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.
When you stop to add it up, what does it really coast to print a 14"x16" print on a dark t-shirt?
This question goes to all DIG printers, not just Anajet owners.
Name brand of printer.
Extra cost of dark Shirt over white?
Pretreat?
Ink per shirt?
How many shirts can your printer print in one hour ?
Machine time/ Labor at $15.00 per hour?
Drying Time/ Labor?
Shirt reject cost?
Down time $15.00 per hour?
Wasted ink after flushing lines?
Head and line replacement?
Not interested in how much you sell these shirts for, just the cost to fabricate them.
Let's assume a average printer print 5000 to 10,000 shirts a year for this discussion.
To conclude a fair average of each line idem, please cost each line as you understand it for your operation.
I think this will make us all think a little harder about our business.
I don't have a DTG...don't want one...with the number of operators in my area (there are 4 that I know of)..I get an order..out source it..double my cost and drink another cup of coffee!...example..just did 100 black hoodies...and I don't worry about reject, mistakes, head alignment, ink drips/drops or other misfires!...
I would give you an idea but I don't have a anajet. I have a HM1 and my ink is like half the cost, so it wouldn't be accurate. Maybe one of our anajet owners will chime in soon
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I would give you an idea but I don't have a anajet. I have a HM1 and my ink is like half the cost, so it wouldn't be accurate. Maybe one of our anajet owners will chime in soon
I'm also in the market for either anajet or hm1. do you think hm1 is less expensive compared to anajet? especially with regards to long term investment? One thing i did like about anajet is that it is a smaler and less heavier machine for the road. Do you also take your machine to shows?
When you stop to add it up, what does it really coast to print a 14"x16" print on a dark t-shirt?
This question goes to all DIG printers, not just Anajet owners.
Name brand of printer.
Extra cost of dark Shirt over white?
Pretreat?
Ink per shirt?
How many shirts can your printer print in one hour ?
Machine time/ Labor at $15.00 per hour?
Drying Time/ Labor?
Shirt reject cost?
Down time $15.00 per hour?
Wasted ink after flushing lines?
Head and line replacement?
Not interested in how much you sell these shirts for, just the cost to fabricate them.
Let's assume a average printer print 5000 to 10,000 shirts a year for this discussion.
To conclude a fair average of each line idem, please cost each line as you understand it for your operation.
I think this will make us all think a little harder about out business.
I think these are really great questions. It will be nice to have a comparison study of all the dtg's around.
How many shirts can your printer print in one hour ? - 20 (I rarely have that many lined up / ready to go)
Machine time/ Labor at $15.00 per hour? - not sure what you're looking for here. It probably takes an extra 5 minutes to pretreat, press, print a dark shirt versus a white. So, an additional $1.25 for 5 minutes (at $15 / hour)
Drying Time/ Labor? (hangs / air drys so included in the above)
Shirt reject cost? - more in the beginning but it does still happen, although it still happens w/ whites also.
Down time $15.00 per hour? Not sure what this is... I have employees doing other activities if there aren't garments that need printing.
Wasted ink after flushing lines? A biggie - I have to do this once a day to get a good white underbase. Maybe $10 / day????? Not sure how much gets wasted here.
Head and line replacement? Hasn't happened yet but assume $3 / day for maintenance
So, to summarize:
Approx $18 / day includes : $10 day / ink charge cost PLUS $3 / day to cover the heads when they do go PLUS say $5 / day bad print on shirt loss
I think that boils down to $18 day plus a per shirt cost of $11.50.
It's not cheap but it does provide the customer with flexibility... if they can just get the white inks a little more reliable - both from a flow, print and durability standpoint. Let's hope there's research going on in that area!
Well there is alot to consider like you said Dave...
I use to do dark's for a short period of time
Shirt is gonna be about $1.98 for Gildan
Pretreatment is really like 60 cent or so PS I got some for free
white ink with CMKY overlay will be approx. $4.25 or a tad more
Cost of electricity prob 50 cent because suck alot of juice when turning on a heat press
wear and tare on head add 30 cents
takes what a few minutes to prep. art, 2 to 3 minutes to print something that big
Time to pretreat and let dry
In end you got 10min atleast invested in shirt meaning $2 labor
so adds up to costing you $10... I would say when you think of everything
Than you think why I don't print dark garments haha
Ink cost on bulk system still gonna be $2.50 atleast for ink and they gotta add all cost factors in as well to be same because all same procedure...
Another thing people just brush off is extra maintance of having white ink, clogs, extra head cleans extra which add up really quickly : )
I mean Dave, I know you do more volume work and no matter what machine you get, it just ain't worth it unless its a Kornit...
Another to keep in mind, the new Brother will still have issue with head clogs, high ink cost, time to set up file, yatta yatta yatta
Oh I forgot to add misprints, which will happen with "Any" Machine.. especially when doing darks
Lets say a misprint every 25 shirts for whatever reason it may be and if you have a job of a few hundred shirts, leaves room for alot of extra costs on your hand.
Boil down to: Do I wanna make "Customer happy or Do I wanna go bald faster?"
Its just not really worth it with any machine if you base biz on production basis....
How much does it really cost you??? 
