# Easy T new printhead, ink change, ink conversion



## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Had some banding issues with my Easy T just shy of the year mark. Soaking heads, running cleaning fluid, nothing fixed it.

So I ordered a brand new Epson R2880 for $499, free shipping, and we pulled that head out and swapped it with my Easy T original head. Never having done it before, we did it in under 15 minutes. Super easy.

Since the head was changed, I decided to switch to Belquette inks and a cartridge system instead of CISS. Easy conversion there.

I also dumped white ink and switched to dual CMYK. Also easy conversion.

The difference is night and day. I'm kicking out shirts in speed mode versus fine mode in record time. Color of the Belquette ink is accurate with no rip changes.

For the $800 I dropped, I made up those costs in two weeks of labor savings.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> Had some banding issues with my Easy T just shy of the year mark. Soaking heads, running cleaning fluid, nothing fixed it.
> 
> So I ordered a brand new Epson R2880 for $499, free shipping, and we pulled that head out and swapped it with my Easy T original head. Never having done it before, we did it in under 15 minutes. Super easy.
> 
> ...


What is your difference in price per print between the cartridge and the bulk? Do you think your losing any business from not printing white? or do you use an alternative for white ..e.g. vinyl or silkscreen?


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Zippy:

We do screen printing in the same building, and we also offer solvent print-and-cut (and rhinestones, and foils, etc).

WUB did not make financial sense. I ran the numbers for months and it was consistently a waste of our time. I'm sure other shops find a lot of profit in doing it, but not in our particular market. If I buy a second machine soon, I'll add WUB to it, but not this primary machine.

Switching to ink cartridges has been no major issue. During the switch to dual CMYK, we also lowered our standard passes from 2 to 1. The standard shirt is less "poppy" but it costs less. The 2-pass print pops more but costs more. That added cost is NOT for ink, though, it just accounts for having to refill the cartridges more frequently. I've done the cartridge refill myself, and it takes 5 minutes, tops. We were slammed yesterday with DTG prints, and I believe we refilled cartridges twice. Call it 15 minutes, or $8 in overhead. I bet we did $350 in DTG prints (not including the shirt price). I'll take a 2% overhead on the profit margins we made.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> Zippy:
> 
> We do screen printing in the same building, and we also offer solvent print-and-cut (and rhinestones, and foils, etc).
> 
> ...


I've never had white ink in my printer. I have a liter of white ink and a gallon of pre-treatment sitting next to it. I'm wanting to run it and offer white on black shirts, but I'm still hesitant. Not even sure if it would make a difference if I print white other than the competition in my area only prints CMYK, so I thought it would be an advantage. Do you ever pre-treat your light colors?


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

I'll be honest -- we have a ton of light pretreat, but we haven't tried it. Not once. I keep staring at the bottles and think about it, but so far I haven't gone there out of fear that we'll like it too much (final product).

I think we'll consider it soon. I have a huge space, 5000 square feet divided into 2 floors, with a retail storefront in a very popular restaurant/bar neighborhood. So space isn't a consideration.

For me, the end game is profit efficiency. WUB made sense only from a gross sales perspective, and profit efficiency plummeted. There are 20 other DTG shops in Chicago, I'll let them have the WUB headaches.

$5000 for a pretreatment machine that needs a lot of maintenance (labor $$$), time spent pretreating and heat pressing the garments, cost of white ink and extra cleaning needed, fear of washability problems and guarantees -- I would have to sell my WUB shirts for 3x the price to make as much money per hour as I do with dual CMYK.

What I wish there was, more than anything, is a CMYK/discharge setup. I would kill for discharge "ink" in a DTG machine.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> I'll be honest -- we have a ton of light pretreat, but we haven't tried it. Not once. I keep staring at the bottles and think about it, but so far I haven't gone there out of fear that we'll like it too much (final product).
> 
> I think we'll consider it soon. I have a huge space, 5000 square feet divided into 2 floors, with a retail storefront in a very popular restaurant/bar neighborhood. So space isn't a consideration.
> 
> ...


 Yes, I agree with you. It's about profit. Seems a little too much time involved to sell a shirt with white ink. I'm a little disappointed with my CMYK on lights, though. They could be a little more vibrant, especially black. But I've never tried two light passes, so maybe that would help. I've just heard the pre-treat can really make the color pop, and that's what I would like. I'm not that busy (yet ..lol) so I still do a lot of experimenting.


