project dtg hack 1

How-to: DIYDTG

posted Jun 6th 2010 6:00am by Jakob Griffithfiled under: Featured, how-to

For those unaware, the little acronym above stands for Do-It-Yourself-Direct-To-Garment printing. In layman’sterms, printing your own shirts and designs. Commercial DTGs can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 whichfor the hobbyist who only wants a few shirts is ridiculous. So you would think this field of technology would behacked to no end, but we’ve actually only seen one other fully finished and working DIYDTG. So we took itupon ourselves to build a DIYDTG as cheaply and as successfully as possible.

We would like to take this moment to thank [makemygraphix] for his original designs, as ours is heavily basedoff his. And Tshirt Forums, for their valuable input.

For your own DIYDTG you’ll need a few parts, (we honestly just used what we had lying around)-3/4 inch particle board/plywood/MDF

AnaJet mPower PrinterDirect-to-Garment T-Shirt Printer Light & Dark Shirts, Easy Financing

anajet.com

Ads by Google HP Printer Drivers HP Printer Driver Printer Driver Epson Printer

How-to: DIYDTG - Hack a Day http://hackaday.com/2010/06/06/how-to-diydtg/

1 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

-1/2 inch particle board/plywood/MDF-1/4 inch plywood-1 and 1/2inch wood screws-24inch ball bearing drawer track-scrap aluminum (1/16″ thick)-Epson printer (more on this below)

The printer you choose is the most absolutely crucial part of this hack. We took apart an HP DeskJet 3845,Canon iP1500, Brother MFC420CN, Epson Stylus Photo 820 and an Epson Stylus c40. Why so many? Weliterally purchased every printer the local thrift store had (at $6 a printer, it’s not that bad actually), that way thereader wouldn’t have to. Our findings were thus; the HP and the Canon both had rotary encoders on the paperfeed shaft and ended up being a total peta to try to align and get working, both not recommended. The Brotherwas an all-in-one that would not function unless every part was connected, making it too large and bulky for ourneeds. Both Epsons used stepper motors, were very easy to take apart, and only had one easy to manage papersensor. Go with Epson! (We ended up using the C40 because it had the 3 ink CYM system instead of the 5CYMLCLM system the 820 did).

As for the ink you will be using in your printer, we found DTGinks.com to be a good resource.

For software for your Epson, we found the default drivers worked well enough. There is RIP software out there,but we couldn’t find any that supported the c40. We will recommend the SSC Utility program though. Allowingyou to quickly and easily lie to the printer about how much, what kind, and replaced ink cartridges (for Epsononly).

For tools we recommend the following-measuring tape-square-pen/chalk line-table saw-circular saw-jigsaw-Dremel-drill press/drill (and an assortment of bits)-sand paper/file

We started off by taking apart the printers. Every printer is different, so we can’t give you details but itsrelatively simple process. By the end you’ll only need the head and its carriage, the paper feed motor and itsshaft, and the power supply.


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You’ll need to cut the wood as follows, (it should be noted, these are slightly different then what we actuallyused)For the 3/4 inch,1 x 26inch by 11 and 1/2 inches.1 x 26inch by 10 inches.

For the 1/2 inch,2 x 26inch by 5inch,2 x 26 inch by 1 and 3/4 inches.

First clamp the two 26″x5″ boards together. Now 6″ from the end and 2″ and 3/8″ from the bottom drill a 5/8″hole through both boards at the same time. This is where your paper feed shaft will go.

Here is a tricky part, the metal track. We mounted the outer part 3/4″ from the top on one of the 26″x5″(doesn’tmatter which you choose) pieces and made the stop/back/end of the track flush with the end of the board (thisisn’t very high priority) . And the inner part of the track goes 1″ and 1/8″ from the top on one of the 26″x1 and3/4″ pieces.

Normally we do recommend that you use metal “L” brackets to attach corners of wood, but as long as youpre-drill a hole slightly smaller than your screws, you’ll be fine (we also counter sunk most of our screws, butthat’s optional). Attach the two 26″x1 and 3/4″ to the 26″x10″. Do the same with the two 26″x5″ and the26″x11 and 1/2″ pieces.

All that was a little tricky, so here is a picture to help out. For those wondering, the top tray rolls “towards” youin this image.


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And a shot without the top tray, as you can see our shaft wasn’t long enough, so a simple 2″x3″ piece was put inplace. Make sure the shaft spins freely and without binding, with and without the top tray in.

