DTF- What do we think? Game changer or red herring?

[pw66]

Still tempted to have a look anyway but TMT like to keep the prices up which makes volume a bit harder.

Probably need a couple more players in the market to get the equipment prices right. Having said that the consumables price on the Resolute website don't look too high. 100mx60cm roll of film works out at about 55p for a 12x12" print, so as long as ink and powder use is reasonable then the cost for a large finished print is sellable.

[Andrew]

I will certainly be keeping an eye on developments. Did look into it previously but hopefully things keep progressing.

[Justin]

So what price is the printer going to be with TMT? Anyone know?

[Brant]

I called TMT and asked the question. You're talking around £15k

[pw66]

I called TMT and asked the question. You're talking around £15k

Is that just for the printer? Seems to be in the right price range for a twin head wide format printer, but at 60cm it is only half the width of most. The going rate on alibaba is about £4k, obviously there are substantial extra costs to add to that, plus the risk of going it alone. £15k seems to be a large premium to pay for importers and dealers profit, plus a bit of UK based aftersales support.

I think we need some more players in the market....

[pw66]

Just had a quote from Resolute, at £10k +vat for the printer on its own. Pleasantly surprised at the price, which is not too far out of the ball park for a twin head wide format printer. About £2k north of my maximum budget, but I have to think about this carefully.

Print sample was very good. Applied it to a tech fabric poly shirt. No dye migration, very nice stretchy print, good opacity. Had it through the washing machine about six times, with no deterioration.

One thing that is confusing me. On the Resolute DTF forum they say the process is better for polyester than for cotton. Has anyone found this to be the case? Or are resolute just saying that because they are selling DTG printers as well?

[Earl Smith]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/directtofilmprinting

This is one of the DTF forums on FB . It might be a good idea to follow it and see whats happening and what problems people are having.

[BERNARDS]

Hi, why dont you use a DTG trade print service to help you build up this kind of business before investing?

[Dynamic Grafix]

Just had a quote from Resolute, at £10k +vat for the printer on its own. Pleasantly surprised at the price, which is not too far out of the ball park for a twin head wide format printer. About £2k north of my maximum budget, but I have to think about this carefully.

Print sample was very good. Applied it to a tech fabric poly shirt. No dye migration, very nice stretchy print, good opacity. Had it through the washing machine about six times, with no deterioration.

One thing that is confusing me. On the Resolute DTF forum they say the process is better for polyester than for cotton. Has anyone found this to be the case? Or are resolute just saying that because they are selling DTG printers as well?

I don't know if it's better for polyester than cotton but it seems to be far better on polyester compared to DTG.

There was a story here about the benefits of DTF compared to DTG:
https://www.printweek.com/news/article/ ... tf-printer

“But the main reason for purchasing this machine is so we can print onto polyester garments."
“But the polyester hoodie is one of the things that was our nemesis, we can’t print onto polyester with DTG machines. Even if you jumped through all the hoops to print on it, the quality wasn’t there, but with this the transfer goes on and it’s got stretchability, quality, and clarity, and it feels really nice on a polyester hoodie as well.”

[pw66]

Hi, why dont you use a DTG trade print service to help you build up this kind of business before investing?

I understand your thinking but it will be a case of moving production across from other print methods, so I already have some trade. I screen print, sublimate, use HTV and solvent but there are still some things I can't do or would be done better with DTF. DTG is of limited use because a lot of my core business is printing onto polyester for fun runs.
Yesterday I had to turn a customer away - a tattoo guy - who wanted half a dozen designs screen printed front and back, but he only wanted 10 of each. He wasn't interested in solvent or htv. Twelve screens for 60 shirts wouldn't be viable, but dtf would be.