EPSON SC-F100 & SC-F500 quality issues

[gazfocus]

Any update from folks on the F100? As a mug company we are needing to move from SG400 but we are not getting any good colour accuracy from SG500 or Epson L805. One would of thought a dedicated sublimation printer would be designed to give perfect prints but also heard F100 is not accurate AND does not allow for custom icc profiles. F500 better apparently but we want to continue using pre cut mug paper. At a loss as to what printer is best to go forward printing accurate colours onto mugs for clients.

I’ve not tried the F100 but I did try the black F100 ink in a B&W Ecotank. The ink could not be any further from true black if it tried. It printed & pressed more like a very dark navy blue. That was enough to put me off Epson genuine sublimation inks.

We personally use inkforinkjet inks in our ecotanks but I’m aware some don’t like Ken. We have also used Sublinova with very good results also.

[mrc1312]

Yes, I have an update and unfortunately the situation is still ongoing. EPSON have closed the case as their level two team believes after their own testing that my unit is working within specification.

Below is an image from their test results:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6711[/ATTACH]

The visible dots on the printout are still visible after transfer onto a mug which for us is completely unacceptable. I am still trying to get the reseller to accept the F100 back.

My experience is that the F100 is worse than the cheap EcoTank I started with.

There are others out there with the same issues, someone messaged me on Facebook asking if I had found a fix as they have the same problems, and one other person I have spoken to returned theirs due to the same issues.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Thank you for response. So if F100 is a no-no, L805 is a no-no, SG500 is a no-no (for now - working on a custom icc) then is there any A4 (ideally) printer that is going to give accurate results on mugs?

[gazfocus]

Thank you for response. So if F100 is a no-no, L805 is a no-no, SG500 is a no-no (for now - working on a custom icc) then is there any A4 (ideally) printer that is going to give accurate results on mugs?

Although not cheap, we use ET5800’s. They are warranted to do 150,000 sheets whereas the cheaper ecotanks are only warranted for 6,000 sheets. We have used ET2750’s and even ET4700’s previously and all started to struggle feeding paper at about 5,500 sheets. We are on about 9,000 sheets so far with the ET5800 and no issues. Just make sure whatever inks you get, you get a custom ICC made.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Thank you - will take a look. Once our SG400's started to give up I thought it would be easy to find a better more accurate printer for ceramic.

[dogkit]

With Epson F500 I do recommend at least trying Epson Edge RIP - you can download 30 days trial (that still works as long as you don't shut down windows after 30 days :rolleyes:) . I am getting ridiculously better print quality and colour accuracy out of it than with standard drivers they come with, even tho I select exactly the same settings when printing direct from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop

[UK Printed Mugs]

Yes, a friend of mine with a F500 said the same thing about needing to use the RIP. Out of interest does anyone use a ECOTANK ET-8500 for sublimation? It is 6 colour with a high resolution of 5760x1440 and can see no reason you cannot use sublinova inks. Just need to know if it is locked down or you can print directly to it via Adobe Print Utility in order to make a profile:
https://www.epson.co.uk/products/printe ... nk-et-8500

[GoonerGary]

Yes, a friend of mine with a F500 said the same thing about needing to use the RIP. Out of interest does anyone use a ECOTANK ET-8500 for sublimation? It is 6 colour with a high resolution of 5760x1440 and can see no reason you cannot use sublinova inks. Just need to know if it is locked down or you can print directly to it via Adobe Print Utility in order to make a profile:
https://www.epson.co.uk/products/printe ... nk-et-8500

The ECOTANK ET-8500 uses Black, Photo Black, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Grey inks. Is it even possible to swap out colours and create a custom profile?

[UK Printed Mugs]

InkExperts are on the case with the 8500 apparently. They are starting testing mid-July and just need to see which grey will work best.

[ICF]

The ECOTANK ET-8500 uses Black, Photo Black, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Grey inks. Is it even possible to swap out colours and create a custom profile?

Switching the Photo Black and Grey channel to Light Cyan and Light Magenta would be perfect. I know you can do this with large format Pro series Epsons using a custom profile and RIP software, not sure about desktop machines..