ImagesMagUK_February_2021

STEP-BY-STEP: DTG PRINTING ONTO A SOFTSHELL Once the image has been prepared for print, place a sheet of Resolute DTG Poly transfer film matt side up on the shirt platen of your DTG printer. Secure this on all four corners with magic tape and make sure it is pulled tight to avoid the film buckling once it gets wet with the ink. Now, print your image and get ready for the next stage of the process – this must be done while the ink is still wet Tip the remaining adhesive into a plastic box ready to use again. Make sure all the adhesive that is not bonded to the ink is shaken off the film or it might show as a shadowwhen the film is pressed Place the softshell onto the heat press. Position the DTG transfer film, cover with a sheet of silicone paper and press for 15 seconds on medium pressure. Once the heat press is open leave the garment and film to cool for around 10 seconds – this is a hot-peel process, but it should be done at around 100°C for optimum quality. Peel in a single, steady motion Place the printed film on a clean work surface and sprinkle the wet DTG ink with the Resolute DTG Transfer adhesive – it is important to remember this is not the regular adhesive used for screen printed plastisol transfers. Make sure all the ink is covered with an ample covering of the adhesive. Agitating the film will make sure all the little nooks and crannies of the image get coated with enough adhesive The adhesive must now be cured. The simplest way to do this is with a heat gun normally used for removing paint. Move the gun from left to right, approximately 8cm away from the film – this melts the adhesive and creates a barrier between the ink and the garment It is quite normal to see some ink deposits left on the film after peeling, but if an excessive amount of ink is left on the film then the process needs tweaking for that particular softshell jacket. Here is the finished hi-res image produced using traditional DTG printing with no pretreatment, which can be used for all types of garment including hi-vis, polyester and softshell jackets 1 3 5 2 4 6 DTG printing by Resolute DTG According to Colin Marsh, managing director of Resolute DTG, printing a softshell jacket using a DTG printer was, until recently, "quite a task". Thanks to the introduction of the Resolute DTG Poly transfer film designed for water- based ink, it is now possible to DTG print many types of garment that do not have a high cotton content, he reports. "This walk-through explains the process from start to finish when using a Resolute Green Button DTG printer – this may be different on other systems when using the same Resolute DTG film products." He adds that the main differences between DTG printing directly onto a cotton or cotton/polyester garment and using this method to print are the print mode used and the fact that no pretreatment is required. A special print mode on the RIP is required to prepare the image correctly for printing onto transfer film. The image must be mirrored, with the CMYK portion of the image printed first; this must then be backed up by the white ink used as the underbase. In order to get soft edges a special rendering method is used, which may not be present in entry-level RIPs. Soft edging may be required to print complex images such as white smoke or graduations that fade off into the garment. www.resoluteink.co.uk TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 60 images FEBRUARY 2021