I heard and read about it, but nice to see a video on it. I guess that was being demo'ed it at ISS in January as well but unfortunately I didn't stop by the booth to get a sample. Thanks for the video!
Hope to be taking delivery of my GT 541 in about a week. Can this thing really pay for itself in a REASONABLE period of time? I will be using it to print T-shirts for contractors not wanting to spend too much money on their laborers. Im thinking maybe $5 per shirt?
Someone else had posted the video a couple of weeks ago. Certainly this is not something you would do for a one-off shirt.
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Originally Posted by sewnameit
Hope to be taking delivery of my GT 541 in about a week. Can this thing really pay for itself in a REASONABLE period of time? I will be using it to print T-shirts for contractors not wanting to spend too much money on their laborers. Im thinking maybe $5 per shirt?
Even for light colored shirts, I think it would be hard to justifiy paying for the printer. Most Brother users will have somewhere between $0.50 (low end) and $1.00 (high end) in ink cost depending on the graphic being printed. Then you have the cost of the shirt. Let's just say that puts you at $2.00 a shirt in variable cost. Then you have the time it takes to tweak the artwork to print correctly (even most Brother owners play with the artwork). Include the cost of electric, shipping of shirts & ink, some minor maintenance cost and paying yourself minimum wage at a bare minimum... and that does not leave a lot of money to cover the cost of paying the machine back.
I think at $5.00 a shirt, you are looking at the very low end of inkjet transfers for short runs. Just my opinion.
So you have to screen print a white base layer and the printer prints over the wet base. What is the actual base, is it white DTG ink?
First use the GT541 to print the design on a paper taped to the pallet. Next align the screen exactly to the paper printed image. Once that is set remove the paper, insert your tshirt and start printing. According to the people who makes this device, one can print a hundred shirts without mis registration.
First use the GT541 to print the design on a paper taped to the pallet. Next align the screen exactly to the paper printed image. Once that is set remove the paper, insert your tshirt and start printing. According to the people who makes this device, one can print a hundred shirts without mis registration.
Well that makes ok sense but it doesnt seem very efficient. Now on top of the two pass DTG print a third pass is initially needed to register the silkscreen image for the discharge. In the video it looks like it works. Anyone have this setup?
Just my 2 cents but if I wanted to screenprint small orders I would have kept my screenprinting equipment.I think you can make anything work if you tinker with it enough but for me I've based my new business plan on DTG and thats what I'll stick with untill it makes sense to change it.There are several people making it with the expense and headaches of the Kornit so if the GT-782 comes out working well it will be well worth the money in my book,time will tell.So far moving away from white ink has not really affected us all that much.
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Corey Nydegger www.sharkteesinc.com Design on line and new lower DTG Contract printing prices
Well that makes ok sense but it doesnt seem very efficient. Now on top of the two pass DTG print a third pass is initially needed to register the silkscreen image for the discharge. In the video it looks like it works. Anyone have this setup?
It's only one pass on the Brother. First you lay down the white with a screen, then you print on the Brother.
I have not seen the above video yet because my computer at work will not let me view it. However, reading the posts throughout this thread has shown me that the brother gt541 can do all sorts of things but laying a screen with a white base ink on a dark garment before you can print your design on the dark garment defeats the purpose to having just the one printer to print your designs. I love prints on dark garments and I personally cannot wait for the gt 541 to print on darks because the new brother printer priced at $55,000 for a machine that virtually does the same thing as the 541 but has not been perfected yet is crazy to make that sort of purchase.
Not in the video, two pass with ink and one extra pass on paper to register the screen according to acca.
In Long Beach he only did one pass with ink. The registration pass should only have to be done once at set up. So, I guess it's one or two passes of ink.
Brother gt541 prints darks now video proof 
