# What is a good cure time for DTG



## justpops (Jun 7, 2009)

I got into this business with my son about a year ago. We do DTG printing on shirts, etc.
I am a bit confused about the cure time on T-shirts. Is there a standard? Is the time length to short'/ to long? We use a T-Jet 3 printer and I've been curing shirts for around 30 secs @ 360. Is that to short of a time period? To long. Some seem to do better than others in holding the ink after washing. Just asking for some advice, tips or whatever ya have....Thanks....


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## 4bagger (Jun 2, 2009)

That is way too short of curing time. I also have a T3 and I only print colors as white is just too much of a pain. I print 2 passes of 720 Cartoon for good washfastness. I then cure at 335F for 90 seconds, let the heat press release, and then immediately do another 90 seconds. For a total of 180 seconds at 335F I get really good washfastness. Hope this helps.


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## homesteademb (Apr 22, 2008)

We have a DTG and on light colored shirts 1 do a 1 min press, release, then a secon 1 min press. For dark colored shirts we bump it up to 1min 30 sec but do the same routine. Oh yea, we set the heat at 330 deg. Works really good for us.

Hth 

Matt


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

Depending on your print speed and the rate at which you need to do a longer run... usually a longer time at a lower temp might work better for you. Higher temps can scorch some shirts and may not give enough time for all moisture to escape. Most of the time I'm at 320F for 80 sec. and I can easily keep a pace of 20 to 30 sph while keeping my printer on a higher quality setting. Be sure with figures that people post here in the forum.. to do your own calibration. Not all measuring devices are spot-on, so back up any changes with wash testing and diligence.


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## 4bagger (Jun 2, 2009)

I agree with zoom monster that you need to make sure you know what your press's temperature actually is and not what it is reading. I use a direct contact thermometer to verify my press so I know it is at the temperature it is set. Do not trust the laser or non-contact measurement devices as they are too inaccurate.


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## raise (Apr 11, 2008)

We use 75 secs @ 330F and make certain each shirt is pressed for 30 secs @ 330F before going down to print.

Our inks are Dupont and our printer is an Anajet FP-125 printing single pass @ 720 x 720 for the above temps.

We use 35 secs @ 356F for our Brother GT-541, single pass 600 x 600.


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## justpops (Jun 7, 2009)

Thanks for all the useful advice. I will do a lot of checking on my time and heat now.....POPS


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## Brian-R (Apr 21, 2008)

justpops said:


> Thanks for all the useful advice. I will do a lot of checking on my time and heat now.....POPS


As you can see the times and temps being used are all over the place. Even people using the same equipment and inks use different times and temps. The most important factor is the ink so I would suggest that you ask your ink supplier for their suggested times and temp.
As has been stated above it is *very* important to verify your heat press temp. Spend the money and get a good contact thermometer. My press display was off by about 6 degrees when the press was new. I was getting varied wash results like you have had and bought the thermometer and that small amount of temp change made a world of difference.

Brian

Just for the record for darks I am pressing at 340 for 180 seconds and lights get 340 at 120 seconds.
Using *extremely light* pressure let me add. As light as my press will go and still stay closed. The light pressure made a huge difference in fibrilation for me.


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

Brian-R said:


> As you can see the times and temps being used are all over the place. Even people using the same equipment and inks use different times and temps. The most important factor is the ink so I would suggest that you ask your ink supplier for their suggested times and temp.
> As has been stated above it is *very* important to verify your heat press temp. Spend the money and get a good contact thermometer. My press display was off by about 6 degrees when the press was new. I was getting varied wash results like you have had and bought the thermometer and that small amount of temp change made a world of difference.
> 
> Brian
> ...


hi, why would you using light pressure instead of hard pressure?


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

FulStory said:


> hi, why would you using light pressure instead of hard pressure?


Short answer is that lighter presure allows steam to escape easier/faster.


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

zoom_monster said:


> Short answer is that lighter presure allows steam to escape easier/faster.


Hi i got a question. When i did the pre-treatment on white shirt. The result shown there is yellowish part appear at the surrounding of design. it seems that is the pre-treatment that i spray before. Why it is like that? is it cure time too long or too hot?


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

There is a specific pretreat that is designed for printing CMYK inks on white and light garments that does not stain. This is the optimal method if you are going to pretreat light colored garments for brighter colors and better washability. Of course, there are plenty of users that don't pretreat a cotton garment when printing CMYK inks as well. On a white shirt, the majority of users don't print white ink as well.

Some dtg manufacturers also sell a white ink pretreatment (CMYK+W) that allows you to print white ink on lighter colored garments as well. The best advice is to contact the manufacturer of your dtg printer and ask them for some direction.

Best wishes,

Mark


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