[mgarick]

OK..

Here's the question.....We own a monogramming shop in MS and currently do embroidery, laser engraving, sublimation, pressure vinyl and heat transfer of twill. We are looking into a DTG machine because our t-shirts business has picked up since we have been doing the heat transfer on shirts...We laser cut our logos and names in the twill and press on shirts...We have to weed the logos after we laser them and this is taking a lot of time..Took 1 1/5 days to do 50 shirts and we do usually one color prints....would we be better to get the VersaCamm and print on heat press material and be able to do colors....or is the DTG the better bet??? I have a junk Vinyl cutter and we do a LOT of window stickers and the Versa cam would just add to it but Seem like the print to garment would do much better graphics...

 

[theflowerboxx]

You're not going to get the quality "feel" on a Versacamm compared to a DTG machine and you're still going to have to weed the printed heat press vinyl. Why haven't you used plastisol transfers, they are simply silk screen on paper. Also if it took you over a day to do 50 shirts and you say "we" then something is definitely wrong. While I love my printer (Roland SC-500) I wouldn't want it as my main cutter, it gets to be a PITA to load and unload vinyl, it's not as easy as a little 24" vinyl cutter. With all that being said, I wouldn't trade my printer for anything as it opened up A LOT of different avenues for business.

 

[mgarick]

You're not going to get the quality "feel" on a Versacamm compared to a DTG machine and you're still going to have to weed the printed heat press vinyl. Why haven't you used plastisol transfers, they are simply silk screen on paper. Also if it took you over a day to do 50 shirts and you say "we" then something is definitely wrong. While I love my printer (Roland SC-500) I wouldn't want it as my main cutter, it gets to be a PITA to load and unload vinyl, it's not as easy as a little 24" vinyl cutter. With all that being said, I wouldn't trade my printer for anything as it opened up A LOT of different avenues for business.

"WE" Meaning me.....it is just me and my wife running this show....and between running the store and printing...it took 1 1/2 day. How we do the shirts now are we take the logo and convert to line are and the laser will cut the vinyl heat press paper...I then have to weed it...and if the logo is detailed this is time consuming...we can also product multi colors much like a screen printer but in heat press style.

 

[theflowerboxx]

Yes but plastisol transfers, you design the design send it away to a company and have them screen print them on paper, they send them to you and then you press them with your heat press for about 8-10 seconds. You can do 50 of them in about an hour.

I know the feeling about you and the wife running the show, that's how my wife and I do it, well she does our flower shop and I do our graphics, vinyl and t-shirts. I hardly ever do any more than 12 shirts with heat press vinyl anymore, anything over that and it's plastisol unless it's a very easy weeding design.

 

[IYFGraphics]

OK..

Here's the question.....We own a monogramming shop in MS and currently do embroidery, laser engraving, sublimation, pressure vinyl and heat transfer of twill. We are looking into a DTG machine because our t-shirts business has picked up since we have been doing the heat transfer on shirts...We laser cut our logos and names in the twill and press on shirts...We have to weed the logos after we laser them and this is taking a lot of time..Took 1 1/5 days to do 50 shirts and we do usually one color prints....would we be better to get the VersaCamm and print on heat press material and be able to do colors....or is the DTG the better bet??? I have a junk Vinyl cutter and we do a LOT of window stickers and the Versa cam would just add to it but Seem like the print to garment would do much better graphics...

As someone who owns both a Versacamm and a DTG printer when it comes to doing low quantity high quality tees nothing beats a DTG printer, we use to do tees with our Versacamm but never like the hand of heat pressed vinyl, most of our customer were happy with it but we were not. two things to consider, first the Versacamm opens up quite a few opportunities for parallel sales, from car wraps to banners, custom printed vinyl, decals, along with heat applied vinyl, second the DTG can only do apparel and some textiles a much narrower profit window if you follow me.

In our case we bought a Versacamm first, it paved the way for us to build our shirt business to the point we could buy a DTG printer, now we are looking at a ROI on the DTG of about 18 months.

Hope this helps.

 

[ayukish]

Most are ok with the hand of a transfer printed with a Versacamm. I'd request a sample of a printed and applied sample to see if you think it is acceptable. Given the investment you're looking to make, you want to make sure it's going to be what you want.

Given your current business, the Versacamm seems like a natural fit. The versatility would be fantastic for you!

 

[mgarick]

Yes but plastisol transfers, you design the design send it away to a company and have them screen print them on paper, they send them to you and then you press them with your heat press for about 8-10 seconds. You can do 50 of them in about an hour.

I know the feeling about you and the wife running the show, that's how my wife and I do it, well she does our flower shop and I do our graphics, vinyl and t-shirts. I hardly ever do any more than 12 shirts with heat press vinyl anymore, anything over that and it's plastisol unless it's a very easy weeding design.

Thanks for the input...I will have to look into this...I though the dtg was in order but we was contacted buy i think equipment zone saturday and they was suspose to call us back today and see about the veloci jet but they haven't called back so other routes need to be taken....any other good dtg machines out there...

 

[IYFGraphics]

equipment zone saturday and they was suspose to call us back today and see about the veloci jet but they haven't called back so other routes need to be taken....any other good dtg machines out there...

If you are on the fence about any DTG printer you need to step back and think it through, besides the fact that it's a major investment that MUST pay for itself in sales.

To answer your question....yes, lots of very good DTG machines on the market at different price levels, best advice would to be read the threads here on TSF about real users experiences with the their printers, the support from the distributor, and any warranty issues.

Then ask questions....lots of them.

Hope this helps.