Thinking about DTG

[Alex M]

I highly suggest you guys check out our new Mlink X!
Per dollar it is the best investment for DTG based on speed and ink consumption.


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[Gilligan]

Give us a price point please.

[GraphicDisorder]

Ya due tell. Brother has some attractive stuff going on.  Id need to be wow'ed. 

[cbjamel]

Alex M. Sent me this a 7/30/15. Impressive compared to gt-381 that was shown as test in house.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dij0dbezi2caen9/M-Link%20X%2014x9%20print%20black.mp4?dl=0

Price for m-link is $39,995
                Dark shirt in 2:45
                Light shirt in 1:00

Price for m-link X is $74,995
                Dark shirt in 1:00
                Light shirt in 0:35

I don't know if these are confirmed price or ?

You still have to pre-treat and heat press after.
I would by a new auto or upgrade for that. But that is me.
Shane

[GraphicDisorder]

Brother also has zero percent 36 months, 26k with heat press and pretreat machine. Gotta do it by December 31. 

[jvieira]

Brother also has zero percent 36 months, 26k with heat press and pretreat machine. Gotta do it by December 31.

great deal!

[cbjamel]

After seeing it in person, Slow printing. Unless you are able to charge 18-20 for a t-shirt printed hard to coop money. But that is me. You almost need 2 machine with brother to get the thru put. big difference is white and colors are printed together with M&R not with brother prints all white, then color.
My thoughts. Financing is a nice extra.
Shane

[Gilligan]

I'd be charging $20-$30 for under a dozen.

[cbjamel]

Each?
Shane

[Maxie]

Hard to see the quality of the M&R digital print in the video.
It prints fast because it's a long narrow print that's printing in the direction of the heads.
Turn the image 90 degrees and it could take three  or four times as long.
You'll have a lot more head passes.
Not clear how the shirts are loaded, one at a time?     On the same platen?
This could also slow down the printing.     I'd like to see a video of the loading unloading and also the cleaning process.
I think with any equipment purchase you have to do the maths.     If you get a loan/lease on a 50,000 machine over 3 years it will cost roughly 1,500 a month, if you can make USD10 per shirt after other expenses you need to sell 150 a month to cover the costs.
The early DTGs were a disaster but they've improved the technology and the inks so today's machines are much more reliable.     One thing to remember DTG's need to work, you cannot leave them unattended.     I have a Kornit, even if we don't have work we have to clean the heads and print a test pattern every morning.    This takes time and uses a fair amount of ink.     If you take a week off I the summer you come back to a machine with blocked heads.
If you buy a machine, check carefully the ink costs.     Over time you are going to spend a lot more on the ink than on the machine itself.

[Gilligan]

Each?
Shane

Yes, if you want a custom made t-shirt you are going to pay $25-$30 for that shirt.

Honestly, that's pretty reasonable.  No one else in town is even doing them.

[GraphicDisorder]

Our intention is to put about 500 designs in our online store to start with, $20 each, see how it goes.  If even a few % of those buy per day, im good with it.  We'd add our own line of shirts with funny and motivational sayings. Maybe some religious and political humor as well. Then we could offer 1 off shirts and bill people artwork as well which later could lead to more screen printing. Also would be great to have when a customer decides they forgot a shirt on a order.  I can think of a lot of uses. 

[Alex M]

I am still at ITMA in Italy. Once I get back I will add some info on here.
Dark under 1 minute for 12x12
Light under 40 sec for 12x12
Ink cost is very low on the machine. I will post images and price to print once back.
While you do have to prep offline this allows the machine to run full capacity with printing all the time and not eat up time for prep.
We will also be displaying our new pretreat machine at LB show!


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[mk162]

. big difference is white and colors are printed together with M&R not with brother prints all white, then color.
My thoughts.
Shane

That isn't correct with the 381...the heads are stacked so it prints white and color at the same time.  The 782 had 2 different carriages that would need alignment frequently.

Also, with the GT I recommend not printing with 1200dpi.  600 is fine, but we bump the ink a bit and it prints quickly.

What heads are in the M&R?  Ricoh?  I know they wanted to move away from Epson.

[cbjamel]

I could be wrong on they printing part. Yes Heads are ricoh. 
Shane