[bahstonsox]

I am looking to print a bunch of 2-3 color designs on dark shirts on a daily basis.

Since I want to keep no inventory I need a print on demand system with minimal setup costs.

Since the designs all are going to have white in them I would need a DTG with white ink.


My options are either a DTG printer or a print & cut system (have the heatpresses already)..

Anyone have insight on what option is best for us?

 

[MotoskinGraphix]

Are you just going to do tees or do you have other business options with a print and cut system. Well you have them but are you going for car wraps, signage, decals, poster, brochures etc?

 

[bahstonsox]

Yes, we would use it for stickers, signs, etc..

But our primary interest is for t-shirts and discovering if the quality is good enough.. We screen print our goods now and I don't want a huge drop in quality if that is possible..

 

[MotoskinGraphix]

If you have the ability to screen print then a print and cut system would probably best serve the sign end of things. Do you do the screening or farm it out to a printer?

 

[gspotstudio]

My advice, go with print and cut like a roland vp-540. Granted it's more expensive than a DTG printer but I've yet to find a DTG printer that performed well on dark shirts. And, while your focus might be on t-shirts right now, the expanded opportunities with a printer/cutter is a great advantage for your business. If you have any questions about what to choose, give the guys at Advanced Color Solutions a call.

 

[bahstonsox]

Would you recommend the 540 or the 300 for us..keeping in mind we wont be needing to do large prints but will be gang sheeting transfers..

R-

 

[tkriney]

How many shirts a day do you plan to print?

 

[gspotstudio]

That's really up to you and your budget. A friend once said, "there's no such thing as a printer stretcher." point is, if you can afford it, go bigger. the options, especially if you see yourself printing banners are greater.

 

[bahstonsox]

Probably will be doing 20-30 shirts per day....and 20-30 stickers...

 

[treadhead]

I think the image from the print / cut system would be more vibrant and detailed BUT even some of the better materials out there (i.e Opaque Solutions) still have somewhat of a plastic feel to it.....especially for higher coverage designs. The way around that is to keep alot of open area in the design to minimize this effect.

Just my thoughts.....

 

[Gary E]

The Roland system looks good, but is there a less expensive Print and Cut system out there?

 

[vlcnmstr]

go for the print and cut-- you can avoid the white ink issues (and even the best admit they are there and you have to run the machines constantly to avoid them) till in the future they fix it. you can also add silver ink and then expand into decals, stickers (bumper and other), window clings, wall decals and art and so many other things. this can give you the opportunity to cross sell on the spot. and to do one - offs of all of them without trouble. they come in for a t shirt, maybe you can add a tote, or hat or window cling of the same graphic and your biggest challenge is resizing the graphic for each. with dtg you do get a far softer hand, but only can do flat items that can fit through the printer.

 

[scuba_steve2699]

I would agree on going with a printer cutter system such as the Roland - there are a few preferred vendors on this forum that can help you get pricing and options with them that will fit your needs.

 

[scuba_steve2699]

The Roland system looks good, but is there a less expensive Print and Cut system out there?

The BN20 is the lowest on the market with an MSRP of $8500