Printer, ink and sublimation query!

[llian]

Hi.
Excuse my very newbie question!

Can any inkjet printer take dye ink for sublimation? I have an old Epson 1290 and wondered if I could use that? I also saw another thread in the forum where they were using an epson WF-7110 - I guess that's one I found with DTW after the numbers, but it doesn't say anything about dye inks for sublimation.

[A11kns]

Epson are good for sub printing, but if using an old printer that's preciously had normal ink in you'll need to flush out the head etc. buy new and you eliminate the need to flush it out.

[Justin]

Personally I wouldn't bother, for the price difference buying inks and inks/paper together it really isn't worth the hassle. 1290 isn't supported (at least not anymore) so you'd also have to pay for a profile to be created. Any time/ink wasted trying to get it going would be money down the drain. The best current options are the Virtuoso printers. A4 is a very sensible price complete with inks and a 2 year warranty.

[llian]

Thanks folks. hmm. quandry I am in!

I also have a second hand Epson R1800 that was with a load of sub stuff I have just purchased. BUT I'm having a problem getting it working, which I thought I might as it's not been used for 2 years, but I could hope! It worked, paper went through and looked as though it was printing but the image was not printed. Dirty too so would need a good cleaning

IF I have to buy a new printer then it's got to be low cost at this stage, it's only a hobby, so sadly the Virtuoso printers are out for now.

A11kns, thanks for your other thread. I'm looking at the Epson WF-7110 and wonder if it would be good enough for me to start with. I shall be doing photographs and gradients - do you think it would be good for those? Mainly doing hard products (mugs, plates, etc.) but a few tees as well.

Or are there any other low budget printers (with excellent quality of course!!!!!) anybody can suggest?

Thanks

[ArferMo]

It's not so much the cost of the printer it's the cost of the ink which runs at about £200 for a set of 4 carts, the printer in general (if bought as a package) adds about another 100 to the total bill.

Your other option is to buy a used sublimation printer, one that already has sublimation ink in it. Never even consider converting a printer that has had normal ink put through it as it's going to waste lots of very expensive sublimation ink flushing it out.... just not worth it. Dont get confused with dye or pigment ink THEY ARE NOT SUBLIMATION INK.

[llian]

Thanks. Given up on using old "normal" ink printer!

Thanks again. TBH didn't realise dye ink was not dye sublimation!

One thing I forgot to say was that the used Epson R1800 I have has a CIS system with sublimation ink and we also have a fair amount of spare ink.

The printer appears to work, goes through all the moves and looks as though it's printing, but nothing prints. Trying to get that working at the moment.