# SGIA DTG testing



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Hey forumers, Good morning to you all!!
I have a great idea which makes your printer hunting journey ends.
Bring your image in flash stick (virus free, please~) and drop by all the DTG sellers and ask print your image. And you make a call.
Because the image DTG sellers are printing at the show is they choose their best favor and touched image for their advantage include me.
Bring your image and give sellers some real job not just collecting money from you. If any seller says NO skip it. No mercy!!!!
Your image is what you will make money with not sellers image.
We will be ready for you. See you there!!!!! If I lose I lose, win I win so be it. Fare and squire!!!!! I like this. My style. I hope this also is your style.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

We actually do this at every show. We obviously have our own graphics, but when someone brings theirs, I show them how to quickly enhance the photo for best printing results.

I've noticed quite a few people have their files in hand ready for us to print. As a matter of fact, one year, I had a girl give me a weird image to print. I printed it on a shirt and she whipped out her 3D glasses and looked at the shirt. I said let me see and lo and behold, it was a 3D picture of her dog!


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## FatKat Printz (Dec 26, 2008)

that's awesome


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## Stitch-Up (May 26, 2007)

allamerican said:


> Bring your image and give sellers some real job not just collecting money from you. If any seller says NO skip it. No mercy!!!!
> Your image is what you will make money with not sellers image.
> We will be ready for you. See you there!!!!! If I lose I lose, win I win so be it. Fare and squire!!!!! I like this. My style. I hope this also is your style.


Using your NEW RIP Peter?


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## YoDan (May 4, 2007)

I did this in All American's booth at the last SGIA show in Las Vegas 
Dan
*"HAPPY PRINTING"*


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

Isn't this already a common thing to do? Last show I saw many people bringing their images to be printed as a sample.


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## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Believe or not many sellers are refuse to do so. All American never refuse to all. We had virus infection couple times in past. 
1. Registration
2. Color
3. Repeat quality. Many printers are not same. 
4. Production speed. Not printhead speed. 
Wash is not printer quality. That's ink. 
5. Art. We never pay or bought art. Free from Internet is our favorite. So my art is not top notch. Sorry. 
6. What else? Any fare ideas?


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

The only folks I saw using only their stock designs were the Brother and Kornit booths, everyone else seemed to be taking flash drives from people and printing their artwork.


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## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

The whole idea of digital printing is to be able to reproduce as close as possible to _WYSWYG, _What You See What You Get.
We encourage SGIA attendees to always bring a sample of the type of work they print to make objective comparisons. After that here are some questions that may not be so obvious when initially looking at various equipment.
Here it goes….

1: How long has the particular company been developing digital printing technologies? 

2: Do they manufacture the machine in house or is it made elsewhere. 

3: What kind of printer technologies have they developed?

4: How long has the particular printer been in production?

5: How industrial is the product and what makes it different from any others.

6: What printers do the largest DTG companies in the world now use?

7: Is it a proven technology or a prototype, if’s it’s proven who uses it.

8: How many prints can I expect per day off the printer?

9: What kind of daily, weekly, monthly maintenance does it require, how long does it take and how much does it cost in cleaning?

10: How is the ink delivered into the machine, open, bulk, cartridges, or bags and what are the pros and cons of each?

11: How much is an average 10 x10 prints cost per print on white and dark,

12: What is the cost per liter? 

13: How easy is it to change the ink, do you need to shake the ink often, does the machine need to be stopped to do so, does the ink need to be removed to do so. Why was the ink delivery system on the particular machine chosen?

14: Has the ink delivery system being used on the particular machine been proven over time or is it new? How long has it been in use?

15: How are garments loaded on the machine and why are there so many differences from machine to machine. 

16: What makes this particular machine easier to load then others?

17: Can it accommodate large over sized products or it restricted in any matter?

18: What is the tallest product I can fit into the machine, how wide and how long?

18.1: How do you adjust for products that are not flat from side to side.

18.2: How is the height adjusted, by a motor or by hand?

19: Does the unit incorporate intelligent height detection to keep the print head to product distance optimum? What kind of sensor performs that function, is it just a bar, a single beam or other type. How does it work? Can it auto adjust itself? Can is detect odd shapes? Ask for a demo, as this is a very important function designed to protect the print head and provide the best print results.

20: Watch a full size print on light and on dark's, and time it!

21: How easy is the machine to maintain mechanically, do I need dedicated maintenance personal?

22: Is the machine portable? How much does it weigh? Can I move it often?

23: What if it breaks and how do I get it fixed, does someone need to come to their facility or is it shipped back to the manufacturer. 

24: How long is their warranty and what’s included? 

25: How does the software work, how easy it to learn, how does it create a white ink layer.

26: How integrated is the printer and software? Does the computer monitor the printer functions?

27: Can the printer print on other substrates with quality, how do you change the inks, ask for a demo.

28: How accurate is the registration? What makes it accurate? 

29: What kind of motors drive the unit, stepper or servo motors, is it quiet if in small rooms or make whining sounds?

30: What kind of support will I have during the warranty period and when it runs out will I be charged a service fee?

31: Can one operator run multiple machines and what are the best configurations for high production environments.

32: What company has the largest amount of DTG printers in industrial environments?


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

Great checklist Mark, this should be helpful for people looking to make a decision on a DTG printer.


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## PPop (Jan 18, 2009)

Great Questions!

I Still have not got a single reliable response to my 2 questions:

1. How Many washes until the image starts to degrade for a print on Black Shirts?

2. How can you print on a 2x1 Ribbed Tank Top (American Apparel Style #3308)

Without these answered, it's like buying the giving up my iPhone3g to buy the new iPhone4, and not asking the question, "Will it make phone calls?... without dropping the call?"


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## Mabuzi (Jul 3, 2007)

Well the recent Trade show I went to the DTG printers were only printing there own artwork and as soon as we produce a piece of artwork(our most difficult graphic we had screen printed of cousre) they all failed miserably.
We even went back to the office of one supplier and well they never got it right.
DTG is really tricky for one off because of profiling. I have found it great for larger runs (up to 51) as we can do test and setup the profile before printing.
As a shopping Mall printer doing one off good luck I tell ya!


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## jpat (Feb 12, 2008)

PPop said:


> Great Questions!
> 
> I Still have not got a single reliable response to my 2 questions:
> 
> ...


Hi,
These questions are a little tricky because everyone has a different technique for printing. 

1. If you print on the shirt using a medium amount of ink it should last as long as the shirt. Only minimal fading. If you go heavy on the white ink you will experience some cracking after about 10-12 washes just like screenprinting.

2. Yes, you can print on ribbed shirts. When you hoop the shirt, you need to lightly stretch the shirt so the ink drops down into the ribs.


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## Printzilla (Mar 22, 2007)

Mabuzi said:


> As a shopping Mall printer doing one off good luck I tell ya!


I must have been really lucky, my mall stores did over 30,000 prints in two years, with the original tjets. Over 90% were one offs, and 95% were less than a dozen.


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## dragonknight (May 30, 2009)

Mabuzi said:


> DTG is really tricky for one off because of profiling. I have found it great for larger runs (up to 51) as we can do test and setup the profile before printing.
> As a shopping Mall printer doing one off good luck I tell ya!


Yes thank you, I have 2 shopping mall printer service for one off and everything goes well so far...(my experiences pay it off)
I do receive outside orders fulfillment as well.


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