Mlink in the building.

[GraphicDisorder]

are you printing blended shirts or just 100% cotton?

We haven't tried many blends, I know we had some work ok, some not. But barely tried it. Our market really likes 100% cotton. We barely sell blends in our screen printing department either.

[dirkdiggler]

are you printing blended shirts or just 100% cotton?

We haven't tried many blends, I know we had some work ok, some not. But barely tried it. Our market really likes 100% cotton. We barely sell blends in our screen printing department either.

Lucky you!

[ABDada]

We haven't tried many blends, I know we had some work ok, some not. But barely tried it. Our market really likes 100% cotton. We barely sell blends in our screen printing department either.

We have never seen blends work well -- white cotton/poly blends work acceptably with the Image Armor light pretreat, but even those aren't so great.

We are getting a step closer to deciding on our next DTG and the M Link is still in the top 3.  #1 reason is they're so local to us, which is a big deal when it comes time to servicing outages.

How has your printer held up?  Any major channel losses or issues with white ink?  Have you felt more confident in your estimates of white ink usage?

The Brother is definitely out.  We did some testing (thanks to a local competitor) and the white ink costs were insanely high.  I have no idea how he makes money with his printers.

[GraphicDisorder]

Machine has been great, I mentioned a few posts up we had a operator error and killed a print head, but other than that machine has been great. We are doing anywhere from 10 prints a day to 60 single operator part time. It's been a good revenue stream for us. Our ink use I believe is right in line with our original postings. Many prints as cheap as $.05 cents... not seen any really that I can remember over say $1.50. No channel loss that a couple head cleanings don't solve. Worst one we seen was we lost power over the weekend once, machine was off all weekend. Took a few prints to get it back up to good but again it was a fraction of the time involve as the Brother was. That would be full back fully detailed image area not just partial coverage. I would buy it again. No question in my mind I have made the right move. If anything I may only wish I had got the X.

[ABDada]

My budget for the next machine is $20-$25k.  But $40k isn't that much more to be honest, and I am seriously sick and tired of buying a machine and literally 4 weeks later no one answering the phone.  I've bought machines from 6 different vendors and all of them have been the same.  One machine I bought I personally wasted over 45 phone calls just to be able to buy a maintenance replacement gasket.  M&R has been around for almost 50 years or so, and they're local (I can ride my bike there practically) plus I do like the idea of switching to a Ricoh head machine instead of using these horrible Epson printheads.

Can I ask ballpark what that printhead cost was, and did you replace it or did a tech replace it?  Also, does your machine have a capping station for each channel, or one capping station for all 8 channels?

Capping station maintenance is the key to longevity, so it's always good to know what I'm getting into.  I wish M&R would post photos of the internals so I can get a good idea of what we need to maintain.

Good to hear that she's treating you well.  It's a pleasure to hear a newbie DTG owner isn't having issues.  I've been through so many printers in my time with DTG, and all of them have an EOL of 2 years.

I wish I could afford the MLink X because I know for a fact we could handle the volume, but honestly I think if we overrun the MLink, maybe I'll just buy a second one.  Two printers > 1 faster printer.

[Prosperi-Tees]

50 years? Lmao

[bimmridder]

50 years, thirty years. It's about the same

[GraphicDisorder]

My budget for the next machine is $20-$25k.  But $40k isn't that much more to be honest, and I am seriously sick and tired of buying a machine and literally 4 weeks later no one answering the phone.  I've bought machines from 6 different vendors and all of them have been the same.  One machine I bought I personally wasted over 45 phone calls just to be able to buy a maintenance replacement gasket.  M&R has been around for almost 50 years or so, and they're local (I can ride my bike there practically) plus I do like the idea of switching to a Ricoh head machine instead of using these horrible Epson printheads.

Can I ask ballpark what that printhead cost was, and did you replace it or did a tech replace it?  Also, does your machine have a capping station for each channel, or one capping station for all 8 channels?

Capping station maintenance is the key to longevity, so it's always good to know what I'm getting into.  I wish M&R would post photos of the internals so I can get a good idea of what we need to maintain.

Good to hear that she's treating you well.  It's a pleasure to hear a newbie DTG owner isn't having issues.  I've been through so many printers in my time with DTG, and all of them have an EOL of 2 years.

I wish I could afford the MLink X because I know for a fact we could handle the volume, but honestly I think if we overrun the MLink, maybe I'll just buy a second one.  Two printers > 1 faster printer.

M&R Covered the heads because we were printing for a potential customer who bought a machine as a result. They didn't have to but they did. In any other scenario like that we'd had to cover it I am sure. It was a unique situation. Their customer brought some none standard garments and we sort of were left with a go for it option as the guy drove 6hrs to see the machine. All heads are capped when the machine is not in use.

[ABDada]

I've been there.  I run a DTG "school" at one of my shops where people can come and learn to print with a DTG printer.  Sometimes it's print shop owners, other times is people considering it, usually it's folks with their "garment lines" in mind.  I probably have sold 100 printers because of it and used to get a really good reimbursement from one manufacturer but they decided to stop supporting my unit so I kicked them out the door.  I can't wait to use the M Link in my classes, my fall classes are already filled up and I expect my winter ones to fill up before the end of August.

We always do non-standard garments, especially those damned baby onesies, but we make our own platens ourselves.  We have a laser cutter and just cut acrylic sheets to fit and it's worked well for most things.  I hate risking my printhead for a $5 print, that's for sure. 

