Mudskii

I've read up on DTG printers and I think its the method I am looking for but I just want to make absolutely sure, I want to set up a t-shirt business, making my own designs with a view to selling them to the fashion market (local boutiques and a website)

Its important that the shirts dont have a hand/feel or at the very least that the hand/feel is minimal. I am aware that DTG only allows you to print colours that are darker than the fabric they are printed on but this isnt going to be a problem for me.

The only issues I am not sure of are the length of time it takes, can anyone give a rough example of how many shirts the average DTG can do in an hour?

Also Im not sure about how much it would cost to buy a DTG printer, plus the average costs of the inks. Right now I'm not in the position to be shelling out loads of cash so whichever make is the most value for money would be best for me.

Finally, I am based in the UK, does anyone know of suppliers of DTG in the UK?

Thanks (and apologies for the long winded post)

 

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sunnydayz

Ok I will try to answer some of your questions. The first thing I wanted to say is that depending on the dtg machine you get, actually most of them, do print on any color shirt as long as they are equiped with white ink. I myself have the HM1 and I do have white ink in my machine, so I can print on any color shirt.

depending on whether the shirt needs a white ink underbase, the print times vary. I can print a light color shirt in probably 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. With a dark color shirt because I am printing a double layer, white layer and color layer, the time is about double. Plus the dark shirt needs to have a pretreatment applied before printing so the white ink bonds.

The price of the machine depends on the machine you pick. My machine cost was $17,000 and that included 2 sets of inks, the shirt platens and the heat press. I bought mine as a package deal. You can find them used, although I would think this would be harder in the UK, then here in the states, but they are available and might save you some money, if you go that way you want to make sure the machine is in good condition. The ink price also depends on the machine you pick. With my machine because I use a bulk ink system the inks are more affordable then the inks on a closed ink system, that uses cartridges. The bulk ink is about half the price as the cartidge systems.

I am not sure about UK suppliers but I know they are out there I know that dtg has several different suppliers in the uk. Well hope this helps some, but I would definately make sure to do really thorough research before jumping in, as it is a big investment.

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BobbieLee

 

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Mudskii

Thanks for your reply

It certainly is a big investment, I think I need to track a supplier down and see a demo before making any rash decisions I was thinking of outsourcing to a company that does DTG but because Im doing fashion shirts I would like to have control myself. I dont know if another company could/would do more unconventional positioning of prints eg wrap around printing.

Still, 2 minutes sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for your help.

 

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chan

Quote: Originally Posted by Mudskii Thanks for your reply It certainly is a big investment, I think I need to track a supplier down and see a demo before making any rash decisions I was thinking of outsourcing to a company that does DTG but because Im doing fashion shirts I would like to have control myself. I dont know if another company could/would do more unconventional positioning of prints eg wrap around printing. Still, 2 minutes sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for your help.

the question is what is your budget and estimated production volumn (100 pieces a day?, 1000 pieces a day?)

if u have budget at US$30k level and want to produce 1K+ pieces a day, you may buy a commercial grade DTG machine.

if u dont have that budget and dont need to product 10k+ pieces a day, u may get some DIY DTG's. Get 1-2 such DIY DTG printers and get a partner (or helper) to work together with you to produce the Tee's.

 

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sunnydayz

that is a great theory, but building a machine and also getting a professional quality garment may be another issue all together. I agree there are some that have built project diy dtg's. But without the proper rip and other options the commercial machines provide, its hard to say that would be a good way to go for a business who needs reliability and constant production.

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BobbieLee

 

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