The next interesting part is mounting the drive motor. It needs to be snug against the gear of the shaft, yet not tootight to make it grind against the wood. It also needs to have a way of preventing the shaft from “popping out”.We solved both problems relatively simply.

Take your assembly, remove the top shelf, and prop it on its side. Position your motor where it will be mountedon top/inside the 26″x5″ piece. Drop in the shaft, get everything aligned and draw a circle around the motorsbase. Using a straight edge and tangent lines you can approximate the center of your circle.


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Use a large hole saw cut it out (it doesn’t have to be perfect). Sand/file it so the motor easily fits in withoutbending any pins. We pop riveted a 1″x3″ piece of aluminum to the motor to make mounting a little easier.

Drop in your shaft and make sure everything lines up. Finally, to prevent the shaft from slipping in, we used thewashers and C clamp from the extra printer parts (you didn’t throw away, right?) on the other 26″x5″ piece. Andto avoid the shaft from slipping out we took a 1″x10″ piece of aluminum, bent it in a “_n_” shape, drilled a holefor the shaft, and used a cut up spring from the extra printer parts. A picture is worth 1000 words,


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Bare with me, we’re almost done!

You’ll need to modify the printer carriage now, simply cut off the slot that paper used to come through,

You’ll want to mount it on-top of the two 26″x5″ pieces about 6″ back. We were lucky and found two of theprevious mounting screw holes on the carriage fit perfectly, however other printers you might need to bend or


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make your own. (This picture taken before we made our nifty “_n_” bracket).

Now we made our platen, this is the thing your shirt goes on. It’s really up to you how its made, and we’re noteven totally happy with our design, so play around and find what works best. Ours is 24″x9 and 1/2″ piece of1/4″ plywood mounted to the top of two 20″x2 and 7/8″ pieces of 1/2″ plywood. The height measurementcompletely depends on the height of your head. For those wondering, we never got an answer for how far theshirt should actually be from the head, but we’ve found about 1/8″ works well enough. (The “legs” you see onour platen were later taken off.)

Mount your power supply and solder it, alongside your motor, to the driver board.


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Now there is one part we’ve neglected to mention until now. And that is the paper feed sensor (remember thatone sensor we mentioned earlier?). Well it’s because we spent 3 days trying to get that sucker to work with ourplaten. We tried everything, different timings and positions of the platen, even programming an MCU to try totrick the printer into thinking the platen was paper. In the end, we just broke it off.

By accident.

And it worked (no really!) It takes a little timing on our part but by hand to trigger the sensor, but we’ve neverhad a misprint like we did with the platen. (Pictured below, one of our “tape” attempts at triggering the paperfeed sensor, this one worked about 1 out of 50 times).

Powered on,


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Send a print job, hand trigger the paper feed sensor, and we have a print!

Here is just a short video if it in action, most notably you can see us hand triggering the paper feed sensor. Theorange was a test print, as you can see if your platen isn’t 100% flat and level relative to the head, you’ll getsome smudging and general print errors. The white shirt was a perfect (well, test) print that we did a little earlier.


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Share this: 1

(Yes, we know the video was blocked earlier. We have re-uploaded it, thank you for your patience; it shouldwork now.)

*Disclaimer, using tools without proper ear and eye protection can result in a visit to the hospital. And HaD is inno way responsible for any damages. Be smart, be safe.*

Comments [104]

tagged: aluminum, direct to garment, diy, dtg, how-to, jakob, motor, paper, paper feed sensor, platen, print,printer, screws, shirt, wood

104 Responses to How-to: DIYDTG

bencoder says:June 6, 2010 at 6:06 am

The youtube video appears to have been blocked on copyright grounds. Perhaps a music track? Looks like a

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Canon Ink CartridgesExcellent Canon Ink Cartridges CreateYour Best Printing Quality!www.canon.co.id


10 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

great project though. good work.

Reply Report commentAdrian says:June 6, 2010 at 6:12 am

Looks very cool.Great work!

Reply Report commentChris Muncy says:June 6, 2010 at 6:19 am

“this video contains content from mahalo.com, who has blocked it on copyright grounds”

WTF?!?!?!?!

Reply Report commentjanin says:June 6, 2010 at 6:28 am

The website which blocked the video are mostly spammers and content thieves. This is probably just anotherway to get their name known.

I have a few questions about the build :The tray rests on top of the paper feed roller and is moved back and forth only by friction? Did you modify theroller to give it better traction?

