Impressions - July/August 2010 - (Page 56)

EMBROIDERY >> HANDS ON DIGITAL DECORATING >> HANDS ON who only doesHANDS ON The only screen printing. question, then, is how to add the process to your shop. SCREEN PRINTING >> HANDS GETTING STARTED TECH TIPS >> ON Use Info•Action #36 at impressionsmag.com/infoaction >> Industry News Online Directory Impressionsmag.com/news Impressionsmag.com/business Impressionsmag.com/screenprinting Impressionsmag.com/embroidery Impressionsmag.com/events Impressionsmag.com/newsletter Impressionsmag.com/newsletter Impressionsmag.com/productguide Impressionsmag.com/catalogcentral Impressionsdirectory.com Impressionsmag.com/infoaction T-shirtForums.com Impressionsmag.com/pubs Impressionsmag.com/university ISSshows.com mag.com >> Decorated Apparel Business >> Screen Printing >> Embroidery >> Digital Decorating >> Events >> The Impressions Newsletter >> ecoimpressions >> The Impressions Product Guide >> Catalog Central >> Buyer’s Guide >> Info Action >> Forum >> Publications >> Impressions University >> Imprinted Sportswear Shows Impressionsmag.com/digitaldecorating One of the ﬁrst steps to adding digital printing to your shop is to get a ﬁrsthand look at equipment at industry trade shows and talk to current owners. Get references and check them out. Find out how these people have integrated the process into their businesses. You’ll also need to make sure you have room for the equipment in your shop. The footprint for direct-to-garment printing varies widely, depending on which unit you purchase. Your options range from small, desktop-size units to those comparable in size to a large screen print dryer. Your shop also needs the right kind of humidity. In our shop, the weather suddenly got cold and the humidity was 20%. This posed a challenge because we couldn’t get good nozzle checks, which affected the ink ﬂow. We realized it was the humidity — the heads on the machines just can’t handle low relative humidity. To rectify this problem, we purchased a couple of humidiﬁers, which brought the humidity level back up to 50% to 60%, a suitable range for digital equipment. It keeps the heads from drying out, which ensures proper ink ﬂow. From our experience, 50% humidity is minimum and 60% is ideal. Extremes of humidity and temperature do not get along with this technology. Similarly, your space needs to be relatively free of dirt and debris, as lint hinders the performance of direct-to-garment equipment. Don’t underestimate the importance of the machine’s environment. If you’re thinking of putting your digital printer in your screen printing production area along with loading docks, open overhead doors, ﬂash cure units and production dryers, plan on buying headache pain reliever by the case, as you are going to need it. At our shop, we devoted a 20' x 25' area for the direct-to-garment equipment, including a pretreatment machine, staging area, two direct-to-garment printers and three 16" x 20" heat presses for curing. The direct-to-garment equipment is in the same area as the embroidery machines and our cutter workstations. SETTING IT UP No matter where you set up the equipimpressionsmag.com 56 Impressions >> July/August 2010 http://www.viperxpt.com http://www.viperxpt.com http://www.impressionsmag.com/infoaction http://www.impressionsmag.com http://www.Impressionsmag.com/news http://www.Impressionsmag.com/business http://www.Impressionsmag.com/screenprinting http://www.Impressionsmag.com/embroidery http://www.Impressionsmag.com/digitaldecorating http://www.Impressionsmag.com/events http://www.Impressionsmag.com/newsletter http://www.Impressionsmag.com/newsletter http://www.Impressionsmag.com/productguide http://www.Impressionsmag.com/catalogcentral http://www.Impressionsdirectory.com http://www.Impressionsmag.com/infoaction http://www.T-shirtForums.com http://www.Impressionsmag.com/pubs http://www.Impressionsmag.com/university http://www.ISSshows.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - July/August 2010

Impressions - July/August 2010
Contents
First Impressions
FYI
Product Gallery
SFX Solutions
SFX Decorating: A Hands-On Experience
Grown-Up Fashion Drives Kidswear and Teen Trends
Design & Digitizing
Production
Graphics and Design
For Screen Printers Only
Tech Tips
Adding Digital Garment Printing to Your Shop
Online Directory
On Design
Business to Business
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - July/August 2010