Cheaper Ink On Photo Slate

[Subslate]

Couldn't say exactly but not that many

[Paul]

The ink I tried had good reviews but no way would it work on the slate

why not? What is the reason of it mot working on slates?

[Justin]

Are you getting good results on other blanks? If so the issue is with the blanks/time/temp not the ink.

[saddlers4eva]

Good sub ink use the city ink express ive used these for the last 3 years and there the best inks ive used and id say defiantly on par with the sawgrass inks

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[harlequeen]

Perhaps it's the slates. There have been some pretty poor slates about - impossible to get a good finish on.

[Subslate]

The slates are fine get perfect results with sawgrass, have you tried the city ink on photoslate

[socialgiraffe]

Personally I would not touch City Ink Express ink even if it was free. I had a lot of trouble with it. Both in stability and performance. I eventually ended up throwing that machine away. I am aware that others have had decent results but I didn't.

I really don't think switching to a cheaper unstable brand of ink is really going to help you because reading between the lines there is something else wrong, an A4 sheet of Sawgrass costs around 50p to print. So £180 of ink should get you around 360 slates which I would have thought will generate a decent profit.

However, if you still think it is the ink then you need to consider switching printers and ink sets. I would suggest purchasing an Epson 1500W from somewhere (£200-300) and then purchasing Sublinova ink from Dye Sub Supplies at £354 for a full set of 1 litre inks. This will significantly lower your ink costs but does come with some issues. The 1500W is a great printer, but you will not have the back up that Ricoh give you and the Epson are more prone to going wrong. Don't forget you will need a new profile as well. Subli Nova ink is a good brand and is very stable meaning you will get consistently good results which I suspect is fundamental when printing slates.

Whatever you do, you need an industry recognised brand of ink or you will end up in a false economy of cheap prints but a naff end product

[webtrekker]

I am sure this will have been discussed on the forum before, I have a Ricoh sg3110 printer that I use for sublimation on photo slate I have tried a couple of refillable sublimation inks but they did not work on slate. Can anyone recommend a cheaper solution that has worked on slate other than sawgrass etc as it is just not cost effective to use these inks.

When you say 'I have tried a couple of refillable sublimation inks but they did not work on slate,' are you sure you flushed out the heads completely before doing a comparison? I don't print slate, but I print aluminium sheet and the City inks have been absolutely fine for that, as well as on mugs, jigsaws and garments.

[Subslate]

Yes I tried the refillable ink on a new Ricoh printer, ended up dumping it. 360 slates to one set of 29ml cartridges! My heat settings and press times are all good perfect results every time

[socialgiraffe]

360 slates to one set of 29ml cartridges!

Yep, although I suspect you would get considerably more. Do you think this is expensive?