Epson DTG?

[3Deep]

Ok fellers we are getting close to pulling the trigger on a DTG machine I looked long and and at the used market, but you all say NOOOO!!, so with that said anyone have some Pros & Cons on the Epson brand DTG I know the Brother seems to be nice but I think a little more that what we want to spend on one at this point.  thanks all the input

Darryl

[dirkdiggler]

dealer stopped by here with a black shirt that I doubt anyone here could print.  super nice quality, of course I didn't see him print it, who knows, it could have been done on anything.  If they give half ass efforts toward this like they do in general to our industry, I would be scared to touch it.

[GraphicDisorder]

Given the trouble out of most Epson based machines that have been made into DTG's and CTS's and so on...id pass based on that alone. Even our 4880 was buggy as hell and it was doing very basic task.  Imagine it with white ink basically. 

[ebscreen]

Epson's DTG's are a completely different animal than anything cobbled out of a desktop printer. Different printhead/feed mechanism, etc.
Not that I'm remotely interested in DTG.

[3Deep]

Epson's DTG's are a completely different animal than anything cobbled out of a desktop printer. Different printhead/feed mechanism, etc.
Not that I'm remotely interested in DTG.

That's what I was told that the DTG was built for garment printing inks (which they make) with the new heads, but like I told the guy I have small grave yard of epson printers

[GraphicDisorder]

Epson's DTG's are a completely different animal than anything cobbled out of a desktop printer. Different printhead/feed mechanism, etc.
Not that I'm remotely interested in DTG.

Of course it is, but it's still made by the same people... that was my point. 

[ebscreen]

Right, and the Corvette is made by the same folks responsible for the HHR.

[GraphicDisorder]

Right, and the Corvette is made by the same folks responsible for the HHR.

Yes and that quality shows, they built a super fast car, one of the fastest in the world now (the z06 which I have), but when you compare it with other high end cars the difference shows in fit and finish. My cars been painted 2 times now in less than a year from defects.  Its had the carbon roof replaced from the carbon discoloring. In contrast my buddy has a 330k Ferrari and not the first issue.

So again my point.... consider who's building it.  Now at the end of the day some value for dollar can be worth it. I wanted a fast car and for now my budget was 100k, you can't get a better car for that so I took the good with the bad.  If he can take Epson for what they are and the value is good for him by all means, but consider the source is all.

[GraphicDisorder]

BTW Darryl if you want Ill have a Brother 381 and a Mlink soon, so if you like send a garment up and artwork ill print it on both, see what you think. 

[screenprintguy]

I really think one could buy the best set up on the market, but if they don't use it right, have crap results. I can say, from what I know, most of these things use the same inks made by Dupont artistry. Break it down and don't look at it by how much the unit costs, look at the service, and what it will take to keep it going. Most people have to keep ink flowing even if they don't use it. I've had some contract DTG done before from brother and epson based units, both looked great, both had medium lasting results. Say a dozen washes and the shirt doesn't look nearly as it did after 1 wash. Now, last December, actually this week last year we were at M&R and Rich brought us into the Digital area for a  test drive on the MLink with Harvey. Those shirts that Niki did with him still look like brand new. One was a simple 1 color Triumph motorcycle print. Looks has solid as a scree print and she wears it weekly, washes it weekly, that's a butt ton of washes in a year. Her other favorite is an owl print. Multi color on black with a white UB. He, I know for a fact ran it in fast mode that I think did the white and laid the color right on top of the white , if I'm not mistaken, that shirt, besides the shirts fiber itself looking like a shirt that's been washed almost ever week in a year looks awesome. The print is as it was when done. he didn't do anything special. He applied the pretreat, pressed it, loaded it, printed it, pressed it. She did quite a few with him and they all look awesome. The first two mentioned though are Niki's faves and like I said she wears them weekly, washes weekly. What ever is going on with that machine I say is worth it if want your companies reputation to stand on direct to garment. Might be a little more, but, I'd hate to blow 20k on a piece of crap knowing if I waited a little longer or just bit the bullet to have a serious machine. Just my opinion, but I've seen enough people blow tons of time and money on DTG and just lose it all on it.

[3Deep]

That's what we've been doing looking at the service part of owning a DTG machine because most of them deliver a nice print, but the cost to keep it running is the real question.  I can wait because this is nothing that's going to make or break us if we don't get one right away, it would be to do smaller jobs that we turn down from cost of screenprint setup's.

[willy35]

You have the facebook group : global F2000 DTG users group and very good input on t-shirtforum.

So read make your own opinion, Epson have one of the highest ink cost per liter, a mandatory extended warranty ($$)

[gameonky]

our shop has an Epson 2000 for sale  we bought it at the end of July 2015 and didn't open our shop until December 2015 because the building we were renting wasn't ready to be occupied so the printer is basically brand new  we haven't had any trouble with it at all
we are asking $15,000 for it 

[willy35]

Epson F2000 have a real technical issue when you hit 10.000 prints. Many many many have lost channel for no reason and complain about problems + the outragous maintenance cost, and one of the higher DTG ink per liter with brother.