TruePix & Printers

[LazyCarrot]

Came across this little snippet on the internet....

True Pix dye sublimation paper
Recommended by Sawgrass for use with their ArTainium and SubliJet dye sublimation inks this paper has been designed for use with today's state of the art six and seven color printers, because these printers deliver more ink onto the paper through the print head you need a paper that can hold the saturation otherwise detail will be lost in the transfer. To alleviate this True Pix paper is specially designed to hold the ink on the surface without the paper becoming too wet and then "cockling" due to over saturation.

which throws up a couple of queries...

Firstly, is it really true that the 6/7 colour printers lay down more ink than the 4 colour printers?
I assumed that they would spread the ink usage across the cartridges, rather than laying down more ink.

Secondly, assuming it is true, does that mean that the TruePix paper doesn't offer any advantage over the less expensive/thinner papers for 4 colour printers?
For example is there unlikely to be any quality difference between the thinner (and cheaper) Xpress paper when using a 4 colour printer.
I presume the thicker paper also means a longer heating time.

I should add at this point that I have absolutely no hands-on experience of sublimation printing whatever just blindly groping around trying to get an idea what the water will be like before i jump in! So, would be interested in any thoughts or conjectures that the above might bring to light.

[JSR]

I'm not a printer guru myself, but what is a "seven colour printer"?

4-colour printers use CMYK
6-colour printers use either CcMmYK (in a 6-cartridge inkset) or CMYKRB (in an 8-cartridge inkset).

Where does the 7th colour come from?

To me, though, it just sounds like marketing spiel to get you to buy paper from Sawgrass. They already have a stranglehold on ink, keeping the price high; they restrict the choice of printers we can use; and now they want to monopolise the paper by making claims that it's better than all the others.

When it comes to paper, your best option is trial and error. Paper comes in packs of 100, some cheaper than others, so it's not going to bankrupt you to see what works best for you.

[LazyCarrot]

Indeed, the 7-colour printer is a bit of an enigma - well spotted.

Googling deeper, there doesn't seem to be an 'official line' from Sawgrass as to any particular benefits of their paper - the various retailers all seem to have their own theory - i think you are right and that marketing spiel is likely a major factor here.

I'll probably try and blag a few samples to see if I can find a personal preference... in the end that's likely to be what it boils down to.

[SciArtImages]

I know that some top end 'photographic quality' printers have more than one black cart (I think some have 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3 black) so that could add to the no. of colours. I guess a CcMmYKk would be 7 colour.
And to me it makes sense that the more ink that is on the surface, the better the print (onto sub item). The closer the ink the substrate, surely the better the 'transfer'?
Not anything other than my opinions.

Neil.

[purpledragon]

I can only talk from experiance as ive used both true pix and the thinner less expensive xpres paper and heres what ive personally found
i have 2 printers an epson 1400 and a b1100
over the xmas period my supplier ran out of a3+ true pix so i had to buy a box of xpres paper so thats why i ended up with an enforced comaprison

truepix paper .... no problems ever with this paper i use it for t shirts mugs mouse mats the lot a good allround paper never any issues good quality prints in both my 6 ink 1400 and my 4 ink b1100 down side is twice the cost (nearly) as xpres paper

xpres paper .... incidently this is very similar to the chinease paper that some suppliers have. what can i say about this pap0er well in my opinion (and its just my opinion) total crap i wouldnt let it near my 1400 again i did try it the ink seems to soak into the paper causing the paper to be saturated infact quite wet . For some reason you get black over sparay at times i get the feeling this is because the paper is so wet it leaves a residue on the printer rollers which in turn transfer onto the following print. My 1400 hates it so much it causes huge paper jams followed by a crunching noise which curdles the blood . its a bit kinder to the b1100 printer but the black ink marks still appear. Print quality appears washed out the first time i got any complaints on the tea towels i print was the first time i used this paper on a tea towel. the paper is noticebly thinner than truepix which is where i suspect the problem lies the up side is its half as cheap but when you take into account the amout that gets thrown away due to paper jams and black marks and the printable items you print then notice the black marks, i suspect its probably ends up more expensive
if ive said it once ive said it a thousand times buy cheap buy twice , its a total false ecomnomy.
i dare say there will be plenty of replies saying how its never given them a problem as i said this is just my experiance of the 2 papers

[John G]

All good info above but just a quick addition - Purpledragon's tests where all done on Epson printers, you won't get those problems with a Ricoh. With the Ricoh it prints fast, and the paper comes out bone dry with no residue left on rollers.

So it could well be that certain papers favour certain printers.

Cheers John

[Bob700]

Like purpledragon I have used both, trupix and it was first class but the thin xpres stuff was a pile of crap, it felt like copy paper and was very difficult to see what side to print on, I was using a 4 colour epson printer and used a variety of papers, the signal stuff was not too bad but the trupix stuck out head and shoulders above anything else

[John G]

very difficult to see what side to print on

I've only ever used xpres and its very easy to see what side to print - one side is white, the other side is off white, instruction inside the box, print on white side.

I'll have to get some trupix to test to see what all the fuss is about

[Bob700]

Maybe I should get my eyes tested, and learn to read

[purpledragon]

It can be a little difficult to tell the differance in what side to print i suppose if you are used to using a type of paper you tend to tune into it a bit more so its easy to see the differance, trupix does tend to be a little more obvious. John send me your address and i'll happily post you a couple of sheets of a4 trupix to try though i take your point with the ricoh. Just to further the debate i found coljet paper even better than truepix with really vibrant colour , why dont i use this ? well the ink tends to sit on top of the paper again coating the spiked rollers on the printer so you did tend to get a dotted black line pity really cause i really rated that paper