The DTG printer is the more sophisticated cousin of your office’s inkjet printer and it pretty much works the same way.
The process is quite self-explanatory, basically the ink gets injected directly onto the material. The only difference being that instead of paper a DTG printer works on fabric.
Here are the steps and processes that need to be followed for DTG. As you may notice, it is pretty straightforward. One of the reasons why people prefer this printing method over others is that it has fewer steps than the rest.
1 – Pretreatment
In order to assure an optimum result, garments must be sprayed with a pretreatment liquid. This step is particularly crucial if the T-shirt is dark. The liquid allows the ink to really attach to the fibres for a vibrant result. Most printers use a special spraying gun to add the coat of pretreatment liquid, but some DTG printers also include the step. The following video shows how a professional printer treats a T-shirt before printing.
2 – Dry
To really set the pretreatment liquid on the garment, one must dry the item. Some just hang the T-shirt and wait while others simply put it on a heat-press for a few seconds. Whichever method is used, it is of the outmost importance to make sure the tee is fully dry before continuing with the process.
3 – Prepare graphics
Using a specialised program, the artwork is prepared. If the garment is dark, this is the moment where that extra layer of white ink is added.
3 – Load to printer
Carefully, the garment must be loaded onto the machine. To have the best possible results, the garment must be completely flat. A single wrinkle could ruin the entire process.
4 – Print
You are all set now. Hit the “power” button and print!