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## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

Brian,

Definitely consider using the LGPT. Makes a big difference and no where near the difficulty of DGPT. Just a light mist on the shirt before pre-pressing. 

Thanks again for the kind words and let me or anyone here know if we can ever be of assistance or if you ever consider going back to white ink.

Zippy,

White ink does offer a competitive advantage but it comes at a cost, as I'm sure you are well aware. If you feel you have the work to justify being able to print everyday, and you will need to, I advise going with a closed system. At least on the white ink. There are those who print with bulk white and are very successful. IMO, exposing the ink to the environment can have an effect on the viscosity which diminishes the life of the internal components such as premature damper failure. When first starting out, keep it simple and avoid any unnecessary variables. 

Also, try to see if you can get some hands on training in how to pretreat. Much easier to get down when you see it first hand.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

BQChris said:


> Brian,
> 
> Definitely consider using the LGPT. Makes a big difference and no where near the difficulty of DGPT. Just a light mist on the shirt before pre-pressing.
> 
> ...


 Chris, Thanks for the advice. I agree. I don't have the volume, yet, so trying to print white right now might not be a good idea. I am going to experiment with the lite pre-treat. If I can get the colors (and black) a little more vibrant, that would be good.


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## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

Zippy Doodah said:


> Chris, Thanks for the advice. I agree. I don't have the volume, yet, so trying to print white right now might not be a good idea. I am going to experiment with the lite pre-treat. If I can get the colors (and black) a little more vibrant, that would be good.


Which machine and RIP are you using?


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

BQChris said:


> Brian,
> 
> Definitely consider using the LGPT. Makes a big difference and no where near the difficulty of DGPT. Just a light mist on the shirt before pre-pressing.


Do I have to cut the pretreat solution with distilled water, or just straight out of the bottle? And do I use my Wagner power sprayer, or just a spray bottle?


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## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

I always use it straight. You can cut it but no real point I see.

Just a pump action bottle is fine. One that will give you a good, fine mist. Use the head of an old pump action hair spray bottle or spray margarine bottle. 

When the shirt is on the press, just apply a fine mist. Not alot is needed. The PT is just helping to keep the ink from fully absorbing into the cotton which dulls it a bit. 

After misting the shirt, press it normally for 15-30 secs or until no moisture is coming out the sides of the press. All depends on how much you put down.

Makes a huge difference IMO. Just remeber to do wash tests. It doesn't require a lot of skill but it is good to get a routine done.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using T-Shirt Forums


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

BQChris said:


> Which machine and RIP are you using?


 I have somewhat of a hybrid. It started out as a TexJet that was in horrible condition. I completely disassembled it down to the frame and rebuilt it with all new parts. It's sort of 4800/4880. I'm using epson drivers and EK RIP.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

Well, I finally gave the pretreat a try and Wow!! what a difference. I've been using Cheap Fruit of the Loom white t-shirts that I got at Wal-Mart, so they weren't the best for examples but I thought they should be ok for practice. I just couldn't get a print that was sharp. They all seemed to have fuzzy edges no matter what I did. So I gave it a try. I took some Dark pretreat and mixed it 50/50. I could have probably mixed it 1/3 pretreat and 2/3 distilled water, but I gave this a try. I used a spray bottle I had and did a quick mist with the shirt on the heat press. Cured it for 25 sec with Med pressure. I didn't think it would work, because I couldn't even tell there was anything on it and it didn't really feel any different. So, I gave it a shot with a simple graphic I made. When it was through with the first pass I was amazed. It was sharp and the edges were clean. It looked so nice I didn't want to do the second pass, but I did just for learning purposes and I think it looked better. I Used 75% density for both passes instead of 100% like I was doing. I want to try some more difficult images when I have the time but, for right now, I definitely think I have a sell-able product. I was really stressed for a while because I didn't think I would ever get a clean print with this machine. It's an old 4260 TEX JET that I completely rebuilt from the frame up (with the help of Karl Steele. Really a Good guy!) with just Epson drivers and EK RIP. I think it looks great. I uploaded some picts so you can see. Go easy on me. The shirt really looks better than the picts. Now, I can't wait to try White!


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Nice!

Can you post photos after a wash test or three?


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> Nice!
> 
> Can you post photos after a wash test or three?


Actually. I thought I posted picts after I washed it, but I didn't. It has been washed and came out good. I'll wash it a couple more times and then re-post the picts..


