# Last minute advice



## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

Hey everyone, Monday I have an appointment to look at a kiosk II and then a 
T-jet3. I went to a small shop today to sub out some DTG work today and saw some of his work on his kiosk One, I was not impressed. He seemed to still have a glossy coat around his dark shirts(pre-treatment i assume) and the colors seemed really dull almost to the point that I called swf and said forget it. But I will keep the appointment. I'm subing out a lot of orders and would like to keep some of the profit myself. Any advice ?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I myself have the HM1 and love it. Remember when looking at these machines that the majority use the same dupont ink so the colors on the kiosk are going to be the same as on the t-jet as they use the same ink. It could be that the operator that printed the sample could have altered the design to get better colors or if he cured the ink for too long this can also be a factor with fading. it sounds like the glossy look you saw is indeed the pretreatment and maybe the shirt was sprayed too heavy.

Hope this helps


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

Thanks for the reply, I didn't know that about the ink so I'm better off. I know you post a lot and i value any advice I can get. The printer that you said you have isn't that by the same maker as the kiosk? Have you heard nething about the kiosk2?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

The Kiosk is the earlier version of the HM1. I think the kiosk II is the original kiosk with the white upgrade and the white ink agitator. The HM1 is an all new design but I think the kiosk II is just the kiosk with upgrades. And yes the HM1 is also made by dtg america.

Hope this helps


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

Yes the DTG Kiosk II would be a better comparison for the T-Jet2.
You also should compare the DTG Kiosk HM1 to the T-Jet3.


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

Does any of you have any pros or cons about either of these machines?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I own the HM1 and I can say the things I love about my machine are the auto height adjustment with the laser gap, the white ink agitator, the deep print bed and of course I think it prints great  The print speed is pretty good and the rip software and maintenance utilities are fairly easy to learn.


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

Some people refer to the DTG HM-1 as the Kiosk 2, so its probably the same machine. 

OR, the Kiosk 2 might be referring to a slightly upgraded DTG Kiosk machine which has no valves and a few other slight improvements. The HM-1 is where the print head assembly moves over the t-shirt while the original Kiosk machines have a tray which moves under the printhead.


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## csquared (Sep 8, 2006)

If you are thinking about going the T-jet way I would look at the Blazer express instead of the T-jet3


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## adawg2252 (Dec 12, 2007)

csquared said:


> If you are thinking about going the T-jet way I would look at the Blazer express instead of the T-jet3


I own a TJet 3 and I agree. The Blazer Express is the way to go if you're just looking for a one at a time method. The Tjet3 is restricted to a 12.5" x 17" print size, while the Blazer Express is 16" x 20" 

It's also based off the Epson 4880, and the TJ3 is the Epson R1800. Much smoother bed movement as it has a different guide rail and drive system.

I love my TJet3, but it definitly has drawbacks when you put is aside the Blazer Express.

Good luck!


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

thanks everyone, The T-jet dealer doesn't have a blazer up and running to show me. I think Ill go and see the Kiosk2 and wait on the T jet till the ISS show in orlando next month. And the Kiosk 2 that they want to show me in a referbished Kiosk1 with the adjitator and valve upgrades. 10,000 with new warranty. One thing that I really like is that SFW is 30 minutes away and thats a big help(I hope)


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

How much is the Blazer compared to the DTG Eclipse?
I saw the Eclipse at the So Cal DTG office, it was pretty amazing.
1 Pass through the machine in about 2 minutes and you have a completed print on a black shirt.


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

The Blazer Is About 25,000 Wich Is Out Of My Range, But They Have A Blazer Express That Took The Place Of The T-jet3 Wich I Was Just Told They Dont Make Nemore.


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## csquared (Sep 8, 2006)

The Blazer Express cost almost 19k with a print area of 16' x 20' and is a large table top unit. I do not know the price of the Eclipse but I do know it has a print area of 12' x 21.2' and is free standing. Having the two print heads is an very interesting idea but it would be nice for that large of a machine to have more print area.


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## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

> One thing that I really like is that SFW is 30 minutes away and thats a big help


If your in the Tampa area you are welcome to drop by Belquette and run a Flexi-Jet for an afternoon, this may help you when comparing different platforms.

Mark


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## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

I agree Chris. The Eclipse is very well made, Prints fast, produces amazing white underbase, but is still limited to a smaller print size.


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

MARK, I'm interested in taking you up on your offer. I haven't given flexi much of a thought after I requested a sample from them and the black started to peel off after the first wash. I didn;t know if it was just bad luck or what but it scarede me away from them. I'm assuming that you are having better results. By the way, I have clients that don't want to wait for my dicision. Anyone around Tampa interested in doing some DTG work or ink transfers?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

it sounds like the sample you got maybe did not have proper pretreatment or the ink was not cured long enough. The flexi also uses the dupont ink so it should work the same as the other machines using it. The only real difference in these machines are functions and print bed size, the consumables are the same except for a few such as the kornit, the brother and I think there is one other that uses different ink but I cant think of it right now.


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

direct advantage uses a sawgrass ink, that might be the one. Do you use a flexi?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

That is the one I was talking about  No I have a HM1 and after much research I found this one had all of the features I was looking for. I do wish it had the larger print bed but I usually dont have a problem with printing what I need with the size of my printbed. My machine had a few options that none of the others had so the size of the bed was one of the things I compromised on because the other features were more important to me. A few of the things that were really important was the auto height adjustment, the deep print bed and the aggitation system for the white ink. I could not find another machine that had all of those features.


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## rjausburn (Nov 17, 2007)

Thanx Bobbie, I'll ask about that one as well.


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