The Maker’s Toolbox: Procolored F13 DTF Printer Review

If you want to put full-color graphics onto clothing and other textile products, the most convenient choice is DTF (Direct-to-Film) printing. At the hobbyist, prosumer, and small business end of that market, Procolored has become an enticing option in recent years. The Procolored F13 DTF printer is one of their most popular machines and I’ll give you my honest thoughts about it in this review.

What is DTF printing?

The name itself, “Direct-to-Film,” describes how DTF printing works. A DTF printer has an inkjet-style printhead that deposits ink onto (usually translucent) transfer film. It first deposits a full-color CMYK layer, then deposits a white layer on top of that.

After printing, the user shakes a special adhesive powder over the printed ink. That powder sticks to the ink, but not to the film. Then, the film (with ink and adhesive powder) goes into a special oven for a couple of minutes, which melts the adhesive powder into a layer on top of the ink.

At that point, the film transfer is stable and ready to either store for later or to apply to something like a t-shirt. The application process is simple: just place the film on the clothing (ink side down) and use a heat press to adhere the ink to the fabric. After it cools a bit, the user can peel off the transfer film and leave the ink behind.

DTF printing is a lot easier and cleaner than screen printing, and it produces very high-quality graphics in full color. Compared to dye-sublimation (which is only suitable for white polyester), it has the advantage of working with a wide range of textile materials and colors. And it doesn’t have as many maintenance headaches as UV printing.

Overall, DTF printing is a great choice for making t-shirts, tote bags, and similar items.

The Procolored F13

The F13 fits somewhere in the middle of Procolored’s current catalog of DTF printers. They offer both more affordable and more expensive models, with the F13 being a moderately priced option perfect for small businesses and independent makers.

This is an A3-size printer, meaning it can print up to 13” wide. The printable length is essentially infinite, as it prints from a roll of film. The F13 has an Epson L1800 printhead, which is a popular choice in this industry that can produce CMYK+WW colors (two dedicated channels for the white layer).

The F13 lacks some convenience features and user interface elements, but has everything necessary for a workhorse printer. There isn’t any fancy touchscreen interface, but there are important features like white ink circulation and automatic printhead cleaning.

If you already own an oven and heat press, you can order the F13 by itself. Or you can purchase a package that includes those, which is what I received and will be reviewing.

The viral elephant

There isn’t any way for me to write this review without talking about my last review of a Procolored product, which got quite a lot of attention from publications in the cyber security industry.

In short, while testing the Procolored V11 Pro UV DTO printer for that review, I noticed that the included software was being flagged by my antivirus software. Karsten Hahn, an analyst who specializes in this sort of thing, looked at Procolored’s provided software and found some pretty serious malware. Hahn and I both published what we found, and the story was picked up by several cyber security news sites, blogs, and podcasts.

The general consensus was that Procolored’s software had become infested with malware as a result of poor security practices, rather than any intentional inclusion on their part. Following this ordeal, Procolored promised to clean up their act and take security seriously. Of course, I was keen to find out if they stuck to their promises when I received the F13.

In brief, I didn’t find any malware in the F13 software.

Two programs raised flags: the included UltraViewer installer and something called Restter.exe. Karsten Hahn was only able to take a cursory glance at those, but it seems that the UltraViewer installer was being flagged simply because of what it is (a remote viewer/controller that can modify the client computer) and Restter.exe was being flagged because it was manually unpacked and modified with LordPE and ImpRec.

Hahn says those are programs often used for cracking software, which leads to checksum mismatches that antivirus software finds suspicious. That said, there are some potentially legitimate reasons for that and, more importantly, Hahn didn’t find any signs of malicious code. He wasn’t able to spend the time on a full investigation and so can’t provide an official statement on the matter, but I felt safe enough to proceed.

Setup and software

My Procolored F13, oven, and heat press arrived in a nice case, like what you’d see roadies carrying into a concert venue. I’m used to seeing shipping crates made of cheap plywood, so that was pretty cool.

After unpacking everything, my first thought was that the panda graphics on everything were kind of tacky. This is purely subjective and some people will love them, but the pandas feel a little childish to me and wouldn’t be my first choice for equipment that costs thousands of dollars.

But that is minor and doesn’t really matter. What matters is that everything arrived in good condition. There was a small scuff/discoloration on one edge of the F13, but not bad enough that you’d even notice it if you weren’t looking for it.

The setup was pretty easy and mostly consisted of filling the ink reservoirs, then drawing ink through the tubes to the “ink sacs” above the printhead with the included syringes. That takes a bit of time, but is necessary. Attaching the output shelf and film roll holder only took a couple of minutes.

On the software side, the Procolored F13 requires the provided Pro RIP software. Following the published video instructions, that only takes 10-15 minutes to set up. And, unlike with the Procolored V11 Pro, Pro RIP is the only software necessary to run the F13.

Testing process

The F13 is the first dedicated DTF printer I’ve tested (I’m not including the eufyMake E1’s DTF function), so I don’t have any kind of standardized testing process established.

