[Stitches.Designs]

Help bought a new hm1 printer and have had nothing but trouble. Finally got it going and printed 105 white shirts back only about a 10x13 print. And used a whole small bottle of black ink. Is this normal and if so the cost is way to much. Thanks for the help.

 

[chobay]

Help bought a new hm1 printer and have had nothing but trouble. Finally got it going and printed 105 white shirts back only about a 10x13 print. And used a whole small bottle of black ink. Is this normal and if so the cost is way to much. Thanks for the help.

Kind of depends on the design, is it pretty much a solid 10x13? Are you printing double pass?

 

[Stitches.Designs]

Yes it is a solid print but not a double pass. We used over 4oz of black ink is this normal.

 

[chobay]

Yes it is a solid print but not a double pass. We used over 4oz of black ink is this normal.

100 shirts @ 10x13, using 4oz sound's like it *could* be normal. I did 100 shirts with a huge black/grey design and it was like .88 per print, although I double passed them..
What does the costing feature in you RIP program say it is per print?

 

[IYFGraphics]

I'd have to agree with Chobay, 100 shirts and used 4oz of black on a 10 x 13 design, could be correct depending on the artwork.....we buy ink by the liter (white) and half liter (16oz) for the CMYK, I keep 4oz in each bottle of the bulk ink system, while doing 100 shirts you have quite a few normal ink purges that the machine does when the chips are reset and just as a normal course of action from the Epson print engine firmware.....how much ink ended up in your waste ink bottle?

Hope this helps.

 

[Stitches.Designs]

Good question the waste bottle was about half full, just wondering if this is normal. Also where is the best place to purchuse ink, Thanks

 

[IYFGraphics]

Good question the waste bottle was about half full, just wondering if this is normal. Also where is the best place to purchuse ink, Thanks

As for the waste ink bottle, it would depend on the level in the bottle before you started, your maintenance habits (how much cleaning solution do you use that winds up there) if the bottle was empty before you started then you have a problem, if it was a quarter full then it would kinda' sound normal, we dump ours regularly as part of the weekly maintenance so I always have a rough idea of how much ink per order is going there.

If your using FastInk3 (Dupont) I believe Equipment Zone has a sale going on....FastINK Digital Direct To Garment Printer Ink | Equipment Zone They do claim to have the lowest prices in the country.

Hope this helps.

 

[Don-ColDesi]

4 oz (which is basically 125 ml) for 105 prints is roughly 1.2 ml per print - at $300 per liter that is only about 36 cents per print. That is right in the range of what is to be expected on a heavy coverage light garment print of the size you printed.

 

[chobay]

lol, who buys cmyk ink @ $300/liter.. OP, if you bought the printer brand new as you say, you may violate your warranty if you purchase ink from any distributors other than those approved by the printer vendor. The truth is that everybody knows Dupont ink is dupont ink. People will argue about how it's bottled, or whether it's degassed or not, but it is the same ink..

If you are not under warranty, check out Equipment Zone as IYFGraphics said..

 

[Don-ColDesi]

If the machine was new you most likely used a fair amount of the ink in the initial bottles by doing an ink charge, so your actual consumption on the job you described may have been lower.

 

[FatKat Printz]

Help bought a new hm1 printer and have had nothing but trouble. Finally got it going and printed 105 white shirts back only about a 10x13 print. And used a whole small bottle of black ink. Is this normal and if so the cost is way to much. Thanks for the help.

Remember that DTG is no comparison to screen printing the costs and labor are always higher.

I know how you feel when you do a big order and all of sudden your out of ink but that's why you need to make sure that your price the job accordingly.

Its very hard to compete with screen printers so don't try to.Use the "no set-up fee or no screen fee" to sell your shirts to those that want screen printers prices.

Sell them on the feel, the durability, and over time how they don't crack or peel like some screen print