# Contents of the "pre-treatment" solution



## vertigosystems (Jul 10, 2008)

I just wanted to pose a question for anyone else who is also curious, and let everyone know of my experiment with the pre-treatment solution for DTG black printing. What exactly is in this dupont branded treatment, judging by the smell I think it's elmer's glue and water, with a bit of formaldehyde. 

I was going to do a little experiment with that and see what I can come up with, I'd imagine anything that is capable of "stiffining" the fabric enough to make sure the white ink lays on top will work. Any other input on this? Does anyone know what's actually in the stuff?


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

I had a friend that sold cleaning products to company's like Frito-Lay and other company's, what he would do is get a sample and send it to a lab to analyze, with the formula he would have it duplicated by a chemical company and sell it cheaper.
John


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## the funk (Aug 8, 2007)

I heard an airbrusher talking about a pretreatment spray they used to keep the fibers down. They spray it on and heat press the shirt, then airbrush. I dont know what the stuff is called as this was a while back. Im also not sure if it would work with white ink because Im have heard the pretreatment and white ink form some sort of bond together kinda like JB Weld...but I dont know for certain. Maybe someone else can jump in and verify or deny this as Im curious as well. If that is the case, stiffening the fabric probably wouldnt cut it for white ink printing. Maybe for lights, but that form of pretreat is not priced too bad IMO.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

It definately has a component that bonds the white ink to the fabric. simply stiffening the fabric is not going to bind it. There is an agent in the pretreatment itself that binds the ink to the fabric.


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## Naga (Mar 11, 2008)

Something like alkoxysilanes or compatible crossbinders ???


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

I was told that Dupont actually has the patent on some of the items in the pretreatment. Thus the reason why we have not seen other companies with a formula that works as well as Dupont. Not sure if this is correct though. The rumors are that the new pretreatment formula from Dupont that is coming out in a couple of months is even better (less stains, easier to apply,...). Can't wait to see the results myself.


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## looneytees (Sep 11, 2007)

vertigosystems said:


> What exactly is in this dupont branded treatment, judging by the smell I think it's elmer's glue and water, with a bit of formaldehyde.


I thought that as well and actually watered down some Elmers with different ratios and tried it with no luck. Tried spray starch too.


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

vertigosystems said:


> ......... judging by the smell I think it's elmer's glue and water, with a bit of formaldehyde.


 
LOL wouldn't that be great.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

> The rumors are that the new pretreatment formula from Dupont that is coming out in a couple of months is even better


Actually began shipping last month.


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## Robert72 (Aug 12, 2006)

And did you see any enhancement, Don? Does it leave less stains and less square? Does it have more tolerance regarding the quantity you drop? Maybe better white adhesion?

Thanks and best regards,
Robert.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

Robert,

Assuming that the shipping product is the same as that which we sampled, yes, it is more "forgiving" on the overspray side and no it doesn't leave as noticeable a residue. Our testing also showed that it did not "yellow" on lighter garments like the older one occasionally did.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

Robert72 said:


> And did you see any enhancement, Don? Does it leave less stains and less square? Does it have more tolerance regarding the quantity you drop? Maybe better white adhesion?
> 
> Thanks and best regards,
> Robert.



We have found that the new formulation white pretreatment we're now shipping gives you a brighter white and we've also noticed a significant reduction in hand on the print.

Harry


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## abmcdan (Sep 14, 2007)

If you have ever hit a print head on a pretreated black shirt you definately understand how well the white ink "bonds" with the pretreatment.  We tried chemicals that were eating up our rubber gloves but still wouldn't unclog the print head.


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

equipmentzone said:


> "We have found that the new formulation white pretreatment........."


Harry, is this the "new" official product that is designed for Dupont inks? We alwas hear the rumors, but I know no-one wants to be stuck with old has been stuff....


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

zoom_monster said:


> Harry, is this the "new" official product that is designed for Dupont inks? We alwas hear the rumors, but I know no-one wants to be stuck with old has been stuff....



The white pretreatment we're now selling is the new product.

Harry


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

Just a quick question, its my understanding that the Brothers and I know the Anajet doesn't require pretreatment on light colors. Why do the others? 
John


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

Uncle John said:


> Just a quick question, its my understanding that the Brothers and I know the Anajet doesn't require pretreatment on light colors. Why do the others?
> John



None of the printer lines - such as the Fast T-Jet, DTG, and Flexi-Jet - _require_ pretreatment on white or light colors. However, applying a pretreatment such as FastColor (which is made to only be used on white and light colored garments) greatly improves the color brilliance of your print, giving you in most cases a 2 pass look after only printing one pass. It also substantially increases washability. In fact, we sell FastColor to quite a few Brother owners who are using it with their machines.

Harry


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I would agree with Harry here  There are alot of owners of all the dfferent machines that use the fast color with their light garment printing. It isnt necessary but helps with the brightness of color and the washability. I use it depending on what I am printing. For instance if I am printing a high dollar print order that I know the top quality is expected I use it. Actually it works so well that I use it on most orders. If I am doing something for a charity or something at a low cost then I might not use it. But its not something I need to do, its something I choose to do.

The anajet uses the same exact ink as any other dtg except the kornit or the brother. Other then those machines the most of them use dupont, although there are several new inks. So the ink is going to look the same on the anajet as it does with all of the others that are using dupont. Pretreatment for lights is really just a preference if you want to offer a customer a product that lasts a little longer and colors a little brighter


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

We do not use a pretreatment on garments. High quality, long lasting prints with excellent washability without pretreatment have never been a problem for us.

We use Dual CMYK, and print various resolutions and occasionally multiple passes to get the degree of pop- depth of color-that the customer wants.

We have printed in high speed draft mode for some items with great results. We use 360by360 for most of our prints. For deeper blacks or crisper text we sometimes use 360E dual unidirectional for that extra sharp edge. A few prints we go up to 720 by 720- but usually that is oversaturated.

Another way to get excellent color depending on the look desired is to do two passes of 360 draft mode or two passes of 360 by 360- very fast and the two layers give a different look than raising the resolution. But we rarely need to do two passes.


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