# The Future of DTG



## geniussuineg (Sep 21, 2010)

Check out this video. DTG on the next level My jaw dropped when I saw this. YouTube - The Past & Future of Direct-to-Garment Printing


----------



## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

If you do some research on this forum back in 2008, you will see some posts (I think from someone named Maverick in Chicago) that actually purchased this printer. From his comments, it never really lived up to the advertising. I saw it at a couple of the trade shows, it typically was running periodically. However, you can't really run a dtg printer non-stop at a show or you will have too many printed shirts to give away. So that might be an alternative reason for why it was not running. 

Now, the replacement for this printer is the Avalanche from Kornit. I don't think you will see them stating it will print 300 shirts an hour, but it does move pretty fast. It also has a similar price.

Mark


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Company name Ichinosae in Japan made this to exclusive way to DuPont. DuPont sold this machine for roll printers for while and they did not see $$$$ but headaches. They droped the project. I have few customers who still are using active way now. In Brasil so many. Scott/DuPont modified for t-Shirts format. BIG MISTAKE!! I know who bought one too. 100% home made look. Home made look is home made. Sounds like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck then it is duck.
Yuhan kimberly was involve in big way also. I saw this machine in Korea many years ago in Yuhan.
That was joke. Scott can do it but who think twice will never do it. Basic Responsibilty of seller is very important. Seems like he never cared. Brave? We will see the real train arrives soon.


----------



## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

DAGuide said:


> If you do some research on this forum back in 2008, you will see some posts (I think from someone named Maverick in Chicago) that actually purchased this printer. From his comments, it never really lived up to the advertising. I saw it at a couple of the trade shows, it typically was running periodically. However, you can't really run a dtg printer non-stop at a show or you will have too many printed shirts to give away. So that might be an alternative reason for why it was not running.
> 
> Now, the replacement for this printer is the Avalanche from Kornit. I don't think you will see them stating it will print 300 shirts an hour, but it does move pretty fast. It also has a similar price.
> 
> Mark


Or how about that Aeoon 400+ hr printer?


----------



## tman1 (Jun 19, 2009)

The miracle of the internet. I posted the video on the T-Jet PRO HV around 10:30 today and already there is a thread on it. First, I want to thank those who have responded. Yes, Mark, it is hard to keep a machine like that printing non-stop at a trade show. Even the automatic screen guys don't print all day. We took this 10,000 pound machine to five shows at huge expense.

Peter Choi, yes, you are right about the origin of the machine. DuPont had very little to do with my conversion. They wanted nothing to do with putting white in the heads and we had to sign-off that we would warranty it. I don't know who you are referring to in Korea. The T-Shirt conversion was all mine.

This machine was a thing of beauty and we had them on trial in Cafe Press, Zazzle, Fortune Fashion and others - at our expense. Actually, Zazzle bought one but when you have minimum wage operators (who changed every week) it was just not a good fit. They returned it after eight months and went with 30 of my T-Jet Blazer PRO printers. In all cases where we put them in - no one wanted to be trained or put on a dedicated operator to really learn the machine. The simply did not "get" this new technology and the TLC it needed.

But, at the end of the day it was just too much machine - regardless of Peter saying it looked homemade. Does it look homemade in the videos? I don't think so. This thing was like a space shuttle under the hood. And we developed a continuous ink circulation system for the white ink that was way ahead of its time. 

The large internet guys opted for individual work stations with smaller machines. I can't blame them. Remember, we were all feeling our way back in 2006 when I brought this machine out.

I thought for sure the large screeners would jump on it but it was WAY too much for them and with ink costs of $1.50 for black shirts that was the killer.

Yes, some were sold. This machine NEEDED to run. It cost about $400 to do a head flush and some that were sold were not run all the time - regardless of what the end customer was told. At the end the ones not sold were converted back to Artistri Roll-To-Roll and yes, they all went to Brazil. Weird. The Brazilians loved them.

It was a very expensive program and mistakes were made. I only posted the video as an "archive" and am surprised it got picked up so fast. I do feel there will be phase two of DTG with machines printing this fast and faster. All we need is for ink prices to drop and then large screeners will take notice.


----------



## Belquette (Sep 12, 2005)

_Hi Scott,

I did like that machine, it was built well and one of the few machines you could actual crawl into._ _
It was a neat machine to watch. 

Good to see you around here!_


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Scott, you must be thrilled to hear Marks Hello. You guys should have worked together than me. I give you a credit there


----------



## 102557 (Mar 6, 2010)

tman1 said:


> The miracle of the internet. I posted the video on the T-Jet PRO HV around 10:30 today and already there is a thread on it. First, I want to thank those who have responded. Yes, Mark, it is hard to keep a machine like that printing non-stop at a trade show. Even the automatic screen guys don't print all day. We took this 10,000 pound machine to five shows at huge expense.
> 
> Peter Choi, yes, you are right about the origin of the machine. DuPont had very little to do with my conversion. They wanted nothing to do with putting white in the heads and we had to sign-off that we would warranty it. I don't know who you are referring to in Korea. The T-Shirt conversion was all mine.
> 
> ...


Wow... good to see you here scott you should hang around awhile your missing all the fun..

check your email regarding the t-print


----------



## Justin Walker (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice to see you on the forums, Scott. Its been awhile. 