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Awesome!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using T-Shirt Forums


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> Awesome!
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 4 using T-Shirt Forums


 I'm really amazed how much of a difference pre-treat makes ..also the brand (type) of shirt. I'm not afraid to offer printed shirts anymore


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

What brand pretreat do you use?

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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> What brand pretreat do you use?
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 4 using T-Shirt Forums


 I've been using ink and pret-treat from DTGInks.com. I sure wish I could figure out what it is. It smells like polyurethane to me, but I was told that it isn't.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

I'll order some from them when I hit the States tonight. I use their inks and loooooove them.

If my tests end up like yours, I'll likely offer customers a pretreat option at an additional cost -- show them side by side examples and let them decide.

If the process takes 2 extra minutes, $1 a shirt isn't a bad add-on fee.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using T-Shirt Forums


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> I'll order some from them when I hit the States tonight. I use their inks and loooooove them.
> 
> If my tests end up like yours, I'll likely offer customers a pretreat option at an additional cost -- show them side by side examples and let them decide.
> 
> ...


 It dosen't take long at all. 5 seconds if that much. I keep a spray bottle of 50/50 mixture next to the heat press. Just an easy mist spray or two is all it takes. I was surprised at first. I couldn't even tell it was there. I thought maybe I didn't do enough and when I cured it I couldn't even tell it was there. but when I printed it, Wow, what a difference. Like I said I was using a cheap FOL shirt from Wal-Mart to test and they bleed horribly! When I get time I want to test some better (Gildan) shirts and see what I can do with light colors. I'd like to get more vibrant prints on colors.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

5 seconds to spray and pre-cure? Seems too quick.

I'd guess 15 seconds to hang the garment and spray it, 15 seconds to dress it on the heat press, 15 seconds to precure before printing. Add in a little overhead time, 2 minutes is safe.

If the production department can get efficient, call it 1 minute, that's still $0.25 in labor plus the cost of pretreat and overhead there -- $0.50 cost. I would still charge $1 to make a profit on the labor and supplies.

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## MiEmb (Jan 29, 2011)

Zippy Doodah said:


> It dosen't take long at all. 5 seconds if that much. I keep a spray bottle of 50/50 mixture next to the heat press. Just an easy mist spray or two is all it takes. I was surprised at first. I couldn't even tell it was there. I thought maybe I didn't do enough and when I cured it I couldn't even tell it was there. but when I printed it, Wow, what a difference. Like I said I was using a cheap FOL shirt from Wal-Mart to test and they bleed horribly! When I get time I want to test some better (Gildan) shirts and see what I can do with light colors. I'd like to get more vibrant prints on colors.


Are the FOL shirts 100% cotton or a blend? If they are a cotton poly blend, that would be the chief reason for bleeding. I found the same - a light pt is helpful if the shirt is a cotton-poly blend. As the cotton % gets lower the bleeding is more and more pt does not help either.


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## thedigiguy (May 11, 2010)

treefox2118 said:


> Had some banding issues with my Easy T just shy of the year mark. Soaking heads, running cleaning fluid, nothing fixed it.
> 
> So I ordered a brand new Epson R2880 for $499, free shipping, and we pulled that head out and swapped it with my Easy T original head. Never having done it before, we did it in under 15 minutes. Super easy.
> 
> ...



Having the drive to try something new is a key characteristic of successful people and companies. You risked a little, but look at what you gained. Your success can help inspire others. Thanks!


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

treefox2118 said:


> 5 seconds to spray and pre-cure? Seems too quick.
> 
> I'd guess 15 seconds to hang the garment and spray it, 15 seconds to dress it on the heat press, 15 seconds to precure before printing. Add in a little overhead time, 2 minutes is safe.
> 
> ...


 Yes, your right. Was late last night and I was a little tired. I wasn't thinking about the entire process, just the spraying. I know most people don't want the mist around the machine, but I just spray it on the heat press. It's such a fine mist with the spray bottle, it doesn't go anywhere but on the shirt. And I don't think you want to much on it. Spray, Cure, then Print.


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## Zippy Doodah (Jul 10, 2011)

MiEmb said:


> Are the FOL shirts 100% cotton or a blend? If they are a cotton poly blend, that would be the chief reason for bleeding. I found the same - a light pt is helpful if the shirt is a cotton-poly blend. As the cotton % gets lower the bleeding is more and more pt does not help either.


 They were 100% cotton. More like an under shirt. The kind you get 6 to a pakage at Wal-Mart.


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