory applies when you are printing the back of the shirt.

it is possible that if you dont separate the front and back that you are "overcuring" the garment and damaging the fabric 

Hope this helps

Regards
Jerry
DTG Digital


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## IYFGraphics (Sep 28, 2009)

elTostador said:


> I use a HM1-C and I cure each side at 365 F (185ºC), for 180 seconds, sometimes with paper on top, sometimes just a telfon sheet. As for pretreatment, I use both DTG pretreatment and FastINK White Pretreatment from EquipmentZone's.


The temperature seems a little high, we normally cure the print at 320 degrees, for darks the 180 seconds is about right but for white shirts it way too long, you should be in the 60-90 second range.

We also use coated paper to cover the shirt, and use light pressure. 

Who's ink are you using? DTG or Equipment zone and how old is the ink/pretreatment your using?

Hope this helps.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

Try reducing your heat press temperature to 168 degrees celsius. Are you only having this problem when you print both sides of a shirt or does it also happen when you print one side only?

Harry
Equipment Zone


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## erich (Apr 15, 2009)

are you using a teflon sheet for final curing or using a coated paper?

The teflon sheet will give teh shirt a very shiny finish and i have heard of cases that the print will tend to stick together in the wash

Regards
Jerry
DTG Digital


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

erich said:


> when you cure the first side of the shirt after the first print you should separate the front and the back of the shirt in the heatpress. Same theory applies when you are printing the back of the shirt.
> 
> it is possible that if you dont separate the front and back that you are "overcuring" the garment and damaging the fabric


Yes, we thought about that... but with our current presses we can't do that; there is no space below it to fit the shirt.

So how do you do that when you want to cure both sides? Or never had such a problem?


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

IYFGraphics said:


> The temperature seems a little high, we normally cure the print at 320 degrees, for darks the 180 seconds is about right but for white shirts it way too long, you should be in the 60-90 second range.


Yes, for white shirts we cure at 60 seconds.



IYFGraphics said:


> We also use coated paper to cover the shirt, and use light pressure.
> 
> Who's ink are you using? DTG or Equipment zone and how old is the ink/pretreatment your using?


We don't stock pretreatment and ink is from our DTG dealer; it should be also Dupond, shouldn't it?


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

equipmentzone said:


> Try reducing your heat press temperature to 168 degrees celsius. Are you only having this problem when you print both sides of a shirt or does it also happen when you print one side only?
> /quote]
> 
> ripping only when both sides... but the sickiness problem both sides and one side only.


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

erich said:


> are you using a teflon sheet for final curing or using a coated paper?
> 
> The teflon sheet will give teh shirt a very shiny finish and i have heard of cases that the print will tend to stick together in the wash


We started using coated paper, but then found out that with teflon sheet we got a more shinny touch and also saved production time and money, so we keep it. 

But our last tests have been performed using coated paper and got the same stickiness :-/


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## IYFGraphics (Sep 28, 2009)

elTostador said:


> We don't stock pretreatment and ink is from our DTG dealer; it should be also Dupond, shouldn't it?


Yes, I believe it is Dupont ink, but you are using pretreatment on your dark shirts...correct?


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## Teeser (May 14, 2008)

It seems others have had that problem http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/t95952.html

The only time we had trouble was when we pretreated bandannas which are thinner than t-shirts. I think with the pressing, the pretreat was pushed through all layers and somehow made them brittle. We could quite easily stick a finger through them accidentally. My husband tried sandwiching them between paper but that actually fused everything together. We couldn't use them at all and had to switch to a heavier weight product.

At what point do you notice the ripping. After drying the second pretreat or after curing the second print?


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

Teeser said:


> At what point do you notice the ripping. After drying the second pretreat or after curing the second print?


After we shipped the shirt to the client and writes back pis*** off


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## elTostador (Oct 9, 2007)

IYFGraphics said:


> Yes, I believe it is Dupont ink, but you are using pretreatment on your dark shirts...correct?


Eh... of course we do. By saying that we don't stock pretreatment I ment that we always use "fresh" one...


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## vallians (May 13, 2010)

I usually use DTG from china for my t-shirt that I sell on eBay. Most of my customer from Australia, USA and UK and there are happy with the result. Good quality. But, now I have problem. Does anyone have DTG machine which is can print black t-shirt? I really really need your help guys. I want to order only one t-shirt ship to USA. Please if you can fulfill my request, don't hesitate to contact me via on Private Message. If my 1st order is successfully then I will continue doing business with you. Thanks all...


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