By Eric on
Mar. 05, 2009
Forums:
Ok guys, I'm thinking of buying a DTG. Truth be told they intrigue the heck out of me.
Does anyone have any experience with DTG's? Do you guys have different brands? I know its a relatively new technology, so I doubt you have different brands of DTG's lined up like embroidery machines, but thought I would ask anyway.
What are good brands? Pro's? Con's?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Eric
Location:
United States
Re: DTG Info.
Me again ... I should add one more thing.
What is the REAL cost of prints on DTG's in your opinions??? I know prints on darks are substantially more expensive because of the white ink involve, and the websites all say "just pennies" but what does just pennies exactly mean???
We all know the yield tricks the little asterisk that says based on 5% coverage.
Thanks again!
Re: DTG Info.
With the recent drops in ink prices - full coveraqe 8" by 8" print with no white ink for us is about $.15 or less of ink.
White ink costs more to begin with and you use probably 8 times - roughly - the amount of ink that the same print would take in CMYK inks. In addition the cost of using white ink is higher because the shirt must be pretreated, heat pressed, then printed- which increases time and $ cost.
The Epson based machines are pretty similar in many ways. There are some fantastic deals out there on used ones of several different brands right now.
We own a Flexi-jet long model which has a 17 by 54 inch available print area. It has met our needs and has white ink capability.
Do you have existing business or would you be starting new? These printers are much easier to maintain when you are printing daily.
supertprinting.com
Re: DTG Info.
I have a shop ... I've been embroidering for almost 12 years now.
Re: DTG Info.
Having a shop and a business to build from is much more promising for DTG than starting from the ground up- as the printhead tends to have clogging problems when not used often.
The prints have a very soft hand and wash really well. The actual printing is not much more demanding than printing with an inkjet printer. It does help a lot to have knowledge of Photoshop.
There are so many new and used options that you can accomodate a wide budget range.
Daily maintenance is about 10 minutes but is crucial.
supertprinting.com
Re: DTG Info.
I did all of the research like you are doing before we bought our DTG.
Brother requires you to buy their ink cartridges. DTG's have bottles that you fill up yourself.
There are suppliers that offer the bottles of Ink at deep discounts. You will never have that option with a Brother machine.
In the long run that is a huge savings.
However do not buy the first generation DTG the Kiosk. Slower production speeds and did not handle whites well.
Re: DTG Info.
Thanks for all your input .. I have narrowed it down to 2, I am going either with a Mimaki, GP604 or a DTG Kiosk II.
Anyone have thoughts?
Re: DTG Info.
Make sure it is an DTG Kiosk HM-1 (means 4 whites) if you choose DTG. You will be able to produce a brilliant white in one pass. Plus faster production times. Promise!
More info:
http://www.dtgamerica.com/west/
Good Luck!