Are you happy with your T-Jet?

4996 Views 37 Replies 8 Participants Last post by FatKat Printz, Oct 25, 2010

deenacheri

Discussion Starter · Sep 2, 2010 (Edited)

Looking at several different printers.
I want one and I need one NOW.
Do you have any regrets for buying and using the T-Jet2 and if you could trade it for another one, which would you trade for and why?
All pros and cons suppose to purchase one tomorrow but now I'm not sure if it's the right choice?
thanks all,
deenacheri

also:
Thanks for all your responses and advice, i've been reading and reading and reading some more on these for the last year.
now im ready to buy. i found a anajet fully reburbed but without warranty, training and heat press, so im not really saving any money!!
my question now is....
how long does the shirts last after washings? 10, 20, 50 washings and is there anything that i could do to make them last longer?
thanks again
deenacheri

1 - 20 of 38 Posts

Psychobilly

· #2 · Sep 2, 2010

I've had the T-jet 1 for a few months now. It took a few weeks to get it dialed in. I've never used any other DTG printers so I can't compare. Also, I don't do production with it.

The key is doing all the little things, keeping it clean, ink levels, keeping it clean, did I mention keep it clean?

Overall pretty happy. I guess it would depend on what you're going to use it for.

jpat

· #3 · Sep 2, 2010

deenacheri said:
Looking at several different printers.
I want one and I need one NOW.
Do you have any regrets for buying and using the T-Jet2 and if you could trade it for another one, which would you trade for and why?
All pros and cons suppose to purchase one tomorrow but now I'm not sure if it's the right choice?
thanks all,
deenacheri

Hello,
I have worked on all brands of machines here in our office and I can tell you that they all have the same print quality. However, the older the machine the more maintenance needed. The newer machines have better head cleaning systems and white ink recirculation. The bottom line is just more maintenance. If you don't mind spending an extra 10 minutes a day maintaining the machine, then a used one is a good deal. Just stay away from the T-3 model now because it is difficult to get parts.

IYFGraphics

· #4 · Sep 2, 2010

deenacheri said:
Looking at several different printers.
I want one and I need one NOW.
Do you have any regrets for buying and using the T-Jet2 and if you could trade it for another one, which would you trade for and why?
All pros and cons suppose to purchase one tomorrow but now I'm not sure if it's the right choice?
thanks all,
deenacheri

We have owned a T-Jet2 for about 15 months, are we happy with it? Yes very much so, we did a lot of research before buying and although we had existing T shirt customers we didn't feel we had the customer base at that time to spend $20k on a brand new DTG printer.

We have had almost no problems with our T-Jet, we knew before we bought it what was going to be required to keep it printing, and have followed a maintenance routine that has kept the printer working great.

We now have the business (customers/orders) to justify a new printer but will probably at least for another year continue with our T-Jet2 simply because of the uncertainty of the economy and the fact that it works, why fix something that's not broken?

As far as Cons? well it's slower then the new machines, the print area is smaller than a lot of the new machines, but the print quality is just as good as any of the new Epson based printers.

Having said all of that......before anyone buys/invests in any DTG printer they need first of all to do their research, make sure your buying the right printer for your business, but more importantly you need the clients to buy the shirts first to justify the expense....any DTG printer is expensive to run, they require a lot of TLC and attention, there is a pretty steep learning curve to produce nice prints and frankly to get to that point your going to waste a lot of ink and shirts figuring it all out....so be prepared.

We have produced almost 3000 prints on our T-Jet2 in the last year, it has made us money and more importantly paid for itself in a short period of time (ROI).

Only other point is....buy a machine from a reputable company, so you have a warranty and tech support which is just as important as the printer you buy, we bought ours from Equipment Zone and couldn't be happier with the machine, the service, and the people we have dealt with there.

Hope this helps.

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Reactions: 2

spiderx1

· #5 · Sep 2, 2010

The Tjet 2 is a work horse and reliable. Sister to the Kiosk. Based on same epson 2200
To help with ink issues the bagged ink can help even though it uses carts vs dampers. If you are new to the DTG world the learning curve is steep and it helps to have tech support. However it can be done buying a used machine off the street. Realize all Tjets are used as the company is out of business. If not buying refurbished from a dealer expect some repairs right away.

deenacheri

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 3, 2010

Thanks for all your responses and advice, i've been reading and reading and reading some more on these for the last year.
now im ready to buy. i found a anajet fully reburbed but without warranty, training and heat press, so im not really saving any money!!
my question now is....
how long does the shirts last after washings? 10, 20, 50 washings and is there anything that i could do to make them last longer?
thanks again
deenacheri

IYFGraphics

· #7 · Sep 3, 2010

deenacheri said:
my question now is....
how long does the shirts last after washings? 10, 20, 50 washings and is there anything that i could do to make them last longer?

