# At the risk of being repetitive: how do I evaluate a DTG machine?



## Wags (Jan 28, 2007)

Hello. I ran across this forum by accident while trying to research DTG printing. What a fortunate accident. 

I know this question has been asked to death. I know, I've read some posts here. I have just recently began thinking about getting into the T-shirt business. Now let me explain why and what we are currently doing.

We are a small print shop with only one 2/c press. We serve the local area doing mostly short print runs. Our main business is pre-press services for a very large private label food packaging business. This includes much graphics work which requires us to use Macs (my personal favorite) and use all the latest design and layout software. 

Since we already have a very powerful front end for design and layout, I feel it is a natural step to include T-shirt design. We receive calls all the time asking whether we print T-shirts so why not. My question, please bear with me, is what would best suit our company. I have contacted SWF about the DTG printers they sell and they have sent me samples. I am very impressed with the quality of print but after reading some of the posts here I wonder how they were printed. I'm sure they were printed using a double pass to make the color "Pop". I have talked to the salesman and found him to be helpful or at least as helpful as he can be with a garment printing virgin like myself.

Can anyone give me a direction on how to evaluate these different machines and the inherent down time and costs associated with each machine. 

Thank you for your kind help.


----------



## crsmith (Jan 1, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

Welcome to the forum Wags,

Sure someone will be able to answer your question.


----------



## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

A warm welcome to you Wags.

James (vtec44) just bought a DTG at the ISS show in Long beach.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/direct-garment-dtg-inkjet-printing/t10256.html

I think it's best if you can attend the next one, as you can see for yourself all the DTG's available and can make your decision from there.


----------



## Arboristsite (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

Also keep in mind that the images you get from a sample isn't usually what you get from a consumer. They send you images from web pages etc. They don't show up near as clear. Sometimes you have to touch them up a bit or reject them and tell them they have to upload a certain dpi.


----------



## mrad (Dec 23, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

don't know where you are located but there is an ISS show in Atlantic city coming up


----------



## Wags (Jan 28, 2007)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

Thank you for the warm welcomes and quick responses. I am located in Illinois ..... Southern Illinois 6 hours from Chicago. I would love to go to a show if I can pry myself away from my computer. 

Arboristsite, I know what you mean about customers supplying sub-standard art. I've had to deal with 72 dpi web images and customers wanting to use highly compressed jpeg images for cover art. These days anyone with a computer is a designer or publisher and if they have a digital camera they assume they are professional photographers.

I also figured any shirts sent out as samples are printed to perfection. We will never be a high volume shop since we are located in a rural area but we would like to provide quality quick turnaround service for the area. I'm sure I'll learn a lot on this forum.


----------



## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*

Hi Wags,

Welcome to the forums. As product manager for Digital Products at SWF East, I can tell you that we currently only run one pass printing for light garments and 2 pass (1 white, 1 color) for dark garments. Unless someone has gone against our normal protocall you can assume that the samples you received were printed as described above.

If you are sincere about seeing a demo of the machine, we generally run a small open house in our Schaumburg office every 6-8 weeks or so (we just had one last Wednesday evening). I anticipate another one in early to mid-March. Feel free to PM me with any further questions.

Happy Searching!


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*



> Can anyone give me a direction on how to evaluate these different machines and the inherent down time and costs associated with each machine.


If I was in the market for one of those machines, I wouldn't make any purchase without seeing i in person and seeing it print a variety of jobs that I would most likely need it for (different types of graphics, different color garments, etc)


----------



## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

Rodney makes some good points. Not a bad idea to arrange a demo with your dealer, take in a handful of garments you want to print on and a couple of good artwork files. 

In regards to the downtime question, the more you use direct to garment printers (or ANY specialty inkjet printer) the less downtime you will have. More problems arise from atrophy than overuse.


----------



## Wags (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks for the invite Don. I would love to go to a demo but since Schamburg is at least 6 hours away i can't just run by. If it were on a weekend I might be able to get away from work to do that. A better alternative might be to list some current users closer to my area. That way I could visit a real world user and ask questions without wondering if i were getting the real story. Not that I don't trust your salespeople, but sometimes a business owner will be more willing to tell you what to look for or what to stay away from.

I am anxious to add this capability to my business since I feel we will be able to sell a better looking product at a better price point.


----------



## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

*Re: At the risk of being repetitive*



Rodney said:


> If I was in the market for one of those machines, I wouldn't make any purchase without seeing i in person and seeing it print a variety of jobs that I would most likely need it for (different types of graphics, different color garments, etc)


Good points. 
I also received samples from T-Jet and DTG but it was still hard to make the decision because I didn't see the items being printed.

DTG had a location here in Sacramento where I went in for a demo and the Rep spend over an hour with me printing different colored shorts, going over the machine parts and also many of the 'gotcha's'.
I felt so comfortable with the DTG machine after the demo, I bought one.

I would deffinetly try to go in for a demo to any machine you are thinking about buying. Watch them print several items with different colors. Check out the software they use to print (very important).


----------



## Wags (Jan 28, 2007)

I was fortunate enough to have received sample shirts of both white and black shirts. To my surprise a week later I received the same two shirts again. I have washed one white shirt twice and I have noticed quite a bit of fading already. I expect some fading but what I am seeing seems to look like a shirt that might be a year of so old and not almost new. Is this a common trait with ink jet technology? Or is this just common to the DTG line of printers? I was hoping for better results but if after only two washings it looks this faded, how could I sell these and not get many returns? One would assume that a sample shirt coming from the company would have great care in the process to make sure it holds up better.

I'm disappointed to say the least and not sure now if I want to get into this technology.


----------



## GSG (Feb 5, 2007)

I can see were u are coming from on this subject lets just say that this technology isnt to the peak taking all of the dtg on the market right now and the ones that are just now hitting the market you get pros and cons with all of them I work with the brother printer mostly so i can tell you that the problem with double pass prints and fading on 2 washs isnt a problem i have ran tests of 20 washs consecutive with lite to no fade. the gt-541 is a work horse, it prints a full color 14x16 in 1 minute, no cleaning hassles easy to use letting it set for a week unran isnt a problem as in other dtg printers of corse doesnt print white and costs 20000.00 but i know customers are very happy with there investment and return


----------



## Wags (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks for the input GSG. You would think samples sent from the company would be printed to their utmost standards. I have heard others talk about no white printing and some that have said white is just not quite there yet as far as reliability. I guess I was looking for a quick and easy way to get into T-shirt printing. Given the front end equipment we have already, it would be an easy transition. But as I have found out during my many years in printing, any new technology takes time to work out the bugs.


----------



## GSG (Feb 5, 2007)

exactly what i was thinking you said that you have gotten samples of dtg prints if you would like i could do a sample for you on the brother i could even do a sample of your art you could send me ill i could print it for you to show you if you havent seen the brother prints as well as send ya a dvd that shows how it works ....


----------

