The FreeJet 330-series of DTG printers has a Layer setting that is used to let the printer know if the print job sent to the printer is for a single color layer (for white shirts) or for two-layer prints, including a white underbase (for any shirt color other than white).
Single layer prints for white shirts should be run with the printer set to Layer ‘A’, while two-layer prints should be run with the printer set to Layer ‘B’.
The below video and following step-by-step instructions provide the details for changing the Layer setting.
Demonstration Video
Step-by-Step Instructions
Use the following steps to toggle the FreeJet 330-series Layer setting between the ‘A’ & ‘B’ settings.
Press and hold the Function button until the Status indicator light changes color and stops flashing.
Tap the Up or Down button to change the Layer setting.
Press Up to change from Layer ‘A’ to Layer ‘B’.
Press Down to change from Layer ‘B’ to Layer ‘A’.
Tap the Function button to save the Layer setting.
Wrap Up
Use the recommended setting of ‘A’ or ‘B’ for the color of shirt you’re printing for the most efficient and trouble-free printing.
If you send a two-layer print job to the FreeJet when its Layer setting is ‘A’, simply tap the Stand by button when the printer has completely finished printing the white layer and becomes idle. Note that the Error light will be on, but the error condition will be cleared after you tap Stand by.
Properly mounting garments onto the platen is important to prevent movement of the garment during the printing process and ensure that your prints are straight with no distortion.
Use the patented TucLoc(R) feature to secure the garment in place, but avoid stretching the fabric when tucking it in. Printing on a stretched shirt can distort the printed design when the fabric is released from the platen.
The below video provides a brief overview of the mounting process.
Nozzle check test prints are used to determine whether or not ink flow is on track to deliver the outstanding print quality that OmniPrint products are known for. We use nozzle checks to avoid wasting consumable materials if the printer requires more preparatory steps before doing production work.
The below video demonstrates how to print a nozzle check test pattern on a Freejet 330-series printer.
Cleaning the printhead of Freejet printers is automated and can be done from the printer’s control or from its driver software. Running head cleanings is part of the production day startup process and is also useful to keep print quality high in larger production runs.
The below video demonstrates how to perform a head cleaning on Freejet 330-series printers.
White ink pigment is heavier than the pigment of the CMYK colors. Gravity will cause the white pigment to settle at the bottom of ink lines and bottles if the printer is idle for more than a day or two.
The below video demonstrates how to prime the white ink lines in a Freejet printer to flush out separated white ink and fill the white ink lines with opaque white ink to deliver a strong underbase and vivid colors in your prints.
The below video demonstrates the startup process for Freejet 330-series printers that are fully installed and already being used for production work.
This video includes a demonstration of the white ink circulation feature of the 330TX PLUS. For the 330TX, which doesn’t include this feature, briefly lift each white ink bottle and swirl the ink around for a minute to mix the white ink.
DirectRIP provides a wealth of options for how you’d like to print your image, to allow you maximum control over your products. This article will discuss how to select, import, and set up an image for Freejet 330-series printing in DirectRIP.
Format Considerations
No matter how high-quality the shirt, and how perfect the pretreatment job, there’s no amount of technical tweaking that can turn a bad image into a good print. Before you get started with setting up the print, you’ll want to make sure that you’re working with a properly formatted image that will yield satisfactory results! If you need guidance on how to create and format a proper print image, please follow the guidelines contained in this knowledgebase article.
Importing Your Image
DirectRIP makes importing your image a snap! You can either use the ‘File’ menu option on the top-left corner of DirectRIP , or simply click and drag any compatible image from Windows’ File Explorer into the gray space in the center of DirectRIP!
File import (open image file in DirectRIP)
To make sure your images print at your expected size, there should be very little “negative” or dead space (transparent content) along the borders of your image, to give a more precise projection of the artwork’s dimensions. Otherwise, the printed image itself will be reduced in size by the amount of transparency at the edges of the image. This would typically be handled during image creation in a tool like Photoshop or Corel Draw, but DirectRIP can be used for simple, rectangular cropping, too.
Steps to crop an image in DirectRIP
To crop the image in DirectRIP:
Click the Selection tool. It is the dashed box near the top-left of the image window.
Click & drag to draw a selection box around the parts of the image that you want to keep.
Right-click the image and select Crop from the pop-up menu to make the crop.
Using DirectRIP’s crop feature does not edit your original image file. It creates a new, temporary file of the cropped area to be used just for the current print job. To create a permanent crop to your image, edit it in your image creation software.
Configuring Your Print
Now that your image has been loaded and properly cropped to size, you can begin your setup process. The first step of any print configuration is to choose your Environment. Your choice of Environment will depend on two or three factors, depending on your printer model:
Expected (based on artwork) or desired print quality
Color of fabric being printed on
Type of fabric (Freejet 330TX PLUS model only)
In the Environment drop-down box, select the Environment Group and Environment which corresponds with the desired type or quality of your printed image.
