# What do you think about the new ink-jet T-Shirt Printers



## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

Many companies are starting to come out with those ink-jet t-shirt printers. SWF has one out. I don't think they would do good in a mall but in a amusment park where kids get the airbrushed hats and such. Even in a shop in a high tourist area (Stone Harbor, NJ I'm real close to there) There's no setup or screens to burn. No emulsion either. The only problem is they only print on lights preferably white. When they figure out how to print on black it will be cool. What do you think?


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

I have never tried one, but I love the idea. Im saving up for one myself!


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

Yea I'm serioiusly thinking about getting one.


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

They're way too expensive to be worth it IMO; Heat transfer is MUCH cheaper for nearly the same quality.


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

You do have a point there.


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

Theyre expensive, but my hope is that they will go down in price when their not such a hot new invention anymore....like the dvd player did.


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## Adam (Mar 21, 2005)

Have you got any links to these please? Keen to see one


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

http://www.swfeast.com/screen_printing_equipment/inkjet_printer_1.html

SWF's "T-Jet"


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## Adam (Mar 21, 2005)

I want one! That must be what CP have just invested in. I wonder how long it takes to set up as time is money is this business!


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

A guy selling the Brother T-Shirt Printer made me a shirt at the Atlantic Ciry ISS show it was like 5-10 minutes he also already had the design. Of course the T-Shirt said Brother Garment Printer good sample though what you do is you load the t shirt then after its done printing you put it under a heat press for a few seconds to dry the ink. Long enough to dry short enough to not scorch the shirt. The best part is that there is no hard artwork and no more printouts. Well of course you're going to print it out on plain white Paper for sizing but at least white paper is much cheaper then 1 dollar velum. The one claims it can print on darks don't remember who though.


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## TJLewis (Jul 26, 2005)

These machines look great. I notice we have a distributor here in the UK so I'm going to take a look asap.
I've used sublimation for some time now, gave up printing onto T-Shirts due to inaceptable results. Are these machines really as good as they look?
Justin


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## CK (Aug 8, 2005)

I am really interested in finding informtion about what printers are available and what they can and can't do. If anyone has any info or links please advise.

Monterey Bay Embroidery
Thanks
CK


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Personally, I'd say wait until they drop to a more reasonable price and possibly until they can do more. As it is, they can't do much more than regular heat transfer methods and cost a LOT more.


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## Bougie (Jul 12, 2005)

The bottom line is can you make more money with this thing than other methods?
Does it have any advantage that makes it worth spending $11,000 on?


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

Well I don't know much about it, but I imagine you can at least A> save money on buying transfer paper and B> save time printing directly. You supposedly can also do dark_er_ shirts, but still nothing past a medium shade AFAIK.


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## FatHamsterGirl (May 21, 2005)

Bougie said:


> Does it have any advantage that makes it worth spending $11,000 on?


People will pay for convenience. If I had an extra 11,000 bucks lying around I so would!


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## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

Me too. I just think it would be great to be able to print one shirt without burning screens and lining them up. No ink mes either. I think its great just a little pricey. They'll come down porbably eventually.


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## jdr8271 (Jun 16, 2005)

11,000 is too much for me to spend right now too. If they came down to 2-3000, Id probably buy one.


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## TJLewis (Jul 26, 2005)

I got a few sample prints through. They look really good, definition is very good and colours seem quite vibrant (I know a double pass with the printer makes them a lot brighter) only real problem I could see with the samples was that the colours seem to bleed around the edges.

UK dealers want around $18,000 believe it or not! I won't be buying until proces drop considerably. I think if they cost up to $5,000 I could justify getting one, they really do look useful. I guess we'll have to watch this space for the price drops!

Justin


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## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

For all out there that's considering this new trend in direct to T-shirt printing, I have a cost effective solution. FYI my company had developed this technology some time ago. I recently decided to make them available, they are all based on quality Epson parts. These machines are priced at a fraction of the cost of others and are in all respects the same thing, they may look different on the outside but the insides are the same. For the first wave of orders we can make you a great deal. Please check out and compare apples to apples on our web site. For additional information please contact us directly. This will become a standard in the very near future for most types of garment printing. Because we are the designers of the machine we can tailor one to suit your needs. I also have an ink set with custom profiles that rival screen inks.

http://belquette.com/pages/5/index.htm


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## buddha (Aug 14, 2005)

These have really been out for sometime now. They have come a long way in quality.

