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MikeyFingaz · June 27th, 2006

After lots of aimless wondering around on the board, trying to absorb all this, I now have a question about "direct to garment printing"...

I seen one for like $14000.00 & it was SUPER cool... I didnt even know they had machines that do that... Is it like a printer that will print just like a regular paper printer but on a shirt instead???

My question is, how expensive are these things... I still want to learn the old fashioned way because I have a genuine interest in the art of screen printing, but these "direct to garment printing" machines look like they could turn out a huge amount of shirts...

I wouldnt ever buy one, unless I started to be really, REALLY successful & needed a faster way of doing shirts... I just thought it was a really neat piece of equipment.

Rodney · June 27th, 2006

Quote:


	My question is, how expensive are these things.

About this much:

Quote:


	I seen one for like $14000

Quote:


	s it like a printer that will print just like a regular paper printer but on a shirt instead?

Yep.

I think a couple of our members have one. I think Angela (printchic) might be able to share more details on the Direct to Garment stuff. It does sound cool!

I have some shirts that were printed on direct to garment printers (from cafepress), and while the technology is not on par with screen printing quality YET, it looks like it soon will be.

printchic · June 27th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyFingaz


	After lots of aimless wondering around on the board, trying to absorb all this, I now have a question about "direct to garment printing"... I seen one for like $14000.00 & it was SUPER cool... I didnt even know they had machines that do that... Is it like a printer that will print just like a regular paper printer but on a shirt instead???

Yes you can print directly on the shirt. There are several models. The one mention for $14,000 probably is an "epson printer" that has been modified to print on a t-shirt.

Quote:


	My question is, how expensive are these things... I still want to learn the old fashioned way because I have a genuine interest in the art of screen printing, but these "direct to garment printing" machines look like they could turn out a huge amount of shirts...

Careful...

Not all DTG Printers can pump out shirts.

I've owned 2 different brands.

I started with a t-jet tabletop model and it eventually offered an white ink upgrade. When i upgrade to white ink my problems started. I eventually sold it as we learned it didn't fit our business.

We learned that to print a dark shirt for my clients I could only get about 3-4 shirts an hour. But that would be "if nothing went wrong". So it wasn't very "production oriented".

Now the sellers of the t-jet do have "larger models" meaning you can print more shirts at a time but the white ink process on dark shirts have some issues with washibliity, steps to get a good shirt printed, etc. Only the person deciding on a machine can tell you if it's a good choice for you are not. It will really be based on if you have the "patiences and funds" to test, test, test to get the white ink printing process down.

After 12 month of ownership i sold it and replaced it with a "Brother GT-541. It's turned out to be a bette fit for my biz. I can't print "dark shirts" but that's ok i just order transfers when I need something on dark colors. I would rather "not print black shirts" than to be able to print them and they not hold up during washing, etc.

The brother is a real production machine. It can pump out 40 full size shirts or more per hour. Actually most prints are done in less than 1 minute. The print are more vibrant than any i've seen coming from other printers and without all the work involved to accomplish it. I've had 0 down time and shirt mess ups are rare.

Here's a few things I've printed on it;

http://www.rureadysports.com/yourshirts.jpg
NOTE: The first shirt is not a photo of the actual shirt the others shirts and towel are.

http://www.promotees.com/samples/mysamples.jpg

Quote:


	I wouldnt ever buy one, unless I started to be really, REALLY successful & needed a faster way of doing shirts... I just thought it was a really neat piece of equipment.

I love the DTG Printing Technology but everyone has to decide when it's the right time for them to go that route. I don't have a slew of business just yet but I can get there doing custom work. I also have a few of my own designs I want to start to release.

As i said in the PM i sent you if you are really interested in the DTG Printing technology you can learn more at;

http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com/forums/index.php

That forum coupled with T-shirtForums should give you everything you need to get the biz going.

If i can answer any direct questions let me know.

Rodney · June 27th, 2006

That towel looks cool! I didn't know DTG could do towels.

NARC72 · June 27th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by printchic


	I started with a t-jet tabletop model and it eventually offered an white ink upgrade. When i upgrade to white ink my problems started. I eventually sold it as we learned it didn't fit our business. We learned that to print a dark shirt for my clients I could only get about 3-4 shirts an hour. But that would be "if nothing went wrong". So it wasn't very "production oriented". Now the sellers of the t-jet do have "larger models" meaning you can print more shirts at a time but the white ink process on dark shirts have some issues with washibliity, steps to get a good shirt printed, etc. Only the person deciding on a machine can tell you if it's a good choice for you are not. It will really be based on if you have the "patiences and funds" to test, test, test to get the white ink printing process down.

I was looking into this line of digital printers just last week! Printchic, does the resolution have anything to do with the slower shirt output per hour? 3 to 4 shirts an hour, can you imagine if you had a big order, you'd pull your hair out & bite your nails down to the nailbed! I was looking at the Fast T-Jet2™ SDT-1200, was that the one you had?

What, turned me off to the whole DTG printers is that they don't print specialty inks, yet!! Most of my designs have at least one or two specialties. I'm sure Mr Fresner is hard at work on that patent! That guy is rakin' in the dough, with all his printing innovations!

Solmu · June 27th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyFingaz


	these "direct to garment printing" machines look like they could turn out a huge amount of shirts...

That's one of the most surprising things about DTG printing - most DTG printers are actually slower than screenprinting, in some cases a lot slower. There's no way that will last - DTG is highly likely to be the way of the future... eventually.

Solmu · June 27th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	That towel looks cool! I didn't know DTG could do towels.

They're also very good at golf balls.