We have never had a problem with the wash ability of any of our prints, with the proper techniques the print should last as long as the shirt, I will admit we have seen some of our white shirts that the colors have faded but when asking about how they were washed in every case the shirts were bleached.

We have company shirts that are well over a year old that have been washed at least 30 or 40 times and the colors are just as bright as the day they were printed. The biggest problem with wash-out or fading is normally from improper pretreatment/curing, or improper curing of the print.

Once you get your routine down you'll be able to produce long lasting prints with an DTG printer as long as the customer washes them correctly.

Hope this helps.

Reactions: 1

SaintsDesigns

· #8 · Sep 4, 2010

Im also thinking about a T-Jet 2 and am also new to DTG printing ...

Please can someone explain when it says you may need a spray gun .. what for and what kind ? I assume its for pre treatment on dark, but but what exactly is pre treatment ? and do they mean a compressor spray unit or a plastic atomiser spay gun ?

Does the pre treatment effect the material in any way ?

Many thanks for any advice

SaintsDesigns

· #9 · Sep 4, 2010

Ah I found this, which has sort of answered my question ...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUkA7NIHElE[/media]

IYFGraphics

· #10 · Sep 4, 2010

SaintsDesigns said:
Im also thinking about a T-Jet 2 and am also new to DTG printing ...

Please can someone explain when it says you may need a spray gun .. what for and what kind ? I assume its for pre treatment on dark, but but what exactly is pre treatment ? and do they mean a compressor spray unit or a plastic atomiser spay gun ?

Does the pre treatment effect the material in any way ?

Wagner power sprayer, used to apply pretreatment to all pretreated garments (not just dark) like this

[media]http://www.equipmentzone.com/Images213wagner/wagnercontrolspray.jpg[/media]

The pretreatment when cured leaves a bonding agent on top of the fabric so the white ink (underbase) isn't absorbed into the fabric.

Typically you pretreat the shirt in the area to be printed, cure the pretreatment in a heat press, load the shirt into your printer, print the underbase (white ink) in one pass then the printer will reload (second pass) and print the CMYK on top of the underbase, you remove the shirt and cure the print....wala!

Hope this helps.

Reactions: 2

SaintsDesigns

· #11 · Sep 5, 2010

Cheers,

Looking at that gives me an idea my other half has a fake tan sprayer she doesnt use ... I think I can use that

jpat

· #12 · Sep 5, 2010

IYFGraphics said:
We have never had a problem with the wash ability of any of our prints, with the proper techniques the print should last as long as the shirt, I will admit we have seen some of our white shirts that the colors have faded but when asking about how they were washed in every case the shirts were bleached.

We have company shirts that are well over a year old that have been washed at least 30 or 40 times and the colors are just as bright as the day they were printed. The biggest problem with wash-out or fading is normally from improper pretreatment/curing, or improper curing of the print.

Once you get your routine down you'll be able to produce long lasting prints with an DTG printer as long as the customer washes them correctly.

Hope this helps.

Hi Jon,
Its good to hear that you are not having any fading issues. Do you give the customer any washing and care instructions? If yes, what are they?

jpat

· #13 · Sep 5, 2010

IYFGraphics said:
Wagner power sprayer, used to apply pretreatment to all pretreated garments (not just dark) like this

[media]http://www.equipmentzone.com/Images213wagner/wagnercontrolspray.jpg[/media]

The pretreatment when cured leaves a bonding agent on top of the fabric so the white ink (underbase) isn't absorbed into the fabric.

Typically you pretreat the shirt in the area to be printed, cure the pretreatment in a heat press, load the shirt into your printer, print the underbase (white ink) in one pass then the printer will reload (second pass) and print the CMYK on top of the underbase, you remove the shirt and cure the print....wala!

Hope this helps.

Hi Jon,
When pretreating, do you have a spray booth? Do you block the spray from hitting the areas you dont want to pretreat?
Do you ever spray the garment first with water? What shirts do you like best for pretreating and printing?
We have found that some Hanes shirts give us an uneven pretreat. Have you found that to be true as well?

IYFGraphics

· #14 · Sep 5, 2010

jpat said:
Hi Jon,
Its good to hear that you are not having any fading issues. Do you give the customer any washing and care instructions? If yes, what are they?

Not on any of our wholesale sales, but on the retail side yes.

Verbiage is : Proper care of your custom decorated garment is very important to the life of the print, Hand washing and line drying is the best way to protect your garment - If you must machine wash please follow these instructions: Turn the garment inside out (printing on inside), wash in cold water, NO Bleach, mild detergent, delicate cycle. Drying: garment inside out, low heat, delicate cycle.

90% of our DTG production is bagged and tagged either with our inserts or with the (our) customers inserts, we also on any pretreat shirt include a insert stating that the garment has been pretreated and should be washed before wearing.