Instead, I simply printed a bunch of t-shirts and other items I thought would be cool. I made shirts for myself using my own artwork, stuff for my wife, things for friends, and so on. I tried to print a wide variety of styles and graphics to get a feel for the way the Procolored F13 handled color reproduction and its consistency.

I also chose to use only the heat press and oven that came in the F13 package. I do own another heat press that is much larger, but I wanted my review to be based on the same experience that most buyers would have.

Hardware thoughts and printing results

Overall, I was pleased with the prints that popped out of the Procolored F13. The colors look great with the default printing profile and were very consistent to my eye. And the F13 is pretty fast, too. A print big enough for a typical t-shirt only takes 5-10 minutes and so it would be efficient enough for a small business.

The oven was easy to use and has a built-in timer. There is even a dedicated holder for a little suction gripper thing to grab the hot film after baking. It is big enough for those t-shirt prints and I never experienced any issues with it.

I especially liked the heat press, as it is automatic and really pleasant to use. There is a corded remote that lets you quickly adjust temperature and time. Then, with a simple click on that remote, the heat press will automatically close, stay in place for the set amount of time, and then open.

I don’t have any complaints at all about either the oven or the heat press.

And almost everything I made turned out really well. The final results look awesome and the process was smooth and easy.

I only experienced two failures:

The first was because the film stuck to the top of the heat press, so when the heat press opened it prematurely peeled the film from the shirt. I think that was my own fault, as I probably got some stray adhesive on that side of the film. After that, I started putting a sheet of parchment paper on top of the film and that prevented any other sticking scenarios.

The second was a result of the print not sticking well and coming off when peeling the film. Again, I think that was user error. I might not have applied enough adhesive powder or it could have been that I tried to peel the film before letting it cool enough.

I don’t think either of those failures was a problem with the equipment, but there are a few things I dislike about the F13 itself…

Things I don’t like

In my opinion, the biggest problem with the Procolored F13 is the user interface. On the right side of the printer, there is a readout for the printer’s thermostat. As a user, you don’t really ever need to touch that. On the left side (of the front) there are four buttons: power, mystery button, ink circulation (maybe), and trash.

As you can probably tell, I wasn’t able to decipher those buttons. For the most part, I only ever touched the power button.

And, finally, there are two buttons on the printer’s left panel for feeding the film roll in and out. They work fine.

I felt like those buttons were cryptic and unless the F13 was actively printing, I never quite knew for sure what state it was in. Even a small LCD with a status readout would have been helpful. But really, the F13 would have benefited from an interface designed by someone who really understands how users interact with machines.

That was further exacerbated by the fact that the printer would often end up in a state where it wouldn’t accept new print jobs. I’m not quite sure why that would happen and it usually occurred when I didn’t use the printer for a while (hours or days). But when it did happen, I couldn’t start a new print and would have to turn the printer off and back on again.

Finally, there is a design flaw with the little clip that holds the ink tubes in place before they reach the printhead. The problem is that when the printhead moves to the left, the tubes fold upwards and rub on the printer’s lid. That is noisy and I was concerned that it would wear through the tubes. I could actually see marks on the lid where the tubes were rubbing.

To fix that, I designed and 3D-printed a replacement for that clip. It extends to the left and prevents the tubes from flexing upwards, eliminating the rubbing. If you buy an F13 and have the rubbing issue, you can find my replacement clip over on Printables.

Maintenance

After becoming acquainted with UV printing and all of its maintenance headaches, I was eager to find out if the Procolored F13 (and DTF printers in general) have similar maintenance requirements.

Procolored does have a recommended daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance schedule, but I found that the F13 is much less sensitive to maintenance neglect than UV printers are.

If you leave the printer on (as you should), it will automatically run cleaning cycles. And the printhead isn’t nearly as prone to clogging as a UV printhead.

I even left the F13 sitting for about three weeks and it still printed just fine after running a cleaning cycle!

All of that to say that while the Procolored F13 does require upkeep and you should follow the maintenance schedule, it isn’t going to become a paperweight if you leave it unattended for a weekend. The best way to keep it running well is to simply print something each day, but a couple of missed days shouldn’t be an issue.

Final thoughts

I’ve been using the Procolored F13 for about six weeks now and I have formed a confident opinion about it, which is that it is a decent machine.

My biggest complaint is about the poor user interface, but that is more of an inconvenience than a real problem. I was also annoyed by the ink tubes rubbing, but that was solved with a 45-minute 3D print.

Overall, the Procolored F13 (along with its oven and heat press) works well and produces awesome t-shirts. I think buyers will be satisfied with the results.

However, this market segment has become pretty competitive in recent years and there are a lot of other options out there. I don’t have experience with any of the competition, but there are models available at similar prices and even a few that are more affordable.

All I can say with confidence is that the Procolored F13 worked well for me and I think most buyers would be happy with it.