Mlink in the building.

[GraphicDisorder]

Getting better as we go here. The ink cost folks, fraction of the Brother.

[GraphicDisorder]

The only major issues so far is M&R is banding some still on some blues, he's trying to figure that out still. Its mild but the brother is not banding. The M&R is also putting out files that are not as color accurate as the actual artwork on screen or the artwork coming out of the Brother.  The brother isn't nailing it either but its much closer. Worth noting the Brother has red ink in place of Magenta, M&R has Magenta.  So they are obviously going to look somewhat different based on that and the rips being different I am sure.

My initial thoughts are this. The Brother is easier to run. Its a print driver, install and print to it.  This also means a bit less control. M&R has a few more steps to output a shirt. The M&R is faster. Lower ink cost. 

Obviously we are 1 day in so this will all develop as we go and YMMV I am sure. 

[mimosatexas]

as you said, one day in, but from the photos, the top white looks pretty underwhelming.  I have a sample DTG print in my shop from the guy down the road with a $8k epson offbrand build and the white is blinding.  Color accuracy is something he had to work on as well, but he dialed it in.

[GraphicDisorder]

as you said, one day in, but from the photos, the top white looks pretty underwhelming.  I have a sample DTG print in my shop from the guy down the road with a $8k epson offbrand build and the white is blinding.  Color accuracy is something he had to work on as well, but he dialed it in.

Neither of those last images are designed with a super bright white. One is cream. We are still playing for sure.

Here's another.

[GraphicDisorder]

BTW thats a laser on the bottom right of that image, not in the print. Quality is pretty serious. The brother is nearly as good though. It is however we are seeing at least 3x-6x the money.  We printed that last image on the first day on the Brother, it was $6-7 in ink, the M&R was $.83 cents.  13 inch wide print by around 15-16 tall.

[jvanick]

We printed that last image on the first day on the Brother, it was $6-7 in ink, the M&R was $.83 cents.  13 inch wide print by around 15-16 tall.

just curious how the numbers are displayed?  is that in the rip or on the printer?

Nice white on that last image...  our '1-off' cheapy customers would love that.

(not that we do enough work like that to justify even a brother machine at 8k, but maybe someday)

[islandtees]

I going to throw this out.
GraphicDisorder is just learning DTG. He has a long way to go to get those killer prints that those of us with experience do all day long.
I have 2 Brother GT782 printers with 6 years in this field. We have  mastered white ink and know how to tweak to get a lower cost on the ink. If I had that m link I could do killer prints just knowing how to tweak the design. In all fairness I don't think a beginner can give a fair review of the machines until they have lots of experience in the field. Pretreating is a art  even using pretreat machines. You have to experiment with different amounts of fluid to get the whites to pop.
Someone with a lot of experience using a Epson DTG could take the same artwork and blow away the Brother or the M link .
This is why you see a lot of these machines go on e bay or digitsmith because everyone thought it would be so easy and found out
it was not. If I didn't already have the Brother I would consider the m link since everything else we have is M&R.

[GraphicDisorder]

I going to throw this out.
GraphicDisorder is just learning DTG. He has a long way to go to get those killer prints that those of us with experience do all day long.
I have 2 Brother GT782 printers with 6 years in this field. We have  mastered white ink and know how to tweak to get a lower cost on the ink. If I had that m link I could do killer prints just knowing how to tweak the design. In all fairness I don't think a beginner can give a fair review of the machines until they have lots of experience in the field. Pretreating is a art  even using pretreat machines. You have to experiment with different amounts of fluid to get the whites to pop.
Someone with a lot of experience using a Epson DTG could take the same artwork and blow away the Brother or the M link .
This is why you see a lot of these machines go on e bay or digitsmith because everyone thought it would be so easy and found out
it was not. If I didn't already have the Brother I would consider the m link since everything else we have is M&R.

We are new to DTG for sure, but we know what quality looks like. So we will tweak and learn just like you did. I am giving my fair initial assessment of both machines installed just days apart. So as I like one more in one way or another I will post as such. People can take that for what it is...which is the type of experience most will go through as new users.

[GraphicDisorder]

We printed that last image on the first day on the Brother, it was $6-7 in ink, the M&R was $.83 cents.  13 inch wide print by around 15-16 tall.

just curious how the numbers are displayed?  is that in the rip or on the printer?

Nice white on that last image...  our '1-off' cheapy customers would love that.

(not that we do enough work like that to justify even a brother machine at 8k, but maybe someday)

After the machine rips it, it displays ink cost.  The brother does same thing but it gives it to you in CC's, so you have to do the math.  M&R is killing the Brother on ink if the manufactures are telling us the truth on ink use. Both claim that it is fairly accurate but time will tell.

[GraphicDisorder]

BTW every one of these images are a iPhone in shitty light and saved from my facebook and then posted here. No filters/tricks/nothing.

[GraphicDisorder]

Another video, just so you can see speed. I think this was on 1200x600 quality.
https://www.facebook.com/138282122879494/videos/1019626504745047/

[Alex M]

Also remember this is an Mlink and not the X. The only diff is speed! Quality and ink cost the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Lookin Good!

[IntegrityShirts]

Just for the readers following along. The 361 was 20k with pretreat machine, right? Did that include shipping, training, etc?

How much was m&r, with shipping, install & training?

Those ink costs are worlds  apart.

[GraphicDisorder]

Just for the readers following along. The 361 was 20k with pretreat machine, right? Did that include shipping, training, etc?

How much was m&r, with shipping, install & training?

Those ink costs are worlds  apart.

We have the Brother 381, its on sale right now (5k off) so all in with pretreat machine/install/ship/etc its in the high 20's. The Mlink is around 40k. 

The ink costs are very much a huge difference and speed as well. Neither are particularly slow but the M&R is faster. Each have differences in print. I will try to post a image later of the same image we printed on each machine. Its a person and some design around it, the machines handle it much differently and each are better and worse in some ways.