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  1. #1
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    which sublimation printer to buy for non commercial use?

    Hi, last year i bought a craft plotter and a heat press and now i just have to try sublimation as well and in the last weeks i watched thousand youtube videos and articles about it. The important thing is i just want to sublimate for myself, "just for fun" and because i have a heat press anyway. The Sawgrass SG400 would be a nice machine because its plug and play without the hassle of ICC profile which is needed with other brands as far as i know but one color is like 60 Euro! So for a Set of 4 i have to pay over 200 Euro just for fun use and the shelf life of the ink is only one year, that dosnt make much sense in my mind because i wouldnt waste that ink in a year. The positive thing about the sawgrass is that it has vibrant colors and deep blacks and that is exactly what i want, i dont want dull results, i would rather skip the whole thoughts about sublimation if the end results were dull and blurred prints.

    The next solution would be to buy an epson printer but as far as i know the print heads of those machines are not really suited to sublimation, well they are suited because of piezo technic but not really suited because the resolution of these printers is to high which results in clogging issues. On the other hand this solution is so cheap, you could print everyday to prevent this and its still cheaper than the sawgrass. An important point is those macines need ICC profiles and my plotter software is from silhouette and it does not support ICC profiles. I could print as a pdf file and open that in a software that supports ICC, that would be a solution but you have to buy it first and you have to study how that works. Which lead me to the solution, there is a company in the US called "Cobra ink" which sells sublimation ink for the standard Epson driver, you dont need an ICC profile at all. Would that make sense?

    So for me as a beginner whats the best thing to do? Buy a sawgrass SG-400 because they are currently offered to a good price witout ink and go for aftermarket Inks? Buy a similar Ricoh printer with aftermarket inks? Buy a Epson Eco tank printer with aftermarket ink + ICC profile? Buy the Epson with cobra ink from the US? Buy a cheap 60 Euro Epson and aftermarket inks?

    To the inks, which ink is simialr to the sawgrass SG-400 Subli Jet ink in quality or is there an Epson printer and aftermarket ink that is similar to the SG-400? I mean vibrant colors and deep blacks etc..? What is the best ink in europe available, there are some inks available in germany like sublisplash and Subliselect Premium or even original Epson Ultra Chrome DS and others.

    Another problem i see with the Epson Ecotank printer is that once the ink is inside you can not get it out anymore, what if the ink gets to old and its still in there? With a normal printer i can just throw away the cartridge but with the Ecotank System?

    I would like to pess some Mugs, press on polyester and also sublimate on printable HTV

  2. #2
    Premium Member UK Printed Mugs's Avatar
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    Talk with Alex or Christian from inkexperts.co.uk

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to UK Printed Mugs For This Useful Post:

    InkExperts (31-01-2020)

  4. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by UK Printed Mugs View Post
    Talk with Alex or Christian from inkexperts.co.uk
    Thank you, i did that and today was the first time i sublimated something on a piece of polyester i bought from amazon for 2 Euro per square meter. The first try with the Versa paper went a bit dull, i did 195C for about 45 Seconds. 2nd try i increased the pressure and the time to 60 secs and it looked better but this time it was the S-Race paper. So i am not sure if this was because of the increased pressure and time or because of the S-Race paper instead of the versa. I could see on the Versa paper that alot of ink left on the paper while on my 2nd press the ink released pretty good from the paper.

    I am not an expert, the image sublimated to the fabric looks not as sharp i have to say but maybe thats normal because of the structure of the fabric. I also printed the same picture on my normal Canon inkjet printer and i have to say that the colors of the sublimated fabric are actually closer to the original I guess thats because i use aftermarket ink on my "normal" desktop Inkjet, it always printed blue instead of turquoise.


