# DTG Beginner, Which Machine to Buy ? Where to find info ?



## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

Hello,


Sorry but I am new and wonder which DTG printer to buy to print just few Tshirts a week (2 or 3 tshirts a day).

Could you tell me where I can find some info ?

Thank you so much.


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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

The quantity that you want to print are not sufficient to maintaine a DTG printer. Those printers need to print every day 20 -30 t shirt or you will expierience printhead clogging and other issues.


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

BangkokShopper said:


> Hello,
> 
> 
> Sorry but I am new and wonder which DTG printer to buy to print just few Tshirts a week (2 or 3 tshirts a day).
> ...


You will want to outsource to someone who does DTG printing. There is not enough quantity to justify a machine purchase.


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## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

Thank you, I didn't know this point !

We have customers who want to launch a Tshirt shop and they were thinking that it would be good to invest in a DTG printer rather than large stock of Tshirts and then make the tshirts depending on orders that they will get.

But at first they won't have enough Tshirts to print, so as you said the only way is to outsource the printing ?

Do you think that some companies accept to make few Tshirts a day at a good price ?

We are located in Bangkok / Thailand and making Tshirts the "classic way" is cheap here but we must order at least 10 Tshirts for 1 design, and this is what our customer didn't want because he will have hundreds of designs.

Any other idea ?

Thank you for your help.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

Outsource plastisol transfers of each design and press designs as shirts are ordered.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using T-Shirt Forums


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## jgabby (Mar 29, 2007)

I thought in your country they were making real cheap Epson modified dtg printer.


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## BandPrints (Feb 4, 2007)

Transfers work well, also try looking into an Oki White Toner Printer. I have heard good things on these.


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

BangkokShopper said:


> Thank you, I didn't know this point !
> 
> We have customers who want to launch a Tshirt shop and they were thinking that it would be good to invest in a DTG printer rather than large stock of Tshirts and then make the tshirts depending on orders that they will get.
> 
> ...


Maybe you can try heat transfer. 2-3 shirts is good enough to use heat transfer because the time is enough. Heat transfer may take you 15 minutes to finish a shirt and maintenance cost is lower. 

By the way, I am from Malaysia. The cost at here also cheap for screen print and minimum normally 20 pcs. DTG is not so famous here. How about you there?


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## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

DTG is still expensive in Thailand and not so famous because labor is so cheap that the classic screen way of making Tshirts is always prefered...


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

BangkokShopper said:


> DTG is still expensive in Thailand and not so famous because labor is so cheap that the classic screen way of making Tshirts is always prefered...


i thk not because of the cheap labor. Because the main thing is the difference between screen print price and dtg price. For example in US, screen print price is still cheaper a lot than dtg price. I think the main thing is purchasing power of US people. They can afford higher price and they rather choose the better quality.


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## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

DTG printing is not as good as screen printing ?


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

BangkokShopper said:


> DTG printing is not as good as screen printing ?


In quality, DTG can has better color and more color compare to manual screen print. But auto screen print machine can make good color too.

But the main disadvantages of DTG are ink is far more expensive than screen printing. maybe 10 times expensive. for example, the ink cost to make one shirt for screen printing is 3 baht, dtg needs 30-50 bahts. 

But good things is if people want less than 10 shirts or 20 shirts and want fast. screen printing cannot do that. So you can ask them to choose DTG. if let say you have a lot demand on 8 shirts then you have better disadvantages. 8 shirts you can easily earn 800 bahts for one order.


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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

Screen printing will be more durable.


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## BangkokShopper (Sep 24, 2013)

Yes, I am reading about DTG printing and it seems that there are too many quality problems and the Tshirt will be dead faster, right ?


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

BangkokShopper said:


> Yes, I am reading about DTG printing and it seems that there are too many quality problems and the Tshirt will be dead faster, right ?


every business will have problem. The things is you have to solve it. If not, they won't be so many successful dtg printer and printing service available in the market.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> You will want to outsource to someone who does DTG printing. There is not enough quantity to justify a machine purchase.


 @kevrokr this is an interesting comment. What volume do you think would justify a DTG machine purchase?

Why wouldn't 2-3 t-shirts a day justify it? Do you just mean in turns of paying back the equipment costs?


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

Rodney said:


> @kevrokr this is an interesting comment. What volume do you think would justify a DTG machine purchase?
> 
> Why wouldn't 2-3 t-shirts a day justify it? Do you just mean in turns of paying back the equipment costs?


