Making the right choice!

[JSR]

But I am affraid you can not mach colors in 100%. very close but not 100%.

As Paul says here, matching colours to your 7880 is going to be difficult.

As I understand it, the 7880 uses Epson's Ultrachrome K3 with Vivid Magenta inkset - 8 inks including three shades of black. This is an inkset that has been endlessly developed, tweaked and adjusted over the years to produce accurate colours and an unsurpassed greyscale on specific papers. The 7880 is a professional printer that I believe is individually calibrated and profiled.

In contrast, dye-sublimation technology uses an inkset that hasn't changed since the Dark Ages in printers that were never designed for them. Quality isn't an issue but, while Epson develop their inkset to offer the widest possible colour gamut, dye-sublimation inks can have some of the smallest colour gamuts ever seen (depending on the printer).

The only way to even hope to get colours close to what your 7880 prints is to obtain a profiling device to manually tweak and constantly adjust the profile of your ink/printer combination of choice. Without that, you'll be supplied with a general profile that may be quite inaccurate for your printer of choice - I recently had this issue when I tried the Epson B40W and the supplied profile produced a horrible green cast that could only be overcome by creating my own profile.

While you've come to expect colour-perfect printing with your 7880, dye-sublimation is really little more than a "close enough is good enough" printing system (anyone who says otherwise is kidding you). Whether you go for a 4-ink or 6-ink system is largely immaterial because, in either case, you'll want to create your own profile and with that, the 4-ink system is likely to produce the same results as a 6-ink system.

You may find it advantageous to, at least initially, buy the cheapest set-up you can and see what the results are like before you spend your whole budget and end up disappointed. Whatever you decide to do, don't go promising your customers that their photo will print identical on a mug or mousemat as it does on the canvases you sell until you've tried it out.

Sorry if this sounds a bit negative, but there's a reason your 7880 is a considered purchase while dye-sublimation systems can be had for a song in comparison. Epson invest their profits in R&D to produce the best match between printer, paper, and inkset. Sawgrass don't.

[Justin]

In a previous existence...well job at least...The company I worked for used an Epson 4800 for sublimation because the boss was convinced the 8 colours would produce a far better reproduction. The printer was an over-priced pain in the backside. Personally I feel 6 colours is the limit and there's little discernible difference after that. I know I harp on about 6 colours being so much better but in everday use a 4 colour printer is perfectly adequate for dye-sub work.

I've run enough tests for myself to justify a 6 colour printer but I would expect 99% of customers to be more than happy with a 4 colour print. I have a particular customer that I print for. The designs are very difficult to reproduce due to the fact that they're based around scanned woolen material. They want the designs to look as much like a piece of material as possible whilst colours need to be as close as possible. They fully appreciate the constraints of dye sub printing but never accepted any prints from the 4800. I've been supplying them with prints from the 1400 and they've been happy but most recently I showed them samples from both the S21 and P50....you guessed it, they chose the S21 print as being the closest to reality they'd seen so far! The 4800 cost £1000's back then. I paid £20 for the S21. Quite a good example me thinks!

[danlad]

Ok that really helps me make my mind up in terms of where to start. I'm not expecting to get the same results with dye sub, I just want to provide the customer with the best product I can.

What is the difference between Artainium ink to Rotech?

Can anyone suggest the best place to buy t shirts, mugs, puzzles, cushions from. I Know there is a list of suppliers on here but has any one got firsthand experience with a good company?

has anyone got any experience with lower end heat presses that they use on a day to day bases and can recommend?

[Kaz]

I've bought mugs, cushions and a few other things from BMS (printerowners) on here, and also from xpress and the transfer press and can't fault any of them

[danlad]

Ok thanks, I really want to buy the equipment now but want to make the right decision as I have a limited budget.

[NASH]

Yep Jump in. The advise you`ll get from BMS and Xpres will be sound aswell as their equipement, go on e-bay is matter of how your luck is

[danlad]

I am thinking of starting out doing, mouse mats, mugs, bags, jigsaws and t shirts. How many of each product do you think it will take before I get it right? I want to order the right amount and want to allow for wastage.

I have been looking at Listawood, is this the best and cheapest place to buy from?

[Kaz]

There is a link at the top of this section of the forum with all the suppliers on.

With anything, check them all out re prices and see who is doing the best deal for what you're looking for.

I've only ever bought multi-mug mailers from Listawood and not had any problems, I buy most of my sublimation blanks from BMS (printerowners) as the service is outstanding

[NASH]

Yes BMS mugs are the best, zero rejects and well packed and delivered in 24 hours

[bms]

With Listawood you'll be buying Rotech sublimation ink unless you go for yhe Ricoh printer. Nothing wrong with that but I think the more popular ink used in the UK is the Artainium brand. My views might be considered biased ( can't think why !) so I'll let other comment on the deal Listawood are going to offer you compared to other suppliers. Listawood have a long standing good reputation in the industry (like some others). Can't imagine that Listawood would be the cheapest for their printers and/or equipment though. You can easily compare printers from other suppliers but doing an exact comparison with equipment is more difficult.