Lasr printers for mugs?

[Ian M]

Hi Alan,

Money was tight for me too & that is why I went for the S21 with a CISS. I had a think & thought I'll try the D88 profile & hey presto it worked.

Although I wouldn't take any notice of me as I haven't a clue what I'm talking about

Oh by the way I have just started doing T-shirts & took a few samples to a show last week to see what the reaction was. I came away with over 50 orders

Good Luck mate.

Ian

[bms]

As Ian shows, the S21 (like any Epson printer) will work and if you can get it to work reliably and with good colour matching then great. The problem however may be that you might not be so lucky or the printer may fail prematurely. If everything works then you're on to a winner, but for the relatively small difference in price in buying a bulk feed system and then inks (on an S21 then the figures above were about £267 inc for the inks and the CIS, compared to £257 inc for the CIS and inks for the B40W - assuming you had the printer already) I don't really see the benefit outweighs the potential risk.

The only 'extra' cost is the cost of the printer - yes the S21 is cheaper than the B40W.

So yes you can use any Epson printer, the S21, the R360 or anything else, but if it doesn't work properly then you will end up spending twice and that's what I think we'd all like to avoid.

[Ian M]

Believe it or not I do agree with everything that Martin says.

If I had the money I would have gone for the B40W with a CIS. The thing is I didn't really have an option at the time & in times of desperation you try things that you know you shouldn't.

I just had so many problems with the D120 & it seems there were many more people having very similar problems too. Let's face it if the D120 was such a wonderful printer Epson would still be producing them now.

I just wish the companies who produce printers would produce something just for us doing sublimation as a business. I use a Brother printer for my everyday printing & wish they would make something I could use at home for sublimation. The Brother has to be the best printer I have ever used & the quality of the prints are excellent each & every time.

Wonder whatever happend to the old Alps printers that could print white?

Ian

[alanw15]

Where do i find the D88 profile and how do i install it?

[JSR]

Both the S21 and the older D88 seem to be entry-level four-ink CMYK Durabrite systems. I doubt they'd bother reformulating the inks, and that's why the same profile may work on both printers. I wouldn't put it past Epson to just bung the same unit in a new chassis and change the chips so they can charge more for smaller ink cartridges.

Cynical? Me? Surely not!

For me, though, building my business on the cheapest unit Epson can kick out of their door is not the way I'd want to go. But, if it works, lucky ol' you!

I just wish the companies who produce printers would produce something just for us doing sublimation as a business.

I agree with you on that. Ideally, the company that makes money on the inks should produce a bespoke printer so that we wouldn't be restricted to the revolving door policy of a third party printer manufacturer. Now, who is the company that makes money on the inks? I'm always forgetting...

Some people might point out that the original patent granted to the desktop sublimation systems that we're all held to was for producing a sublimation ink that could be used in a printer with a thermal printhead. That would have been interesting had it been explored. Some people might mention that, but not me of course. I'm not like that.

I use a Brother printer for my everyday printing & wish they would make something I could use at home for sublimation. The Brother has to be the best printer I have ever used & the quality of the prints are excellent each & every time.

I've recently replaced my Brother AIO. When I got the previous one, I asked the question (on another forum) of why Sawgrass didn't support them as well as Epson. Brother printers also use non-thermal piezo printheads - and, in the case of these AIO, they have a significant advantage over the Epson printers in that the ink cartridges remain stationary (they don't sit on top of the printhead). This advantage would eliminate all the cable-feeding that we have to do with CISS for our Epson printers.

Still, no one ever went into the dye-sublimation business hoping to find any sign of common sense.

[bms]

Where do i find the D88 profile and how do i install it?

pm me your email address and what version of photoshop/ corel draw you're using and I'll email the details to you.

[bms]

D88 profile and instructions all sent to you

[alanw15]

Thanks, i got the profiles and instructions, many thanks

[Ian M]

Both the S21 and the older D88 seem to be entry-level four-ink CMYK Durabrite systems. I doubt they'd bother reformulating the inks, and that's why the same profile may work on both printers. I wouldn't put it past Epson to just bung the same unit in a new chassis and change the chips so they can charge more for smaller ink cartridges.

From looking at the D88 & S21 I got the impression it was the same machine but in a different case. Entry level they maybe but, it wasn't so long ago most of us were using the D88's as that was machine to use back then.

I've recently replaced my Brother AIO. When I got the previous one, I asked the question (on another forum) of why Sawgrass didn't support them as well as Epson. Brother printers also use non-thermal piezo printheads - and, in the case of these AIO, they have a significant advantage over the Epson printers in that the ink cartridges remain stationary (they don't sit on top of the printhead). This advantage would eliminate all the cable-feeding that we have to do with CISS for our Epson printers.

I had a sneeking suspicion that Brother printers had piezo printheads. When I look at my Brother printer I think this could be as good as the Ricoh printers with a similar set up but without the gel inks. Would be an interesting idea for someone to persue using the Brother if we only had the profiles.

Let's face it whilst one company has the patent on the technology we are always going to have a gun pointing at our heads. Someone I know who is a lawyer said that one day the patent holder might have a challenge in court. The reason for this could be that they use the patent as a tool to keep a monopoly going which some courts frown upon.

Ian

[daviddeer]

Wonder whatever happend to the old Alps printers that could print white?

Rare as hen's teeth and very expensive now. You can sometimes find a md5000 on Ebay. Okidata took them over and produced a few but the initial cost put most people off. They are lots of fun I had two but they went south a couple of years ago. They use print ribbons like the old Roland print&cuts with thermal transfer sublimation tape. Lots of shiny metallic colours. Only the windows 98 driver supports this however.
The printer is still made under a different brand for foiling book covers and can be found here. They are still considered to be the Rolls-Royce of decal printers for model makers.