Primarily they were aimed at the T-shirt market with the clear purpose of opening up the full colour, small order market. Then, as now, it was not economically viable to screen print anything more than a single spot colour on small numbers of shirts as the cost of the set up was particularly prohibitive and would make the cost per shirt too high to be acceptable. The ink jet machines offered the printer the opportunity to print one-off 4 colour process prints without the high set up cost.

Even so, because they could only print onto white, the market was very slow on the uptake, continually putting forward the need to print onto black as the main reason for not adopting this new and exciting method. But within 12 months white ink had arrived and the interest in these machines grew at a rapid pace, even though the quality of the early prints using a white base were not up to the standard of screen printing.

It was around about this time that DTG arrived on the world market, first in Australia and America, and then in the UK and Europe. Although this company, as part of a larger and established organisation, was experienced in the screen and pad printing industries, it was new to the ink jet industry and so decided from the outset that it would set its own rules and not follow the existing suppliers.

As with the earlier printers, Epson technology was the best for this purpose and so it was this route that DTG took. The team’s skill, expertise and patience was soon rewarded with the first DTG model, the Kiosk. On the surface there was really nothing revolutionary about this initial effort from DTG as it seemed to reflect what was already available, but beneath the “similar” exterior there beat a different heart. The company had looked long and hard at the way the ink was fed to the head and decided that this was an area where improvements could and should be made. It also increased the depth of the bed, making it easier to print onto bigger and thicker textiles. So, although the machine was similar, DTG had already started to address some of the perceived problem areas.

At the same time as The Kiosk was being developed, the company also saw the need for large area printers and so produced the Bullet and Xpress machines. These were flat bed models, again based on Epson printers, which reflected the way the standard wide format printer worked. In other words, the print head remained stationary whilst the print bed moved.

Now whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with this design, one of the drawbacks is the area needed to house one of them. As they are flat bed machines where the bed does all of the moving, you need the same area at the back of the printer as you do at the front. The thinking caps were put on and it soon became evident that if the head moved instead of the bed then the footprint of the machine could be reduced. Even though these machines had, in effect, only just hit the market, this change was thought to be so important that it was implemented straight away and thus the new style flat bed machines evolved.

These machines also gave a clue to the fact that ink jet printers could be used for more than T-shirts. As they offered a large flat bed the natural next step was to try and print something large and flat, such as a sign. Then someone worked out that if you can print a sign, you can print anything that is large and flat, such as a door. Yes you did read that correctly – a door. There is someone out there printing direct onto doors.

The moving head principle offered other advantages, such as being able to unload and reload without the risk of disturbing the bed, and it also seemed to offer an increase in print speed. With this in mind the design and development team at DTG started to look at the smaller machine, the Kiosk, to see whether or not the moving head principle could be adapted to this model. The answer, of course, was a resounding yes, and so the HM1 was born.

Although this machine has been on the market for less than a year it has already established its popularity in the industry and probably the main reason for this is the speed. In comparison to the Kiosk, which by the way, is still available and still popular, the HM1 will print the same item 40% faster, albeit at a price.

You would think that with all of this development in such a short time, DTG would be happy to sit back and reap a few of the rewards but you could not be further from the truth. When the team saw what could be achieved with the HM1 they started to investigate whether they could develop an even faster machine. As a great percentage of prints are onto black shirts, it was in this area that they looked and so the D1 was born. The theory was that if you have more jets laying down the same amount of ink then the machine will print faster. To achieve this they set two machines in line on the same chassis with the back one using all eight sets of jets to print the white and the front one using eight sets to print the CMYK. The result is a machine that can print onto dark textiles in less than half the time of the original Kiosk.

With the increase in the range of machines has come an increase in the type of product that can be printed. As already mentioned, when the machines first came into the market they were clearly aimed at T-shirts but now they are being used to print all manner of things, including toys, clock faces, bed linen, towels, golf balls, promotional items, signs and, of course, T-shirts. The markets that have adopted this technique include embroiderers, printers, sign makers, trophy suppliers and engravers, print shops and other retail outlets, holiday venues and even open markets. It seems that the only limitation is the restriction of someone’s imagination.

It has been an exciting three years in the digital ink jet print industry but for those involved, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is plenty more to come and with companies like DTG determined to expand the use of this technology, success seems a good bet.

Whatever your current industry, you should have a close look at ink jet printing and see how it can fit into your company and expand your business. Remember, with all of these machines you can do what was previously not economically viable. You can print one-off, four colour process prints with virtually no set up cost. No separations, no screens, no registration and no smelly wash down afterwards. The opportunity to join the jet set is there for the taking.

Tel: 01623 863343

Email: sales@yesltd.co.uk

Web: www.yesltd.co.uk

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