# 3d printer vs garment printer prices.



## anewbeginning (Oct 11, 2007)

So i've been looking around at 3d printers for a while and noticed you can buy a brilliant one for $2100, with prices coming down all the time.
My question is why are garment printers so expensive in comparison as they're essentially oversized inkjet printers?
I'm no engineer but love creating things. I think the industry could be shaken up if a kit printer became available with the use of opensource software similar to these 3d printers. I spend half my time trouble shooting this printer anyway. What better way to learn the ins and outs of your machine than by building it from a kit.


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## sunoracle (Jul 1, 2010)

I have been engaging on 3D over one year. 
What type of 3D printer are you means, the price of 3D printer is totally different, and the result is also much different.
I think you mean reprap. The hot spit materials 3D printer are the most low-end, do not have any practical usage. Its much like a toy.


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## anewbeginning (Oct 11, 2007)

sunoracle said:


> I have been engaging on 3D over one year.
> What type of 3D printer are you means, the price of 3D printer is totally different, and the result is also much different.
> I think you mean reprap. The hot spit materials 3D printer are the most low-end, do not have any practical usage. Its much like a toy.


I realise their uses are limited, but its the fact that you're able to print in a 3d space for a fraction of the cost of printing onto a 2d space. Sure its a different process, but the whole scene is a lot younger than the dtg industry and appears to be growing extremely fast due to the open source community and competition with resolution and speed of 3d prints increasing. 
With garment printers it seems like its years between upgraded machines that cost many thousands more for what is essentially a print head laying down ink as fast as possible where most of the research and development money would appear to be spent in the inks and print head design. 
This is all speculative as I don't have the slightest clue about dtg printer development, but from my point of view these printers seem overpriced due to lack of competition.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

anewbeginning said:


> This is all speculative as I don't have the slightest clue about dtg printer development, but from my point of view these printers seem overpriced due to lack of competition.


As a manufacturer of direct to garment printers, I can say this is not the case with our company. There's plenty of competition to drive the cost down, but the innovations in the dtg realm are what help drive the cost up. The R&D is very large. A 3D printer will not shut a company down if the system goes down (unless all you do is 3D printing), yet a direct to garment printer can especially with new companies starting and investing only in dtg. So the cost to try to figure out how to make a printer function well with ease of use and maintenance and to support it costs money. This is what help drives the price up. I'd also add the cost of a well built, easy to use 3D printer with low maintenance is much higher than what you quoted and the cost of supplies are high.

In tshirt printing, you have to consider what a company charges to sell shirts to make fair comparisons.

Average price for a light garment to print with the shirt included is $2.50, yet companies are selling them for $15-$20 a piece. A dark garment may cost around $5-$6 and are being sold for $20-$25.

After everything we have to put into a printer, including tech support and r&d, I wish we could get anywhere near those margins.....


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## dragonknight (May 30, 2009)

My new project is a 3D Printer..but instead using a hot paste with low resolution result (not too good), I am researching of the use of powder resin or liquid resin 3D printer(the mechanism almost the same with DTG Printer that has a moving printer and stationery platen).


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

dragonknight said:


> My new project is a 3D Printer..but instead using a hot paste with low resolution result (not too good), I am researching of the use of powder resin or liquid resin 3D printer(the mechanism almost the same with DTG Printer that has a moving printer and stationery platen).


IMO, I'd be careful. The lawsuits are already starting in the 3D printer world. Kickstarter was sued because they funded a project for a 3D printer. My guess is, these companies have much deeper pockets than the dtg realm and are not afraid to throw around lawsuits.


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## anewbeginning (Oct 11, 2007)

Thanks for the input Jerid. I don't mean to bash on the industry as we're all in the business of making a dollar, but I hope you understand where i'm coming from with regards of perceived value of the printers disregarding the cost of supplies. 20k for a printer that prints 2d images on a t-shirt...and 2k for a printer that prints actual stuff in 3d!


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