Can you print also on dark colors? Is the ink opaque?

Reply Report commentPsyc0bob says:June 6, 2010 at 6:29 am

youtube FAIL

Reply Report commentEric W says:June 6, 2010 at 6:35 am

What does people eating tasty animals have to do with selecting a printer?

Reply Report commentRyan Leach says:June 6, 2010 at 7:04 am

peta????? or do you mean P.I.T.A

Reply Report commentJohnSmith says:June 6, 2010 at 7:05 am

Awesome. Does the ink wash out? This might go well with a print cartridge replacement hack.

Reply Report comment


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Ryan Leach says:June 6, 2010 at 7:10 am

also have you tried washing the shirts yet? would love to see if it washes out smudges ruins everything else in theload etc.

Reply Report commentjulz says:June 6, 2010 at 7:18 am

How permanent is this ink? Is setting it as simple as ironing the shirt afterwards or is it best to never wash it?Eew.

Great How-To. Thanks guys

Reply Report commentGordon Brown says:June 6, 2010 at 7:34 am

Lovely =)

Reply Report commentjeffmhopkins says:June 6, 2010 at 7:46 am

Anyone have a link to that HAD logo on the shirt?

Reply Report commentEdZ says:June 6, 2010 at 7:48 am

Another mark in favour of (some) Epson printers is the use Piezoelectric print heads rather than thermal‘bubble-jet’ heads. These are somewhat more accepting of alternate inks (or other fluids) than thermal heads.

Reply Report commentmcmasterp says:June 6, 2010 at 7:53 am

I second Janins questions. also what is the thing you stretch the tshirt onto and place on the platen?

Reply Report commentnotahack says:June 6, 2010 at 8:47 am

ive done some screen printing and that seems a lot easier than this. especially for one color printing…

Reply Report commentbobo says:June 6, 2010 at 8:54 am

lol cant you buy USB kits for like $300?

Reply Report commentMj says:June 6, 2010 at 9:09 am


12 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

What a co-incidence !!!I am on my way building a DTG printer using an Epson Stylus C90.The internals are exact same to the one you’ve used.

Reply Report commentDoug says:June 6, 2010 at 9:12 am

*Disclaimer, using tools without proper ear and eye protection can result in a visit to the hospital. And HaD is inno way responsible for any damages. Be smart, be safe.*

oh come on, this is not a dangerous project.

Reply Report commentsteven says:June 6, 2010 at 9:13 am

Hacks aren’t necessarily elegant. Just something quick and dirty to see what you can do. This seems like a goodbeer fueled weekend with my buddies.I think it’s a nice proof of concept. Repurpose a printer into printing cutelil’ pitchures on dem dere shirts.

Reply Report commentFuzzy says:June 6, 2010 at 9:44 am

I love it. I have like 8 Epson printers out in the shop. As soon as I get the fortyleven projects I am currentlyworking on out of the way I think this will be the next one in the queue. It will be a great way to P.O.C. shirts thisfall.

Reply Report commentTiny says:June 6, 2010 at 9:55 am

Having worked in the DTG printing machine industry, I can confirm that many use an Epson printer as their baseprinter.

The advantage of DTG over screenprinting is the detail and vibrancy of colors. You don’t waste it doing vectorimages, or compressed images, simple logos. Leave that to airbrushes or screen printers.

Anyway, there is a reason for (some of) the cost. For one thing, custom ink. It took years of back and forth withthe DuPont ink guys. Another thing is multiple passes. Also, DTG printers often use multiple passes of the sameimage. Both of these are to prevent one thing: Quick fade out. Screenprinting cracks after multiple washes. Theaim of the DTG industry is to produce garments that fades no faster than the garment itself. Dunno if they arethere yet.

Oh yea, our paper feed was wired to a button as well. An important tip: If you plan on doing bulkier items likesweatshirts, put in a laser sensor to stop the machine if something is high enough to hit the head. Those biggeritems are harder to get completely flat, and you DO NOT want to have to waste time cleaning the heads by handof fabric.

Reply Report commentBob says:June 6, 2010 at 10:18 am

“… and ended up being a total peta to try to align…”


13 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Lol! Did you guys use voice recognition to write this post?

Looks like a great deal of fun to make, and reminds me that someone needs to set up a database of what partscan be scavenged out of what printers.

Reply Report commentYNH says:June 6, 2010 at 10:38 am

Where can I get that most awesome logo with the wings?

