I have a Brother Gt-361 and the Schultz pre treatmake III. Not a smart purchase, considering I was going to us it to suppliment my smaller screening orders. The white ink is just not bright enough and the waste costs for maintenance during down time is gross. Trying to get rid of this system but in a lease, so going to have to take a loss. If anyone even wants one with the new machine out now. I am sure this would work for a daily small order company...not mine unfortunately. Maybe if there was a reservoir for the white ink so its not constantly being flushed out during the required maintenance. ..feeling busted.
Disappointed with my Brother purchase
[Brother GT-361]
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As a fellow small business owner, I feel your pain. I'd say 90% of my business is online sales and sometimes they can be pretty sparse. This machine is better suited for retail pricing vs selling to schools or groups.
Just like anything else, thinking creatively can really save you.
White is bright if you use more ink. Cost vs Quality.
You do not have to flush the ink every time it tells you to. It is suggested because it keeps the white vibrant.
White tube cleaning doesn't flush the white, it sucks up it and then cleans.
Honestly, white is kind of a pain in the butt.
Just like anything else, thinking creatively can really save you.
White is bright if you use more ink. Cost vs Quality.
You do not have to flush the ink every time it tells you to. It is suggested because it keeps the white vibrant.
White tube cleaning doesn't flush the white, it sucks up it and then cleans.
Honestly, white is kind of a pain in the butt.
Yeah, stop doing that.
You are flushing about 10 shirts worth of white ink each time. That is a lot of wasted ink, money, and margin. The reason they want to flush is the ink separates in the tubes. This makes the ink get more transparent over time. After two days you can really see a difference in vibrancy.
Agitate the white filled lines daily even if you don't print and the cartridges every day you print. I save my orders and print them mid-week sometimes to get the best quality and least sitting time with white in the tubes. The cleaning solution can sit in the machine for quite awhile. Some people have had issues and at the last place we had a machine sit 3 weeks and the heads were fine with the solution (do at your own risk).
You are flushing about 10 shirts worth of white ink each time. That is a lot of wasted ink, money, and margin. The reason they want to flush is the ink separates in the tubes. This makes the ink get more transparent over time. After two days you can really see a difference in vibrancy.
Agitate the white filled lines daily even if you don't print and the cartridges every day you print. I save my orders and print them mid-week sometimes to get the best quality and least sitting time with white in the tubes. The cleaning solution can sit in the machine for quite awhile. Some people have had issues and at the last place we had a machine sit 3 weeks and the heads were fine with the solution (do at your own risk).
That's how were were when we just started selling online. It was really hard to make the payments.
Yes, agitate daily if the lines are filled with white. A nozzle test isn't necessary, but that's your call. It wouldn't hurt and may give you peace of mind that the nozzles are cleared.
I know of people who do the white clean once or twice a month. I personally do it weekly. The reason is the white get retracted into the cartridge and then it cleans. So that ink isn't completely wasted. Also, a new head is $1k. It would take a lot of cleaning to add up to even one head lost.
Yes, agitate daily if the lines are filled with white. A nozzle test isn't necessary, but that's your call. It wouldn't hurt and may give you peace of mind that the nozzles are cleared.
I know of people who do the white clean once or twice a month. I personally do it weekly. The reason is the white get retracted into the cartridge and then it cleans. So that ink isn't completely wasted. Also, a new head is $1k. It would take a lot of cleaning to add up to even one head lost.
Thank you for the advice, very helpful. I am currently trying to sell this machine. Now that I have the white down to perfect and the nozzle issue solved in the pre treat. Anything I print on her now will be better quality and less $ to maintain. The system need to go to someone who can use her to her full potential, she is wasted in my shop right now.
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This would be a good thread for anyone who is considering buying a DTG to read. I've never been able to justify the cost of buying and maintaining one (especially with the cut vinyl solution for single color one-off T-shirts.) At a profit of $10 per shirt I'd need to do a couple of thousand before I even paid off the machine.
I agree that for a market like CustomInk etc. or a large retail outlet that offers dozens of full color designs that DTG is the only solution that makes sense. As far as I can tell, the way to make a good profit with these is to keep them running day after day cranking out small orders of shirts with multicolor prints.