I remember I used to stay awake at night, pondering that Pro HV...... It was certainly an eye catcher! I've always been an advocate of pursuing more _industrial_ solutions for the DTG industry....


----------



## kirbymurphy (Aug 25, 2009)

tman1 said:


> ........This machine NEEDED to run. It cost about $400 to do a head flush ......


I almost passed out when I read that.


----------



## 102557 (Mar 6, 2010)

kirbymurphy said:


> I almost passed out when I read that.


hmmmm.. thats not bad.. thats what it feels like to me ($400)... with just a little epson with a clog..


----------



## tman1 (Jun 19, 2009)

Actually Mark and I always have nice conversations at trade shows and have remained friends above the fray and as many people don't know, it was Mark who brought me into the DTG world. Mark, I am not sure whether to thank you or not.....


----------



## tman1 (Jun 19, 2009)

kirbymurphy said:


> I almost passed out when I read that.


Actually, the truth is with 16 heads and a LOT of plumbing, this thing cost $200 just to turn on with the head flushings and cleaning cycles it went through during startup. It did NOT like to be shut down.


----------



## tman1 (Jun 19, 2009)

Justin Walker said:


> Nice to see you on the forums, Scott. Its been awhile.
> 
> I remember I used to stay awake at night, pondering that Pro HV...... It was certainly an eye catcher! I've always been an advocate of pursuing more _industrial_ solutions for the DTG industry....


Justin - I thought I might hang out now and then. Hope you are doing well. I am still curious who will be the one to come out with DTG 2.0 with high volume production speeds and low ink costs. I thought it would happen by now.


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Justin Walker said:


> Nice to see you on the forums, Scott. Its been awhile.
> 
> I remember I used to stay awake at night, pondering that Pro HV...... It was certainly an eye catcher! I've always been an advocate of pursuing more _industrial_ solutions for the DTG industry....


I am glad you did not ready back then. Huuuuuuww~. If you bought it~. Then what? Just add one more record on your longest list than anybody? 
You are my English teacher by indirect way. thanks.
Vodka or Beer? haha. Cheers!!!


----------



## allamerican-aeoon (Aug 14, 2007)

Scott
you are the father of all the shirts forum in this industry. I hope Rodney knows it. Brian of course he does. You fold US screen because of many publish and none-published reasons but no one deny that you are the ONE who start the heat. I have been telling people that you will be back because this is all you know and love it. Actually you never left. I have been always watching and waiting for your return with some of respect. You done great job. History of DTG pioneer. And knows who is the bad boys are. I still remember what you told to me at show. I did laugh at you with narrow mind. I though you were jealous. I was wrong and you were right.


----------



## tman1 (Jun 19, 2009)

allamerican said:


> Scott
> you are the father of all the shirts forum in this industry. I hope Rodney knows it. Brian of cause he does. You fold US screen because of many publish and none-published reasons but no one deny that you are the ONE who start the heat. I have been telling people that you will be back because this is all you know and love it. Actually you never left. I have been always watching and waiting for your return with some of respect. You done great job. History of DTG pioneer. And knows who is the bad boys are. I still remember what you told to me at show. I did laugh at you with narrow mind. I though you were jealous. I was wrong and you were right.


Peter - thanks for the kind words. My memory fails me on what I told you. Yes, I am working on Scott 2.0. It's taking a little longer and I am in less of a hurry. As you recall back in 2005/2006 we were all in a rush to be first in this new market. What I do remember telling you at shows is "you look marvelous and that you never age." You told me the secret but I can't say it here.


----------



## kirbymurphy (Aug 25, 2009)

german13 said:


> hmmmm.. thats not bad.. thats what it feels like to me ($400)... with just a little epson with a clog..


True Dat!

I think I get 20 pages per cartridge.

I bought a used Konica color laser for $50 and refilled the carts for $80. It prints along quite happily and with great color.

I may order some laser transfer paper to see how well it fares.

I think that DTG is a good concept, but it's hard to see it coming down in price enough for the small shop to use it. It seems extraordinarily complex when you consider the surface you are asking those print heads to cover evenly. 

I expect a proprietary laser/inkjet system to come along that equals the screenprint. It would be a single, dedicated printer with custom, high volume toner/ink that transfers well and has vibrant colors (and white too). 

One can wish.


----------



## TahoeTomahawk (Apr 12, 2006)

kirbymurphy said:


> True Dat!
> 
> I think I get 20 pages per cartridge.
> 
> ...


I don't think a small print shop would be using a printer of this caliber. This forum is full of small print shops that use DTG printers, very successfully.


----------



## WholesalePrint (Sep 23, 2008)

> Company name Ichinosae in Japan made this to exclusive way to DuPont. DuPont sold this machine for roll printers for while and they did not see $$$$ but headaches. They droped the project. I have few customers who still are using active way now. In Brasil so many. Scott/DuPont modified for t-Shirts format. BIG MISTAKE!! I know who bought one too. 100% home made look. Home made look is home made. Sounds like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck then it is duck.
> Yuhan kimberly was involve in big way also. I saw this machine in Korea many years ago in Yuhan.
> That was joke. Scott can do it but who think twice will never do it. Basic Responsibilty of seller is very important. Seems like he never cared. Brave? We will see the real train arrives soon.


WTF he say lol...Peter I met you in person and you are a nice guy but sometimes booooy its tough to get you 

Anyhow I remember this machine and feel bad for the McGrath guy cause he got tooken baaaad.


----------

