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So what is the genesis?

[MOD-1 DTG] 
65K views 177 replies 43 participants last post by  ABM 
#1 ·
Any clues? Seems like all of a sudden it is Epson's dtg world. Heck even belqutte is selling it. I am a little surprised to see a new generation coming out.

Thanks.
Brent
 
#139 ·
Yes, we had slated this for an earlier release. Since we have built everything from ground zero including coding, we've ran into a few situations that slowed us down and a few that took longer than expected. We are currently working on our first production model to test out the manufacturing process and any final tweaks we need before going into full production. I'm not sure people really understand the monumental task we've been working on but it's much greater than taking someone else's technology and using that as a base. This is the way we used to do it, but with the Genesis, we no longer have a reason to use that method. After this product is released, we'll be able to work on more features for it and begin working on future products.
 
#141 ·
It's not that we don't understand the task....it is you teasing us by showing at shows before it is anywhere near ready and quoting spring to summer of 2015 last year...I still think you are on to something with this printer but eventually people have to make a purchase. I myself am building a new building in the spring so I am holding off buying equipment since I do not have the room anyway...so I am still with you...I will say it is a good decision to get it right before releasing it to the public. Most people can not afford a $30k mistake. I wish you well as you guys seem to operate with good intentions. Just a little over promising and under delivering on this project...but keep the updates coming so we at least know the status!

Thanks.
Brent
 
#143 ·
We do appreciate the feedback. There really isn't a need to go into full details of how and why it was delayed. The bottom line is, just like you said, we don't want to release a $30k mistake. So far, the product is very promising. We could have released the product over a year ago if we would have hired an integrator to do the work for us. Of course this would have added $10-$15k to the price tag. Our goal is to make this product extremely simple to use at an affordable price.

Everyone can lecture us how we fumbled our deadlines, but the reality is, all of our dates were generalities. And yes, since hindsight is 20/20, we all can now see how we announced the product too early. There isn't a company in the world who wants to have this product released more than BelQuette. We simply can't compromise what we are doing now just to release the product.

I will say though, there are features that won't be on it out of the gate so it's not delayed any further than it already has been. The plus side of this is the features will be software related, so we can push out updates as they are developed and tested.
 
#142 ·
Brent, I don't think Belquette is interested in trying to quickly fill the needs of people who are "eventually needing to make a purchase". This is a printer they are trying to make as perfect as possible before it hits the public. They also never made any promises. If you take a look back they have given estimated dates but never a promise. Unlike some other companies out there they have not taken pre-orders and sat on your money for a year while trying to beta test and fix any arising issues with their product.
 
#145 ·
I was pretty excited about this product and I still am.

When I first started doing DTG in 2011, I thought to myself, "why can't these manufacturers add a dedicated line for the maintenance/cleaning fluid???"

Well, I really do hope that all the white ink maintenance and headache is figured out with this machine.

I guess I will keep waiting. Thanks!
 
#146 ·
We would have bought one at ISS in orlando had it been ready. The model that was there had an issue and wouldn't print. We also asked for a printed sample well before the show and have yet to receive one. So we've had to rethink our short term dtg plans.

I still think this is a very promising machine and I will be watching very closely when it does finally launch.
 
#155 ·
Nothing gets by you! The price hasn't changed but since we've had more than one occasion where the listed price wasn't looked as "significantly under", I felt it best to remove the wording.

As for 2015, since it's 2016 and we hadn't released it yet, the obvious needed taken care of. That being said, we did have some set backs, but the positive side is some of those setbacks have led to critical discoveries. ;) All I can say is we have been working on this daily to get to market. It's obvious our original announcement was premature, but every day we work harder to bring it to market.
 
#157 · (Edited)
The discoveries are more at the technical level and are what is stabilizing the platform for consistency. It's boring on the surface, but very exciting under the hood.

Currently we have no plans of moving away from DuPont. One of the alluring features of Image Armour is their 35 second cure time. We've been playing around with the newest DuPont inks and we've been able to cure at 35 seconds as well. That combined with the more brilliant colors and reputation, we hadn't moved away from DuPont.
 
#159 ·
So does Ricoh buying Anajet put a kink into the works? They wouldn't pull your right to use their print head would they? Surely you have a multi-year deal with them but makes me a little nervous if they are issues with the print heads down the road...thanks.
 
