I did compose a lengthy reply to Martin's post but it appears to have gone astray! Grrrrrrr
I'm 57 now and if I wait any longer for white ink technology to be entirely problem free my kids will inherit it before I get delivery!!!
To answer Martin's question. Yes, one still has to pre-prep the garment prior to printing the white underbase, this is common to all white ink printers. The prep method is the traditional spray method although, I have seen some people use both spray and then roller to ensure a good even coverage. No prep is required for printing on white shirts though, except the normal heat pressing to remove moisture prior to printing and of course it helps if the shirt lays flat
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White ink still needs to be treated in the same way as before but the sealed cartridge system is not so labour intensive. I hope to elaborate further on this soon.
I, like many entering the DTG printing arena have to make the decision whether to print dark shirts or just whites. From what I can gather, 30% of the T-shirt industry is whites and the remainder is dark. Even if it was 50/50, would I wnat to turn away 50% of the business? Would you?
Prior to seeing the NeoFlex I was drawn to the Brother GT-541. The Brother printer will only print white or light coloured shirts but it's one of the very few DTG printers designed soley for the purpose. Consequently it doesn't suffer the common issue of ink clogging that's been such a problem in the past.
Neoflex have improved the situation by using a sealed ink system, a programmable cleaning routine and the use of the teflon coated Epson 4880 printhead. As with all these DTG printers, cleaning and maintenance procedures are key to avoiding downtime. Anyone involved in DyeSub will already know the problems of printhead clogging.
The NeoFlex appealed to me for various reasons:
1. The designer has created a system where the issue of white ink clogging has been addressed.
2. The printing area surpasses that of most of it's competitors. See the video.
3. The platen remains stationary as it's the printhead that moves along the substrate. This allows me to remove printed items and locate items to be printed while the printer continues to print.
4. I can convert the printer between solvent and textile in about 3 minutes.
5. The variety of substrates I can print to is vast, again, see the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwPd4UxlC6g.
There are many other features I've considered but at the moment, my brain is frazzled and I can't remember them all
I've had quite a few conversations with the designer of the printer and asked lots of questions. The main issue for me was that there are no NeoFlexes in the UK so I can't go and see one working. fortunately, we've overcome this issue.
Hopefully soon and when I've got up to speed with the printer, anyone who wants to see it in operation will be welcome here. I can also produce some videos on any aspect of use and post here.
Like a kid with a new toy, I'm quite excited about it's arrival, okay, I'm bloody excited
To me it looks fantastic but the proof of the 'pudding will be in the eating' and I'll keep you all informed. I'm confident.
Cheers
John