Reply Report commentSasha says:June 6, 2010 at 11:19 am

Schweet! So badly wanna do this!

But two questions: will a wash wipe/smudge off the ink, and will this work if I tear a part a Epson Stylus C64printer?

Reply Report commentbothersaidpooh says:June 6, 2010 at 11:34 am

epson printers also have very nice steppers, hp’s have those cheap dc motors with optical positioners.Both can be used for makerbots/repraps/etc as well as for any project requiring high accuracy and repeatability.

Reply Report commentJakob Griffith says:June 6, 2010 at 12:14 pm

I’ll answer a few questions, (keep them coming!)

@janin: Yep, simply friction. We were tempted to add some non-slick grip tape but found it unnecessary.

The darkest we’ve tried was a marine blue, it didn’t show up as well as we like. We’ll be sticking with lightcolored shirts.

@Eric W: Everything.

@JohnSmith: We tried printing with regular printer inks, and as recommended DTG shirt inks. The regularwashes out and leaves a lovely green stain. The DTG has yet to come out from wash! (We heat pressed both.)

If we get enough demand, we’ll write up a tutorial on how we replaced the inks in our cartridges. Its different forevery printer though…

@mcmasterp: The white thing is just 1/8th inch thick cardboard because we miss-measured the legs of ourplaten. It helps put the shirt closer to the print head.

@notahack: We can print in full color.

@Doug: We lost a leg during the mod, we found it promptly later, but still be safe.

For the winged HaD logo, you can thank Asyrum,http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a335/asyrum/wordpress/hackaday-asyrum-3.png


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Jakob GriffithHackaDay Team

Reply Report commentHeliostat hippy says:June 6, 2010 at 12:23 pm

Does the ink stick?

Reply Report commentjjshortcut says:June 6, 2010 at 12:59 pm

To make the list of printers more complete, it’s also possible with a Lexmark 605z. For the printerfeed it has asteppermotor (without encoder) I’ve made one for printing on canvas and shirts (and PCB’s):

http://jjshortcut.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/dear-printer/

Reply Report commentJAdams says:June 6, 2010 at 1:32 pm

How about printing with a bleach mixture to create a controlled pattern on dark fabrics? (weaker mixtures forless fading…)

Reply Report commentFluffy says:June 6, 2010 at 2:06 pm

Just casting my vote for a “how-to” on filling the ink cartridges. Even if it’s just a link to a good one.

Reply Report commentSimon says:June 6, 2010 at 2:40 pm

Would be very happy with a detailed tutorial for the ink cartridge and more on this one. =D

How hard would you say this hack is?Could a beginner handle it with some common sense and teh right epson printer?

Reply Report commentRick says:June 6, 2010 at 3:20 pm

Does standard Epson ink (for paper) resist PCB etchant?Does the fabric ink resist etchant?A direct-print hack for printing masks for PCB etching would be a great boon to the Maker community.

Reply Report commentDaniel says:June 6, 2010 at 3:39 pm

@Rick

Have you heard of press and peel. All you need is a Laser printer, and some sheets of this blue stuff and you iron


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it on to the PCB.

Check it out:http://www.techniks.com/

Reply Report commentDrA says:June 6, 2010 at 3:41 pm

I noticed the DIY DTG you took a lot of the plans off of couldn’t print white ink for some weird reason. Haveyou guys tested white ink on black shirts yet with this?

Reply Report commentBioToxxx says:June 6, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Could consider filling your ink carts with createx airbrush colors paint. it should be thin enough, and can bethinned further of course. It’s for fabric and just needs a heat treat with an iron afterward to be permanent. Notsure if it would fry the heads or not but worth a shot.

Reply Report commentAaron says:June 6, 2010 at 4:13 pm

How do you get the DTG inks into the right kind of cartridge? Looks like they supply ink for genuine DTGprinters which I think have different cartridges.

Reply Report commentTruckeeDave says:June 6, 2010 at 4:48 pm

An EPSON Ink refilling hack would be much appreciated!

Reply Report commentRandall says:June 6, 2010 at 5:09 pm

Regarding printing light colours on dark fabrics: If you can get DTG ink in white (and I imagine you can) oneway to do this would be to fill a black cartridge with white ink and print a negative of your image.

In other words, if your logo is white – invert the colours using GIMP (or whatever program you use) so that itappears black and print the image with the white ink in the black ink cartridge.

Theoretically you should be able to get lighter gradients of colours using this method as well.

