[Tanja]

For those of you who own and operate the Brother GT 541 - are you happy with your investment? Any regrets? Difficulty in machine use? Maintanence issues? Anything you can share would be GREAT! The cartridges intrigue me since this looks so very slick - no mess! Thanks in advance for your input.
Tanja

 

[joeshaul]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

Owned mine for a few months, no complaints. My black nozzle clogs frequently, but that could be due to being in a dry area. One small maintenance problem I had, where the platen goes in and out, a piece of cardboard snuck it's way down underneath, I noticed the platen not pulling all the way back and found it, so easy enough fix. Haven't had any problems with the prints, some customers have requested darks or black, I use printable heat press vinyl as an alternative (I disclose the difference of course, and let them feel samples). If you can afford it, it's a great machine.

 

[mbeebs2000]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

Tanja
I just ordered mine I won't get it delivered for a few weks will len you know
Search the forum there are a lot of comments and opinions about the brother It is hard to find negitives
Biggest complaint is that you cant print on black
The opinions on this forum were a big help in making my decision
Good Luck
Matt

 

[martinwoods]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

I have had mine for over 2 years and love it. No regrets. (other than no white ink)
I have not had any maintenance issues. It is a great machine

 

[Robin]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

We've had ours over a year now. No regrets!! No issues!!! I love it!!!!

 

[mumzie]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

Best decision we ever made.
Period.

More specifically - it's like printing money.
No issues - other than cleaning it once in a while, and learning how to adjust artwork for the best print quality.

One caution - be ready to play with artwork and toss a bunch of samples before you get designs ready to print.

 

[abmcdan]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

What is your ink cost per shirt? I'm curious if it is higher or lower than machines with Dupont ink.

 

[joeshaul]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

What is your ink cost per shirt? I'm curious if it is higher or lower than machines with Dupont ink.

As always, depends on the design and what not. I'd say average of around $1.25. Small things like Left Chest logos and names usually less than $0.30, did one the other day for $0.06

 

[specialta]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

Even with Pre-Treatment you still cannot print on Black shirts...?

Thanks..Kevin

 

[Robin]

Re: Brother GT 541 owners

Even with Pre-Treatment you still cannot print on Black shirts...?

Thanks..Kevin

no. The brother doesnt print white ink.

However for anything needing to be done on dark shirts, I use plasticol transfers or heat press vinyl.

The majority of our stuff is all light color t's...so this isnt much of an issue.

Even when it is, we can work around it and not have to turn a customer away.

 

[embroideryu2]

We're also looking at purchasing a GT-541. Our remaining question pertains to printing on color. For instance, if we want to print yellow on an aqua shirt, do we just use yellow ink or do we need to figure out aqua plus what color equals yellow?

 

[Robin]

We're also looking at purchasing a GT-541. Our remaining question pertains to printing on color. For instance, if we want to print yellow on an aqua shirt, do we just use yellow ink or do we need to figure out aqua plus what color equals yellow?

its always best to print a color chart on the color t-shirts you want to print on. This will give you a very accurate visual.

 

[Tanja]

So, Robin, and those of you with experience using this machine...how difficult is it to print on colored shirts? Do I need to be a mathematician in color? I guess it was naive of me to think it was automatic - like the HP printer next to me. I was hoping becuase of the cartridges this process would be easier than the other digital printers out there. What's the learning curve out there? Any comments to this?? Thanks - we'd appreciate your help! Tanja

 

[akaratemom]

Had mine over a year. We are also in a dry location. Keep your humidity up. We run a humidifier in the room. Had to replace a print head after leaving it for a week on vacation in the dry winter. Other than that, love the machine - no problems.

Printing on color - if the ink color is darker than the shirt color, it will show up. the color will be affected by the shirt color. You can print black on almost everything - except black. On dark shirts, colors will look almost black. The inks are semi transparent so light colors won't show up on dark colors.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Robin]

Do I need to be a mathematician in color?

lol probably would help But the machine will give you a few options before printing. You can choose, white, grey, blue, yellow and pink. The machine will adjust for these t-shirt colors.

I am going to be printing on several different color t's today, with the same image. If I remember I'll post a few pictures for you to see how they look.

 

[Robin]

do you have a seller in your area? I would highly recommend going and seeing the machine in action!! If not, check to see where the closest one is, and make a mini vacation out of it. If you are going to spend $20,000 on the machine, going to see it action is a small investment.

 

[XYLisa]

I've had mine for several years and still love it! If I had more time I'd try printing other things than tees with it....my son did print 120 coasters a couple weeks ago and they turned out awesome.

 

[trendlogo]

I've had my Brother for 2.5 years and have been mostly happy with it. Supplies, parts and ink are very expensive - ink cost is my biggest complaint. I have a 54" Roland printer that uses eco-solvent ink. I print lots of large banners with solid backgrounds (full coverage over white banners material), I pay about $60 for each cartridge (cmyk) and the cartridges seem to last forever.

I wish someone else offered ink for this machine - as long as Brother is the only supplier, the price will remain unreasonably high.

 

[martinwoods]

I agree the ink is high as well as the printheads but if it not having any problems and it prints great I don't see the problem. I just adjust the cost of my shirts or whatever I am printing to cover my costs. I do not see why everyone has such a big issue with the ink costs. Raise your prices and be happying printing trouble free with no down time like some of the other machines that have lower ink costs.

 

[trendlogo]

I'm not having any problems with my car and it runs great, but that doesn't mean I'm happy or satisfied with paying $4.89/gallon for gasoline. Bottom line is - if you are the only game in town, you can pretty much charge whatever you want and that is exactly what Brother is doing. If I were the only shirt-shop in town, and there were no internet service available, I'm certain I could charge $50 a shirt and still stay in business. If there were quality ink alternatives available, I would certainly explore them.