[tusa]

Hello,

I'm considering adding Brother GT381 to our shop and was curious if it's possible to use different white ink. Specifically, the firebird white ink because of it's cheap price.

With epson based printers, I've been using the bulk cartridges and chip resetter.

Is it possible to find a bulk cartridges for Brother? Chip resetter?

I got a chance to take a look at the GT381 and I think I like it better than the epson based printers. However, I'm not too thrilled about the high ink prices for Brother.

 

[joeshaul]

Brother has their own unique setup. Unlike manufacturers that use modified Epson, or Epson printheads, brother has their own printheads they designed for DTG.

The main issues you will probably run into are color profiling, the Brother RIP actually exists in the machine, so no extra software is needed, or profile changes need to occur. This may tie your hands if there is any sort of color problem because of a different ink.

I don't believe the cartridges really have an ink chip on them, rather they use a float to determine how low the printer is on ink, I might be incorrect about this and there may be a chip for accounting purposes, but usually if my printer's running low, or is out on ink and I'm in a bind, standing the cartridge on end and shaking really good will usually get me a few more prints and an increased ink level. I haven't taken apart the cartridges for the 3 series yet, but looks like they'd be a bit of a pain.

Brother will most likely have some sort of loophole out of warranty if you try to pass a modified cartridge through the printer. If the ink is the deal killer for you, then you're probably best looking at an alternative. If I had to redo my purchase over again, I would look heavily into the NeoFlex as an alternative, I do not have any issues with my purchase of my GT361 though aside from a fairly high consumable cost.

 

[tusa]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm not so interested in trying to save money on cmyk inks, but the white ink only. I personally think Brother cmyk look better than dupont on white shirts. As for white, it shouldn't affect the color profiling, right? I mean, white is white?


So, you can get to the last drop on those cartridges by shaking it? No small leftover inks in the cartridges?

What do you guys do with all the empty cartridges?

Would anyone be interested in sending me an empty white cartridge for the GT-3 series? I would be willing to pay for S&H and a small tip for your troubles.

 

[Printzilla]

The ink is more per cc, but uses far less cc's for the same print than epson based machines. I think you would be surprised at the actual cost per print. When comparing my 782 to my epson based DTG's it was actually cheaper. I have not done the same with the 381 vs the Neoflex, but I bet it would be close. Hmmmmm, I guess I need to do the comparison. I will run a Neoflex vs 381 ink usage comparison.

 

[joeshaul]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm not so interested in trying to save money on cmyk inks, but the white ink only. I personally think Brother cmyk look better than dupont on white shirts. As for white, it shouldn't affect the color profiling, right? I mean, white is white?


So, you can get to the last drop on those cartridges by shaking it? No small leftover inks in the cartridges?

What do you guys do with all the empty cartridges?

Would anyone be interested in sending me an empty white cartridge for the GT-3 series? I would be willing to pay for S&H and a small tip for your troubles.

In the shirt industry, the definition of white and black can easily vary, have a couple different brand of shirts sitting next to each other that are the same "color" and all of a sudden you begin to question your sanity. In theory they should all be titanium dioxide based though, as it is the best opacity adding/white pigment, then it just comes down to a matter of dilution.

I keep my cartridges on hand, the unfortunate thing about mailing them is they're freaking long. I keep hoping I'll find some sorta recycling thing for them, but also like keeping a couple of my most recent sets on hand because there's occasional ink deposits left that can finish a job in a squeeze. I try to always have replacement ink on hand, but the new ink level indicator really sucks, you can go from full to 0 bars quickly, so as soon as the indicator moves at all from its wanna be "Full" position, I try to order and hope I get it in time. Since the ink also seems to drain differently between my two heads, I usually end up with a cart or two tagged with "still some ink left" that I tag.

I will probably be ordering up some black ink this week, I'll keep the box they ship it in and if you haven't gotten someone to mail you a white cart by then, will hit you up.

 

[techtriarch]

Brother has a cartridge recycling program on their website. They give you a shipping label to send back each cartridge in their original box.

 

[tusa]

The ink is more per cc, but uses far less cc's for the same print than epson based machines. I think you would be surprised at the actual cost per print. When comparing my 782 to my epson based DTG's it was actually cheaper. I have not done the same with the 381 vs the Neoflex, but I bet it would be close. Hmmmmm, I guess I need to do the comparison. I will run a Neoflex vs 381 ink usage comparison.

Did you ever get a chance to run the comparison?