Of course, this is only half a solution as you wouldn’t be able to print ANY shades of colour requiring blacks.Would work for solid whites and some lighter colours though.

Reply Report commentFrank says:June 6, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Awesome stuff, but I really, really wish you Americans went over to the metric system once and for all…

Reply Report comment


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cjl says:June 6, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Yes to the ink cartridge tutorial!And when you say ‘heat-pressed’, do you mean you ironed it or does this refer to a specific technique?

Thanks!

Reply Report commentRichard says:June 6, 2010 at 5:49 pm

Any idea on metallic or white inks? As I only like dark coloured cloths, that would be a necessity before I wouldget any use out of this.

Reply Report commentEdZ says:June 6, 2010 at 6:37 pm

@RickCheck http://techref.massmind.org/techref/pcbetch.htm for info on direct-to-PCB printing.

Reply Report commentchris says:June 6, 2010 at 6:59 pm

EDIT….If i may..to fix linksExactly how durable is inkjet printed fabric?I have heard of this stuff being used to set inkjet inks:http://www.bryerpatch.com/faq/bjs.htm

For the hackers – the homebrew version:http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=129537.0

Reply Report commentBioToxxx says:June 6, 2010 at 7:07 pm

@cjl

As far as createx paints go when painting on fabric, after the paint has air dried for a few minutes…

Heat Gun: apply heat at a low to mid-temperature setting no more than 300°F. Keep air moving to avoidblistering. Apply heat until paint is warm to the touch.

Shirt Press: 325°F for 15 –20 seconds.

Iron: With a protective cloth over paint, set on high/ cotton setting and iron for @ 2 minutes. A shirt press or ironis recommended for curing t-shirt artwork intended for washing.

Again using createx paints is just an idea I had as an artist that uses them to airbrush. They come pretty thinalready, as they are meant to be sprayed through a .5 mm tip @ 40psi. I do thin them for my .2 tip and I, ofcourse, have no idea the size or manner that a printer head uses to expel it’s juices or if it could even throw paintrather than “ink” but @ about 4$ for 2 ounces of paint that is meant for fabric it would be a good thing if wecould get it applied this way. The pigment is very fine and I think it would be very possible.


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The only downside I can think of is tip dry where the paint dries on the tip of my brush, or print head in this case,requiring a wet brush wiping the dried paint off now and then. Though I only have to clean the tip a few timesduring a whole helmet painting and I figure it could make it through a tshirt graphic without problem but a wipeof the heads after its done would probably be in order. Then again tip dry occurs because of the air pushing anddrying the paint as it’s expelled and again I have no idea how a print head spits but I know it’s not compressedair so it may not tip dry at all.

As for light colors on dark fabric; reversing and printing a negative is a great idea of course. But if the printercould indeed throw this paint one could very simply fill their black cart with white paint (or anything) and just letit spit the white onto the black shirt as if it were full of black.

Well, I’m rambling lol that’s just my input =)


Round two of question answer time! (keep them coming!)

@JAdams: That’s a good idea (in theory)! From all the lovely stains we’ve gained from doing the laundry. Whatusually turns out is black + bleach = green. Orange + bleach left a weird blue once too…

Plus, we hear you shouldn’t run water (and especially bleach) through a print head due to rust.

@Simon: The hardest part was the wood work (well, and the paper feed sensor). There is no programming, verylittle soldering. With that, I wouldn’t say it’s beginner, but it’s not anything too majorly difficult. If you have allthe parts (or can get them cheaply) it’s at least worth a shot.

@DRa (and everyone asking about white): We have not tested white ink on black shirts, but from what we’veread. By pre-treating the shirt, and using DTG white ink, you can print light on dark.

For those wanting to try, follow Randall’s model. He’s on the right track.

@Aaron: The website we ordered our ink off of supplied it in a small bottle. To all those asking, we’ll see if thebig boss man will let us minions give you guys a quick tutorial on replacing ink in Epson cartridges.

@Randall: Exactly.

@cjl: Iron for a couple of seconds.

@BioToxxx: Thank you for introducing us to Createx. Sadly, typical print head nozzle size is between 30 and 10microns (from what we read, at least). And you mentioned it drys on your tip, not good for printers.


Reply Report commentRyan says:June 6, 2010 at 8:09 pm

I have a Dell 720 printer, does anyone know what type of motor it has?

Reply Report commentPaul says:June 6, 2010 at 8:41 pm


18 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

First off, this looks awesome, and I’m keen to give it a go (once you get an ink replacement tutorial up).

