Smart Garment Printing System FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions about our system and products
These are the most common questions we get about our Smart Garment Printing System and the supporting product line. If you have more questions please contact us to get more information.
- What is a Smart Garment Printing System?
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A Smart Garment Printing System is an integrated system for the production of apparel graphics with a direct to garment printer. Each system includes a Smart Garment Printer, the Smart Garment RIP Software, Smart Designer Graphics Software, art volumes from Digital Art Solutions, NaturaLink ink plus support and training. Every aspect of support and training is provided directly from the industry leader in training, Digital Art Solutions. Other companies are selling printers. Digital Art Solutions provides a complete imprinting system that provides all of the tools necessary to insure the success of each owner.
- What is a Smart Garment Printer?
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A Smart Garment Printer is a direct to garment printer fueled by NaturaLink™ ink from Sawgrass Technologies. This revolutionary ink technology provides a solution that meets the demand for a high quality direct to cotton system. The Smart Garment Printer is a full-color ink jet printer based on the Epson 4880 Pro graphics printer, with proven Epson Piezo print head technology. It is paired with NaturaLink™, Sawgrass’ patented ink technology that produces incredibly bright images. As easy as printing straight from your computer, your business can run away with a new revenue stream with the most complete solution available.
- Can I produce photo-realistic detail?
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Yes, the printer uses Sawgrass NaturaLink™ dye-based ink technology as opposed to the pigment based ink technology use by its competitors. The NaturaLink™ ink chemistry enables the printing of the highest resolution photographic content current available on direct to garment printers. The Smart Garment Printer produces bright vivid photographic detail with outstanding wash durability.
- What is the maximum number of colors that the printer can produce?
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The color range is nearly limitless because the printer is capable of printing over 16 million different colors using 4-color process (CMYK) printing. This is exactly the same Epson technology used by Epson’s industry leading photo printers.
- What is the capacity of the ink cartridges and how long do they last?
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The Smart Garment Printer uses 110 ml dual CMYK ink cartridges. With a total of 8 cartridges, the printer is capable of printing between 900 and 1,200 full front photographic quality images per cartridge set. The printer’s software will warn the user when a cartridge is low. Cartridges can be easily changed by simply popping out the old cartridge and inserting a new one. Due to the capacity of the 8 cartridges, there is no need for a messy bulk ink system. The printer uses a closed loop system to prevent ink contamination and reduce maintenance.
- How long does it take to print a garment?
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Print time is dependant upon the size and ink coverage of image and the selected color printing mode of the printer. A 10” by 12” full-front photographic image can be printed in less than 2 minutes including the time required to load and unload the garment. The Epson 4880 wide format inkjet, is one of the fastest inkjet photo printers on the market. It is nearly twice the speed as garment printers based on the Epson 2000 series desktop inkjet printers. The Smart Garment Printer equipped with two sets of CMYK cartridges is considerably faster than printers that use a single set of CMYK cartridges.
- How do I cure the ink after printing on a garment?
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Because the Smart Garment Printer uses the NaturaLink™ dye-based ink chemistry, the ink must be cured using a traditional heat transfer press for 25 seconds. The heat and pressure create a chemical bond between the cotton molecules and the dye based ink. This is why garments produced with NaturaLink™ ink start off brighter and stay brighter longer than the pigment based ink systems on the market. Pigment based systems use a bonding agent to glue a pigment to the surface of the garment. NaturaLink™, dyes the ink into the cotton molecule as opposed to gluing ink onto the surface of the cotton. The chemical reaction produced from the NaturaLink ink chemistry accounts for the better brightness and wash.
- Will the NaturaLink Ink Clog Print Heads?
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Unlike other printers using pigment based inks, NaturaLink dyed based inks are much less prone to clog inkjet print heads. This is a significant advantage of the NaturaLink ink chemistry. The Smart Garment Printer requires the same maintenance cycle as a standard Epson 4880 printer. A weekly cleaning cycle is recommended to properly maintain the machine. Unlike other printers, the machine does not require a daily cleaning cycle or “shaking” of bulk ink reservoirs.
- What type and color garments can be printed?
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The printer works very well with white or light colored garments including ash grey, natural or pastels. The printer is capable of printing on a large variety of 100% cotton or cotton/polyester blend substrates including mouse pads, aprons, fleece and towels.
- Can the printer print on dark colored garments?
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The Smart Garment Printer is capable of printing on any color garment that does not require a white “underbase”. Dark ink colors including navy blue and black can be printed on dark garment colors such as red, athletic gold, kelly green, royal blue, purple and more.
- What is the wash durability of the printed garments
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Unlike screen printing or pigment based ink systems, the Smart Garment Printer uses the NaturaLink™ ink chemistry to chemically bond ink dyes to cotton molecules. This creates wash durability that is comparable to sublimation on polyester substrates. After extensive wash testing, we have found that the wash durability of our prints is better than traditional screen printing and pigment based ink chemistry. Images start out brighter and stay brighter longer with the NaturaLink™ ink chemistry. If you compare sample prints using NaturaLink™ ink to pigment based prints, you will notice significantly brighter images both before and after washing with NaturaLink™. These differences are due to the unique chemistry used by NaturaLink™ and the Smart Garment Printer printer.
- How big is the printer capable of printing?
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The Smart Garment Printer standard platen enables printing up to 14” wide and 18” long.
- How much does it cost to print a typical full front image?
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A 10” by 12” photographic image will cost approximately between $.50 and $1.00 depending upon the coverage of the image. A set of 8 dual CMYK ink cartridges costs $600 and will produce between 900 and 1,100 10” by 12” imprints.
- How big is the machine and is it portable?
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The printer is of the smallest and lightest garment printers on the market with a foot print that is 34” long by 35” wide by 13” tall. It weighs 122 lbs. The printer is fully portable and does not need extensive adjustment or calibration after transport. The printer does not require the removal of the print heads during transportation.
- Do I need to use any special software or a RIP (Raster Image Processing Software)?
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The Smart Garment Printer includes the Smart Garment RIP software. This software was developed exclusively for Digital Art Solutions by CADlink Technologies. The software improves print speed, garment placements and color fidelity. The software is design to create a simple and efficient workflow for non-technical users. Images can be output directly from popular Windows graphics programs including CorelDRAW, Illustrator or PhotoShop.
