# DTG printer, ready to go to production on darks



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

My original post seems to be hijacked so here is a new one. 

Ok, after about 6 prints we are pretty happy and are ready to go to production on dark shirts as well as whites. 

Some notes on the DTG Kiosk. 

 Documentation is barely passable: The documentation on the printer isn't very good. It covers all 3 printers of DTG but only uses 1 in the examples. The printed documentation doesn't match the video and neither match our training.
Training was ad-hoc. SWF-Mesa was very good in pre-sales but the training was not very professional. I would still rate it as passable but just barely.
Tech support is light. Somehow I feel I know a lot more than the support people, or should I say person. For the entire western US. there seems to be only one person I can talk to. Emails and voice mails go unanswered. Only when I talk to someone live do I seem to get results and then only about 50% of the time.
Documentation doesn't cover the pre-treatment very well for textiles (like the mixture of treatment to water) and not at all for rigid goods.
No templates. How do I know where to place the shirt? How do I know where to place the artwork in the file? Not a damn word about where the thing will start printing and what the boundaries are. Nothing about placement of left breast logos, back logos, full front images. I guess I have to do this all on my own.
No documentation on the white ink care and maintenance.
 Now for the good parts:

The printer prints great. After a few bumps with Corel, I am more than happy with the printer.
Color printing on darks is awsum! Printing to a normal paper printer is the same as this machine.
The printer is portable. Well, at about 100lbs and a little bulky, it is more than capable of taking to the road. Now I only need a heat press that is light enough.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Fred,

Congrats on getting great prints. I am sure with time things will get much easier. I have been told that DTG has a pretty good user forum as well. Hopefully, you can use that as an additional resource for support. Otherwise, I know that there are several DTG machine owners here and at SPU that can help you. Ultimately, keep up the good work.

Mark


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

Congrats! 

I think for the most part, documentation can only cover so much. A lot of the little tricks you'll have to figure out on your own. I'm a bit surprise that they don't have documents for white ink care/maintenance and no templates. It took me more than 6 prints to figure out how to print on dark garments with my T-Jet2. I wasn't happy with 720color/720underbase prints, so I took my time to figure out 1440color/1440underbase.


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

I totally agree with you on the lack and inconsistency in the documentation, training and tutorials. When I first received the machine it was almost trial and error. Wasted a lot of ink because of the poor documentation and contradicting information floating around. Its largely been cleared up now but I can still see what troubles it will cause for new users.

You might actually want to goto the T-jet2 Website and download their documentation. It seems more detailed in some areas.

As for the templates, that again is trial and error. The DTG can print on so many things that its really hard to have one set template.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I don't believe that having templates is so hard. These things sell for $17K and up and they can't figure out where to put the prints and tell me? There isn't even a guideline on where to place the shirt or the platen! 

I created a grid in Corel and printed it on the bed so I could figure out where the hell this thing would even start printing. Now that I have that I have a few software and hard templates to use. This way I can print the same design on the shirts in the same location each time. How hard is that to provide?

Hey Vtec, what is the link for the tjet forum? Also, let me know if you want to stop by and show me some of your tricks:tipthank:


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

A trick is to get a ruler and stick it onto the side and top of the print-bed. That'll give you an idea of where the print will be placed.

I'm using a normal ruler now but I'm trying to find a 'sticker' ruler that some DTG distributors use.


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

binki said:


> Hey Vtec, what is the link for the tjet forum? Also, let me know if you want to stop by and show me some of your tricks


U.S. Screen Print and Inkjet Technology - Fast T-Jet 3â„¢

The docs are under the "Support Docs" button on the top.

Let me know whenever you're ready. I only know about the T-jet2 but don't mind stopping by. I'm also not sure if you need anything else. It seems like you've got it down pretty darn good!


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## dmt387 (May 12, 2007)

I was getting closer to buying a DTG Kiosk HM-1, but after reading this I just moved a mile away from buying one..Good thing I read this thread 

I'm new to this and I would really need good documentation and training. That sucks..How did you get around that?


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

dmt387 said:


> I was getting closer to buying a DTG Kiosk HM-1, but after reading this I just moved a mile away from buying one..Good thing I read this thread
> 
> I'm new to this and I would really need good documentation and training. That sucks..How did you get around that?


I am smart 


Really, we spent nearly two years researching these printers. Except for actual experience using them we pretty much knew what to expect.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

Sorry to hear about your training/support issues. We have not yet begun selling the HM-1 here in the Eastern US, I am working on the manual as we speak and hope to have a complete maintenance schedule and training curriculum prior to our release. The training DVD will follow as soon as we can get it filmed. 

In regards to the rulers, we buy our stick on rulers for the original Kiosk from Oregon Rule Company - I'm not sure if they sell direct, but they may be able to give you a local vendor for them.

Good to hear that you are pleased with the machine's performance.

I hope this helps.


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## dmt387 (May 12, 2007)

binki said:


> I am smart
> 
> Really, we spent nearly two years researching these printers. Except for actual experience using them we pretty much knew what to expect.


