hi, before i bought the dtg machine i did a lot of research on this site and found many post helpful so just passing along.
first expectation... i own a tshirt retail shop. we sell tshirt, plain and with designs. i also do heat transfer, vinyl, plastisol transfer. i did embroidery but took too long and not enough profit margin so i sold the machine. i outsourced all the screen printing orders to a local shop. but lately been getting a lot of 5-20 tshirt orders so been researching dtg machines.
after extensive research.. i narrowed down to brothers gt series or gtx or the epson f2100. looking for a machine that requires low maintenance (this is complimentary of my existing business) ease of use (a lot of 1 off prints) and speed.
brothers seems like its faster and more designed for large production run and higher maintenance if you dont have high production run so i decided on the epson.
first of all the cost of dtg machine is not just the printer. (my mistake, its the printer, extra ink, maintenance kit, pretreatment, pretreatment machine and a solid computer)
so far i printed around 500 shirts with the epson f2100 just under a month and so far.. pretty happy with the purchased.
using garment creator you do have to tweak the settings and do a lot of practice with different designs with colors to see what works for you. currently im also using cbreeze and still testing it out.
what i dont like about garment creator i noticed that the white doesnt lay down much white in the first pass and too much in the second. and the curing is a lot more tricky because of that. so far cbreeze seems to be better with that.
speed.. over the weekend i just finished 170 shirts and i wish it was faster haha but while its running it gives me time to do other things like pre treating shirts, etc.
maintenance.. in the beginning it was a hassle just because i wasnt use to it. but now its fine.. each morning we shake the whites, and its true it takes like 10 mins to start up it gives me time to do other things like refill the humidifier, turn on the pre treatment, turn on the computer, etc. and 30 mins before we close up, i clean the print cap etc and its like 7 mins total. now its almost second nature.
pre treatment.. what i learned is that pre treatment is everything. figuring out the amount, and how many times is an art.
you can have the perfect logo and set up on the garment creator but if pre treatment is off then your shirt will be off.
wash ability.. its been holding up well but one thing i didnt like is artwork with a lot of white.. makes the shirt feel too heavy. almost like vinyl like. so that was interesting but it held up well. (i also tell all my customers to wash in cold water, inside and hang dry and if you do otherwise then its on you and most accepts it. they pay $20+ so the customers are eager to know how to wash properly.
online help.. this forum did help a lot when i was struggling with the quality in the beginning but i noticed that everyone is different. what i mean is it depends on the brand of the shirt, pre treatment technique, what brand of pre treatment, image quality, garment creator setting, and curing and here in dry california i found out later humidity matters.
i have a box full of shirts that i wasted to test (a lot of tears) but now that i got a handle on things i see bluer skies and i do not regret my purchase.
hope this review help for folks on the fence
first expectation... i own a tshirt retail shop. we sell tshirt, plain and with designs. i also do heat transfer, vinyl, plastisol transfer. i did embroidery but took too long and not enough profit margin so i sold the machine. i outsourced all the screen printing orders to a local shop. but lately been getting a lot of 5-20 tshirt orders so been researching dtg machines.
after extensive research.. i narrowed down to brothers gt series or gtx or the epson f2100. looking for a machine that requires low maintenance (this is complimentary of my existing business) ease of use (a lot of 1 off prints) and speed.
brothers seems like its faster and more designed for large production run and higher maintenance if you dont have high production run so i decided on the epson.
first of all the cost of dtg machine is not just the printer. (my mistake, its the printer, extra ink, maintenance kit, pretreatment, pretreatment machine and a solid computer)
so far i printed around 500 shirts with the epson f2100 just under a month and so far.. pretty happy with the purchased.
using garment creator you do have to tweak the settings and do a lot of practice with different designs with colors to see what works for you. currently im also using cbreeze and still testing it out.
what i dont like about garment creator i noticed that the white doesnt lay down much white in the first pass and too much in the second. and the curing is a lot more tricky because of that. so far cbreeze seems to be better with that.
speed.. over the weekend i just finished 170 shirts and i wish it was faster haha but while its running it gives me time to do other things like pre treating shirts, etc.
maintenance.. in the beginning it was a hassle just because i wasnt use to it. but now its fine.. each morning we shake the whites, and its true it takes like 10 mins to start up it gives me time to do other things like refill the humidifier, turn on the pre treatment, turn on the computer, etc. and 30 mins before we close up, i clean the print cap etc and its like 7 mins total. now its almost second nature.
pre treatment.. what i learned is that pre treatment is everything. figuring out the amount, and how many times is an art.
you can have the perfect logo and set up on the garment creator but if pre treatment is off then your shirt will be off.
wash ability.. its been holding up well but one thing i didnt like is artwork with a lot of white.. makes the shirt feel too heavy. almost like vinyl like. so that was interesting but it held up well. (i also tell all my customers to wash in cold water, inside and hang dry and if you do otherwise then its on you and most accepts it. they pay $20+ so the customers are eager to know how to wash properly.
online help.. this forum did help a lot when i was struggling with the quality in the beginning but i noticed that everyone is different. what i mean is it depends on the brand of the shirt, pre treatment technique, what brand of pre treatment, image quality, garment creator setting, and curing and here in dry california i found out later humidity matters.
i have a box full of shirts that i wasted to test (a lot of tears) but now that i got a handle on things i see bluer skies and i do not regret my purchase.
hope this review help for folks on the fence