Direct To Garment Printing

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3iOuKzhUlQ]

Reader [deren lik] pointed out the world of direct to garment printing to us. You can purchase commercial machines that will print directly onto a t-shirt using inkjet technology. Unfortunately, these machines cost ~$10K, so hackers have decided to fill in the gaps. DIYDTG hosts plans for how to build your own DTG printer. Their standard instructions are based around the Epson C88 printer. A custom carrier is constructed and then the printer components are bolted on top. Commercial DTG printers are also based on Epson parts and you can easily purchase the garment inks even if you didn’t pay a premium for your printer.

32 thoughts on “Direct To Garment Printing

  1. I use to run a commercial t-shirt printer when i lived in Oxford, Ms at a print shop. It was about 10k to buy and didn’t work half the time. It kept clogging up and i would waste alot of t-shirts and ink in the process. It was cool though when it did work. Only the t-shirts faded over time worse than screen printed ones did.

  2. what a pos web site. how about putting up some basic information like some pics or the average price of building a printer or the price of their kit. i’d like just a little info before I download your zip.
    And wtf? I have to pay to see the forums? If i pay will they disable the beeping buttons?

  3. my dad owns a print shop and he purchased a dtg printer for about 10k
    total pos
    i spent hours and hours trying to fix it and it would always get ink on the encoder ribbon
    it’s not even worth the time to build one

  4. That site=gross.

    Dark blue text = fail.

    Lack of information = fail

    (are they serious? for the info they provide it could have been a link that said: “make t-shirt printer plans”, maybe in white on black or black on white so it could be read) While I am intrigued, I will not download a random zip file for no good reason.

    Wire motors to axis, wire inkjets to PC, run an application to operate them. Print on a t-shirt.

    I assume I can donate $1 and see the forums etc. Even people who require you to sign up or pay usually let you see the forum before you decide it is worth your money. Even the first post in threads from the forum. Maybe there is a way into the forum without paying, I sure hope so because that is a fail.

  5. Be wary: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/t48651.html

    “I also am interested in the DIY DTG printers. I did pay the 25 bucks to diydtg.com but haven’t been able to access the third set of plans or the forum there. Still hoping I’ll get something for my “donation”.”

    It looks like some good forums are here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/

    It is free, and for all we know this “pay me” guy got all his information for free. No reason he can’t make a buck, but how about $5 donations and a website that isn’t skanky?

  6. I’ve always wanted to take an old inkjet and convert it to feed in t-shirts. It doesn’t have to look great but it would be a fun project.

    I can’t believe there isn’t a relatively simple way to do this?

    And yeah, Hackaday, what you giving those silly people props for? Information should be free, ya mon?

  7. Having been a support tech for a major dtg printer distributor, I will say the technology isn’t stable enough for the amount of production that the garment businesses expect. They do look nice if you got everything working fine. But even in our testing shop, that was less than 25% of the time.

  8. Don’t fucking pay for their community support forums they are just are in their head directory/forums.

    Anyone who is a WYSIWYG “web developer” (how cute) doesn’t know how to use any form of authentication on their site other than “hide it and hope they don’t find it.”

    Lmao look Algerian skiddies seem to have “pwnz0rd” it lmao.

    Anyway, let’s hope these teenagers figure out how to run an open project because by the way they are running it right now, it will go nowhere (do they seriously think they can profit from their shitty plans?). Also–forcing people to donate is no different than just charging people for your “plans,” which look like a 3 year old on crack could have done a better job writing them.

    http://diydtg.com/forums/

  9. You can say what you want and express your freedom of speech and show how much of an idiot you are by talking bullshit about others who have an idea that you don’t like….but the TRUTH is the guy who started the diydtg is the “original” person who came up with the plans AND offered them for FREE before anyone else on the net offered FREE plans for a DTG printer. His thread has over 110,000 hits in less than 6 months on just one forum and 50,000 in 1 month on another forum….. Not to mention the others who have stole his plans and made money on HIS plans….. obviously someone other than you jerks think it is a great idea….I am a paying member for the forum and have built the printer and currently making $$$$ off of it… If you think you have the correct forum address you ARE about as smart as your comments make you look……

  10. So you are saying their page which got owned didn’t have insecure dynamic markup (which is usually the case)?

    It’s only logical to assume that one that uses a WYSIWIG editor to make a website doesn’t know how to script his own stuff…

    I however like the idea, it’s just going to go nowhere if they are charging people to use it (assuming they don’t get a company sponsor).

    What I these people are doing is promoting ignorance, which counter-balances all good ideas–much like religion. Take your sub proprietary modifications and shove them up your ass.

    So you are saying he is profiting from the FREE community support he received in the thread he started on a different forum. Ya, real nice one there.

  11. What does the website have to do with the idea?
    Maybe you need to put your skill of hacking to good use and come up with something that is all YOUR own….anyone can hack a website…including yours.
    Isn’t profiting from an idea what every person is about…including you? Obviously you profit from hacking…whether it’s monetary or getting your dick hard….. And the so called “free” community forum HAS profited from HIS idea….
    As far as promoting ignorance, you are a perfect example.

  12. Also a tech for a large dtg manufacturer here, most of the machines out there (manufactured ones) are just hacks really, some have a few control boards but nothing major…machines run like tanks (at least ours do…if you got a 25% failure rate in house you guys arent doing something right Lol)

  13. I didn’t do it, I’m not from Algeria–nor am I a skiddie. Also please deface the website, I would actually love to see what security holes you can find so they get patched, we release our source so it shouldn’t be too hard (lmao fag). Also — by no means is the fact “the other bigger guys are profiting off of it” an excuse to profit off of a printer modification. This is very hypocritical. What this boils down to is, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you (even though the person who hosts this should).

    He is doing the same thing as the other people in the “free” community (I laugh at your stupidity).

    Someone please remove this bullshit from Hackaday…it’s a joke.

    I hope this inspires someone to form a REAL, FREE project that doesn’t promote ignorance and mental retardation (exhibit A `screwyoutimmy`).

  14. Neat idea and a interesting one for those who would like to print for profit or the fun of it (which every hackaday visitor would do). On a real note the socalled project is a con. Get a real site and act like a pro. If the idiot defending the site wants to profit i would advice him to look at alternative ways of profiting. Your blatant stupidity is absurd.

    btw is this dtg stuff similar to the methods used on most t-shirt printing sites that sell user submitted designs on their t-shirts?

  15. Well. I obviously brought it to their attention, they took the /forums directory down. Faiiiillllll. Gotta love kids who use “hide it and hope they don’t find it” authentication.

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