Noob 'Bites the Bullet' Ricoh Style.

[NikGrey]

Sick and tired of having to fix my Epson XP-205 every Day...

I haven't even used it seriously for Sublimation as I have been too concerned with getting the Vinyl side of things running smoothly (they are now:).

So, I am seriously trying to justify buying a Ricoh SG3110dn ('DN' stands for "Don't Need" Wifi - if I were to hazard a guess that is)..

I can find the Printer for £100 on it's own, the same printer with the Subli-jet R carts is almost £370... so: What's the best way of going about buying this lot ?

If I bought the printer separately, and purchased Subli-Jet R carts from somewhere else WOULD I get support from Sawgrass? with the Power Ranger and ICC profile ? (Just picturing a Power Ranger as a rep for Sawgrass)..

I will admit, even though it IS a Friday Night I have spent the whole afternoon/Evening watching video's about this printer and it's 'Gel' - can't help but think that this system must be good, by virtue of it's bigger holes and duplexer !

I'm even getting a Sore Arse from sitting here for so long



OK, to the point - Is this the best set-up for my situation? I don't want to spend a fortune yet I need to supply quality - is this the way to go?

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Nik

In my opinion the Ricoh is the way to go. You only have to ask the resellers of these machines to know that they are a lot less hassle than the unsupported route. The actual printer on its own is very cheap and it is the ink that is expensive.

Doing a quick look online a set of inks are £240 including VAT and you have said you can get the machine for £100 making a total of £340.00. You can purchase the machine and a full set of carts for less than that so you are still better at purchasing everything from a recognised sublimation specialist.

Have a hunt round at all the usual suspects and don't forget to look at the suppliers who support the forum by giving discounts as this will save you even more.

In the interests of balance, there are also some Epson's that are supported, however I have never used an Epson so can not offer an opinion on the issue of blocking heads. For small format, stick with Ricoh if I were you

[purpledragon]

Morning nik
you will always find the printer cheaper from a normal printer dealer and then buy the inks seperatly but theres a huge down side to this , the second you put sublimation inks in bang goes your warranty if you buy the printer and inks from a sawgrass dealer ie BMS (other great suppliers are available) then sawgrass will take over the warranty you will also recieve full support from sawgrass and believe me this is invaluble when things go wrong the tech guys at sawgrass are second to none and very helpful even to the point where they will take over your computer by remote and set the printer up for you if you are having problems.
Having used both ricohs and epsons small format i prefer the results from an epson though to be honest i doubt a customer would notice a differance . Epsons do have a habit of clogging up again i know this from experiance ricohs are far more stable and i would recommend these to guys new to the industry.

[pisquee]

To be fair you are comparing a cheap/low end Epson home printer with a list price of £70 (which is also paying for a built in scanner, so the printer itself is a lot cheaper than this) to a £100 Ricoh office printer (which doesn't have a scanner) They are not the same calibre machine to be considered like-for-like in terms of quality/reliability. A fairer comparison would be to an Epson office printer for around the same money WF-3010DW or WF-2530WF or a Brother. Some members here succesfully use Brother printers, with the advantage of having large refill carts available (around 100ml IIRC)
You also haven't mentioned what problems you are having with your Epson, that it needs fixing every day. If this is the case, it is either the printer has a problem itself, or there is a problem with the inks you are using, or the delivery method of the inks (carts or CISS?)

[arthur.daley]

just to throw a bit of confusion nto the mix - have you considered the 7100 A3 printer. I am currently looking at buying a Ricoh and was umming and ahhing between A4 which would meet my current needs and A3 which i may well want in the future. Having spoken to various people including the very helpful Barbara at Sawgrass it seems that the A3 is a much more efficient printer and will give significantly more prints per ml of ink than the A4.

Also as previously stated if you buy from an 'official' sublimation supplier (list of stockists on Sawgrass website along with a whole host of really useful educational videos etc) then Sawgrass will take over the warranty of the printer, the Ricoh warranty being null and void - regardless of what the fault is, as soon as you put anything other than Ricoh ink into the printer.

Of course the real dilemma is that the 7100 is considerably more than the A4 (

[pisquee]

Also as previously stated if you buy from an 'official' sublimation supplier (list of stockists on Sawgrass website along with a whole host of really useful educational videos etc) then Sawgrass will take over the warranty of the printer, the Ricoh warranty being null and void - regardless of what the fault is, as soon as you put anything other than Ricoh ink into the printer.(

Yes, if you're going to go the Sawgrass route, then you should do it properly and benefit from the support their inks include in the cost. No paying for thier inks, and not benefitting from their warranty support, which is what would happen if you bought printer and inks seperately (as far as I'm aware)

[pisquee]

just to throw a bit of confusion nto the mix - have you considered the 7100 A3 printer. I am currently looking at buying a Ricoh and was umming and ahhing between A4 which would meet my current needs and A3 which i may well want in the future. Having spoken to various people including the very helpful Barbara at Sawgrass it seems that the A3 is a much more efficient printer and will give significantly more prints per ml of ink than the A4.

By that reasoning though, where do you draw the line? - if you could be doing A3 in the future, what about A2 and higher - could they be future options too? You then have the economies of scale from bulk rolled paper, and if you go all the way to wide format, then the ink options get ridiculously cheaper too.

Not that I'm saying a newbie should go out and buy a metre wide brand new Epson F series, but, it may be best to stick with the lowest initial investement Sawgrass route for someone who needs to learn on the job, have their hand held, and printer warrantied for when things go wrong which will give opportunity to print most sublimation products (A4) and when it comes time to upgrade, then to sink more money into something bigger.

[NikGrey]

Thanks Folks, as has been said I am learning and need to perfect the Sublimation side - I need to get my head around it and having a cheap machine will not help me do that. The problems I am having with this Epson, the usual one with CISS - not recognising the carts.. or usually One of them. This is the second CISS I have tried in this machine and still the same problem so out it goes.

Also I don't like the route the supply pipes have to take, I can see a nasty accident happening in there one day ! Yes, it's just a quick fiddle to fix the problem with carts but that's something I can do without (Same thing as going from Windows machine to a Mac - it just works).

The answer to my, or part of my question is NO then - I would not get Sawgrass support if I bought their ink separately (should we be saying Gel ? - I remember the incident of me using a 'B' word in the context of Lamps !).

My mind is made up - I'm going down the 'Supported' route - I just want to be able to get the job done



What a shame we don't have a members discount for BMS Come on Justin, old chap - pull your finger out

I have purchased a few things from BMS but never had the chance to set up an account with them - Sometimes I get the feeling they don't like me

[NikGrey]

Anyone know of any BMS discount codes? The Ricoh is in my cart - just trying to save a few more pennies.

[Justin]

Sorry, BMS don't support the forum but many other suppliers do

I changed over to the Ricoh 7100 a while ago and haven't looked back since. Having been in sublimation for many many years and going through pretty much every Epson you can think of and a few besides.....I've had a good run with my last 2 Epsons but they're not without their issues. The Ricoh pays for itself in time alone, so much less hassle. Go for the A4 if thats all you really need and I'm pretty sure you'll feel the same

As for pulling my finger out...no comment! LOL.....Now go get your moneys worth out of this forum! ...again