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.
Looking for any suggestions for what type of DTg machine to buy. I am in the process of setting up a company primarily focused on selling single or low quantity 'fashion' t shirts. A lot of my selling will be sold online as well at flea market type locations.
I've been reading a lot of posts and i can see that one of the major setbacks is the ability to print white ink. This should not be a concern to me as most of my items will consist of 1 or 2 color imprints that will resemble a tone on tone type print. I will probably print some lighter color designs but I do not need that bright white appearance on darks.
As a new company, I obviously dont want to spend an arm and a leg and will be setting up a shop in my home. From what I've read, the DTG HM1 Kiosk looks to be a good fit but would like to get some feedback based on what I am going to be selling. Thanks in advance!!
Looking for any suggestions for what type of DTg machine to buy. I am in the process of setting up a company primarily focused on selling single or low quantity 'fashion' t shirts. A lot of my selling will be sold online as well at flea market type locations.
I've been reading a lot of posts and i can see that one of the major setbacks is the ability to print white ink. This should not be a concern to me as most of my items will consist of 1 or 2 color imprints that will resemble a tone on tone type print. I will probably print some lighter color designs but I do not need that bright white appearance on darks.
As a new company, I obviously dont want to spend an arm and a leg and will be setting up a shop in my home. From what I've read, the DTG HM1 Kiosk looks to be a good fit but would like to get some feedback based on what I am going to be selling. Thanks in advance!!
If you don't need white ink, I've read good things about the Brother GT 541, but it's more expensive than some of the others.
My biggest suggestion to you would be to actually visit a tradeshow where the various machines are being sold at and demo'ed and see the all in person. Watch them print, get some samples printed. Check the quality, the time it takes to print, etc. For such a big purchase, it really needs an "in person" type review.
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From what I've read, the DTG HM1 Kiosk looks to be a good fit but would like to get some feedback based on what I am going to be selling.
From what you've read so far, what would make you think the DTG HM1 would *not* be what you're looking for? What specific concerns do you have?
Thanks for the responses...What are the differences between the Kiosk II and the HM1? The Brother looks to be a good machine but as you said, is rather expensive as compared to the SWF machines. I agree with the suggestion of getting to a trade show to see the machines in person. Do you know of any upcoming shows in the NJ area?
There is a show in Atlanta this September. Atlantic City should be next March. HM-1 is the next level of machine from DTG. It's faster than the Kiosk II and has and shakes the white ink for you.
Yep the HM1 has a few features that the kiosk does not have, as stated above it has the white ink agitator, it also has the laser gap sensor and auto height adjustment. If you have any specific questions about what your questions are on the HM1, I may be able to help as I own one.
I totally agree with Rodney though that the best way to make a decision is to go see them in action. I found it to be really helpful also to go straight to the distributors and see them there as well as the show. When I went to SWF, I took one of my own files and had them print it, that way I had a honest idea of how it was to load a file and print. When you are at the show its kind of hard to see them this way, as they usually have their own file loaded for printing, and they are also pretty busy there. The shows are a great place to not only see all of the machines, but also talk to the different companies to get a feel for their customer service, although at the shows you will be talking to sales people
Anyways if you need any specific info, I would be glad to try to help out.
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I've owned my Brother GT 541 for almost 18 months now and love it. We're checking out The AnaJet w/ white. I just got the samples today and was very impressed with the prints, especially the print on the black hanes beefy. I had a black sample from Tjet which felt very thick & screen printy. The Ana shirt did have a slight texture but I was very impressed. I recently sent John, at Ana Jet in Coasta Mesa, a couple of files I printed on the Brother I am going to do a couple more prints with my machine on some beefy's and do some wash tests and scrutinize more. So far the AnaJet looks good.
John is a great person work with at Anajet. He did a great job working with me and we've been printing pretty much non-stop since the machine was uncrated and leveled.
I had a few reservations about the Anajet but ease of use so far has made all of my other concerns neglible. The increased ink cost is fine so long as the machine keeps printing flawlessly. We're doing CMYK and White now after cutting our teeth on dual CMYK.
I LOVE my Brother GT541. We've been educating our customers about the differences between transfers, sublimation, screen printing and the Brother DTG. No white ink doesn't seem to be a problem when they realize they can get a whole rainbow of other colors without screen charges!
I got Anajet and very happy with it. No problems at all and I cleaner wipers like once a week which takes like 30 sec to do. No clogging at all and software is child's play
How was the learning curve? Was it vicious or can any fool play? I say fool to be funny. I want a machine that's a walk in the park or at least a run in the park. Any comments?
How was the learning curve? Was it vicious or can any fool play? I say fool to be funny. I want a machine that's a walk in the park or at least a run in the park. Any comments?
I'd say it was pretty easy. There are quirks and you should read your manual top to bottom before you start trying to adjust or fix things but it shouldn't be much more difficult than setting up a paper printer.
As has been noted else where on this forum, run in dual CMYK while you get acquainted with your machine and learn the ins and outs of maintaining it. I personally did all the maintainance as though I were running white for a week before I finally actually added white to my printer.
At this point the Anajet is running nicely daily without issue so far.
Oh, add a case of shirts to the cost of your machine. Figure on working your way through that case as you do print tests, wash tests and generally work out how to best use your printer. A case of shirts is only around $105.00 before taxes and is a minimal cost to learn so much about a $14k purchase.
DTG Machine Suggestions....please!!! 
