I just came across this unit. I'm just curious if anyone uses it or has seen it at any shows. I screenprint and I know M&R make wicked presses for that. I'm just curious about opinions on this machine. It Comes as one complete unit with PC and everything. Pretty interesting. Looks like it has cartridges like a anajet and does darks. Also does16x20 prints.
I did see it in milan viscom 08, is another adaptation of many and any epson printer out there, and you can tell by how they sell it that they had to jump into the bandwagon of dtg but I would risk to say that is not a market they would go for if they had the chance not to go, but as M&R how could they not?
ink comes in cartridges( although the ones I saw I would swear where not sealed, and looked like refillable, but I could be mistaken). Did ask and Ink is dupont, diferences from the others? a laser pointer to help you center the t-shirt, and the price tag 19995 ( around 3000 more expensive than any another epson mod out there, and it just came out( if you know what that means), althought I would think their support is going to be in par with their Screenprinting systems. Software wise I cannot help you since I did not demo it, but that is something that they must have figured out, having all that background with separations would make you think so.
This printer has been at several trade shows in the United States in the last year. They do offer the printer in two different ink setups: 1) as a cartridge-based system that they recommend to all new users to start off with and 2) as a bulk refill system for when your production level hits a certain point. The software they use is from the same developer that SWF / DTG Digital in the U.S. used several years ago before they switched to the iProof RIP. I believe the software has changed, but not sure exactly what is new. I am not aware of an end-user that has purchased one, but M&R has said they have sold more than 40 back in December 2008.
My graphics solutions rep sent me a black shirt with one of our files printed on it. Quite impressive. We just bought a brother GT-541 in December of '07, so we won't be getting an Idot just yet. Not so sure about the white ink. Might wait for all that to "settle".
We have purchased an i-dot and it is producing some nice prints but there are a few computerized issues with it at the moment. We're waiting for an upgrade which is due in the next week or so. It only prints well on 100% cotton and we've printed shirts & sweatshirts. It loves frequent cleaning cycles despite cutting back the nozzle checks so we've wasted a lot of ink.
Anyone out there who also owns one? I've been asking for numbers of other users to chat and compare notes with, but we're feeling like we may be the only users
$20,000 I think is the base price. Not sure if that comes with all the platens and accessories. There also might be a shipping / crating charge. With taxes, should be below $24,000.00.
Hi everyone. I am new to the DTG industry and have been doing a lot of research on which printer we are going to start with. First of all, thanks to everyone who posts their honest experiences here. Never did I think I would find such a huge resource of knowledge on this industry. It's been awesome for me.
So far I have received samples of the same graphic from Brother (white garment only), Anajet (white and black gaments), T-Jet Blazer (black garment only) and the M&R I-dot (white and black garments).
I got a demo of the I-dot in person and was very impressed with the black shirt sample (and not so much with the white shirt sample). The I-dot black shirt/white ink sample looks and feels completely different from all of the other manufacturers samples. ALL of the others feel the same; very thick like an iron-on. The I-dot black shirt sample feels like it has almost the same hand as the white shirt samples - very soft. It feels the most like a screenprinted shirt by far. The white ink underbase print going through the M&R I-dot software is much more complex and and uses the black of the garment for almost all of blacks found in the art. There is very little black ink printed back over the top in the dark areas.
Because of this difference, it feels like there is much less ink on the shirt and the colors are still vibrant without the glossy sheen that I don't like in the other manufacturer's prints. The downside for some people might be in the level of detail. The I-dot uses an Epson head like most of the others but because there is not the thick, smooth base of white for the color pass to print on, the details are not quite as sharp as the other 3 manufacturers shirts.
I have a paper printing background so detail and sharpness are important to me. However, when I'm wearing a shirt I want it to feel like cloth, not like a paper print glued to cloth.
I still have not made up my mind yet, but for those of you thinking about a new machine - you should request a sample on black from M&R. It's WAY different. Thanks again for all the info. If anyone has any suggestions for me I'm all ears.