Before I do, though – which size bottle(s) did you get, and how many single-colour shirts would you expect toget out of a single bottle of ink?

Reply Report commentwoutervddn says:June 7, 2010 at 12:27 am

“this video contains content from mahalo.com, who has blocked it on copyright grounds”

Mahalo? lol, isn’t that the answers.hackaday service? Little F’ed up if they are going to control stuff now xD

Anyways, nice hack.. really love it.. and indeed a cartridge hack would be appreciated. I might just build onemyself this summer (if I pass my exams). Now I think about it, it must be fairly easy to use this to print on..everything (if you have the right ink)!

Reply Report commentRmg says:June 7, 2010 at 12:48 am

Nice basis for building a direct to pcb printer :Y

Reply Report commentDrA says:June 7, 2010 at 4:17 am

@Jakob Griffith: If, for some reason, you can’t post a tutorial on filling the cartridges, can you email a tutorial?This AWESOME DIY project seems a little incomplete without one, am I right? It’s like selling a car without thekeys!

Reply Report commentskyiver says:June 7, 2010 at 4:49 am

you should use the paper-feed motor to move the printer-module with the ink, the shirt can stay in it´s place.

Reply Report commentdon says:June 7, 2010 at 7:01 am

The pain in the butt part about Epson printers are page count chip on the ink carts. Once they max out you haveto get them reset. Unless rther is a hack for that.

Reply Report commentJay Maechtlen says:June 7, 2010 at 9:09 am

Use the SSC utility programhttp://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml(mentioned at the top) to override the page count chip in the ink cart.

Reply Report commentAaron says:June 7, 2010 at 10:12 am


19 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Well I’ve refilled cartridges with those kits you can buy for regular inkjet printing. Didn’t work very well, and ofcourse now they have those stupid chips on ink cartridges.

Reply Report commentDe La Vega says:June 7, 2010 at 11:04 am

I was wondering if this project isn’t too hard for a total n00b like me (not very skilled in electronics, though Ihave all the tools, the patience and a very nice how-to, I’m just missing the printer)

Also, would it be possible to use discharge paste (http://www.instructables.com/id/Controlled-Bleaching-with-Discharge-Paste/) ?

Reply Report commentdanf.pa says:June 8, 2010 at 4:49 pm

Definitely want to know how to use the DTG inks!

Reply Report commentnate says:June 9, 2010 at 7:25 am

definitely needs a follow up on DTG inks.

just took apart my old Lexmark z25.. it has a stepper motor.. It could be a flatbed printer for now.. DTG when iget my hand on an epson.


You guys asked, we delivered.

How-to on refilling regular cartridges with DTG inks.

http://hackaday.com/2010/06/09/minihow-to-refill-your-dtg-inks/


Reply Report commentyuppicide says:June 10, 2010 at 6:38 am

Awesome!! I’ve wanted one of these for a long time, but don’t have $10k.

Reply Report commentkabukicho2001 says:June 11, 2010 at 7:59 am

Next hack could be an A2 plotter machine?…

Reply Report commentEddy Wolthuis says:


20 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

June 27, 2010 at 8:20 pm

wow amazing write-ups

Reply Report commentpenjuin says:June 28, 2010 at 5:31 am

Can someone please explain to me how the drawer track is controlled accurately? Correct me if I am wrong, butdrawer tracks are not geared nor have teeth on them ?

Reply Report commentJoey Garza says:June 29, 2010 at 1:25 am

When someone comes up with a easy to use way to print white on a black shirt and they have tested it please letthe rest of us know. We are dieing to find out. Thanks!

Reply Report commentTyler says:June 29, 2010 at 9:22 am

what’s the width of the ball bearing metal track? the one I bought seems to be too wide(approx. 1 and 3/4 inch.for the outer track) to work within the requirements of the measurements of the walkthrough.

Reply Report commentJakob Griffith says:June 29, 2010 at 10:06 am

@Tyler: Our track is approximately 24inches by 1 and 3/4 inches by 1/2 an inch. We just double checked ourmeasurements, and the outer track is 3/4 inches from the top of the wood. Do note, we are measuring to theoutside of the track. NOT the mounting holes. Hope this helps,


Reply Report commentMongoose says:July 1, 2010 at 11:11 am

I too second that question of penguin about the drawer track and how the shirt is moved forward, ive been overthese drawings a number of times and can’t figure it out

Thanks!

