Product Review: DigitalHeat FX DTF-12H2

When you think of commercial printers, what comes into your mind first? For many people, it’s not the print quality or even the usefulness of such products. Instead, it’s the size.

Specifically, the commercial printers’ bulky, unwieldy, and can’t-fit-through-the-door size.

What if we told you that there’s now a high-quality commercial printer that’s managed to solve that not-so-little disadvantage?

We’re talking about one of the newest DTF printers today — the DigitalHeat FX DTF-12H2. Not only can this bad boy produce amazing quality prints in a short time, but it does it all in a compact and easy-to-use machine!

If you’re looking for a T-shirt printing game changer or an affordable alternative to huge, expensive commercial printers to help you start your business, then you’ll want to stick around and read our review in full.

What Exactly Is DTF Printing Technology?

It’s kind of hard to gush about an awesome new printer when you’re not sure whether your readers will understand what exactly you’re gushing about.

So, here’s a quick background on DTF printing.

DTF printing is commonly used for custom apparel printing, particularly for T-shirts. It stands for direct-to-film. That means you can print the designs you want directly onto a film for easy transfer to other surfaces. Thanks to this, you don’t need to pretreat the shirts and garments. This makes DTF printing more convenient and much faster than direct-to-garment or DTG printing, which requires fabric pretreatment.

Basically, if you’re thinking of starting a small printing business and want to offer custom shirts and other apparel, then DTF printing technology is a must-have!

Getting To Know the DigitalHeat FX DTF-12H2

Now, we can get onto the meat of the matter: the DigitalHeat FX DTF-12H2.

Dimensions

The compact size of the DTF-12H2 is one of the biggest advantages to getting this machine. Measuring less than 40 inches wide, 29 inches deep, and 18 inches tall without its stand, this printer will pass through standard doorways easy-peasy!

Even the connected shaker and dryer is compact as well, measuring at less than 28 inches wide, exactly 38 inches deep, and not even 24 inches tall.

Inks, Adhesive, and Film

The DTF-12H2 uses several inks: the standard CMYK inks, Lc or light cyan, Lm or light magenta, and white. The printer also has two separate white ink channels, for printing white ink and for receiving the adhesive coating.

For printing transfers, the DTF-12H2 uses a 30cm hot peel film or PET transfer film. Powder adhesive is added on the printed white underbase on top of the color print, making it easier to hot peel the design onto a garment.

Printing Software

Each DTF-12H2 comes with a Print Optimizer Software to make your printing much easier and faster. The software gives users ultimate control over the production process, allowing you to fully maximize all available space on the transfer film.

The software allows for greater manipulation of the ink flow and lay down as well. Thanks to this, the DTF-12H2 can print high-def and well-blended gradients.

What Makes the DTF-12H2 Amazing

Here’s just a few customization ideas:

T-Shirts

Fishing & Boating Shirts

Brand Tags

Polos

Sweatshirts & Sweatpants

Backpacks

Aprons

Flags

Sports Uniforms

Company Dress Shirts

Running Shorts

This smaller DTF printer can basically do the same work and produce the same quality as larger DTF printers. Here’s a short list of everything we loved about this product.

Fast Production Speeds

Like other larger DTF printers, the DTF-12H2 also offers fast production speeds.This is essentially a given since you don’t need to go through marrying your A and B sheets or the trouble of pretreating your fabrics.

Top-notch Quality

The fast production doesn’t take anything away from the quality or durability of the prints, either! With DTF printing technology, you can rest assured your prints will be just as durable as if it was screen printed.

You can print HD designs without having to worry about how it would translate to print or transfer onto fabric. The DTF-12H2 can print not only HDR colors but stunning digital gradients, too.

Dual Printing Heads

The dual print head design of the DTF-12H2 makes printing designs and adding adhesive coatings so much easier. One print head lays down all the CMYK colors first while the other lays down the white underbase that will hold the adhesive powder on top of your CMYK print.

The DTF-12H2 does this impeccably, too — everything is perfectly aligned, so there’s no white ink peeking out and disturbing the design. The shaker/dryer takes care of adding the powder adhesive, so there’s no need to manually do it yourself.

Incredible Versatility and Compatibility

The best thing about the DTF-12H2 and DTF printing in general is how versatile it is — especially when compared to DTG printing.

DTG — or direct-to-garment — might sound great, but it’s not that nice when you remember that DTG only works on cotton. Meanwhile, DTF can work on almost any fabric.

If you want to start a custom apparel printing business, the DTF-12H2 can be your perfect partner. With just this one machine, you can customize a wide range of items: from the quintessential shirts and hoodies or sweatshirts to bags, hats, running shorts, brand tags, polos, and so much more.

Like larger DTF printers, the DTF-12H2 can print on almost any type of fabric, from cotton and polyester to tri-blends, nylon, and even treated leather.

This means you not only have an extensive range of item options but also plenty of fabric options — which further boosts your customization offerings!

Ease of Use and Great Support

The DTF-12H2 really wins in terms of ease of use and convenience. The machine is so easy to use that you likely won’t even need 30 minutes to learn how to work it. If you do need some extra help to get your machine up and running properly, DigitalHeat FX offers both training and customer support.

DTF 12H2 Basic vs. Plus Packages

The DTF-12H2 itself is awesome and comparatively affordable compared to two other, much bigger DTF printers. However, if you’re looking into buying it for your business, there’s another thing you need to consider: the right package to get for your needs.

The DTF-12H2 comes in two packages, a basic one and a plus package.

For the most part, the two packages have the same inclusions. Of course, you get the printer and shaker/dryer, as well as the print optimizer software. Both packages also include the right DTF inks, DTF adhesive powder, and 30cm hot peel film. You also get training and support assistance with both.

Where the basic and plus packages start to differ is the amount of some of the inclusions.

For the basic one, you get just one 100m roll of hot peel film and two pounds of DTF adhesive powder. That’s for $16,995 upfront or as low as $338 per month with financing.

If you get the plus package, you get twice the amount — that’s two rolls of film and four pounds of powder for a total of $18,995.

There is also one extra inclusion to the plus package that really makes it “plus.” Included in the plus package is a Digital Knight heat press with an auto-release clam shell design to really help you get your business started.

Which one should you get?

That depends on your budget and needs. If you want to focus on minimizing capital expenses, then getting the basic package is a good start. However, if you want to start your business with complete tools, getting the plus package with the heat press might be worth considering, too.

Seeing Is Believing

Are you excited about improving your print-on-demand services or maybe about starting your own small printing business? Get even more hyped when you see the DTF-12H2 in full glory!

Reading about all the awesome features of the DTF-12H2 is one thing. Watching it in action yourself is a whole other thing. We’re not talking about recorded videos with movie magic making an average product seem much more impressive.

We’re talking about live, online demos. Peep the DTF-12H2’s actual size, watch it churn out transfer after transfer, and see for yourself the top-notch print quality it produces.