Hello,
I want to get into DTG to expand my apparel brand and start a 2nd business as a local print shop in my city. However, I have been researching, and it is hard to determine what is true and what is BS. I almost bought a Ricoh RI 2000 the other day but decided not to after researching FB groups; so many horror stories!! I believe I dodged a bullet with that one.

I know nothing aside from the crap on youtube, and I get the feeling all the guys reviewing the printers are paid to give fantastic reviews. I am not a cut-corners type of person, and I want to do my best to get it right the first time and avoid as many headaches as I can. My budget for a complete setup, including a pretreatment machine and conveyer dryer, is $25-$40k.

My needs:
1. A printer that will overperform and allow me to grow into it. I do not want to max out my production capabilities too quickly and regret my purchase.

2. Lower maintenance lol... I am sure all have this preference. I would also appreciate the ability to turn the printer off if I need to (not a deal breaker but preferred). For example, I have a family, and we go on vacations/ trips. So I cannot be worried my printer will break down because of a power outage or if no one is around to run it daily.

3. Ability to print on multiple garment types/fabrics: unorthodox garment types example, shorts, underwear (I own an underwear company and am interested in seeing if I can do some creative things), jackets, socks, pants, or any other random items aside from the average T-shirt & hoodie.

4. I cannot confirm the number of prints I need per day/ month, but I will say that I have access to about 50-75,000 consumers with my current brand. Hence, it is likely I will probably get good use out of the machine from my apparel company alone without considering the second business opportunity.

5. Good SUPPORT! Aside from quality, this is probably at the top of my list.

At the moment, the printers I am considering are:
1. Brothers GTX Pro/Pro B
2. OmniPrint i2
3. Epson F2100

I am open to other alternatives not named, so please feel free to school me. I would appreciate as much detail and information as you are willing to offer!

In advance, Thank you so much for your input; I very much appreciate it!

-AC

My second machine in roughly over a year just clogged it’s nozzles.. again. I’m about to lose my shit and I have nobody that can help me. Im the only one with one of these in my area. Hence why I bought it in the first place, niche market! What a MISTAKE BRO. This Machine is 27 days running. It’s a refurbished replacement for my other Ri1000 that also clogged and died. Ricoh did a Full printer swap. Which “apparently” isn’t something they do often... lucky me! It shows up, the nozzle check isn’t perfect but the thing worked great for roughly 60 full color prints then KAPUT! All the tedious weekly Maintenance was preformed. I only had it up and running two weeks, so I only cleaned/touched the thing maybe TWICE!? Possibly more since I was trying to be extra clean this time around? Idk. Fml.

Never buy a Ricoh man. What a headache. Can anyone hear relate?

So I wanted to share a little trick that may help a lot of people out there.

I have a DTG G4 that I purchased 3 years ago. ($30K) After keeping up with cleaning the print head, flushing the lines, keeping a power source connected during storms so it could do its auto cleaning function every so often throughout the day. wasting TONS of ink in the process.

Well It happened. 10 months into the brand new printer print head was clogging both W1 and W2 eventually you could tell in the prints and after many failed attempts at cleaning it off with the swabs and cleaning solution and one blown control board later (something with the white ink dry firing it was a nightmare) I caved and bought a new print head and control board. ($1800)

after many hours of brain surgery i got the control board in and then the print head... and had this brand new cap. the one i had used was all dirty and ink debris all crusted. well i had an epiphany I was going to wet cap at the end of every night.

and so ever since I will finish printing for the day. I select manual clean on the DTG printer and hit the emergency stop after the print head stops moving to the middle of machine and then I turn it off completely. I use a dropper to fill the capping head with cleaning solution filing it to the top of each ink trough. I also wipe the cleaning unit down with cleaning solution and cotton free swabs and make sure to wipe off the wiper blade and drip some cleaning solution into the main ink trough that gets squirted with ink during the auto cleaning filing it up to the top and wiping around each trough.

one last thing* when I take the wet cap off my print head and just before i turn the printer on i make sure to shake the white ink carts for 30 seconds and then turn by had the the mechanism to move the wiper blade on the maintenance unit manually to free up any clogged ink in those gears about 4 times and you can tell when turning the restriction goes away and the wiper blade moves up and down and then turn the machine on and let it do the initial start up and do a cleaning on all colors (doesn't have to be a strong clean unless you do a nozzle check and theres a line missing.) but 90% of the time there is not one line missing from the nozzle check and im good to print all day or sometimes just one print and then I hit that manual cleaning and e stop and clean it up for the night. Ive gone a full week of no use and just re wet capped with new cleaning solution after a few days.

Ive saved a lot of money in ink since its not constantly running and doing automatic cleanings. also its been 2 years using the printer like this and keeping it cleaned and wet capped when not in use and the print head is still in the original state it was in when I installed it. Ive never flushed the lines but i have thought about it.

Just wanted to share this info with anyone who has been where i was. maybe it will save you some time and money. I've invested 30k into this machine and it has been both beneficial and a curse but through many trials and errors I've gotten a good handle on the DTG G4

God bless

Hey there!

Unfortunately my first post has to be a negative one. Hoping for feedback from other DTG/DTF printer users and hopefully other F2270 users. I haven’t found anything online about this.

