DTG printer

[kico-abaco]

I'm looking for a DTG printer so any suggestionas are welcome, particularly I'd like to know if new technology that keeps white ink & head from drying is really working or it's just a marketing...

Azon TexPro vs. Kiosk?

Also I'd like to know about print durability (washing), do they both need pretreatment spray, is it possible to do dark garment print without pretreatment and how does it reflect on washing durability?

 

[binki]

i have seen nice results from the neo flex.

we have a kiosk ii for the last 5 years.

you need the pre-treat for darks but there is one for lights and i would recommend getting it.

dtg printing is a pita. i wouldnt recommend it, rather invest your money in a vinyl cutter, heat press, and screen printing. you will save yourself a lot of frustration.

if you do want to get into dtg then take a look at brother, neoflex, anajet, belquette, equipment zone and dtg brands.

good luck.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

dtg printing is a pita. i wouldnt recommend it, rather invest your money in a vinyl cutter, heat press, and screen printing. you will save yourself a lot of frustration.

I keep hearing that too. I was looking at Brother and Anajet, but after so many people talking about the headaches, I think I'll just stick to sublimation, vinyl and embroidery for my shirts.

 

[cartoad]

If you are not doing sublimation now, I would avoid it, we did that and it was a major PITA, expensive ink, paper, and products with a lot of room for error. We currently do DTG with a Brother 541, we have had a lot of problems/expenses with it. That said it is fairly easy to operate, and maintain (now that we know what we have learned a maint schedule) and most months we auctually make a few dollars with it.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

If you are not doing sublimation now, I would avoid it, we did that and it was a major PITA, expensive ink, paper, and products with a lot of room for error. We currently do DTG with a Brother 541, we have had a lot of problems/expenses with it. That said it is fairly easy to operate, and maintain (now that we know what we have learned a maint schedule) and most months we auctually make a few dollars with it.

Ink can be expensive on sublimation, but the paper isn't. At least not where I get mine. I guess that would depend on the vendor that you go to though.

 

[mark galoob]

i dont think your going to find any dtg printer that prints white ink that you are going to be happy with...the ones worth there salt like the new brother that prints white, is around 40-50k...thats a LOT of shirts you will have to sell to get a return on your investment. we have a dtg brother 541 and it is a money maker, however not being able to print on dark shirts with it is a drag, so we use other methods for that or farm that part out.

mark galoob

 

[cdiesel]

We had a TJet, and hated every minute of it. We were told by the tools over at US Screen that we just weren't using the machine enough, but even during long production runs we had nothing but problems. That was an expensive endeavor.

 

[jrsc]

we have a kiosk and had all the problems everyone is listing here: white ink problems, inconsistent output, nozzle clogs, head cleanings every few shirts and still not able to make ten shirts look the same. We recently did the belquette bagged ink conversion to it and all our problems went away. We now get great looking whites and very rarely need to do head cleanings during a print run. I'm amazed at the difference. I know in addition to replacing ink systems on existing printers belquette also makes their own printer and that is probably what we will look at when we need to replace our kiosk. you can find a lot more info on dtg printers at t-shirtforums.

 

[WDP]

We do DTG printing and I rather it than all the prep set up an messiness of screen printing. We do darks everyday and it is not a PITA at all.

 

[kico-abaco]

I'm already working with heat-press vinyl, one color screen printing and full color printing with contour cut heat-press vinyl on Roland Vp540.
Vinyl+heatpress is too much time and money, and screen printing I'd like to avoid because of prep time and messing.
I'm just wondering did they finally set up that white ink printing/head clogging, with new technology of constant white ink circulation.

In my country there are available just Azon TexPro, Kiosk III and some chinese crap.

 

[signage]

with DTG printing there are several issues when white in is added to the picture.

the white in contains titanium oxide this has a tendency to settle, some say the circulation system work some say not.

the other issue with this type of ink is jetting it through an Epson print head that was originally designed for different ink output and modified for DTG ink. So the head does not have a large enough reservoir for the white ink. So on large prints you have ink drop-outs or lower ink flowing. This is also caused by the bigger drop size for these inks on textiles, so this in-turn slows down the printing.

Some people on the older machines have said that a sealed bagged ink system has help tremendously. I would recommend getting on the T-shirt forum and reading all you can.

Good luck with what you choose to do.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Stay away from the converted Epson printers like the Azon.

 

[WDP]

AAAAAH We love our Brother printers

 

[WDP]

How about these prints?

 

[signprinter]

I bought a used Kiosk 2 years ago and after replacing all the parts that the old owner had let go, we have had very few problems. I run a test print everyother day to keep clean, put a little dtg cleaner in capping station after turning machine off and I have never had any problems with the head. Washes great if you treat it right, which does take a little learning but not much...stay away from the wagner power sprayer for treating..just makes a big mess. I use a HLVP spray gun (my husband owns a body shop so I got one of his old ones) this works like a dream as you can control the air flow and amount of treat coming out. I am pleased with my kiosk..making me money and looking foward to buying the Viper.

 

[Ruthietoons1]

Interested in sublimation, but don't know much yet. WDP, does it print only those graphics on the paper, or do you have to cut and then transfer? What model Brother?

 

[d fleming]

I'll stick with my squeegees and inky jeans.

 

[Ruthietoons1]

Ummm, yeah. Told you I know very little. DTG means you print right on the shirt... no transfers... spank me now!