Author Topic: Mlink in the building.  (Read 103813 times)

Offline repogolfer

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #390 on: July 13, 2016, 05:11:27 PM »
Brandt,

Super nice job!  If I had your talent I'd be loaded...

Jon


Offline GraphicDisorder

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #391 on: July 13, 2016, 05:29:15 PM »
Brandt,

Super nice job!  If I had your talent I'd be loaded...

Jon

Wish I was loaded lol. Im just hoodrich.
Brandt | Graphic Disorder | www.GraphicDisorder.com
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Offline ABDada

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #392 on: July 13, 2016, 07:33:24 PM »
Awesome prints!  Contract DTG is something we do as fill-in work but it's really low margin.  We "fire" somewhere around 25-40 contract customers a month when their service burden goes into the red.  We wrote in-house software to calculate a customer's burden (phone calls, texts, emails, complaints, etc) and if they go into the red for more than 30 days, we send them a list of competitors to visit.  I've actually had competitors tell me to stop sending them shitty customers, lol.

What's the biggest platen that comes with the M-Link?  Our big issue is we NEED to be able to do 15x19 prints.  In our market, zero people support larger sized prints, and the ones that do outside of our market print really poorly and don't pay attention to the details, which ends up pushing more business our way when we get rave reviews from customers.  Now that our 16" printer has imploded probably permanently, we're back to 12.5" wide prints which has stunted our sales by almost 25% -- and our profits by almost 40% as we way overcharge for the large prints since no one else does them well.

I assume the M-Link RIP is based on Kothari?  I haven't seen screen caps or videos for it, so I'm curious whose RIP they use.

Offline ABDada

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #393 on: July 13, 2016, 07:36:12 PM »
Answered that last question with YouTube -- the MLink RIP is definitely Kothari, by far the best RIP in the industry.

Offline Alex M

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #394 on: July 13, 2016, 07:55:26 PM »
You are correct, it is Kothari.
MLink X uses Ricoh gen5 print heads.
DuPont ink
As you can tell by Brandt's prints the quality is very high!
The largest pallet is 16x20.
We have 24/7 service on all M&R product including the MLink series.
Please let me know if you have any other questions and I or our team will help answer them.
Thanks!


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Alex Mammoser
Director of Sales
Easiway Systems
Mobile: +1 630 220 6588
alex@easiway.com

Offline ABDada

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #395 on: July 13, 2016, 08:09:24 PM »
You are correct, it is Kothari.

Thanks for confirming that.  I've been using the Kothari RIP for almost 3 years and it is absolutely the most cost effective and high quality print in DTG bar none.  I've had access to dozens of DTG printers across the spectrum and so far nothing beats Kothari in color rendering, ink savings and overall efficiency.  I'm currently using CADLink with my 13" DTG printers and the CADLink just wastes white ink.


Quote
MLink X uses Ricoh gen5 print heads.

Ah, good to know.  I do love those Ricoh print heads but have no actual experience with them.  Great to know that Dupont ink supports the Ricoh head -- that's definitely a printhead I'd like to put through the paces.


Quote
We have 24/7 service on all M&R product including the MLink series.
Please let me know if you have any other questions and I or our team will help answer them.

I sent an inquiry to Rich based on one of his long time customer's review of M&R.  One of my shops is probably 10 miles from you folks (literally one major road straight there) so that's been a big consideration for me since tech support in DTG is generally not known for being fast and efficient.  In the past 2 years, I've had machines fail on me on Monday with a 1500 print run scheduled and I didn't get parts or call backs for 3-4 days from some vendors.  Not a good place to be when you're sitting on $15,000 in client cash and a deadline.

Right now our big concern is support (#1) and overall recouping of capital layout.  The MSRP on the MLink and MLink X are both significantly higher than the competitors but if the service is 8/10 or better, it's worth it.  A great profitable DTG customer can cost me $1500 to close a lead on, and a $15,000 price difference for a DTG printer can be wiped away in just a few screw ups or major down time.

I'm still shopping around quite a bit since there are other Ricoh printers on the horizon and we don't finance machines, we pay cash, so I have to be meticulous about vetting machines from actual users versus just sales videos.  There's nothing worse than dropping the cost of a Tesla on a machine only to find out we would have been better off with 3 cheaper printers.

I do appreciate you folks are on here and local to me, and those are huge aspects of my acquisition decision-making process.

Do you keep an MLink (not X) on demo at the Illinois HQ?  How often do you do open houses?

Offline Alex M

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #396 on: July 13, 2016, 09:04:28 PM »
We always have both models running in Roselle and are open to anyone visiting anytime! No open house needed.


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Alex Mammoser
Director of Sales
Easiway Systems
Mobile: +1 630 220 6588
alex@easiway.com

Offline 244

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #397 on: July 13, 2016, 10:40:56 PM »
You are correct, it is Kothari.

