[customistic]

I am finally ready to buy a DTG machine. I got approved for a lease via Brother, got the lease and it was the worst lease I'd ever read. So now I'm looking at the used machine route.

I have no idea what would be fair for a used machine. The machine I want to buy is apparently one of the first off the production line for gt-361s, being about two years old. It was not used in a shop, but more for special events, being kept in a camping trailer and carted around town. I am in Las Vegas, and it is a camping trailer so it sat in over 95 degrees more of the year than not, and I suspect it wasn't maintained as recommended.

It's coming with a Viper 1 pre treater and a heat press (I don't really need). What would be a fair purchase price for this? I've tried looking for a median price online for these used, but frankly I can't find one.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond.

 

[DAGuide]

I will provide you some feedback I have learned over the years regarding buying used inkjet printers in general. The environment the printer is stored / used in is extremely important. Most printers have plastic parts in them (i.e. ink lines, rubber gasket on capping station,...). If you store plastic pieces in very dry environments, you increase the chances that they will crack or wear out faster. Most inkjet printers do much better in humid environments. So I would pay very close attention to the plastic parts that are visible. You will also want to make sure the drain tubes are all working properly. Put some cleaning fluid in the caps and make sure they drain easily. If the plastic parts need to be replaced, you need to think about what the replacement costs are and whether a technician needs to do this.

On any inkjet printer, the print head(s) are one of the most expensive part(s) to replace. The GT-361 has 6 print heads. Make sure that you get a good nozzle check on all the print heads and run the solid print tests on each print head to make sure that you constantly get good ink flow.

You might want to also want to look at the suspension on the trailer. Depending on where the mobile events were (i.e. on a paved surfaced vs. driving on a dirt road with potholes), an inkjet printer can be shaken to the point that parts can become loose or out of position.

With the GT-3 printers, you can download the print log from the printer and send it to Brother to be analyzed. That will provide you information on how often the printer was used and what / when the maintenance was done on the printer. That could shed some light on how the printer was used / maintained.

Hope this information helps. Best wishes,

Mark

 

[tusa]

Just curious, what was so bad about the lease?

I just got the 381 and I thought the lease was fine.