First and foremost, don’t ever purchase a dtg printer without first seeing how it works in detail first hand - whether you go to a trade show, a distributor’s show room or to another dtg owner’s shop. The main purpose of seeing the dtg printer in person is to see all the necessary steps needed to print a shirt. Contrary to some rumors, running a dtg printer is not as simple as pressing the print button. Ask to see how to do the following:
- Steps need to prepare the machine for printing and the necessary maintenance procedures.
- All the necessary steps to prepare and send the graphic to the dtg printer.
- The steps to pretreating a garment if necessary.
- How to load a garment on the platen.
- How to cure the garment for the best wash capability.
Don’t be satisfied with having a manufacturer or distributor send you a sample print. Make sure that you know each step of the process and have seen them done in person before investing in a dtg printer if at all possible.
Whether you go to a trade show or a show room, make sure you bring a couple of your graphics on a USB memory stick or on a CD-ROM disk. This way you can see exactly how the operator will adjust your graphic to get the best looking print. Have your graphics saved in multiple formats (PSD, CDR, TIFF,…) just in case the computer that is running the dtg printer does not have the same graphic software program. The best graphic is one that contains a lot of different colors and that is symmetrical in design. This way you can cut the design in half to wash one side and keep the other side as a control sample to compare the colors.
NOTE: If you plan on going to a trade show to get your designs printed, I strongly recommend you setting up appointments with the different exhibitors that you are interested in purchasing a machine from. Let the exhibitors know upfront that you are planning on bringing your own graphics to print so there are no surprises. This will also allow the exhibitor to plan their booth schedule around to adequately provide you with the time needed to print your design and answer your questions.
For those people that don’t have their own designs yet, here are links to a couple of files that can be used:
- http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1421
- http://www.greatdanegraphics.com/store/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=14
- http://www.belquette.com/coolitemsprinted.html