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FEATURE
Preparation
is vital
Pre-treating garments for direct-to-product ink jet printing has thus far been an
inexact science. Your Embroidery Services aims to make it more efficient and
profitable with the DTG PreJet
D
irect to product ink jet printing is still a sheen that is visible where areas have been
fairly new industry and yet it has already pre-treated but not covered with ink. The
seen major developments in printing amount of pre-treatment can also be adjusted
technique. More recently garment preparation to the type of fabric, creating a recipe for
has taken centre stage with an updated pre- future use.
treatment process, designed to be more The PreJet is said to offer maximum control
efficient and profitable. over the volume of pre-treat applied compared
So what is pre-treatment and why it is to spray gun application where even slight
necessary? draughts can affect the amount that actually
Just like screen-printing, the only way to goes onto the shirt. With The PreJet, the head
print anything onto a coloured garment is to is close to the fabric and enclosed, with the
first lay down a layer of white ink. This delivery tightly controlled to ensure the correct
pigment-based ink must be cured before amount is applied evenly over the total area.
printing, however the garment cannot be To really cut pre-treatment time, DTG offers
moved since CMYK inks are delivered in the an optional, integrated swing head press to dry
same location. To resolve this problem, a liquid the pre-treat, instead of lifting the whole platen
is applied before printing which reacts with the and placing it under a transfer press. The
white ink. This causes it to start curing just platen is then placed into the loading tray for
enough to allow the other inks to be laid onto the printer, which can be registered to the
it. PreJet to further improve the appearance of
The pre-treat itself is a clear liquid that can the finished printed garment.
be applied in a variety of ways but it is The left half of the print has been correctly pre-treated,
important that it is applied evenly and in the the right half has not a71a71a71a71 www.yesltd.co.uk
correct quantity. Too much or too little can
result in a bad print and if an area to be printed application of the liquid it is dried using a
is totally missed then the print will be totally transfer press but this whole process is often
unacceptable. considered too slow. Users often pre-treat a
One of the most reliable ways of applying number of shirts and store them for future
the pre-treat has been with a spray gun, but use, however this often leads to pre-treating
even then, it relies on the user to apply the the whole front of the shirt, wasting both liquid
correct amount to a big enough area. Following and time.
Although this method works, it was never
ideal, so DTG invested in automating the
process. The result is the PreJet, which not
only applies pre-treat to the garment but also
controls the area to be pre-treated and the
amount to be applied.
Bespoke software uses the same image file
as that used for printing and works out where
to put the pre-treat. The operator can choose
whether to pre-treat to the outline of the
design or to a shape of their choosing, applying
liquid only to the area that will be covered with
PreJet controls the volume of pre-treat applied and the the print. This can make a difference to the DTG offers an integrated swing head press to dry the
area to be covered look of the finished shirt as it eliminates the pre-treat
Visit us at www.spdi-online.com September 2009 l SCREEN PROCESS AND DIGITAL IMAGING 19
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