# What DTG printer is this



## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

Found this on Youtube, anyone know what type of printer it is?

YouTube - Direct to Garment Digital Printing for barcamp hong kong

My first thought was a Kornit. I noticed it sprayed down pre-treat even on the white shirt. Also using a conveyor dryer. Pretty cool.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Yep, that is the Kornit in action. If you go to www.kornitusers.com, you will see some pics from Justin Walker's machine. This is the single pallet machine (don't know the model number).


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

Yup. That is Ed's Kornit 932 in Hong Kong! Good stuff.


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

Very cool guys.
Is the pre-treat the same for whites and darks?

I also really like the shirt platen, it seems to keep the shirt nice and flat.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

My wife told me that it was fast, describing the process (damn confusing) during a demo at the Long Beach show. But, it's hard to compare without seeing it in action ... really amazing! I wanna sell my house, and take all that equity and buy one, now!!


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

hahaha. Well don't sell off the domicile just yet. Yes, the pretreatment is the same for all types of garments. The only thing you need to adjust is the volume - for instance, I use a setting of 2 for white, 5 for lights, and 20 for darks.


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

That makes sense Justin.
Alot of us were using the pre-treat for white ink on white shirts to get a more vibrant print, but it usually leaves a yellowish stain so you have to cut it down with water.
We're using the FastColor from the T-Jet guys for whites now.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Justin Walker said:


> hahaha. Well don't sell off the domicile just yet. Yes, the pretreatment is the same for all types of garments. The only thing you need to adjust is the volume - for instance, I use a setting of 2 for white, 5 for lights, and 20 for darks.


LOL ... My wife doesn't wanna give up the home, but we just had an appraisal done and I've made almost 200 grand on the damn thing ... so, you can see my dilemma!

Being able to adjust the volume is a BIG plus ... if I am not mistaken, the current offerings of pre-treament machines for the other DTGs don't have that ability?

What about targeting the specific area to pre-treat? For example, just a print for the front pocket?


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

The pretreatment is completely automatic. You don't worry about where you pretreat, because the computer decides for you based on the placement and size of the image. No wasted pretreatment spray!


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Argh ... you are killing me, brother!

BTW, I know that new support forum you set up is really for current owners, hope you don't mind that I signed up to poke around ... I promise not to make a fuss!


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

haha That is just fine! Of course, you won't be able to post unless you get a machine, but you can certainly browse!!!!


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## csquared (Sep 8, 2006)

Micheal the only pretreat machine I have seen is from US Screen and you could adjust the amount of pretreatment you wanted to spray, you could also press a button and it switched from pre-treatment to fastcolor, kinda cool.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Chris ... I am not sure the adjustments for the auto-express are nearly as refined. And I believe there are certain limitations to the control you have ... I'll check with my wife, as she talked to Mike Fresener at the Long Beach show, and he was kind enough to run a sample for me to see. I think from what I am hearing from the Kornit, is that it specificly covers pretreatment right where the ink will be, if that's the case ... no pretreatment box (which is a BIG deal to more fashion-minded t-shirt clients). Debz was unable to get a sample from the Kornit booth, it got too hectic, so she was limited to watching the demo.

Justin ... no prob, just doing my research, and it helps to see what other users in the field are doing. BTW, did you make it to the show? Debz told me last night, she was looking for you ...


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

I only made it for a few hours after the show on Friday, and then a few hours during the show on Saturday. I spent most of my time bouncing between a series of DTG-related booths all over the show, re-affirming particular business relationships and such.  You know, shaking hands and kissing babies.

The Kornit sprays a box around the area to be printed. It will spray in the exact area that your workspace (your artwork file) covers, not just where it will lay ink. The key difference is in the chemical makeup of the pretreatment. I know the Dupont can leave the shirt feeling like it was just starched.. With the Kornit spray, it is well over 75% water, so it ALL completely evaporates in the tunnel dryer. ALL of it. You can not, in any way, tell that it was there. Especially with the new pretreatment and white ink - it is even more advanced than the old pretreatment which would occasionally leave a burn mark on mid colored shirts (you had to use a lot of pretreat to put a white underbase on a light pink shirt just like a black one, but you had to try and CURE it like a light... It was frustrating. The longer dwell time with those mid colors would occasionally burn).


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Ah, I see ... thanks, Justin. I know a lot of us using the dupont stuff (faint rumor of new preteatment coming to reflect the new white ink, but who knows), with slightly different hand variations, have been able to greatly reduce the "box" ... but, particularly with black, it can still be noticed depending on light angles. Comparing the result from the express machine to my hand method (maybe the output can be controlled?) ... it's a big difference.

LOL, I thought having the wife go to the show and see the demos, would help me make a decision. But, I am only finding more questions ... I need to go see these working, in person.


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

Gunslinger said:


> I need to go see these working, in person.


My doors are open nearly 24/7.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

LOL, definately ... I wonder if any T-Jet 3s are running 24/7 ... longest I have run mine, 10 hours with a black shirt job (cut that one too close to meet deadline).


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

I used to weigh out my options with the assorted printers, and I thought if I were to ever go the small format route again, I would run 6-12 machines minimum. This way, you can cycle them on 8 hour shifts so you don't burn them out sooner than you need to. Ultimately, however, there were far too many issues with this sort of a setup.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Excellent point, and something to consider if I were going with even the Blazer Pro route ... what parts have an expected lifespan (compared to what I already know with the T-Jet 3).

LOL, I made the mistake of buying a back-up capping station with a new printhead ... only to find out, it wasn't necessary (and very difficult to swap out), no capping stations have ever gone sour on the T3 (as had happened with the previous models).


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## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

....... capping stations go bad? Hm.


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## Gunslinger (Aug 3, 2007)

Something that was recommended to replace, BEFORE replacing the print head, with the T1s and T2s ... that is, if you couldn't unclog whatever was causing the print head from being able to clean itself (so, the capping station was unable to suck any ink into the waste bottle, from the print head during a head cleaning ... which, eventually would cause the ink to dry and clog the print head) ... make any sense?


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