3 DTF Machines Later - Should You Buy One?

[@CrossMediaSuccess]

Appreciate your honesty in this conversation. I know you had a deep interview with the owner of one of the machines reviewed and that didn’t sway your review. Overall, love your videos they are very well done.

[@DirtyProductions]

Our company dived into DTF as we saw the opportunity just like Steven and we experience every issue he went through but are lucky we have an experienced team that knows how to trouble shoot the issues we ran into. We went the direct route instead of working with a state side supplier cause we saw a lot of these companies supplying the printer as money grabs. Reminded me of when DTG printers first came out to market, it was a lot of small players that talked a big game but when it came to show it support wasn’t there. And you guys said it right in and It’s sad cause these new products are always marketed towards mom and pop style shops as a fix all solution when it’s really just going to be a new problem. That cost them 25k.

[@DirtyProductions]

I give it at least 5 years before we see epson finally enter the market with there own DTF printer. They will let all these small fish figure out the problems and trouble shoot. Same way they did there DTG printers. They let players like flexijet test the waters to make sure it’s there is money there before they put there engineers on a creating a product. But when it will finally happens then it will make sense for a anyone to get in to the dtf game.

[@hiswaypressorprint4193]

Love it, this is great information. Thank you so much for the honesty and for putting print shops before sponsorships.

[@karihodges4715]

My tiny business owns a Polyprint texjet echo2 DTG that also does DTF and we love it!! It’s obviously too slow for any kind of high production, and we do understand the learning curve time suck. and the self diagnosing we have to do is frustrating. Maybe by the time I grow in scale the dtf conveyor machines will have worked out their kinks!

[@cooledcollective]

Insane information during a time where the information is scarce. Thank you guys, I went to the Impressions Expo in Long Beach this past weekend and I am on the fence but after listening to your cast, I think I will wait. The time is still too new

[@adamkratzert1961]

Great episode. We just brought dtf in house- the mongoose. We are training this week. Thanks for the great episode. What forums/Facebook groups would you recommend we join for troubleshooting/networking with other dtf’ers?

[@elephantum4067]

how has your machine been going?

[@DtfXpertjay]

Amazing journey! One thing I see you may have missed is how important environment is. We are fortunate enough to travel all over the USA and help clients get up and running quickly and one of the the most abused part of this whole process is environment. Seems no matter how much you try to drill it into the clients heads they just don’t get it. The environmental abuse is one of the biggest causes of equipment failure. Again, Amazing journey and Thank you for sharing.

[@el_chavez]

What do you mean by environment abuse? Is it like dust and such in the environment that can degrade the printers mechanisms?

[@DtfXpertjay]

@@el_chavez temperature and Humidity …Environment….

[@andyrudman]

Thank you for this! Also, that's a beautiful floor lamp you've got there, Bruce. It's so warm and inviting, like sunshine on a chilly day.

[@stevenfarag6673]

i

[@TheBizzyBScience]

What about the mimaki dtf machines? I have heard there not as fast, but reliable. I would love to know if you'd heard anything?

[@jesselejarzar5114]

Not sure anyone has said this before, but there are tons of people converting their existing inkjet printers into dtf machines. Manually shaking and baking the sheets. People with online Etsy stores selling the prints to whoever or heat pressing out of brick and mortar stores as well as online sales. These homemade DTF people only talk about converting and daily running these machines for small starter business that maybe used to heat press cricut designs or vinyl cut . There's also DTG converts that show how to print dtg onto dtf film and then comparing the differences.

[@jiccojicco]

I don't own any DTF printer but I have been using DTF as main printing method since early 2020. Started very early. But DTF printing is outsourced even monthly amount spent is already more than the amount mentioned. I was using DTG (Brothers GTX) since 2018 and jumped into DTF when first saw it. There are pros and cons in all. Beast solution will depending heavily on the business model and profit model. How would Printavo works for production line focus primarily on DTF? Very interested to explore.

[@danielhsubr]

Where are you located? May be able to help with your DTF needs.

[@RhyBeats]

Great insight! I’m going through the same issues with DTF. Great convo ✌️

[@paxtonmx7016]

Have you ever had the pulley slip a belt on the Mongoose II? It's happened to me twice in the last 8 weeks of having this machine.

[@bernardogonzalez4806]

💯. I own Roland printers and I understand the maintenance but these are too new. We're still hesitant to make the jump in a $30k+ system. Thanks for the info!

[@stief9090]

Wow, so helpful! I'd love to hear a similar episode about DTG, at what point does it make sense to get one? Which machines would you recommend?

[@KingScreen]

Excellent episode and I think Steven nailed everything. A+

[@andyatmosphere]

So what DTF machine does Steven use.?

[@studio23llc57]

We need the update to this video. Now m&r is releasing a dtf printer

[@chrisg4374]

I just love DTF. Started 2 1/2 years ago. 1 commercial print and have only been through 4 print heads and 2 sets of dampers. It’s all about good quality inks, maintenance and temperature/Humidity controlled environment.

[@EaglesVideosNamibia]

How did you manage that. I am saving for this machine and cant seem to know people with good reports iut here. What printer are you using and where do you get supplies from?

[@DigitalPlaygroundTV]

The definitely way to do DTF is outsource the DTF and don't get into the hassle !

[@rosemolinary8727]

Well I can tell you the cobra Flex powderless hasn’t gotten ANY better 😤 we are going to have to fork out $5k more now ontop of what we already paid for the printer to switch to powder.

[@stevenfarag6673]

I’m sorry you’re going through that. 😢

[@bobperry617]

Seems to me that the indicator of the best point of entry into to DTF will be when Epson itself is selling a machine. No one knows their print heads and technology better than them and if they are not selling a DTF printer even though there is strong demand, then that tells me that they don’t believe that the technology is ready for the market

[@ameliatan0309]

Good point. 👍🏻

[@brandingoutllc5730]

Dude, thank you for putting this one out! Steven everything you have said I have lived and vsion the frustration. Been messing with a Funsun printer from China for the past year, which is garbage. On top the rip software is useless. A very key compontent of the process, just not physcially printing the transfer. I would think sometimes when you throw $$ at something it works but in this case the teachnology isn't there and you need to learn to speak chinese. Maybe Epson the will get into the game since this is built off thier print head. Wonder if I can convert the F3070 into a roll printer.

[@amypettis2408]

Would you guys try the Coldesi system?

[@CraftingToCash]

Garbage service after the sale

[@frankgood9448]

Coldesi has given us exceptional service. As long as you are okay with email they are pretty good.

[@CallieOdell]

Coldesi is horrible we are less than a year having our machine on our 4th print head, we’ve never had one good run the whole time we’ve owned it, check the BBB, pages of similar complaints

[@danielhsubr]

Would be great to know which DTF printer Supacolor use it.😊

[@johnleontakianakos]

I think it’s a 8 or 9 color toner printer and then use a plastisol for the white base via a screen and single line autos. Similar to the TKO process.

[@Lyropimp]

Steven crawled so the rest of us can run 😂

[@andyatmosphere]

So if there’s no money in DTF why is everyone trying to do it.?

[@urjnlegend]

Just letting y'all know, your extremely limited knowledge of DTF shows, idk why y'all would even get a cobraflex machine. I expected more from your guys.

[@stevenfarag6673]

It was v1 and we were given it to try out for 90 days. Couldn't pass up on the opportunity!

[@CraftingToCash]

Because it was a year ago when they first came out.

[@andyatmosphere]

Words to the wise, If you have NO technical ability…. DON’T buy a printer.