# DTG'ing Mouse Pads



## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

Has anyone printed mousepads with their dtg machines? 

How did they turn out?
Who's mousepad blanks did you use?
Who's mousepad blanks would you recommend?


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

just a few thoughts off the top of my head. textile ink works best on cotton so you would need some type of natural fiber to make it work well I would think. Also, the constant rubbing of the mouse may take the ink off as it sits on the fibers.


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## adawg2252 (Dec 12, 2007)

i did one a while back but gave it to my friend. it was just a light grey one from staples but it came out fine.

had a "cotton" kind of top to it, with the rubbery bottom. never noticed any wear and tear to it, but i had it for about a week before my friend begged for it (it was a "print" of a van gogh painting) and so she would not let me not let her leave without it. (did that make ANY sense? hah!)

anyways, i didn't pretreat it i just put it in and went to it. i let it sit under the heat press for a while to dry the ink, and then started using it. I have an LED mouse so i don't know if that would scratch less than a mouse with a trackball, but never noticed any scratching or fading issues with it, for the small time i had it.

good luck with your search!


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

adawg2252 said:


> and so she would not let me not let her leave without it. (did that make ANY sense? hah!)


lol I had to squint and read that twice, but I got it figured out  


....the ink wont rub off, but I suspect it will wear and fad a bit in places. But my regular mousepads do that. I was thinking the same thing Fred, that I need a mousepad with at least a 50/50 top. Im just not sure where to find such a thing.


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## suzette70 (Dec 19, 2007)

I do mouse pads all the time. I use the non textile pretreat and the colors turn out wonderful. Heat press with little or no pressure for about 30 seconds at the time. Lift, let cool down, and heat press again to keep from scorching. I like the sublimated mouse pads better. But, the dtg'ed ones do fine also.

Suzette70


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

suzette70 said:


> I do mouse pads all the time. I use the non textile pretreat and the colors turn out wonderful. Heat press with little or no pressure for about 30 seconds at the time. Lift, let cool down, and heat press again to keep from scorching. I like the sublimated mouse pads better. But, the dtg'ed ones do fine also.
> 
> Suzette70


where do you get your mousepads?


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## SuddenUrge (Mar 26, 2007)

I strictly sell my printed mousepads to Trackball users only...saves me having to worry about the ink wearing off!

Kidding aside I've printed several of them and have had no issues printing them (don't put one on your heat press for over a minute tho...Doh!)

As to where to get them I've always had my customers supply them as I have yet to find a source for them that is decent


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## AddVenture (Jul 12, 2006)

robin, i got some blank mouse pads at bestblanks.com to test on our brother. they sent me one free sample and we ordered a few more. they are 100% polyester, but i thought, what the hey, i'll test them out anyway.

i was pretty satisfied with the results. the colors set well with the heat press and looked fairly decent. we haven't got to the point of selling any yet, i just wanted to test the waters before we committed them. i gave one to a co-worker who's been using it for a month or so. there's no fading or wear as far as i can see.


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## suzette70 (Dec 19, 2007)

I get mousepads from bestblanks also. I have the kiosk, so I don't know if Brother offers a textile pretreat, but the pretreat gives a more vibrant color.

Suzette70


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## Skinbus (Jul 2, 2007)

Robin said:


> Has anyone printed mousepads with their dtg machines?
> 
> How did they turn out?
> Who's mousepad blanks did you use?
> Who's mousepad blanks would you recommend?


 
I get my pads from EDPS.com. Xcellent. 7 3/4 X 9 1/4, 1/4 in. thick. white polyester top, beige bottom, or black if preferred. $1.20 ea. Sweet buy!


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

Kenn, did you find the image less crisp? Thanks for your imput, maybe I'll see if they can send me a sample as well, and give it a test.


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## AddVenture (Jul 12, 2006)

Robin said:


> Kenn, did you find the image less crisp?


i'll admit i don't think it's as good as a 50/50 or 100% cotton shirt, but i don't think it was horrible.

i don't think i can attach a high res image to a PM for you to see, but if you PM me your e-mail address, i'll send one to you so you can see for yourself.