Reply Report commentTyler says:July 2, 2010 at 5:25 pm

super helped. much obliged!

Reply Report commentAlex says:July 7, 2010 at 9:25 pm


21 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Im might be getting a free hp deskjet D4360…. would this work with a diy dtg printer? i would just like to knowbefore i spend the money on building the drawer system

Reply Report commentDeadlyDad says:July 10, 2010 at 8:34 pm

I’m actually surprised that nobody mentioned ‘Continuous Ink Systems’, as they would seem to be *ideal* forthis type of enterprise. From a quick scan through t-shirt forums, etc., the Cobra system (http://www.cobraink.com/index.htm ) seems to be the most popular. They also sell a number of Epson printerswith CIS systems already installed; perhaps one or more of them would work for this project. It might be worthgetting in contact with them to see if they will donate some to test, as retrofitting their printers to work for DTGcould become a profitable sideline for Cobra.

Reply Report commentskipi says:July 24, 2010 at 5:32 pm

…fail, this is SUCH A COOL HACK….and i just threw away my Epson printer away. :’(

Reply Report commentultramanryo says:July 27, 2010 at 8:51 pm

now i know what to do with my C41 ^_ ̂thx a ton guys !!

Reply Report commentBintang says:August 1, 2010 at 12:14 am

Great hack!Let me try on my Epson T11.

Reply Report commentdudy says:August 3, 2010 at 2:35 am

Can you teach me how to manipulate paper feed sensor..i have stuck with this..

Reply Report commentundead says:August 18, 2010 at 12:25 pm

I still don’t get how the drawer moves using the motor and shaft, is it by mere contact?

I think that’s the only thing that wasn’t very clear for me.

For printing on dark colors, wouldn’t using CMYKLcLm as CMYKWW (with white DTG ink) work? Wouldn’tthat be better than printing twice or using the negative image?

Reply Report commentTyler says:August 28, 2010 at 7:17 pm


22 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Ok, so I’m trying a dirty run with a standard ink cartridge, just to see the result, and I keep getting the “ink isout” error on the diagnostic report? is anyone else having this issue? I’m using the c60.

to undead, the grooves and the weight of the platen make it work. so yeah, all my conact.

-Tyler


ok, figured the ink is out error(stupid). but, what’s with the timing on the paper feed sensor?


as far as I can tell, there are two sensors? one on the top, and one on the bottom, do they need to be hitsimultaneously? or alternating? or does one not need to be hit at all?

Reply Report commentCold_Turkey says:September 1, 2010 at 8:16 am

I just found my old c42 plus laying around in the garage! Can’t wait to get this up and running!

Reply Report commentBonykneez says:September 1, 2010 at 7:02 pm

I would like to print thick (1/16″) materials through an epson inkjet. While taking the printer apart is doable, itwould be good to make the mods and still have the internals contained.

Is there a practical way to modify the paper feed to allow thick materials to pass through the printer?

Reply Report commentDeadlyDad says:September 2, 2010 at 6:58 pm

@Bonykneez: Honestly, I’m not sure that the amount of effort needed to alter the printer so that the current pathwill hold thicker stock would be worth it. I would just build an enclosure for the whole thing.

Reply Report commentJaymz says:September 20, 2010 at 5:07 pm

Now that’s a nice hack!

Reply Report commentDavid says:September 20, 2010 at 11:57 pm

Just a thought but you seem to have to hold the paper sensors down while the printing is taking place – why notreplace them with toggle switches then you wouldn’t need to hold them.


23 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Reply Report commentMatrix says:October 14, 2010 at 9:45 pm

you think it would be possible to use the same design to print on currogated box?

Now adays with the amount of large printing companies going under, having a solution like this would come inhandy.

Reply Report commentryo says:October 19, 2010 at 6:13 pm

hi guys. great job you’ve done there !i wonder, can you make a A0 sized dtg ? is it possible?

Reply Report commentDeadlyDad says:October 20, 2010 at 12:19 pm

@Matrix: That shouldn’t be any problem. You could print on any flat surface that will fit.

@ryo: Definitely possible, though you’d need to get something like one of these, to start from:http://en.kioskea.net/guide/printers-26/a0/inkjet/

You can generally find them on eBay, sometimes very cheap if untested, like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-DesignJet-2500cp-Large-Format-InkJet-Printer-/290489447630?pt=COMP_Printers&hash=item43a28534ce

Reply Report commentryo says:October 20, 2010 at 8:38 pm

cool.. i’ll give it a try. thx a lot for the help guys.

