Discuss the various aspects of direct to garment printing. DTG printers include Brother, T-Jet, Flexi-Jet, DTG Kiosk, Kornit, Mimaki, Tex-Jet and others! Discuss and learn about this up and coming printing technology.
Well since I was on here complaining last week, just thought I should tell about my experience so far. Machine was a week late in shipping. I was supposed to get the demo machine from the Charollete show, no shipping etc. Guess US Screen had a few problems, anyway got a brand new machine yesterday, guess what NO SHIPPING Charges, ya. Machine is in perfect condition, even included surge protecter, cord to hook up to computer and temp. humidity gauge. I know these are items are not that expensive but how many times have you had to make a trip to wal-mart to get a stuiped cord or something.
Dealer came, right on time, too help me set up everything. This was probably overkill as there is a somewhat long process but not to difficult. Anyway the guy spent about 6 hrs. going over everything with me from the software to pretreatment.
Today less than 24 hrs. after receiving machine I was printing black shirts like a pro. I know this is a brand new machine and will I probably have problems in the future, but for right now I'd say US Screen has put out a great machine. From the shipping to the little extras, 1st. class.
Now I'd like to go ahead and thank everyone in advance for answering my stuiped questions I'm sure that will be coming.
Mark
You seem to have had the same experience we had when our BlazerPro arrived. The crate contained a *lot* more stuff than we expected ... lots of nice little touches such as a supply of latex gloves, the digital thermometer/hygrometer, surge protector, cables, syringes for ink line flushing, etc., etc.
By the way, those digital hygrometers are all notoriously inaccurate. Use the wet salt method to calibrate it. Ours was almost 20% RH off the mark!
We were not fortunate enough to be able to attend any training classes, and the dealer is located far away, but the US Screen support team more than made up for this. They have been consistently helpful, patient, and easy to deal with. The key here is to return the favor by being patient and willing to try more than one approach as you work your way thru the inevitable startup problems. DTG printing isn't an exact science yet, and the learning curve is rather steep at first. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
I'm not surprised by the late delivery. From what I have read, US Screen has been inundated with orders and can't make enough machines. These things are assembled by hand, so it's not like they crank them out like cookies. I just hope they don't get into quality control problems in an attempt to keep up with demand.
One place where they really need to improve is with the documentation and training videos, which have either gotten out of date or don't reflect reality in some ways. The software manuals don't always match how the software really works, which creates confusion.
Other than that, it has been a positive experience.
Oh yes, a friend of mine recived his BlazerPro last week and asked me to help him out to set it up. I myself own two T-Jet 2's at a neighboring town so I have plenty of time working with these printers. The BlazerPro I must say is prety cool, very easy to set up, all the extra goodies as mentioned. There is no assembling involved, which is awesome because when setting up the bulk ink in other printers is where alot of the problems occur. This thing, we pulled it out of the crate, sat it on its location, installed the ink cartriges that I filled beforehand, installed the software, did all the cord connections and primed the ink lines and it was ready to print. Minor adjustments involved but nothing major. Totaly different experience than with the T-Jet 2, even when I bought my second T-2, it took me more than a week to get it to print without a problem, but the Blazer Pro started printing that same day! Now I want one.
The HM1 has bulk ink also and when setting it up it was just about putting the ink in the bottles and doing a ink charge to fill the lines. What did you have to do to the t-jet to set up your bulk ink? I didnt realize there was something more to do than that.
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
It is good to hear that. Is this means all horror stories are over? I bought Flexi Jet last week. Price was lower than Blazer and not many horror stories. I was sold for 2 shirts print at once. I will post again after machine set up. Tech will be in next week.
The HM1 has bulk ink also and when setting it up it was just about putting the ink in the bottles and doing a ink charge to fill the lines. What did you have to do to the t-jet to set up your bulk ink? I didnt realize there was something more to do than that.
BobbieLee ... it's more a question of getting the bulk tray height and ink levels right for each given operator. It can vary greatly depending on your location (elevation, etc.), and it can take some time to find the sweet spot. While the EZ Pro bulk system is a great improvement over the one that comes with the original T-Jets, it required much more fine tuning of individual ink levels (different levels for each color).
BobbieLee ... it's more a question of getting the bulk tray height and ink levels right for each given operator. It can vary greatly depending on your location (elevation, etc.), and it can take some time to find the sweet spot. While the EZ Pro bulk system is a great improvement over the one that comes with the original T-Jets, it required much more fine tuning of individual ink levels (different levels for each color).
It sounds real complicate. I hope my Flex Jet is not like that. I am sweating.
BobbieLee ... it's more a question of getting the bulk tray height and ink levels right for each given operator. It can vary greatly depending on your location (elevation, etc.), and it can take some time to find the sweet spot. While the EZ Pro bulk system is a great improvement over the one that comes with the original T-Jets, it required much more fine tuning of individual ink levels (different levels for each color).
Also on the T-2's & T-3's the bulk system ink lines came seperated from the printer & needed to be installed and primed manually, leaveing plenty of room for errors. On the EZ Pro, no messing with ink lines or priming them manually with a syringe.
Wow that sucks the way mine is set up is that as the bottles empty there are little level springs that raise the bottle as it empties, I guess that is another good thing I have found about my machine hehe. I know that the original tjets were built basically the same as dtg kiosk but apparently the improvements DTG has done on the machine design of the HM1 were good ones.
Mario I hope you know that I was asking because I was curious as I had never heard about that with the bulk system before. I am always looking to learn new info, thanks
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Glad to see that you are doing good. i love my New Blazer. I have been printing none stop. I have to agree the support system from Us Screen in unbelieveable. i have found that I send an Email to them with a list of my questions and they get back to me in a timely manner and I have it in writing so I can refer back!!!!!!! Have you printed on a red shirt yet????
Blazer Express from US Screen 
... "you can't take the sky from me"