Nice of M&R to cover it, but since you were doing a demo, it kinda makes sense to.  Those Ricoh heads are supposed to be pretty pricey, too.  With the Epson heads it's only $400-$600 but they're junk heads for DTG, I have no idea why I keep going to them when I know full well they're useless and inefficient.

I'm almost on the edge of waiting til Christmas just because I know there are new Ricoh printers coming out, but M&R being so close is almost 50% of the reason for considering the M Link. 

Next time you do maintenance, snag a photo of the capping station, I'm curious!

[ABDada]

Looks like the Ricoh printhead is only $1560 from M&R: https://store.mrprint.com/mr_pls/oos_catalog_pkg.search_items?p_search_mode_c=ITEMS&p_search_string_c=printhead

That's honestly not bad at all!  Keep a spare or two around and you're ready for almost anything.

Also looks like individual capping gaskets, which means ink savings if you can do individual channel cleans:  https://store.mrprint.com/mr_pls/oos_catalog_pkg.search_items?p_search_mode_c=ITEMS&p_search_string_c=printhead

$12 for a gasket, I'd probably keep 8 of those around.  We already soak our wiper blade overnight and clean the gasket twice a day (or more) but those things can get gunked quickly.

[GraphicDisorder]

Next time you do maintenance, snag a photo of the capping station, I'm curious!

I will try to remember, to be honest I am never down there anymore. I see prints off it daily but rarely in the room with it, I do all the sales at my shop and thats a full time job alone.

[ABDada]

I'm horrible at production.  If you ever want a print crooked and off center, make sure I print it for you.  Also if you like upside artwork I'm the king of it.

I do handle maintenance a few times a week.  And I teach the classes because I interact with future customers.

90% of folks who take the class realize DTG isn't for them.  One guy  took the class 3 times in 6 months and couldn't get a shirt loaded once, haha.

[ABDada]

Should follow up here -- I visited M&R's facility today and Geoff showed me the M Link rooms and let me spend an hour with their M Link specialist and the guy who handles printing their samples.

The M Link X is impressive.  I'm not sure if I can say it was the best DTG I've ever seen but it's likely a tie.  The build quality is stunning and I got to meet the gals who assemble them here in the States.  Every piece of the machine is over-engineered for good reason.  It was also my first time ever seeing the beauty of the Gen5 Ricoh heads in action.

The Kothari RIP and the Gen5s lay down the most beautiful gradient white underbase layer -- much much much smooter than any Epson DX5/7 printhead and I've demo'd and operated at least 12 of those.  The platen movement is easily the best in the industry, smooth as can be and no judder or shakiness.

I love love love the platen system.  I have a laser cutter so I can cut my own custom platens in 5 minutes and just 4 screws attaches them to the M&R platen arm (which they machine in-house in the US too).  Really adaptive.  The hoopless system makes me nervous because there's nothing to hold down the shirt edges, but it does give you more print space.

Print speed was stunning.  No reason to time it, every print with white ink in high res was 60-90 seconds.  The heat press is the slow part, so one MlLnk X needs 3 heat presses for maximum productivity.

I'd guess the operational profit on the machine with 2 shifts 5 days a week could be well over $15,000 a week -- if you have the volume, you WILL pay off the machine in a matter of months.

The maintenance doors are perfect for even dudes with big hands to work in (I don't have this problem).

Also, the system uses a post-RIP queue management system.  It seems the RIP exports a PRT file (printer data) and the management queue then lets you set quantities and adjust positioning.  Very very very cool.

Downside:  the Dupont high viscosity ink is still meh, but as a DTG owner and operator for many years, it's better than it was 3 years ago.  I really want to spend 8 hours alone with the machine and the RIP and see if I can get thicker whites out of it, but until I own one, I doubt I'll find someone who can loan me a machine for a full day!

Another downside: the printer really needs a 35.5" door.  I think my door is 35" and they said they can probably fit it but it's a limitation.  I guess Amica didn't consider how many shops still have 34" doorways!

I'm off to meet with my partners, big customers and some investors next week.  $80,000 is a lot to drop but we've been turning down $3000-$5000 jobs weekly because our current printers just can't handle it, and I made some wasteful purchases in the past 12 months (to the tune of probably $40,000) that aren't productive or profitable.  I have a feeling my workflow and marketing with an M Link X would cover the costs of ownership by month 4.

Glad for the review on this site, otherwise I never would have heard about this printer.  The fact is, people are profiting with it every day, but they're not sharing their secrets because most of us would rather our competitors be plagued with ink clogs and slow printing.

Thanks to Rich for setting it up, Geoff for welcoming me, and the guys and gals at M&R for hosting me for a short afternoon.

[GraphicDisorder]

Here is some more prints off it. Over all this machine performs very very well. To his point above occasionally a print will come off that I wish was a touch more vibrant or better white. But other prints come off so opaque you'd about swear they were screen printed. It really has to do with the artwork. My guess is certain types of designs may have the rip reacting in different ways. We've sold 1000's of prints off this machine so far. We've not had a single printing complaint. We've had a issue with random next levels the pretreat not washing out and we've had operator errors like placing a print to high/low/wrong print. I think that speaks to the quality of the printer we've not had a single print quality complaint and keep in mind most of my customers had never even seen DTG before.

[GraphicDisorder]

Some more.