Most of the other printers have settings that will allow you to use the black in the shirt when printing darker colors as well (i.e. Color Layer Auto Mask Black Background, White Mask Layer (Soft),...). The key is really the graphic that is being printed and the quality of the shirt. Some black shirts will fade fast and if you don't use black ink, the design will look faded faster. If you want to do a good comparison, get the same design printed by the different printers you are considering. If you can get them printed in front of you, then you can see exactly what settings are used. Most of the printers you listed use Dupont ink. So they will be using the same ink and pretreatment. So the graphic and the user (who selects how the graphic is printed, how the shirt is pretreated and cured) are the keys to a good print.
Thanks Mark. I do wish I could see all printers in action, although that's not likely to happen due to travel and time constraints. I did not realize that all of the others have this same capability. Why do you think the other manufacturers printed an overall white layer shape instead for my samples? Do you think they have more confidence in the durability that way?
I can tell some of the techs have made adjustments to the file I sent. The colors are all over the place when you compare them all side by side. I will say this - so far the best white shirt print I have is from Anajet. The clients I have will probably want black garments often so this has become a really hard decision. So far I like the white garment from one supplier and the black from another. I haven't seen the new Brother white ink machine, but I don't want to enter this industry with a $50-60,000.00 investment. I am much more comfortable around the $20,000 range to see if this is for me or not.
I know the I-Dot is M&R's first attempt at the DTG industry, but I'm kind of leaning towards them because of their size and customer service history. Some of the threads here have really got me nervous about making a purchase with a company that won't back me up. I'm willing to do my homework, maintenance and invest in some trial and error to figure things out, but if the equipment fails I want a company that will support me. Again, any and all advice is like gold to me right now. Thank you.
M&R is a good company and I have known the owner (Rich) for a long time. The bottom line is you and your users (if you have employees or others that are going to print for you) need to be comfortable with the company you are purchasing from. Tech support can come in several different fashions: doing install / training onsite, training at an authorized facility, telephone, online videos, PDFs and more. Find the right combination that works the best for you. Just don't under-estimate the pretreatment process. It is a challenge and will take a significant amount of practice / wash tests before you get a good handle on it. Differences in pretreatment processes can affect how you print as well. Don't be surprise to find out that some the sample shirts you got might have been double printed for better colors (but it increases the cost and the production time). That is why it is important to see the shirts printed in front of you.
Why other companies choose to print one way or another comes down to the user / operator and how they pretreat than anything else. I can tell you that the color inks don't stick that well to the dark pretreatment. So there are even options in the different RIPs that allow you to drop a small amount of white ink and then print black over it to get the best looking color graphic.
Hello all I went to demo a i-Dot last Friday the machine set up looks impressive and it was interesting to me as a screenprinter to see all the steps you need to take before printing lights or darks with a white underlay. I was stunned when the ink calculator rang up $9.00 for a 9"x14" print using a white underbase. They printed a tan and black T that looked stunning to say the least. I notice after heat pressing them the ink easily cracked, which I was told they all do due to the ink sitting on the top of the T. I took them home for a 10 wash test and made it once with one shirt and twice with the other before the ink released and came off or cracked and started coming apart.
I'm sending the T's back to the dist. who is a friend to look at then send on to M+R for evaluation.
The machine looked like and printed very well. But this problem needs to be rectified.
Thanks Maico. I am really disappointed to here this, but glad you shared. I too love the sample that I got from the I-dot demo compared to all of the other machine samples. I have not tried to wash my samples yet, but I will report what I find out next week. My distributer provided the shirts which are Gildan 100% cotton. Do you know what brand of T your samples were no? I have heard that some garment manufacturers work better for the garment printers than others.
As far as the ink cost goes, I had doubts about how accurate that software was at my demo. There is clearly less ink on the M&R sample than all of the other samples I have received through the mail. If you shirt used $9.00 in ink it would have weighed almost as much as the ink bottle!
I am really excited about adding garment printing to my graphic design business, but all of these failed experiments and nightmare stories are really starting to freak me out. The last thing I want to do is lose a good design customer because I sold them some faulty merchandise from my new garment printing venture. Someone convince me that this technology is reliable! Please.
M&R i-dot. Has Anyone seen this? 
