New innovation

The PTM ONE•STEP will revolutionize the way a DTG production shop is operating. The ability to pre-treat and cure so much faster in ONE machine.

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***Available in 2022 – production of our first units have been delayed due to Covid and global supply issues***

ONESTEP | CHANGING DTG PRINTING FOREVER

The Direct to Garment printing has become a main stream decorating technique that is the fastest growing segment in the industry.

Over the last 10 years the evolution of DTG printing has been focused on increasing the speed of the printers and making them both more reliable and easier to maintain.

But now that DTG printers have become printers have become faster and more efficient (and less expensive) the real inefficiencies have become apparent. Those inefficiencies are in what happens before you print, and what happens afterwards.

Because up until this moment, pretreating and pre-curing a garment has been clumsy, messy and inefficient. And curing the shirts still uses the same technology it did 10 years ago!

Belquette Technologies in coordination with PTM Innovations is changing the Pre-Treating and Post Curing process for the better with the OneStep machine.

The OneStep is as ground up design specifically engineered to make pre-treating and curing a fast, clean, energy efficient process that also increases the print quality of the Garment.

Here’s the Time and Money Being Wasted Today

Before we go further into the OneStep let’s look at how it’s done now:

In this video you can see that even with the reduced cure times of the new G4 DTG Inks, using a traditional heat press and a standard (high quality) pretreat machine you add an additional 3 minutes, 22 seconds to print time.

What you might also notice is how much pretreat is WASTED. While the PTM does have adjustments for how far the spray travels up the shirt, that feature is rarely used – or if it is it adds yet another step to the process for a single shirt with a smaller design.

Time Spent: 3:22

Labor Cost at $15/hour: $.82

Materials/Supplies Cost Spent: $.45/print pretreat cost

The Hidden Cost of Energy

Depending on where you live, the energy costs for curing using a heat press OR a tunnel dryer, likely adds a significant hidden cost to your printing process as well.

And running a heat press in particular wastes HUGE amounts of energy, just by the nature in how it operates.

Because it takes up to 45 minutes for a traditional heat press to get up to usable temperature, the first 45 minutes of energy is wasted every day.

And because it takes so long to heat up, you must leave that heat press on for the entire day you’re doing production!

Here is an energy use comparison between using a heat press and using OneStep.

We metered the DK20A from GeoKnight and the OneStep – both at rest. As you can see from the image above, the OneStep is pulling .24 amps in a resting state and the traditional heat press is pulling 15.19 Amps. That latter measurement will be constant all day long because it has to remain heated and ready for use!

The Downsides of Heat Pressing Anything

The Box

If you run a direct to garment shop now and you’re curing shirts with a heat press, you know all about “the box”. When you cure a shirt with temperature AND pressure it will naturally imprint the shape of the press onto the garment. Just like pressing a hot iron onto a shirt, you will always get an outline. In the example curing from the video above, we accepted that box as part of the deliverable, understanding that it’s not permanent. But many DTG Printers will add an additional :45 – 1:30 seconds per shirt to avoid it by hovering and other techniques.

Color Changes

Red shirts are notoriously difficult to print for digital printers. Or we should say, notoriously difficult to CURE. Because some colors tend to sublimate more than others – in other words, it’s easy to see that the area you press on a red shirt changes color. Not ideal for customer presentation!

Introducing the OneStep PreTreatment and Curing System

from ColDesi, Inc.

Here we are comparing the current process and the new OneStep method.

As you can see from the two processes this technology advancement saves in all areas, greatly reduced labor costs, reduced consumable costs, reduced damage to Garments and overall an increase in process efficiency.

The OneStep system is also the most dynamic, energy efficient, fast and easiest way to cure garments coming out of the DTG print process.

Whether you use the OneStep for curing prints in a modular or pod type set up or offline as a dedicated curing system, no other method can compete for cost, speed or quality.

Unlike large electric or gas tunnel dryers (extremely energy inefficient) or conventional heat presses that leave less than desirable results, the OneStep intelligently cures prints quickly, efficiently and without ever touching the garment.

The revolutionary technology and intelligence of the OneStep, WILL, reduce your labor costs, will reduce your energy costs and will improve the finish of your printed garments.

Think about how the OneStep can improve your current operations or fit into the design of your print operation…. With the OneStep you will be OneStep (or more) ahead of your competition!