Working with the Stripes Print Mode for Digital Heat FX Printers

Best Practices and Settings Recommendations

That’s one small step for a cat, -one giant leap for Stripes Print Mode!

When utilizing the Print Optimizer software with your Digital HeatFX equipment, there are several features available that can enhance or change the look of your graphic or photograph. One of these features is the DFX with Stripes print mode.

If you are looking to utilize this feature, there are several recommendations we suggest to make the most out of this feature.

The Digital HeatFX Stripes Print Mode is a great option when you are looking to print and press solid graphics or photographs to a garment that have no negative space within them. Photos are the most common to use with this feature, as they almost always have no negative space within them.

If you were to press a substantial 8×10 photograph to a garment, it is going to feel very heavy and may not yield the best results possible. Adding stripes to this photograph will give the transfer much more flexibility and breathability after your press it onto the garment.

Frequency, Angle, and Negative Space Considerations

You can adjust the stripes to any frequency or angle that you desire. A higher frequency will add more stripes with less negative space, and a lower frequency will yield more negative space (less printed area).

Setting the angle to 90° will give you perfectly vertical stripes and setting the angle to 0° will produce with perfectly horizontal stripes.

With all this in mind, we have performed several tests utilizing the DFX with Stripes print mode, and there are several settings we found work best when using the DFX with Stripes print mode within the Print Optimizer software.

Print Optimizer Recommended Settings

Beginning with the Print Optimizer software settings, here is what we recommend.

If you own a DFX 8432 printer, we recommend setting the Frequency to 22, the Angle to 75 and the Dot Size to 190.

Adjustments for the Oki 9541 White Toner Printer

For the DFX 9541 printer, we recommend setting the Frequency to 19.75, the Angle to 75 and the Dot Size to 178.

For both printers, we also recommend setting the amount of Choke to a 5. If your colors are looking a bit dull after printing with the Stripes, you can increase the Saturation to a 5.

If you have already adjusted the Saturation without the Stripes, add 5 to that amount. For example, if your Saturation is at a 2 and then you decide to add Stripes to it, bring it up to a 7.

If after adding 5 to the Saturation and you feel it is too much, brings it down a little bit. Note: You do not want to go higher than +5. There are also settings we found work best when performing the marry press. Here is what we recommend.

Heat Press Suggestions and the “Marrying” Step

Keep in mind that all heat press recommendations were created and tested on the Hotronix Fusion heat press, which is the suggested heat press for the Digital HeatFX system.

If you own a different heat press other than the Fusion, you’ll need to do some additional internal testing.

We recommend the following settings for the marry press with stripes: Temperature: 270°F, Time: 100 seconds, Pressure: anywhere between 2-4.

Adjustments for the OKI 8432 White Toner Printer

If you own a DFX 8432 printer, we recommend the following settings when performing the marry press for a graphic with stripes: Temperature: 310°F, Time: 75 seconds, Pressure: anywhere between 2-4.

For the transfer press, refer to your DFX EZ Peel instructions for temperature and time parameters based upon the material of the substrate and the printer you are using.

NOTE: keep the pressure between 2-4 (just like on the marry press) when performing the transfer press onto the substrate.

Additional Resources

To view a training video that outlines all the recommendations we suggested in this article, click on this link: https://vimeo.com/353805979/49d337b23e

For any support questions or to speak directly with a DFX technician, open a support ticket here: https://support.coldesi.com/open-a-ticket/.