When pretreating, do you have a spray booth? Do you block the spray from hitting the areas you dont want to pretreat? Do you ever spray the garment first with water? What shirts do you like best for pretreating and printing?
We have found that some Hanes shirts give us an uneven pretreat. Have you found that to be true as well?

We have a home made (Gildan box) we use as a booth, it is outside, we use the Wagner power sprayer to pretreat large batches of shirts, but have in the last few months also started pretreating with a .99 cent spray bottle for short runs and find that it works just as well, in both cases we seldom spray water on the garment first but we do cut our pretreatment with distilled water at about a 20-80% ratio, if doing a left chest then we only treat the left chest area, same with the back of the shirt no need to waste pretreatment.

As far as shirts....we use Gildan 2000 for almost all of our wholesale sales although we have used FTL, Anvil, Jerzees, Bella and Hanes we pretty well stick with the Gildan because they have a wide range of colors/sizes and have little shrinkage although we'll print on any brand of shirt that's compatible that the customer wishes.

Hope this helps.

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casperboy77

· #15 · Sep 17, 2010

deenacheri,

If you do goto purchase a DTG printer give Harry Oster a call at Equipment Zone. He did real well taking care of me and he spent a lot of time on the phone with me and helped me a lot with my purchase of a T-Jet 2. One thing I worried about was the software, that turned out to be a breeze. The software was the least of my issues. My biggest problem was trying to get a 120 pound crate up a set of stairs with my wife, lol. Then when I got it up there I have one of those wooden folding tables, I put the T-Jet 2 on there and almost broke the table, lol.

My best advice is to right off the bat buy spare parts when buying your machine. You don't want to be like me paying $70.00 for shipping to have a part here on Saturday overnight.

Good Luck, keep us posted.

SaintsDesigns

· #16 · Sep 17, 2010

casperboy77 said:
My best advice is to right off the bat buy spare parts when buying your machine. You don't want to be like me paying $70.00 for shipping to have a part here on Saturday overnight.

Good Luck, keep us posted.

What spare parts ? are they prone to break ???

IYFGraphics

· #17 · Sep 17, 2010

SaintsDesigns said:
What spare parts ? are they prone to break ???

There are parts on every DTG printer that are considered "consumables" like the print head, capping station, encoder strip, cartridges, ink lines, etc. Not necessarily prone to breakage, but are wear items that have a life and death cycle depending on how your machine is used/maintained the cycle varies....and sometimes things just quite working.

Always a good idea to have a spare laying around if your going to own a DTG printer.

Hope this helps.

casperboy77

· #18 · Sep 17, 2010

Well the good news is that most of the parts are cheap. The Capping Station, Pump, Wipers, Encoder Strip, Encoder Strip Spring are really cheap and good to have on hand. The print head on the other hand cost a couple of hundred dollars.

I was following the manual to a "T" (I thought) and have to replace some parts that I don't have in stock. Just as with a car it is good to have a spare tire instead of getting a flat and having to call a tow truck. It is a machine and all machines need parts repaired from time to time. but to answer your question if they are prone to brake wouldn't be fair for me to say. I have only had my T-Jet 2 for about 6 months and have only made about 30 shirts. While it is true I am down at the moment I believe my problem is that it sat the whole time I was on vacation and the capping station dried out. So I really hope they aren't prone to break, and I highly doubt that they do. A lot of business have DTG printers and make lots of money with them so if they were a bad investment then they would wouldn't still be around and used today.

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SaintsDesigns

· #19 · Sep 18, 2010

Im in the Northwest of the UK and im still trying to make a decision on whether or not to buy one.

We are a new business on this front, mainly doing graphic and web design.

So far we have been doing a few Vinyl shirts for stag and hen weekends, also a few laser transfer images sold on ebay.

You guys who are doing really well and are experienced, where do you get most of your sales from to justify the expense of owning a DTG, I would like our business to move more in this direction, as we have a fair bit of down time between projects. also we are now moving into licensed work and have been offered exclusive use of a few designs from another company.

Many thanks for any further advice. sorry if ive digressed and this is in the wrong part of the forum.

IYFGraphics

· #20 · Sep 18, 2010

SaintsDesigns said:
So far we have been doing a few Vinyl shirts for stag and hen weekends, also a few laser transfer images sold on ebay.

You guys who are doing really well and are experienced, where do you get most of your sales from to justify the expense of owning a DTG, I would like our business to move more in this direction, as we have a fair bit of down time between projects. also we are now moving into licensed work and have been offered exclusive use of a few designs from another company.

Many thanks for any further advice. sorry if ive digressed and this is in the wrong part of the forum.

So how many shirts a week or month do you sell, and can you increase those numbers? that's the questions that need to be answered to justify the expense of buying, owning, and getting an ROI, everybody's business model is different.

But to own a DTG printer it needs to print shirts not sit waiting for orders, even a couple shirts a day can work out depending on what you can charge for one-offs, or print on demand services.

Hope this helps.

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