    This was the file i used
    denise-chan-pXmbsF70ulM-unsplash.jpg
    This is the sublimated piece of fabric(with ICC), maybe somebody can tell what i have to adjust

    IMG_3386.jpgIMG_3387.jpg
    Last edited by Daninho; 13-02-2020 at 08:37 PM.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daninho View Post
    Thank you, i did that and today was the first time i sublimated something on a piece of polyester i bought from amazon for 2 Euro per square meter. The first try with the Versa paper went a bit dull, i did 195C for about 45 Seconds. 2nd try i increased the pressure and the time to 60 secs and it looked better but this time it was the S-Race paper. So i am not sure if this was because of the increased pressure and time or because of the S-Race paper instead of the versa. I could see on the Versa paper that alot of ink left on the paper while on my 2nd press the ink released pretty good from the paper.

    I am not an expert, the image sublimated to the fabric looks not as sharp i have to say but maybe thats normal because of the structure of the fabric. I also printed the same picture on my normal Canon inkjet printer and i have to say that the colors of the sublimated fabric are actually closer to the original I guess thats because i use aftermarket ink on my "normal" desktop Inkjet, it always printed blue instead of turquoise.


    This was the file i used
    denise-chan-pXmbsF70ulM-unsplash.jpg
    This is the sublimated piece of fabric(with ICC), maybe somebody can tell what i have to adjust

    IMG_3386.jpgIMG_3387.jpg
    When sublimating to fabrics you will loose detail due to the weave and texture of the fabric this is inevitable really and will vary from fabric to fabric. Fien weave like silk polyester will be very good for detail, whereas open weave like linen or canvas will be less detailed due to the structure of the fabric.

    Our Subli-Versa paper is great for all substrates, but you will get improvements when using Subli-Fabric HR our high release fabric specific paper. Also we find using a Teflon sheet will further improve transfer as it helps with heat dispersion and seals the print better during transfer so minimises the escape of the gas whilst the ink sublimates to the fabric.

    Alex
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  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by InkExperts View Post
    When sublimating to fabrics you will loose detail due to the weave and texture of the fabric this is inevitable really and will vary from fabric to fabric. Fien weave like silk polyester will be very good for detail, whereas open weave like linen or canvas will be less detailed due to the structure of the fabric.

    Our Subli-Versa paper is great for all substrates, but you will get improvements when using Subli-Fabric HR our high release fabric specific paper. Also we find using a Teflon sheet will further improve transfer as it helps with heat dispersion and seals the print better during transfer so minimises the escape of the gas whilst the ink sublimates to the fabric.

    Alex
    Thank you for that advice, i bought cheap paper for that purpose because in youtube videos people said dont use teflon sheets. I already have teflon sheets for HTV.
    Today i had the first problem with the printer, so far i did a nozzle test once a day and today i discovered that the nozzle test was not 100%. The the black color showed a slightly misaligned line, it was misaligned, not invisible, ive added a photo. I let the printer so the head cleaning which solved the problem but its still scary because i printed every day to prevent such things. I hope that dont happens often.

    What if the piece of foam is full of ink one day, can i replace that part myself? Because the Ecotank 2720 dont have a real waste ink tank, only foam.

    IMG_3397.jpg


    another problem i discovered is that it has problems with loading the paper straight, the print is always not straight, slightly misaligned.
    Last edited by Daninho; 15-02-2020 at 03:50 PM.

  7. #6
    Senior Member Mrteajunkie's Avatar
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    If your paper isn’t loading straight then you need to push the blue guides to the paper in the paper feed so it’s touching both sides of the sheet.

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrteajunkie View Post
    If your paper isn’t loading straight then you need to push the blue guides to the paper in the paper feed so it’s touching both sides of the sheet.
    I did that when i received the printer but it turned out that the paper is to thin and the printer have kind of problems when you lay only one thin paper in it, now i loaded 50 pieces of paper in it and it looks good so far.
    I just hope the printhead stays clean, i make a nozzle test every day.

    Do you know why you can flap the front panel with the display up, is that good for anything? I wonder why the quick manual said flip the panel up during priming. I actually forgot that to do.

  9. #8
    Senior Member Mrteajunkie's Avatar
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    No idea other than visual if the printer is low on a desk maybe?

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