How Do You Choose The Right Size DTF Printer?
Written by Sabur Sales on December 3rd 2024
Everyone says moving to DTF increases your profit margins, because Direct to Film printers operate with lower costs. But how do you decide which DTF printer is the right size for your budget AND the growth of your business? Steven Midgely at Bear Cricket shared his experience with SABUR Digital…
“Bear Cricket has supplied hand-crafted, homegrown English willow cricket bats, clothing and accessories for about 10 years. We have a great reputation for quality, and delivering products that are made in the UK at very affordable prices. Business was going well, but we didn’t want to stand still. We wanted to go from faster-turnover to smarter-turnover – sourcing garments that we could put a logo onto, in a way that would benefit our customers. That meant holding more stock, and moving to DTF. It was a huge decision because you’ve got to think twice about making big investments these days, but it’s absolutely the best thing we ever did.”
SABTEX SD-70-2 coupled with an H650+ dryer
Bear Cricket bought a 70cm, twin-head DTF system that runs at 8 to 10M2 per hour – the SABTEX SD-70-2. Coupled with a H650 Plus shaker/dryer, this DTF printer brings all the advantages of powder recirculation. Fewer blockages, better results, more reliability overall. It’s an ideal, very affordable DTF printer for growing, mid-range businesses that love high quality DTF products.
“We’re not technical experts, so we were asking very basic questions about DTF. Operating costs, throughput, consumables… that’s how you find out which size printer is right for your business. You demo a machine, and ask lots of questions. We had looked at small, desktop DTF printers. We also knew massive, industrial production wasn’t right for us yet. What we really valued was the chance to talk about manual feed options – installation, too. We work very closely with garment suppliers and couldn’t have a huge hole in the calendar while we were working out how to use a new machine.”
The most basic DTF range machines do need to be manually fed. With a compact footprint as well, they’re ideal for smaller businesses that want to get into DTF but aren’t quite ready for a larger machine.
“SABUR didn’t make the decisions for us, they started by asking what we wanted to achieve and really got to know us and our business. We talked about it, and started exploring what kind of volume we hoped to achieve. Dean, in particular, was really supportive. He explained all the limitations of smaller DTF machines in a way that made perfect sense. It wasn’t about up-selling, we didn’t get that feeling at any time. It was all about what made sense for Bear Cricket as a business. If we’d gone with a manually fed machine, we know we’d have regretted it in a few weeks’ time. That conversation alone was worth its weight in gold.”
“I know I can always pick up the phone too, get the supplies I need next-day, and any advice or technical help I want, pretty much there and then. From the demo to the installation and then a bit of ‘handholding’ for the team, it’s been brilliant. I’m not just talking about the SD-70-2 itself, or things like, “it’s great, but we can’t make it do ‘this’, what should we change?”, or “it’s come up an error message, now what?” – SABUR really listened to our plans. Having their support in the decision-making process and the set-up made a huge difference. If we had our time over again, we would absolutely choose SABUR.”
Bursali replaced its lost machines with advanced equipment, including a 1.9-meter-wide 4-colour and a 1.9-meter-wide 6-colour DGI Poseidon printer, along with two Klieverik GTC111-2000 SPFL calender presses. These machines offer the flexibility to handle our 1.9-meter-wide materials and also offer the option of printing with fluorescent inks. Beth said, “Our long-standing relationship with Aaron and Sabur has been built on trust and excellent support and whether you are looking for small or large machines, we highly recommend Sabur as a reliable supplier.”
We’ll help you make the right choice, get the machine installed and set up perfectly, ready to print. But we’ll also give you ongoing support to make sure you’re getting the most from a new DTF machine. Our engineers are always happy to help with advice and practical support — and our thanks go to Steve Midgley and the team at Bear Cricket.