MikeyFingaz · June 27th, 2006

Thanks for the replies.... If it cant make images as nice as the old school way, then Im not THAT interested, especially for the price... I want to make nice shirts & am looking forward to the learning experience & will be taking pride in my workmanship... Also, if the are actually slower than manual printers at doing dark colors, then it totally defeats the purpose for me.

Solmu · June 27th, 2006

They're better for custom printing where there'll be a lot of one-offs than they are for high production volume.

They're also great for large businesses that want all their staff to be able to run the equipment, since it's a lot easier to train someone to use a DTG printer than to screenprint.

There are certain environments they are perfect for, but I don't think they're a good fit for someone trying to run their own clothing line.

printchic · June 28th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	That towel looks cool! I didn't know DTG could do towels.

Yeap it sure does to towels and a lot of other stuff...

-I've also printed on several thing that are not t-shirts;

WHAT I HAVE PRINTED ON:

- Stretched Canvas;

Twins Babies:

http://www.promotees.com/samples/twi...as_brother.jpg
(this one appears light it was my 1st attempt to print on canvas I should have printed the design twice but it was not bad for my first attempt)

Girl in Water:
http://www.promotees.com/samples/brothercanvas2.jpg
This one (face hidden because it's a client of a client's daughter and i wanted to for privacy reasons not show her face). But you can see it's on a canvas

- Wooden Products: (great for ad speciality type deals)
http://www.promotees.com/samples/woodspecialties2.jpg

WHAT OTHERS HAVE DONE:

- Wooden Yo Yo's.
http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com...pic.php?p=5871

- Sand Dollars:
http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com...shell001_1.jpg

- Brick Veener:
http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com...ges/brick1.gif
- Stone Coasters:
http://www.screenprintinguniversity....s/coaster3.gif

NOTE:

The Brother GT-541 doesn't advertise it's ability to do anything other than print on Garments and it does that well. However, several of us that like to experiment have done other things you wouldn't think you could print on.

The Canvas for example was printed on without the need for pretreatments, etc. Some other DTG Printer brands market their machaine as needing to use coatings, etc. to print on canvas which may be true if you to print on any type.

However i found I could just use a watercolor canvas and not use any pretreatments since again "it's a watercolor canvas" and the machine uses "waterbased inks".

printchic · June 28th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by NARC72


	Printchic, does the resolution have anything to do with the slower shirt output per hour? 3 to 4 shirts an hour, can you imagine if you had a big order, you'd pull your hair out & bite your nails down to the nailbed!

Yes the higher the resolution you print the slower the machine. Here's the deal. The machine that prints on "black shirts" is a "Epson 2200" that has been "souped up" to print on a t-shirt. So everything that applies to a user that print on paper using their 2200 desktop printer applies to the DTG machine that has been "modified" to print on a t-shirt. With that being said one could simply go to Epson's site and look at their Manual on the Epson 2200 and see speed times, etc.

Now when you get into printing on a "black/dark" shirt with the DTG Printer (which is really a Epson 2200 beefed up) your time is diminished "because of all the steps required" before you print.

and...

when you are ready to print you have to print "an underbase" (the white ink first) and then print the colors. Depending on "resolution" you choose this could take a while. But regardless maximum stated on their chart you can get for a design say about 10" x 10" is 4-5. In my case I found i got less shirts per hours than stated in their charts.

Quote:


	I was looking at the Fast T-Jet2™ SDT-1200, was that the one you had?

Yes and No. I had the red machine (the first model that came out) then shortly after they released the Fast T-Jet2 (silver color machine). When i upgraded to white i just installed the "Fast T-Jet2" drivers and my machined operated just like the Fast T-Jet2.

They are the same inside (both are Epson 2200 machines under the hood) but the new ones has a Laser that can tell if you have the shirt board too high. For me i had to take a metal bar and lay across the shirtbed to see if the shirt touched it (Thus taking time away from printing). If it did i had to lower the bed so avoid possible print head damage from the shirtbed being too high. The only other difference is that the Fast T-Jet2 has a slightly wider or longer (can't remember which) print area.

You can print 7 colors on the red machine but they were saying on the T-jet2 you could only do the 4 ink colors. However recently i see some owning a (T-Jet2) have just installed the drivers for the "Red" machine (T-jet Standard) and now print 7 ink colors as they've just had too many printer issues trying to print white ink.

The Brother Machine that i have now "doesn't print white ink" but it has the ability to print on several "dark shirts". The rule of thumb is if the ink is "darker" than the shirt you can print on it we have found.

So all said,

It would actually be better to screenprint your "black shirt" jobs as you are right 3-4 shirts is not very productive. The only thing I can see people opting for the Fast T-jet2 model for since you are getting about "3-4 shirts per hour" is

- if you have your own shirt line and do the shirts a few at a time

It would be more advantagous to get the "larger marchines they have" so you can print "several shirts at a time only then can you in my opinion be making $$$

As for my Brother GT-541 my answer to the fact my machine doesn't print white ink is to just order "screenprinted transfers" when I do a job for a customer. Just completed a shirt order for some reunion shirts. This week I have another order for 50 more shirts on a royal blue. They too will be "screenprinted transfers".

So i am not limited because my machine doesn't print "white ink" i just order transfers and press then own. The customer is not able to tell if the shirt was "screenprinted" directly or "screenprinted" using a heat transfer.

printchic · June 28th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solmu


	That's one of the most surprising things about DTG printing - most DTG printers are actually slower than screenprinting, in some cases a lot slower. There's no way that will last - DTG is highly likely to be the way of the future... eventually.

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