There is a difference in how you store and treat DTG ink than your typical screen printing ink. Here are a couple of recommendations I have when it comes to DTG ink.
- STORAGE
- Know the shelf life of your ink.
- Typically is 6 months to one year depending on the manufacturer.
- Polyprint ink has a shelf life of one year if handled correctly.
- Make sure to turn or agitate your ink weekly.
- This helps to make sure the ingredients in the DTG ink do not separate over time leading to poor ink performance.
- Turning is simply rotating the ink so it is not sitting on the same side for more than a week preferably.
- You can shake the ink weekly as you will do daily, but turning is sufficient.
- Develop a stocking strategy to make sure you do not have too much ink on hand that some goes bad.
- In our shop we always will have two extra sets of ink on hand per printer.
- We then order a new set once we have to replace the ink currently in the printer to make sure that there is never any less than one extra full set of ink.
- Know the shelf life of your ink.
- DAILY HANDLING
- You should always shake your white ink before you start the machine up or before you go to use the printer that day.
- This helps to agitate the ink and make sure there are no particle separation leading to poor ink performance.
- You can shake the white ink for about 10 seconds and that will be sufficient.
- It's not necessary to shake CMYK ink daily or per use, but it's not a bad habit to have either.
- You should always shake your white ink before you start the machine up or before you go to use the printer that day.