Reply Report commentDennis says:October 21, 2010 at 3:50 pm

If anyone has actually done this…. I’d be interested in seeing if we could do some business. I have been lookingfor a way to print some art t-shirts. While I MAY put this printer together myself, I think it would be cool to helpsomeone else mitigate the cost of putting one together by paying them to do some work with one.

Reply Report commentTarmo says:December 8, 2010 at 5:20 am

As you do not have ink pump and nosel cover. doesnt the ink dry out?

Reply Report commentray says:January 8, 2011 at 12:32 am

hi all,i just use a epson1290 pump stays in placewith no blocks,good luck.


24 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

Reply Report commentMickSoSaD says:January 20, 2011 at 7:11 pm

I try to do.But i have the promblem.The promblem is time to working order printer .It’s show ‘paper jam’( I have not entered into the program ).I willdo better.Please help me.Sorry if i used bad language

Reply Report commentMichael says:March 13, 2011 at 11:34 pm

Printing PCBs to be etch resistant requires the right ink. Regular inkjet won’t work. Pigment based inks must beused. Yellow is the best and magenta comes in second, I assume because they each need more pigment to havethe correct darness. Here are some sompliers:

The ink commonly recommended (MISPRO yellow pigment):http://www.inksupply.com/product-details.cfm?pn=MISPRO-4-Y

Other pigment inks that may work (untested by me, Nano yellow pigment):http://www.nanodigitalink.com/products/displayitem.asp?pid=749http://www.nanodigitalink.com/products/displayitem.asp?pid=744http://www.nanodigitalink.com/products/displayitem.asp?pid=506

Reply Report commentNorbert from NYC says:March 29, 2011 at 4:00 am

Great job in building a Direct to Garment Printer out of an Epson. Will buy a new Epson to ticker around with itbut instead of using wood I will use Plexiglas. Have not figured out how the stepper moves the platen. Could yougive an answer to this?If this works I am willing to build a bigger one using an Epson R1900 or even a 4880.

Reply Report commentjonjon says:May 3, 2011 at 1:49 pm

I’m trying to do this with the epson r300.

My issues:

1) I get the occasional general error when there is no black surface underneath the printing head, which I assumethat there is a sensor there.

2) When the general error is corrected, I get the replace ink cartridges. Is there anyway to bypass this?

3) I cant find the papaer feed sensor. I occasionally get load paper error or paper jam. I’ve been looking at thatmechanism and can’t seem to figure it out. The paper feeder roller is just attached to a motor which has a fewother wires attached to the mainboard. Other than that, I can’t seem to find any sort of switch. I also imagine itwould not be pressure sensitive. So if someone could help that’d be awesome.

Reply Report commenttasudin says:May 20, 2011 at 9:32 pm


25 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

i can’t solve the problem of “feed paper sensor”. my printer always get “paper not laded correctly”.how imanipulate it? thanks

Reply Report commentTony says:May 21, 2011 at 4:08 am

I have been trying for days, and I can’t get it to print. What are you doing with the sensor? If anyone has info onhow to solve the paper feed sensor issue please tell me. I have everything else done and I want to start printing tshirts.

Reply Report commenttony says:May 27, 2011 at 1:40 am

did you break off the whole arm of the paper sensor trigger? or just the end of the trigger that touched the paper?when do you trigger it by hand?

Reply Report commentHoward Pfeifer says:June 22, 2011 at 12:48 pm

Be on lookout diy dtg kit assembled or pieces will print light and dark shirts sweaters Kit will come with detaileddirections or you can unpack plug and play no computer needed !!!! send me an email for more [email protected]

Reply Report commentnamit says:July 31, 2011 at 10:37 am

Bought this exact printer but having real problems with sensor and the timing not sure how to get it printing againsince I took it apart.

Have you any suggestions?

Reply Report commentArnel says:August 10, 2011 at 7:50 pm

is the materials and sizes can be fit on epson t10?

Reply Report commentBash says:October 1, 2011 at 4:09 pm

would you guys be interested in making one of these and selling it on? i have a few friends who are interested butwe lack the know how and any sort of technical skills whatsoever.

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31 of 31 6/15/2012 9:25 AM

project dtg hack 1

Documents

thickepson printer

belowthe printer

epson stylus c40

diydtg youll

inch plywood

epson stylus photo

inch wood screws

hp deskjet