HOW TO CHOOSE A DTF PRINTER?

What are DTF Printers and what can they do for you?

Things You Need to Know Before Buying a DTF Printer

This article introduces how to choose a suitable t-shirt printer online and compared mainstream online t-shirt printers. Before buying t-shirts printing machines online, you need to know about the following things.

DTF printers, which are direct to film printers, utilize DTF ink to print on PET film first. The printed pattern will be transferred to the garment with some necessary steps like being processed by hot-melt powder and heat pressing.

1. DTF Printers with Roll Feeder

The Roller version means that the film is fed to the DTF printer continuously unless the film of each roll is depleted. Roller version DTF printers are divided into large-size ones and small/media size ones. Small and media size DTF printers are suitable for small business owners with limited space and budget, while factory owners and mass producers are more likely to choose large-size DTF printers because they have a greater demand for production and have greater free cash flow.

2. DTF Printers with Sheet Enter/Exit Tray

Single sheet version means that the film is fed to the printer sheet by sheet. And this kind of printer is usually small/media size because a single sheet version DTF printer is not ideal for mass production. Mass production needs to ensure working efficiency with less manual intervention, while single sheet version DTF printer may need manual intervention and more care because the way it feeds film is more likely to cause paper jam.

Pros and Cons compare DTF with DTG.

DTF Printers

Pros：

• Works on a wide range of garment materials: cotton, leather, polyester, synthetic, nylon, silk, dark and white fabric without any trouble.
• No need for tedious pretreatment like DTG printing — because the hot melt powder applied in the DTF printing process will help to stick the pattern to the garment, which means that there’s no more pretreatment in DTF printing.
• Higher production efficiency — because the pretreatment process is eliminated, time is saved from spraying liquid and drying the liquid. And DTF printing requires less heat press time than sublimation printing.
• Save more white ink — DTG printer requires 200% white ink, while DTF printing only needs 40%. As we all know that white ink is way more expensive than other kinds of ink.
• High-quality printing — the printing has extraordinary light/oxidation/water resistance, which means more durable. Provides a subtle feel when you touch it.

Cons：

• The sense of touch is not as soft as DTG or sublimation printing. In this field, DTG printing is still on the top level.
• The PET films are not reusable.