Make sure to always do a wash test with new pretreat and cure settings.You can also lower your temperature to 300℉ if you’re still experiencing dye migration.Lower times are for garments that experience a higher amount of dye migration.(Total time pressed should equal total time required). If your ink requires a 30 second hover and 120 seconds of pressing to cure, break the pressing time in 30 to 60 second chunks.Final curing is where you’ll see the most dye migration when working with 50/50 apparel.The big key here is to avoid dye migration.TIP: Use a youth platen when printing on pocket hoodies.Make sure to adjust your platen height before printing.Double White Underbase is commonly needed for thicker material.You may need to lower your white underbase strength a little if too much puddling is experienced.Most 50/50s shirts will react the same as 100% Ringspun Cotton if pretreated correctly.IF YOU'RE TURNING AWAY JOBS, LEARN HOW DTG MAY BE THE ANSWER Press in between each spray at 330℉ (Lower to 300℉ if Dye Migration is seen).(Lower some if you see dye migration or staining) Double spray with the regular amount of pretreat you use for 100% cotton.This can cause more staining and dye migration issues with 50/50 material at times.You will ALWAYS need more pretreat for sweats.This will also help against staining and dye migration.Lower your time during this process as well since you’re curing less pretreat.This “double spray” helps against staining and dye migration.Spray the updated half amount, heat press to cure, spray the half amount again, press to cure and then print.Take the amount you would normally spray on the 100% Cotton equivalent and cut it in half.Lower press to 330℉ (Some go as low as 300℉ with good results.).Having dye migration or staining issues?.Mutant Printing makes incredible prints on the PolyPrint Echo2 DTG Printer. This allows us to print on things such as the Gildan DryFit and other cost effective 50/50s that will have pretty good results. However, because we have 50% polyester in the mix, that can sometimes make up for a lesser quality cotton. Like all DTG printing, the quality of the garment comes into play. General settings for your RIP and printer will be very similar to 100% Cotton. The key to printing on 50/50 garments comes in a couple key aspects of pretreat and curing. Because of this, I don’t recommend using DTG on anything above 50% polyester as a good rule of thumb. It CAN be done, but the end result is not retail ready. At the time of writing this blog, there is not a truly tested and proven ink/pretreatment that can be used to print on 100% polyester dark garments. Let’s start this off with a good recommendation.
#BROTHER GT 541 YOUTH PLATEN HOW TO#
After learning how to DTG print on 100% cotton garments, it's now time to learn how to Direct-To-Garment print on 50/50 garments (50% polyester, 50% cotton). Learn the ins and outs from DTG expert Luke Ryerkerk so you can crush your next print job.