In addition, I've never been impressed with the print quality as compared to screen printing, something which could bite you on the behind if you try and convert a customer who is accustomed to screen print quality.
I agree that for a market like CustomInk etc. or a large retail outlet that offers dozens of full color designs that DTG is the only solution that makes sense. As far as I can tell, the way to make a good profit with these is to keep them running day after day cranking out small orders of shirts with multicolor prints.
In addition, I've never been impressed with the print quality as compared to screen printing, something which could bite you on the behind if you try and convert a customer who is accustomed to screen print quality.
I completely agree. My bet is 90% of small shops buying this machine will not make money. Cost is why to high to operate and maintain. I just lost both of my white printheads, ($2200+) thanks to a Brothers rep.telling me to do something. Now its out of parts warranty. If you are a small shop, Please think twice. Then Three times. It is very easy to think you will make $$$ but keep it mind if it sits for even a day you need to run maintenance or you'll be sorry.
what a load of untrue bollox.
Just look at the (real) numbers. If a small shop finances this machine for 4 or 5 years you will be looking at 20 to 25k.
This mean that you need to profit 6000K a year just to cover payments.
Lets say you retail these for $20.00- this if your lucky
Shirt cost - 3.25 for a good ring spun cotton
Pre-Treat- .75 - solution/heat press running
ink - 3.00 average at 6 cc with ink.
Labor- 2.00 7-8 shirts an hour.
Maint. 1.00 waste with tube flush/ head cleaning.( this is beign conservative)
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10.00 a shirt is realistic cost per shirt.
This gives you a profit of 10.00 a shirt. you would need to sell 600 shirts a year before you even see a penny. Last year I had 1300 prints on this my machine. I can tell you that I worked for basically just having the luxury of having this in may shop.
Now just about everyone I know has lost a white head at some point in their ownership. Thats another min. 1k. if you need to have some put it in, figure labor, driving time.
These are very realistic numbers for a small shop. Ive had ink cost as high as $6.00 a shirt.
To top all this off. Most small shops will struggle to get $20-$25 a shirt. The market is to flooded.
I would love to see a honest poll done on DTG. I am aware of three shops in my area that no longer DTG, they just outsource it.
Unless your are going to print 2000 prints a year I would say outsource it. Please prove me wrong.
This mean that you need to profit 6000K a year just to cover payments.
Lets say you retail these for $20.00- this if your lucky
Shirt cost - 3.25 for a good ring spun cotton
Pre-Treat- .75 - solution/heat press running
ink - 3.00 average at 6 cc with ink.
Labor- 2.00 7-8 shirts an hour.
Maint. 1.00 waste with tube flush/ head cleaning.( this is beign conservative)
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10.00 a shirt is realistic cost per shirt.
This gives you a profit of 10.00 a shirt. you would need to sell 600 shirts a year before you even see a penny. Last year I had 1300 prints on this my machine. I can tell you that I worked for basically just having the luxury of having this in may shop.
Now just about everyone I know has lost a white head at some point in their ownership. Thats another min. 1k. if you need to have some put it in, figure labor, driving time.
These are very realistic numbers for a small shop. Ive had ink cost as high as $6.00 a shirt.
To top all this off. Most small shops will struggle to get $20-$25 a shirt. The market is to flooded.
I would love to see a honest poll done on DTG. I am aware of three shops in my area that no longer DTG, they just outsource it.
Unless your are going to print 2000 prints a year I would say outsource it. Please prove me wrong.
If the machine sits for 24 hours you will recieve a message indicating you need some form of maintence. I have never got away for at least doing a head clean. and to top it off, If you run more then 12 prints you start losing nozzles and have to head clean to get them back. The machine seems to do it self at around 15 prints but I never make it that far before white starts fading. If you dont follow the onscreen warning and have an issue, Brothers will have you pull a log with documents every time you perforn or not perform the functions asked of you
I had the GT3 for 3 years and when I sold the machine it said it had 15000 prints. And I thought that was low. Anything less than that, I would agree that DTG is probably not a good investment. Even 2000 per year is low in my opinion.
With the GTX, I hoping to do more since it's so much faster.
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So who are you using to sub contract out?
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