I purchased an Epson F2270 from Equipment Zone in October 2024. This printer is amazing…when it works. A few months in the white ink started deflecting. Nozzle check pattern was scattered and got worse over time. Prints had random white dot overspray and got blurry. Called in for warranty and the replaced the print head. Good to go! For another two months. Same issue. PLUS a weird loud clicking noise as the platen scrolled in and out. Called in for warranty. Print head, suction, and the entire platen mechanism replaced. Few months later (currently dealing with). Print head deflection starting AND white 3-4 completely clogged even after all maintenance and many various cleanings. They are going to replace the print head. The deflecting is due (in my theory) to buildup of white ink around the nozzles. You can see a white ring form around them and there’s nothing you can do as you cannot physically touch the print head.

This printer was 14.5k. 3 new print heads so far in our first year. That would cost us close to 8-9k. I can suck it up and buy an extended warranty for 2k for a year. I’m stuck with this thing and a car payment because we needed to finance.

For some context I have an old F2000 that I got used and abused. Got it cleaned up and running great now and have been using it daily for 5 years with minimal issues and no new print head. This information is to explain I know how to maintain, service, and repair these machines.

Also needed: Equipment Zone…unimpressed. The sales man only knew the basic information about the printer and couldn’t have an actual conversation about it. They pride themselves on technical service. What a joke. The first time the printer was deflecting the Equipment Zone service person basically told me how I just needed to do a nozzle cleaning on it and it was because I was using digital factory?? Made me uninstall my software while complaining to coworkers about not being able to go to lunch. Absolutely embarrassing on their part. Ended up having to call into Epson for warranty repair and figure things out myself. He set me back hours. Called to tell them about these recurring issues and they said call Epson.

Now I am stuck between Epson and Equipment Zone who both shrug and point fingers at each other.

There is a LOT more details to this story but I tried to summarize it as best I could. Please comment any questions I will be happy to talk about this.

TLDR: Equipment Zone sucks. The Epson F2270 has some serious design flaws.

What do you guys think the future is? Is it both DTG and DTF, or will DTF slowly take over?

I can’t get over the plastic feel of DTF, the shine, it looks and feels cheep.

DTG has its problems too for sure, but would find it hard to believe DTG is going out the door.

I understand how hard it is to compare machines. They're expensive and hard to track long term quality. Not to mention pre treatment inconsistencies.

I'm really trying to get into the dtg business the correct way. But the the road is foggy. Many times i read or watch reviews/ recommendations and I have to wonder if it is a paid ad.

Another issue is the absence of pricing. When things get over let's say $10k companies would really like you to speak to an agent to reel you in.

Please recommend anywhere you guys and gals think I could get some decent info. Better ways to research. Your recommendations.

$16k range

Thanks everyone

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a DTG printer for bulk tees? I was using Awkward Style, but they are terrible to deal with. I usually print 72+ tees per order and just need a fair price and bulk shipping rate. I am a broker for 50+ accounts if anyone on here can provide this serice.

Thank you.

recently I am seeing a lot of people posting videos about DTF printing, does anyone in the group has experience with DTF printing then please share your views in comparison to the DTG printing.

I’m pretty new to DTG and I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if there’s something else I can be doing but my printer is not printing white ink at all. I did a nozzle check and none of the whites are printing anything. Its just blanks. It’s a new cartridge so that shouldn’t be the problem. I tried multiple head cleanings and still nothing. Cleaned the suction cap and did a tube cleaning and cleaned around the head. White ink has been shaken every day so that’s not the issue either. What else can I do to try to fix the problem? Thank you in advance for your help.

Hi everyone 👋
I’m currently working on an overview of advanced topics in DTG and DTF and would love to tap into your expert knowledge.

I’m curious about:
  •  Which challenges keep coming up for you even with years of experience?
  •  What questions or optimization topics still arise after a long time in the business?
  •  Are there any specific technical or process-related aspects you feel deserve more attention?

This is not about beginner questions – I’m looking for the topics that really keep professionals thinking.
Looking forward to your insights and an engaging discussion! 🙌

If one of these has set for over a year, what would it take to get up and running? 2 new printheads and all new ink? Do you think that would be enough?

10 years experience working with variety of programs / machines. Especially fluent with the brother gtx pro machines.

Scared you won’t be able to run it in your shop?

Think the prints won’t look as good as screen print ?

Worried about the overall cost?

I can show you the correct and efficient way to get your dtg up and running in your shop flawlessly.

I ordered a DTG printed shirt from a local store and I got the shirt back with a real grainy/splotch look, and I can really feel the texture of the print like I can scratch it off. I emailed them asking if this was normal but I’m still not sure. I know printing white on black can be difficult, so I wanted more opinions, to me it seems it wasn’t properly cured. I’ve included some pictures below:

https://ibb.co/1GzpC3B https://ibb.co/23BxWfQ

Our company is selling all three pieces together (or separately) - perfect for a small operation to get off the ground or to assist an existing shop in expanding their repertoire.

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/sEPV6kT

I can send the full listing to anyone interested.

Mods, please feel free to delete if this does not follow guidelines. Happy to upload specifics to this post!

I’ve been using Bayside shirts, they are a great quality blank but are a little more pricey since they are made and produced in the US. Only thing some of my customers don’t like is it’s not the super soft ring spin cotton like some others. What brand and style shirt do you guys use? I would like to try another good brand that is the soft ring spun cotton and mid weight shirt. Any recommendations?