What am I doing wrong?!

[smeejohnbob]

Forgive me for butting in on this thread as I only joined the forum today. I've just got a cheap mug press from Monster.co.uk and a Ricoh SG2100n off ebay as well as some sublimation paper and gel ink labelled as sublimation ink. I got these to do some mugs for a charity I'm involved with but after ready all these posts I'm already worried about turning everything on and having a go! I'm still confused as to what the difference is between a 2100n and a 3100n printer and what or who is sawgrass? My apologies to everyone for these queries if I'm in the wrong place.

[audreyshearer.as]

Hi sorry just saw your post the 3110 is a newer version I was using the wrong paper but also like a fool I didn't have the ink cartridges open [emoji33] so don't worry go ahead and give it a go I'm just rubbish at these things but I got some serious help from another member who sells ink I'll post a link to him for you in the morning x


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[audreyshearer.as]

Mags1892 is his user name a good guy x


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[Skye]

What is Ricoh, Sawgrass and Powerdriver - Short version

The Ricoh 2110 and 3110 are standard inkjet printers that use a gel ink. This ink cannot be used for sublimation. If you are going to use these printers for sublimation do not install the Ricoh cartridges.

Sawgrass developed a sublimation ink for use in 3110 (and others) and sold it in readymade cartridges labelled Sublijet. They did not make cartridges for the 2110.

When printing with sublimation ink the colour on the paper is not the same as the colour once it has been applied to the finished article. Sawgrass developed Powerdriver - driver software for using with their ink that takes the sting out of colour matching.

Recently other ink manufacturers have been producing a sublimation ink, sold in bottles, that can be used in refillable cartridges. Hence, sellers are now offering Ricoh printers (esp. the 2110) with refillable cartridges along with bottles of ink.
With this set up you are on your own with colour matching, which is why there's a lot of talk about ICC profiles. These convert the colours on the screen into the colours printed by the printer to achieve a match with the original picture. (search the forum for more about ICC profiles). If you are "unlucky" each new batch of ink will require a new ICC profile.

Hope this helps,

Skye

[smeejohnbob]

Thanks for that, I'll research ICC profiles but think I'll stick with a simple design for the Charity where the exact colour doesn't matter. I might start making bird boxes instead!