# Arakis Textile DTG Printer



## rejoice (Jun 7, 2007)

There are many brands of DTG printers around... I have come across Arakis as they are local in Sydney and that is a bonus. Now I want to go and meet with them to see what the story is and get a better insight of the technology behind these DTG printers and how easy they are to use.

I'm not a computer genius, let alone technically savvy... I do know how to click 'print' after I have opened up a vector/jpeg/etc file, now is operating an Arakis DTG machine that easy? Is the hard part the maintenance?

From what I have heard is that to get a new DTG printer will cost you no less than USD $10,000 and then some for maintenance and the 'learning curve'. Is this the case? And do you have to buy them outright or can you put them on a lease/finance situation as you do with novated lease with a new car for your company?

If anyone has experience with Arakis textile DTG machines... then post some of your insight and try to answer some of my questions if they make any sense. I am in love with DTG for some weird reason and would love to have my own little operation to start with instead of contracting the printing out (even though I know this is how I'll have to start).

One more thing, when I visited my local DTG printer he had a nice setup... apparently it cost him $300,000... now after he printed the t-shirts, they went through a pizza oven looking machine that was hot like an oven would be... is this to cure the ink into the shirt for a better finish?


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

The Arakis is a 4800 Epson head based model if I remember correctly. There was a fair bit of talk about it earlier on another forum but that sort of died off when it was harder to find more information on this printer. Its not as mainstream as the DTGS, T-jets, Flexis and brother. I haven't really heard from anyone who has used this machine apart from the the manufacturers.

What's makes it different is that Arakis are using their own inks as posted by Jay earlier. I thought they were using Nanojet inks but I guess Jay will elaborate on that.

In Australia you're looking at $17,000 to $20,000AUD for the basic machines. You dont need to be tech savy but it SURE helps. The initial learning curve is quite high as you need to learn the processes, maintain the hardware and also learn the RIP software. You need to be somewhat computer literate in order to run these machines else you will run into problems constantly and the solutions are not always that simple. Having said that though, all it takes is time for someone to learn these machines.

If your local DTG printer has a $300,000 setup then I'm 95% sure that he'll be using a Kornit machine. Totally different step up from the Arakis and other printers. That pizza oven thing you saw was simple a conveyor belt drier used by screenprinters and high-production DTG. Its for curing the ink on the t-shirts once they have been printed (else they'll just wash out).

Who is your local printer btw? This is the first I heard of a Kornit installed and running in Aus.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

I saw the Arakis at the SGIA in Las Vegas last year. The machine never ran like we were told it was going to. If fact, they were still setting it up on the first day of the show. The inks were not profiled for it and they had some registration problems with getting the 2nd pass to re-line up with the first one. The concept of a conveyor belt DTG is pretty cool if it could be done with accuracy. One of the challenges is the belt itself. Ask any screen printer and they will tell you that the belt on their dryer stretches. They same can be said for all machines that are belt driven. I also was not a huge fan of the platens that they had at SGIA - just my opinion though. Saying this, all of these issues could have been fixed. About 4 months ago or so, Jay posted a video on ScreenPrintingUniversity.com that showed a 2-pass print on a couple of shirts. So, things have probably changed in the last year as expected.

Since it sounds like they are close to you, it might be a good thing for you. Support is a big thing for all the DTG machines. And please don't under-estimate the amount of maintenance (TLC) that is needed to keep these machines going at full strength.

As for the local printer, it could either be larger 2-platten Kornit (most likely) or the Fast T-Jet HV (not sure if any of them were sold outside the US).


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## rejoice (Jun 7, 2007)

My local printer would be Garment Printers Australia and Greg is the man to speak to. It's quiet an impresive setup and by the sounds of things will use him for my printing (when I'm back from the US in Nov/Dec) as I am not prepared to fork out $20,000 just yet and then some more for the learning curve... could be fun but not just yet.


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## anewbeginning (Oct 11, 2007)

DAGuide said:


> I saw the Arakis at the SGIA in Las Vegas last year. The machine never ran like we were told it was going to. If fact, they were still setting it up on the first day of the show. The inks were not profiled for it and they had some registration problems with getting the 2nd pass to re-line up with the first one. The concept of a conveyor belt DTG is pretty cool if it could be done with accuracy. One of the challenges is the belt itself. Ask any screen printer and they will tell you that the belt on their dryer stretches. They same can be said for all machines that are belt driven. I also was not a huge fan of the platens that they had at SGIA - just my opinion though. Saying this, all of these issues could have been fixed. About 4 months ago or so, Jay posted a video on ScreenPrintingUniversity.com that showed a 2-pass print on a couple of shirts. So, things have probably changed in the last year as expected.
> 
> Since it sounds like they are close to you, it might be a good thing for you. Support is a big thing for all the DTG machines. And please don't under-estimate the amount of maintenance (TLC) that is needed to keep these machines going at full strength.
> 
> As for the local printer, it could either be larger 2-platten Kornit (most likely) or the Fast T-Jet HV (not sure if any of them were sold outside the US).


Its the Kornit. And the conveyer belt dryer only cures the ink on some brands of tees they print on, I have had quite a few of my prints wash out from them.


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