anyone tried Solvent printing yet?

[chongsta]

Indeed! i never knew that i could use my roland Versacamm for printing onto fabrics!! In fact its thrown me into a whole new world now.

http://www.foreverpromotions.com/transfer%20paper/forever%20solvent%20dark%20111.html

I did some searches for dark dye sub solutions and ended up at that site. it seems that my trusty Versacamm can make me tshirts for dark transfers as well. The roll is a bit pricey but it might be what im looking for.

I shall throw caution to the wind and buy the full roll at £60 rather than the badly priced sample roll of £20. I figure if its going to work then i mayaswell have the full hit.

So, has anyone tried or know some one whos tired Solvent ink sublimation printing? Ive looked at the t-shirt printing forum and some people say that it leaves a plasticy feel after the press and some say it works wonders!

anyone? anything?

Cheers
Dave.

[Justin]

I used to print solvent through an HP 9000 60" printer. Got some fantastic results using Dorotape printable materials. The clear was particularly good and gave a kind of rubberised feel when pressed. Good results with printing other materials, flock etc. onto darks.

Glitter was very impressive!

They'll send samples out. Most materials were probably £6 p/m+

[chongsta]

cheers mate,

You used to do it, what made you stop?

Does it work like sub dye as in only the ink is transfered or is it like an transfer? I ask this because i have designs that would look naff if i have to cut around them and apply like a heat transfer vinyl. If it is like a transfer then i guess that explains how the white is applied.

Anyhoo, do you have any tips or advice on solvent printing?

Cheers
Dave.

[Justin]

I 'left' the company I was working for at the time.

No, the solvent ink transfers to the material and you heat apply the material. I used to put registration marks on and then feed it through a cutter to get nice clean edges.

The clear material used for white shirts is great as you print on the reverse and it traps the ink in between the shirt and the material.

The dark materials weren't too thick but they do make the shirt feel a little like cardboard if you do a large image. If you can cut sections out inbetween the image then this helps to break the hard feel up a little.

[chongsta]

I see, cheers.

i got a little too excited thinking it was an alternative for sub-dye transfer of the ink only

Im now looking into DTG instead. I like the feel of these shirts better than vinyl transfer, i see lots of people on ebay and the like complain of the feel. The DTG is exploding at them mo' and the white ink printers are getting cheaper, especially if you buy direct from the far East.

I have a contact who regularly imports from china and he said i could throw anything i want into his containers!!!! Theres a huge saving to be had.

Cheers again
dave.

[Justin]

I have a contact who regularly imports from china and he said i could throw anything i want into his containers!!!! Theres a huge saving to be had.

Could be useful!

I had a demo on a DTG a couple of years ago, I was very unimpressed. The print took forever and the end product wasn't very good at all. If I remember correctly the machine was around £12k at the time and it was a major name. I decided to contract out the work I needed printing as DTG. How many tee's would you need to sell to cover such a huge outlay?
The company I sent the work to had 2 machines but they spent more time down than working.

Wherever possible I would choose screen print but this isn't always an option, one offs etc. Screen printing can be done at a decent price for small runs of 12/24 though.

The solvent printing is good if you already own a machine. Our printer cost something in the region of £30k so it was good to get even more use out of it.

Justin

[chongsta]

Indeed yes. I too had a demo and a free t shirt when i displayed at the sports expo at Stamford Bridge a few years back. The machine was the Brother printer (not sure of model number) but blinking pricey at £15k !!

it didnt do dark shirts either and for £15 K i want it make coffee as well

In all honesty the print is still vibrant all this time later but then again i havent washed it much seeing as it was a print of a T-Rex ! HuH!?

As for china, well im taking a punt really, i see the FOB prices are around $2500 - 5k, and the ones ive seen are white technology printers. Im even thinking of getting a textile printer rather than a tshirt printer. Im having a few enquiries from companys looking to get full print garments made up from patterns that they can then cut out and sew up themselves. Might be worth the extra punt.

But for now lets just get a t shirt printer that does blacks. It amazes me that the sub dye transfer companies havent yet cracked how to do blacks at affordable prices. Im brand new to this side of printing but im already seeing huge markets. The good thing is that one is hardly stepping on any toes because the customers are so wide and varied that you could do just one style and make cash without having to silly-drop your pirce because fred's tshirts ltd is doing it as well.

I'll be seeing the guy early next week and ill see when his next orders are being done.

Cheers
Dave.