User`s manual
Chapter 12 - Advanced Printing With White Ink
115
Version 5.5 Revised January, 2009
Pretreatment Basics
The Pretreatment solution is a milky colored, odorless and non toxic liquid. A chemical reaction between
the Pretreatment and the White ink causes the ink’s pigments to stay on top of the garment and not be
absorbed by the textile bers. Because of these reactive chemicals, it is CRITICAL the Print Head does
not touch a pretreated garment - even one that has been dried! You should also have good ventilation in
the area where you are applying the Pretreatment. If possible, pretreat garments in another room entirely.
WARNING:
You MUST NOT spray Pretreatment near the printer. In fact, you should pretreat
shirts in a separate room entirely to prevent any overspray from getting inside the
of the T-Jet. If using another room is not possible, a large cardboard box enclosure
is a good substitute for applying Pretreatment. If using an AutoTREAT
Pretreatment center you can pretreat in the same room if kept at a safe distance.
IMPORTANT POINT:
Like the CMYK cartridges, each White ink cartridge has “smart” chip that counts
the number of drops of ink dispensed in order to warn you when the cartridge
is empty. When printing with White ink, it does not take much ink usage before
the chip tells the printer it is “out.” If this happens DURING a printing pass, the
printer may stop printing and the Ink Level Indicator on the LCD Display for
one or more of the White ink cartridges will start ashing. If you turn the printer off during this
process, you will lose the job and ruin a shirt. Instead, remove the cartridge(s) that is indicated as
low or out of ink and reset the chip(s). If the ink level has fallen below the Low Ink Mark on the
cartridge, rell the cartridge with ink before reinserting it into your printer. Refer to page 15 of this
manual for more details.
Applying Pretreatment
It is essential that the Pretreatment solution be applied evenly to ensure a great
looking print (free from light and dark spots) on a Black garment. You can
use manual spray pumps, weed sprayers or any other method you
feel comfortable with to apply a uniform coating of FastINK
Pretreatment. However, we strongly suggest the use of a Control
Spray Gun (commonly used to paint a porch deck or furniture etc.).
We recommend an affordable sprayer such as the Wagner Control
Spray Gun. These guns are fairly inexpensive ($70 USD at home
improvement stores.) However, these are not designed for high
volume work, therefore you should keep an extra gun handy as
backup.
Cleaning the gun is simple and should be done on a regular basis to extend the life of your sprayer.
Just ll up the storage bottle with water and run it through the gun as you would normally dispense
any other solution.