Not only by not having enough work to recoup your investment, but also to keep the ink (white ink particularly) flowing through the machine. When you're not using the machine on a daily basis, you are allowing the white ink to settle in the ink delivery system. This will cause issues down the line and you will be on the phone with technical support wondering why your machine isn't working properly.

I guess to properly answer the question, what would you want out of the machine on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Are you trying to form a business around the machine? If so, you will want to be sure that the machine is profitable. Is it an addition to an already established business? If so, the machine does not have to be nearly as profitable but you will spend precious time doing extra maintenance to keep the ink flowing. Some people work out of their homes and some people are running out of a store front. Obviously, you will need the machine to be more profitable if you have rent, electric, and employees to pay.

I do have customers that have larger shops which already do screen printing and embroidery, and while they are building the digital side, they will only keep CMYK ink in the machine and let the white ink orders build up until they are ready to load the white ink and fulfill those orders. When the white ink orders are finished, they will remove the white ink and fill those channels with flushing solution to keep the system running smoothly.

But to answer your question, you COULD do 2-3 shirts per day and keep the machine running. I'm trying to keep this post generic and non-promotional, but we do have a ROI calculator on our website that would help in making these types of decisions: https://www.belquette.com/index.php/dtg-info/roi-return-on-investment


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Not only by not having enough work to recoup your investment, but also to keep the ink (white ink particularly) flowing through the machine. When you're not using the machine on a daily basis, you are allowing the white ink to settle in the ink delivery system. This will cause issues down the line and you will be on the phone with technical support wondering why your machine isn't working properly.


Thank you, that makes sense.



> But to answer your question, you COULD do 2-3 shirts per day and keep the machine running.


So, as long as you're printing at least 1 t-shirt a day, that would be enough to keep the ink flowing (not settling)?


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

Rodney said:


> Thank you, that makes sense.
> 
> 
> 
> So, as long as you're printing at least 1 t-shirt a day, that would be enough to keep the ink flowing (not settling)?




Our recommendation is to try running at least one dark shirt a day. Instead of just wasting a shirt and a print we suggest that the customer put together, or source out, a great looking design that has their company name, web site, phone number on it. If they don't have any orders to do that day they should just run a shirt with the promotional design on it. This way they build up a sample shirt pile to give out to potential customers to demonstrate their capabilities.
_


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## kevrokr (Feb 26, 2007)

Rodney said:


> So, as long as you're printing at least 1 t-shirt a day, that would be enough to keep the ink flowing (not settling)?


You will still see settling in the ink lines no matter how many shirts you print. It's just that you will see an acceleration in the build-up if you are printing such a small amount. Even with an ink circulation system, the heavier elements in the ink will settle out, and without regularly flushing the lines, you will eventually get ink starvation.


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## suffix (May 3, 2011)

Just a comment on the durability of DTG prints compared to screen prints. I will agree that overall, screen printing, on average produces a more durable print. But, if you slap down close to $5 of ink on a dark garment...that print has the potential to be here after the end of human existence on Earth  I have some shirts I printed for myself personally, and Im pretty sure the cheap G2000 its on will fall to threads before the print degrades. Just my 2 cents.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

suffix said:


> Just a comment on the durability of DTG prints compared to screen prints. I will agree that overall, screen printing, on average produces a more durable print. But, if you slap down close to $5 of ink on a dark garment...that print has the potential to be here after the end of human existence on Earth  I have some shirts I printed for myself personally, and Im pretty sure the cheap G2000 its on will fall to threads before the print degrades. Just my 2 cents.



We're on the third generation of d-t-g inks. At this point we have found the durability and washability to be similar to screen printed garments. We have employees who everyday wear shirts that we have printed - many that have probably been washed 50 up to 100 times. As you mentioned about your prints, some of the shirts are getting worn out but the prints still look great.
_


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## FulStory (Jun 5, 2013)

equipmentzone said:


> We're on the third generation of d-t-g inks. At this point we have found the durability and washability to be similar to screen printed garments. We have employees who everyday wear shirts that we have printed - many that have probably been washed 50 up to 100 times. As you mentioned about your prints, some of the shirts are getting worn out but the prints still look great.
> _


Hi, one question, can I mix 50-50 pretreatment to print cmyk on light shirt to get the better washability? the pretreatment is use for white ink.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

FulStory said:


> Hi, one question, can I mix 50-50 pretreatment to print cmyk on light shirt to get the better washability? the pretreatment is use for white ink.


You probably should start a new topic for this question


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