DTG Pro's & cons.

[R.Prints]

Hi folks. Have read most of the DTG threads and now have a simple question ref DTG printing for those who know what theyr'e talking about. Have been offered a printer plus spare head and software. Question is what is the condenced vertion of the good and bad points for the system and suppliers/costs of the inks required. Don't know what make it is at present cos havn't been to see it yet, all I know is it's less than two years old and has hardly been used.

[Earl Smith]

You´ve got to ask yourself why has it hardly been used.
I had one and I managed to give it back to the seller. Luckily we had that arrangement.
The DTG printed beautifully, cant complain about that at all. Problem was with the down time. Every single day you must clean it and run some ink through it. ( print something). Otherwise the head will block up and eventually you will need to buy a new head.
Why I gave mine back was that I found that most of the jobs that came in were for 50 or more shirts. This was not the case when I did my research on it. I found that most of the jobs could be done, with a little alteration, using subli flock and vinyl. The DTG is at its best when you have orders for 20 to 40 shirts with lots of text or fancy pictures that can only be printed on a DTG. See Stitch ups threads on here and you will see the DTG at its best.
Since I gave it back about a year ago, Ive had only one job that needed the DTG.
All orders that come in now for over 100 pieces I use a transfer printing firm. This week Ive received an order for 350 t-shirts and hoodies, both sides printed in one colour. Transfer cost is just over one Euro each. The DTG couldnt do it for that price.
If you´ve got the work for it, great , if not then leave well alone. Or look at the new white laser printer from TMT.

[ASLCreative]

I went to the Printwear & Promotion show last week. There were small crowds of people around the various DTG demonstrations. The thing was they were all WAITING in anticipation for the machine to finish printing, it reminded me of people watching paint dry.

I agree with Earl - they are great if you are doing single items or small runs with different designs, every single day otherwise forget it.

It all depends on your market and what your clients want printed.

[socialgiraffe]

It would also help to know what make of DTG it is as there are some good ones and then there is the rest

[logobear]

DTG has much appeal, but the barrier to me is the number of steps in the process.
The pre-treatment, then press cure for 60secs, then the DTG process, and a final heat cure.
This lends itself to higher volume factory process as oppose to creative skills imho
I would not worry about machine maintenance, we ran minilabs for 23 years, and as long as you have a daily startup and shutdown routine then no worries.
This is why I am so excited about the TMT 711w transfere process which we get installed this afternoon!

[R.Prints]

Still havn't had time to go and look at printer so don't know make etc yet. Thanks for reply's. System doesn't seem to be straight forward as you think but I'm sure it would just be a learning curve as normal with new equipment.