Hahahahaha  

When you say research, what do you mean? Research like scrutinizing the printers to see if they were worth it, or research as in to study how to effectively work these things?


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

dmt387 said:


> Hahahahaha
> 
> When you say research, what do you mean? Research like scrutinizing the printers to see if they were worth it, or research as in to study how to effectively work these things?


We went to the vendor to get a private demo and took our artwork and printed a bunch of stuff.


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

It is ALWAYS important to see the machines first hand before you buy. You wouldn't buy a car without at least SEEING it, would you? Heck, these things cost as much as cars, and our businesses depend on them! And most people need to sit in, drive and EXPERIENCE the car before they get it. Do the same with whatever DTG machines you are interested in.

I think if EVERYONE did alot more research, then alot of myths in this industry would be quickly dispelled. Right now I feel as though a lot of machine distributors tend to pull the wool right over our eyes on a regular basis.


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## prometheus (Oct 19, 2006)

Thanks for the informative post, Fred. It seems some enterprising people could make some money on the side doing thier own video and help book.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Justin Walker said:


> It is ALWAYS important to see the machines first hand before you buy. You wouldn't buy a car without at least SEEING it, would you? Heck, these things cost as much as cars, and our businesses depend on them! And most people need to sit in, drive and EXPERIENCE the car before they get it. Do the same with whatever DTG machines you are interested in.
> 
> I think if EVERYONE did alot more research, then alot of myths in this industry would be quickly dispelled. Right now I feel as though a lot of machine distributors tend to pull the wool right over our eyes on a regular basis.


 
JUSTIN! You got that right. We are at the point that the vendor knows less than us so we are on our own. It didn't take long, about 3 weeks. 

How are your new digs? I am sure much better than that tin-roof sunday you were in.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

prometheus said:


> Thanks for the informative post, Fred. It seems some enterprising people could make some money on the side doing their own video and help book.


Or by making templates for these beasts. We already have a t-shirt template ready along with a rigid goods template. The way I look at it, if I did 150 shirts for a marching band and they were all lined up on the field their logo on the back of the shirt better all be in the same location.


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

binki said:


> How are your new digs? I am sure much better than that tin-roof sunday you were in.


hahhaa. Everything is awesome. The Kornit is awesome. My shop is awesome. Business is awesome. My ARM is awesome (I was even lifting weights today! Only hurt a bit). LIFE is awesome. lol

AND I found this new forum here to hang out on and kill more of my already busy day. AWESOME!


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## KenS (Apr 27, 2007)

We have the digital Kiosk, and use Corel X3. What I did is create a sheet that I saved as a DTG mask. I set page size to 13 x 18. I then move a reference line down to 3 inches, and one on each side 1 inch in. One last one is placed at 6.5 inches to give me a center reference. When I start a new design, I open the DTG mask sheet, complete my work, then save it under a different name and leave the original mask as it is.

When you place the shirt and platen in the printer, it is easier for me to leave room at the top to allow me room to get my hand in to place and remove the platen. That is the reason I put my top reference line at 3 inches. That is where I start all of my prints. I just line up the top of the actual garment on the 3 inch ruler on the side of the tray.

As far as placing the shirts on the platen....

When printing a back, I center the tag and move it over the end of the platen. I make sure the rib of the front of the collar is just off of the platen to give me a smooth level surface to print. This seems to also work out great for giving the appropriate spacing from the back collar to the start of the print.

I do the same thing with the front. Hold the shirt by the shoulders and slide it from the bottom of the platen to the top, centering the tag on the platen. Slide it until the collar is off the side of the platen, then center the remaining bottom.

When I frirst started, I printed a blank paper page with reference lines to compare to the actual rulers on the machine. I simply put the platen in with a piece of paper and made marks at 1 inch intervals to compare, they were close, but not exact.

Hope this helps some.


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

AND I found this new forum here to hang out on and kill more of my already busy day. AWESOME![/quote]


I'm surprised it took you this long to find the forum, have you been doing many darks with the new machine?


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

Yes sir! I am doing more darks than anything else, and getting really good at it I might add!!!


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

martinwoods said:


> I'm surprised it took you this long to find the forum, have you been doing many darks with the new machine?


Me Too...  

Congrats on your new machine...


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

SWEET! Printchic is here!!!  And thank you for the congrats!


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## JPD (Nov 8, 2006)

Yeah, when I was talking with Justin, it just about floored me when I found out he didn't come to these forums!!

Binki, any dark sample pictures yet?

Eric


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

See Eric? Told ya I would get logged on here eventually.  So far, I like the vibe.


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## tomtv (Feb 6, 2007)

nobody blame me...

I told justin about this place months ago.

Hey printchic, good to see you out and about. How are things for you and hubby?

Tom


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

True true. I am just a slacker.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

It is only a matter of time now before we are all banned from here too!



> Binki, any dark sample pictures yet?


yes and no. Yes I have them, No, I can't share just yet because they belong to someone else.


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