#160 ·
I can definitely understand your concern, but Ricoh's business structure is not aggressive toward "competitors" using their heads. In fact they sell direct to them and some of their competitors sell their printers for over $100,000! We can only guess why they made this purchase but we can say confidently (as defined by their history) they did not do it to shut down any competition using their print heads.

We have a great relationship with Ricoh as does many of their other partners. We plan on continuing this relationship in the years to come.
 
#162 ·
Hi Jeff, at this stage I can tell you we are so close. Every week that goes by we can look at our progress and see where we are at. We've been building out beta units, but now we are starting our build out of our final production unit. Even though we are close, I don't have a time frame just yet. With each advancement it could accelerate the process or continue on. When I speak of advancements, etc., I'm not referring to features, those could be added as we go. Advancements have to do with stabilizing the platform to a point of walking away from the printer for any amount of time and coming back later with no concerns.
 
#165 ·
We've been working on speeding up the printer and we feel pretty good at where we are now. Our prints are coming out better than ever! Before anyone asks :), we are anticipating this quarter barring any unforeseen issues. Once we know for sure, we'll announce it on our site. I'm always reluctant to give dates only because building a printer from scratch with no help from anyone has proven a much larger task than we initially believed.

Our engineers have incredible talent but unfortunately we don't have a massive engineering staff, so we are doing what we can and still being able to sleep is important! At this stage, it's literally just a race against the clock.
 
#167 ·
I am waiting. Mainly because I am building a new building so I have room for it...but also after years of looking I think this is the closest we will come for a few years to being ideal...if they can deliver on the promises.

Every solution out there has flaws. This is not perfect but to me they are taking the best ideas and combining them into one machine.

fast for DTG
easy maintenance
proven ink
edge pretreat machine
internet of thing so they can monitor the machine
reasonably priced ink

DTG is just a piece of the puzzle...we do sublimation, screen print transfers, roland transfers, cut vinyl, etc...you need the right tool for the right job.

Good Luck!
 
#168 ·
Quite disappointed. In 2014 I really thought that it is the machine I should be aiming for, but now it's hard to believe, that they are trying to make a "perfect" machine, sounds more like a failed project to me, if the engineers delayed it for another year. Anyway, I hope their machine will be on the market someday and it will be way better than Epson's crap.
 
#169 ·
a76, we appreciate your feedback, regardless of how it paints our company and product(s). I know you are not maliciously coming against us, I simply take it as a disappointment. I can assure you, this is not a failed project. We have every intention of moving forward in releasing the Genesis yet this year. I can't even begin to describe what a monumental task it is to build a printer from ground zero and make sure it functions exactly the way it needs to. We don't rely on any other company to do this. To my knowledge, there are only 3 companies that have succeeded in the direct to garment market to build a printer from nothing and not use any outside sources for their engineering and driving the print head. These companies would be Brother, Epson and Kornit. And now, us.

Yes, we debuted this product in 2014 and it has taken us much longer to come to market than expected. The printer was printing then and it continues to print now. Unfortunately, we released the information too soon and since people don't know what it takes to do what we are doing, I can understand the frustration and the unknowns. That being said, I had written a draft on updates to be released hopefully this week. We wanted to go over it well enough to ensure the information is accurate and to give everyone an update as well as a plan.

Up to this point, we had given generalizations of when we want to release the Genesis, but had never set a firm date. The update will give a semi-firm date, the first date we have quite a bit of confidence in.

Rest assured, we will release the Genesis and it will be much easier and advanced than anything on the market. Stay tuned for the update....
 
#171 ·
We are finishing our first production unit by today/tomorrow. We have a few more we are building and putting them back into the hands of our beta users. Without going into too much boring detail, we did redesign a few key components from the beta unit to the production unit and it took us a couple weeks longer for programming than expected. We've have multiple people working at all kinds of crazy hours to make this happen.

We are definitely getting much closer, but until we hear feedback from beta sites, I'm reluctant to give any solid dates. The great thing is, changes needed, at this stage, should be software and not hardware. So worst case scenario, when the Genesis gets pushed out, if there are bugs not yet known or squashed, then we push updates to the printers.

I haven't had much time to visit this site and without much visual change, it was hard to give an update. That being said, as we move further along, I will try to give a more solid update.

Thanks for your patience!
 
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