Thanks for confirming that.  I've been using the Kothari RIP for almost 3 years and it is absolutely the most cost effective and high quality print in DTG bar none.  I've had access to dozens of DTG printers across the spectrum and so far nothing beats Kothari in color rendering, ink savings and overall efficiency.  I'm currently using CADLink with my 13" DTG printers and the CADLink just wastes white ink.


Quote
MLink X uses Ricoh gen5 print heads.

Ah, good to know.  I do love those Ricoh print heads but have no actual experience with them.  Great to know that Dupont ink supports the Ricoh head -- that's definitely a printhead I'd like to put through the paces.


Quote
We have 24/7 service on all M&R product including the MLink series.
Please let me know if you have any other questions and I or our team will help answer them.

I sent an inquiry to Rich based on one of his long time customer's review of M&R.  One of my shops is probably 10 miles from you folks (literally one major road straight there) so that's been a big consideration for me since tech support in DTG is generally not known for being fast and efficient.  In the past 2 years, I've had machines fail on me on Monday with a 1500 print run scheduled and I didn't get parts or call backs for 3-4 days from some vendors.  Not a good place to be when you're sitting on $15,000 in client cash and a deadline.

Right now our big concern is support (#1) and overall recouping of capital layout.  The MSRP on the MLink and MLink X are both significantly higher than the competitors but if the service is 8/10 or better, it's worth it.  A great profitable DTG customer can cost me $1500 to close a lead on, and a $15,000 price difference for a DTG printer can be wiped away in just a few screw ups or major down time.

I'm still shopping around quite a bit since there are other Ricoh printers on the horizon and we don't finance machines, we pay cash, so I have to be meticulous about vetting machines from actual users versus just sales videos.  There's nothing worse than dropping the cost of a Tesla on a machine only to find out we would have been better off with 3 cheaper printers.

I do appreciate you folks are on here and local to me, and those are huge aspects of my acquisition decision-making process.

Do you keep an MLink (not X) on demo at the Illinois HQ?  How often do you do open houses?
If you plan on visiting us be sure to bring files for white as well as black shirts. Best to see your own files printed without manipulation.
Rich Hoffman

Offline GraphicDisorder

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #398 on: July 14, 2016, 06:46:31 AM »

Right now our big concern is support (#1) and overall recouping of capital layout.  The MSRP on the MLink and MLink X are both significantly higher than the competitors but if the service is 8/10 or better, it's worth it.  A great profitable DTG customer can cost me $1500 to close a lead on, and a $15,000 price difference for a DTG printer can be wiped away in just a few screw ups or major down time.


I would remind you to look close at ink cost/ink use. Read through my thread. I suspect many DTG printers can't compete with the Mlink on ink cost/use. I know for a fact the Brother can't...not even close in fact. So when you look at a machine that costs less but the prints cost a lot more make sure you can stomach that 2-3 years later when you are still paying more per print.
Brandt | Graphic Disorder | www.GraphicDisorder.com
@GraphicDisorder - Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

Offline GraphicDisorder

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #399 on: July 14, 2016, 06:48:02 AM »
Also don't forget maintenance on the machine. The Brother was nearly 2hrs every Monday, the Mlink is like 2 minutes. So keep that in mind lost production time on some machines out there.
Brandt | Graphic Disorder | www.GraphicDisorder.com
@GraphicDisorder - Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

Offline kingscreen

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #400 on: July 14, 2016, 08:05:06 AM »
Brandt, is that camo pattern the print?  It looks like the fabric!
Scott Garnett
King Screen

Offline GraphicDisorder

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #401 on: July 14, 2016, 08:09:24 AM »
Brandt, is that camo pattern the print?  It looks like the fabric!

Yup, machine did great on the detail.
Brandt | Graphic Disorder | www.GraphicDisorder.com
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Offline Nation03

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #402 on: July 14, 2016, 08:45:12 AM »
Just caught up on this thread. Awesome stuff. With print quality and ink costs like that, I might get one of these instead of an auto.

How has the learning curve been?

Offline GraphicDisorder

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #403 on: July 14, 2016, 08:46:27 AM »
Just caught up on this thread. Awesome stuff. With print quality and ink costs like that, I might get one of these instead of an auto.

How has the learning curve been?

Not really much of a learning curve to be honest. We were putting out sell-able shirts day 1.
Brandt | Graphic Disorder | www.GraphicDisorder.com
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Offline T Shirt Farmer

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Re: Mlink in the building.
« Reply #404 on: July 14, 2016, 12:58:38 PM »
are you printing blended shirts or just 100% cotton?
Robert
allpremiums.com
Your Source for Decorated Apparel.