Author Topic: Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?  (Read 1539 times)

Offline paradoxsc

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Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?
« on: July 26, 2018, 05:10:54 PM »
We run a couple of Brother GT-3's over here for our DTG department. The ink cost are roughly $0.51/per CC (color) $0.40/per CC (white)

Most prints on White tees range about 1-2 CC's per side depending on artwork size ($0.50 - $1.00)
Most prints on Color tees range about 4-10 CC's per side depending on artwork size ($2 - $5.00) plus pretreat costs

These costs would be fine if we were just selling retail, but that isn't the case. We found that our brands and retail stores are loving the convenience of being able to reorder specific items that they are out of stock in. For instance if they usually stock S-6/M-6/L-6/XL-6 and they only have 2 mediums left, they can simply order the 4 mediums that they need to keep their stock levels up.

The issue is we have to keep the pricing competitive for wholesale clients so if they are used to an $8 screen printing cost they are not going to go up to a $14 cost and slash their profit margins to nothing. Our only option is to get our costs down per print.

The alternative inks would cut our costs in half but I literally cant find a single review from anyone who has used them. Our machines are under warranty but I could buy some used ones for a fairly cheap price and give it a shot. I was just hoping someone had experience with these inks or something similar on the GT-3 machines. (see link below)

https://www.garmentprinterink.com/shop/b-series-image-armor-change-over-kit-for-brother-gt-3-series-printers.html


Offline Pangea

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Re: Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2018, 05:38:07 PM »
When I worked in DTG a few years ago the owner decided to switch our 541 and 782 CMYK to third party inks and we never had any issues (at least the 2 years I was there using them). As long as you keep up with regular maintenance they should be relatively safe. That being said I would put away some of the costs savings in case you have to drop money on a new head.

Offline mk162

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Re: Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2018, 08:19:09 AM »
Funny this just came up...I ordered some 2 days ago from SunData Supply.  It's half the cost of Brother ink.  It's in bladders, so that can be a pain.  After the carts are opened the first time it's a lot easier to get them open to swap it out.

I will drain the lines first before putting the new ink in.

I should mention we are only running CMYK.

And yes, I'll be putting the savings aside just in case.

Offline paradoxsc

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Re: Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2018, 06:14:16 AM »
Funny this just came up...I ordered some 2 days ago from SunData Supply.  It's half the cost of Brother ink.  It's in bladders, so that can be a pain.  After the carts are opened the first time it's a lot easier to get them open to swap it out.

I will drain the lines first before putting the new ink in.

I should mention we are only running CMYK.

And yes, I'll be putting the savings aside just in case.


Please let me know how it goes. I’ve saved every cart we’ve ever used so I have plenty of them to crack open.

I’m guessing a third party white ink is going to be bad because I’ve never heard any brother owners say anything about them.

Offline mk162

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Re: Has Anyone Been Ballzy Enough To Try Alternative Inks?
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2018, 08:34:38 PM »

Please let me know how it goes. I’ve saved every cart we’ve ever used so I have plenty of them to crack open.

I’m guessing a third party white ink is going to be bad because I’ve never heard any brother owners say anything about them.

I know that Brian Walker at Image Armor is working on it.  Drop him a line and see where it's at, it's supposed to be the same or better than Brother inks.