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## akaratemom (Feb 20, 2007)

I print on polyester mousepads with my Brother. I lower the ink volume drastically to about 3 or 4 since the ink doesn't absorb as well. I have had very good luck. You just have to experiment.


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## AddVenture (Jul 12, 2006)

akaratemom said:


> I print on polyester mousepads with my Brother. I lower the ink volume drastically to about 3 or 4 since the ink doesn't absorb as well. I have had very good luck. You just have to experiment.


good to know. i'll give that a try, thanks!


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

AddVenture said:


> i'll admit i don't think it's as good as a 50/50 or 100% cotton shirt, but i don't think it was horrible.
> 
> i don't think i can attach a high res image to a PM for you to see, but if you PM me your e-mail address, i'll send one to you so you can see for yourself.


Thanks Kenn!! I didnt see this post until today. Pm, on the way


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## prism (May 30, 2008)

The prices are cheap till you have to ship them. That is about the same cost as the pads themselves.


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

I have printed on the poly covered mouse pads from best blanks with no pretreat and with the pretreatment for white ink ( diluted). There was no difference. Both were more muted prints than on 100% cotton, but they looked good. Did not fade or rub off. One got mustard stains on it so we bleached it- amazingly it came clean, ink still looked great!

I printed at 360E single CMYK. Cured on the heat press, almost no pressure 350 F for 60 seconds, cooling halfway in between. They are HOT when done so be careful.


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## prism (May 30, 2008)

I am wondering what is 360E single CMYK ? Is that in your Rip settings? I dont have things like that on my Anajet.


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## joeshaul (Mar 1, 2008)

prism said:


> The prices are cheap till you have to ship them. That is about the same cost as the pads themselves.


Some companies like Coastal offer free shipping over a certain amount ($199 in coastal's case I think) on their items, which is a huge plus. The downside is you usually end up having to find other things to play with to add to the order to meet the minimum requirement, but then you get to try new things and see what sells. 

My personal take on printing mousepads:
I printed a few with my brother GT-541, however the colors didn't come out near as well as dye sublimation. If you are doing a very light company logo with some phone numbers, DTG or inkjet transfers will work ok, but when you get darker logos/images, Sublimation knocks em out of the park.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

You can achieve great looking prints on 100% polyester mouse pads by spraying FastBright Pretreatment on them before printing. As the above example shows.

Harry


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

360E is one of the lowest resolutions used, selected in our RIP. It puts down less ink- so there may be another way to lower the ink levels on your printer that works for you.

Single CMYK is the same as CMYK plus white- I have my printer set up with no white and colors where the white could be- so I could print DUAL CMYK- using two of each color. But that would be too much ink.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Kurt,

360E is a resolution that is specific to a 48X0 based dtg printer. This is not something that you will find with an 1800 based dtg printer because of the difference in droplet sizes between the two print heads used. You will want to drop your settings in your RIP down almost to the lowest setting and try to print a spectrum bar. Then move up the RIP settings till you find where the ink begins to bleed.


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## prism (May 30, 2008)

I plan on going with a single pass with 2 ink setting on medium drop size. I think that will work good to start. I will be printing a black and green logo with phone number on a white mouse pad style coaster.
Thanks,


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## prism (May 30, 2008)

Hello,
When you use Fast Bright on them, do you mix it 50/50 as you would with regular pretreatment solution?
Would regular pretreatment solution work?
The colors are not as bright as I would like them to be and if I go 1 more pass than the ink runs.
Any other ideas besides using the treatment to make the colors pop more?

Thanks,


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

Have you tried to reduce the ink setting and then do two passes? Printing on polyester, two very light passes can be more effective than one heavier pass.


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## prism (May 30, 2008)

I could try that, I am using medium ink level on Vivid with 2 pass on a Anajet machine.
I will try to do 1 pass than let it sit for a while than apply another one.

Thanks


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## taglessthreads (Sep 16, 2006)

Ikea has some round mouse pads ! I print on them all the time. I usually send them to my customers who order a certain amount ! 


Best of luck ! 

TT Team


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