Environment selection
Once you have selected an Environment, most of the heavy lifting of setting up the print is already complete and all that’s left is for you to size and place your image! Next, turn your attention to the QRip subwindow:
Q Rip subwindow
In the Size section of the Q Rip subwindow, select the third radio button from the top, to enable resizing of the image.
Make sure the checkbox to the left of the padlock icon is checked to lock in the original aspect ratio of the image (preventing distortion of the horizontal & vertical proportions), then resize as desired.
When resizing images, remember that if you upscale the image to print at a size larger than the design then your image quality will be degraded. The larger the percentage of upscaling, the more the quality will be reduced. Creating artwork designs at or larger than the dimensions to be printed is recommended.
Select the desired positioning of your image on the garment. This should be Top Center unless you’re doing something specific which requires some other print positioning.
Note the Mirror and Invert image options, which are typically not used. Mirror Image will print the design backwards, which is useful for Direct-to-Transfer (DTF) printing, or anytime you want to reverse the horizontal axis of your image. Invert Image will print your image’s photonegative — a dramatic effect seldom needed, but available.
Locate the two printer icons on the bottom right corner of the QRip subwindow. The icon on the left is the Print Setup icon. Click it to open the Print Setup window.
Print Setup
Note that the Platen placement on printing bed setting should never be changed. It has a completely different purpose than the Position setting in the Q Rip window, even though both settings are presented with the same 3×3 grid.
In the Print Setup window, select “Epson Stylus Photo R2400” from the Selected port dropdown box, then click the Properties button to pull up the Properties window.
Print Setup — Properties window
In the Properties window’s Margins section, set each desired margin. These margins set print position offsets from the justification setting previously selected in the QRip window. Each of the four arrows point to the side from which the margin can be set. For example, the 3rd box with the upward-pointing arrow indicates setting a margin from the top.
It’s a common practice in DTG printing (and garment printing, in general) to leave a 2″ margin down from the collar before printing the design.
Note that the dimensions of any margins selected are added to the dimensions of the print, as previously configured in the Q Rip windows, and the total must not exceed the dimensions of the print area — 12.5″ x 18″ on the Standard Adult platen. So, if you will be adding a 2″ top margin then the height of your design must be 16″ or less, as configured in the Q Rip window.
Click ‘OK’ to finalize the Properties settings and close that window, then click ‘OK’ again on the Print Setup window to close it and save the settings.
Final Preparations
If you’re using the Dark or Black environments on a 330TX Plus, or the Color or Black environments on the 330TX, DirectRIP will generate a White Underbase. Since white ink may slightly expand when it lands on a garment, we will need to slightly restrict the edges of the underbase to compensate and ensure that there won’t be an unintended white “halo” around the edges of the printed design. To do this, select the Image menu near the top left corner of DirectRIP, then select ‘Add WhiteUnderbase Choke’ from the menu — the second-to-last option on the list.
Add white underbase choke
Click ‘OK’ on the dialogue box that appears to accept the default of 2 pixels for the white underbase choke, then confirm that “UnderbaseChoke 1” has appeared in your Channels Palette.
Channels, with white underbase choke
At this point, the design is technically ready to print. But, you always want to be careful and make sure it has been formatted correctly! To check your work, right-click your image and select Print Preview.
Print Preview
The image displayed in Print Preview is proportionally accurate to the way your design will look when printed on the 12.5″ x 18″ Standard Adult Platen. You can reasonably expect the design to appear on the print surface the same as it appears on this screen. To make sure you get the most accurate comparison, select the fill bucket icon (3rd from the right among the icons at the top of the screen) to change the background color to match your garment or print surface.
If everything in the preview looks solid, tap the Esc key on your keyboard to exit Print Preview mode.
DirectRIP print job setup speedrun
Starting the Print
Once your print job is completely configured, you’re ready to print! Run through the following checklist to make sure everything else is properly set up:
Is the platen properly mounted on the printer and flush against the alignment rails?
Is a pretreated garment mounted smoothly and securely on the platen?
Have you properly adjusted the platen height?
Is the gantry in the Print Ready (fore) position?
If you can answer “Yes” to all of these questions, you’re good to go!
As you can see, there are a few steps to configuring prints in DirectRIP, but the process is not complex and can be completed within a minute if your graphic is ready to go. Once you’ve performed a few prints, you’re sure to get it down to muscle memory in no time.
This video demonstrates and explains the initial ink line filling, priming, head cleans, and nozzle check test of a new printer.
Note that although the printer in this video has its ink lines full of ink at the beginning of the initial startup process, the directions are provided for a first-time startup of a new printer with ink not yet in the ink lines.
This brief article is for those who just need a reminder of the high-level steps to confirm that they aren’t missing anything. For the details of each step, see the link at the bottom of this article for step-by-step instructions.
Load the image to be printed
Select the appropriate Environment for your garment
Set the desired size of your print
Set the position of your print (typically top-center)
Select the port that your printer is on
Set a margin, if desired
Set the white underbase choke (unless printing on a white shirt)
Remember that the total size of your print design plus any margins must be within your platen’s dimensions (12.5” x 18” on the standard adult platen).
