Yes, you need to have white ink in order to print on black and dark t-shirts. If you don’t use a white ink in printing on dark garments, your design will look dark.

DTF printing still requires the same maintenance that DTG needs. Just not as often. DTG ink does not clog up as bad and when clogs do happen, they are a lot easier to clean. DTF white ink still separates and will need a daily shake. Best form of maintenance is regular printing. If you print every 2 days, all you will need to do is shake the ink and run an automatic printhead clean before printing.

PRINT ON FILM. Insert DTF transfer film in paper tray, platen, or on paper roll holder. Transfers for dark garments will require a white layer of ink over the mirrored color print.

POWER APPLICATION. Sprinkle the TPU powder uniformly over the wet print manually or using the automated commercial shaker. Remove excess powder.

MELT POWDER (1st Option). Place the powdered film inside a Curing Oven & heat for 2-3 min at 100-120°C.

(2nd Option). Hover film inside heat press (4-7 mm), powdered-side UP. DO NOT apply pressure Heat for 3-5 min at 140-150°C. DO NOT completely close the press! Wait until powder becomes glossy.

PRE-PRESSING.

Pre-press the garment prior to the transfer for 2-5 seconds This will flatten the fabric & remove excess humidity.

TRANSFER.

Place the film (print-side DOWN) onto the platen-threaded garment. Cover with silicone pad or parchment paper. Press for 10-20 sec at 325°F

COLD PEEL.

Allow the garment to completely cool. Peel the film off in one low, slow, continuous motion.

REPRESSING.

Re-press the garment for 10-20 sec at 325°F This step is recommended for increased durability

Yes, you need DTF transfer film so the DTF inks will be able to print and stay on it. DTF transfer films have a coated side for that.

Yes, you will need to use rip software such as acrorip in order to print white and colour at the same time and choke white layer by a few pixels so that you don’t end up with a thin white outline.

Washability is fine providing you use quality + powder and following correct application procedures. It certainly beats laser white toner transfers. 40C washing temperature is recommended.

Yes, without the DTF powder you will not be able to finish and press your design.

Any older printer that prints with 5 or more colours. Older printers will be compatible with most types of print rip software and will have refillable ink systems. Additional colors will allow to add white ink. Some of such printers are: P400, P600, P800, 1430, R2400, R1800, R3000, R2000, R2880, R1400 etc.

Use DTF inks that are specific for transfer films. This can be used on dark and light garments and different fabric types such as 100% cotton, polyester, blends, spandex, flex and leather.

We recommend Epson L1800. It has been well tested with DTF inks and performs well. Replacement parts are very cheap and readily available. This printer is well documented and has been used for DTG printing for many years. It is easy to convert and does not need any special parts. Only downside is that it’s slower compared to other printers like P600.

Yes, you can print shirts on your DTG printer using DTF ink. It’s not as good as specialized DTG ink but it will work fine. You will still need to pretreat your garments using your preferred pretreatment solution.

It will clog up just like a DTG or a regular inkjet printer. If you plan on leaving your printer off for a few weeks or months, you will need to flush the lines, clean your printhead and leave it soaking in cleaning solution.

Shake your white ink cartridges for approx. 1 minute

Why do we shake the white inks? The white ink components tend to be heavier and will sink towards the bottom of the cartridge, thus causing problems with the DTG printer. Do not forget that the white ink in the printer lines will settle after sitting for a while, so if these preventive measures are not taken, the first couple of prints could result in a faint white appearance.

Perform nozzle checks

To perform a nozzle check, place a transparent sheet on the center of platen towards the top-end between the two screws. Select the “height-adjust” button on the display panel. Once the printer is finished auto-adjusting the platen, select the “nozzle check” button. Select the “white” or “color” buttons within the nozzle check setting screen to perform the check, and hit “print”. Once the nozzle check is complete, analyze the print on the transparent sheet for any broken lines on the grids. If you see a surplus of broken lines, you will need to perform an additional auto head clean maintenance step.

NOTE: These are the steps for the DAILY maintenance routine. It is highly important that you also perform the standard weekly and monthly Ricoh DTG maintenance routines for proper machine care and the best-quality prints.

The feel would depend on the type of powder you are using and the thickness of your ink layer. More ink will absorb more powder and make the overall result feel thicker. Our soft and stretchy DTF powder has better hand than traditional vinyl or other types of heat transfer. It’s elastic and soft to the touch. It is not softer than DTG prints however.