I first researched these for the task of printing short runs for my screenprinting shop,since setting up an order of 5 and some times one shirt was too time consuming.

I came to the conclusion that for me personally it was not worth the investment. 

Just think, how many shirts would you have to sell to pay for the equipment.

Now they are getting close to breaking the black Tshirt hurdle but untill then I realy do not see the advantage of the printer over the traditional heat press method. Well maybe the fact that you do not have to trim the design, but that does not make up for the time it takes to print the image...much quicker the traditional way.

Just my 2 cents. You can check out www.screenprinters.net and log onto the forums there and talk to people who actually use these things. Plus the Screen Printing Institute also sells them and will gladly answer any of your questions.

Ronnie


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## Cotton (Aug 21, 2005)

Belquette,

It's good to see another manufacturer entering this market. As far as I researched, US Screen Print was the only one that was somewhat affordable. Fast T-Jet, Mimaki and Kornit

Are the epson heads that you are using, commercial ones? Also, what type of support is your company offering as far as getting it up and going. From the forums at US Screen Print, I know there are some issues. 

I watched a video, showing this technology, it was looked into long ago in Europe. I can't remember where I saw it, but it was a large combersome machine that printed and cured as the same time.

Now that is something that you should look into. Some type of UV fabric ink. If you could get that built into your system...now that would eliminate the need to heat press or conveyor dry the shirts.


Thanks
cotton


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## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

Cotton,
The print head used in most of the of textile machines are the same heads used in your desktop printer with the exception of a few using Spectra heads yielding big $$$.
Our machines carry we a standard 1 year warranty. 
This machine is as easy as printing on your desktop printer. Just place the t-shirt around the feed tray and feed it in from the back of the unit like a piece of paper it comes out the front, no fancy linear feed systems to break, just a bare bones system that’s works.

Mark


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## tra517 (Aug 27, 2006)

Belquette, hi! I am an artist and I own a fine art publishing company. We use epson 9600s and epson 9800's for printing our art onto canvas... unfortunately ours can't print onto clothing. I am interested in learning more about the dtg machines you are manuf with epson parts. I went to your site, is the flexi-jet the machine you are talking about? I would like to have more info if you would like to post it here or email me. thanks! shell


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

I know people talk about how much they cost and I agree, they are more than the average printer. What sold me on the idea was the instant printing capabilities. There was someone who had one of these machines and used it over a 4 day period at a bicentennial in their town.

They took samples and an order form around and took orders for custom on the spot printing. In 4 days, they CLEARED over $20,000 on that one machine only. This is where the advantage is. It's a niche market that once tapped into, the first kid on the block with them has an advantage.

The problem is, so many people buy a machine (regardless of what machine it is) and think the money is going to come rolling in. It doesn't happen that way in business. Just like anything else, you have to do the work. It just so happens that these printers do the work very well.


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

I think purchasing this type of machine is ideal if you get a contract to put out shirts where using such would be the way to go. We purchased a Kodak CLC copier in the 90's for $ 65k to fill a big job with photo transfers. Mind you that 5 years later this machine was worth 20 cents on a dollar. 

So one thing to keep in mind is the speed of new tech our days and its depreciation factor. 

To buy one and simply expect the jobs to come rolling in because of it may be a little risky.

It is a great machine mind you.  

my2c.


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

Depending on what machine you buy you can offer Contract Printing to others that don't own a machine. I saw someone posted on another board she had done 10,000 prints (may be more i'm stating this from memory) in less than a years time and was operating like a quick copy shop. The customers come in bring their shirts and she prints on them. She also printed for others that had shirts shipped to her. She just charged for the ink and a bit over for her profit.

There are many ways to make your $$$ back beside just doing your "own shirt line". As for the price of these machine coming down any time soon... Don't count on it. You may see "cheaper models" enter the market but as with all things eventually some will fade away. 

I will say you don't want it too cheap because then your neighbor can buy one


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