Image appears yellow on mug..! Why?

[John G]

The cost to get your printer running would be quite a bit - bite the bullet and buy a new one from BMS. The tubes are long and as paul said - how do you know the old gel ink isn't going to contaminate the new sub gel ink.

[PetPals]

New printer ordered with correct ink.... I'll def. need to sell a few mugs now - luckily have a few friends having babies and weddings so maybe I can convince them that giving away mugs instead of those almond sweets is the way to go for 2011.

I'll post when the 1st mug comes out OK.. Can't wait..!

Thanks to all, you have probably saved me a few pounds already.

[smitch6]

glad you got it sorted hopefully
good luck with the hobby/business

it's a great feeling when the 1st one is pressed trust me, to see something amazing that you created esp if you have designed your own image as well
and Christenings and weddings are perfect as well for personalised products

[Matt Quinn]

never thought of doing that Matt
brill idea as i have the epson B1100 and have been asked a few times to print out a large poster but because i only have sub ink i've said no as i didn't want to waste loads of ink and stuff swapping but having the iso stuff carts is a brill idea
i presume you can buy empty carts and that iso stuff to fill them?

Iso - Propyl - Alcohol is a very common industrial solvent... We use it for all sorts from cleaning lenses and video heads to removing glue! You'll recognise the smell. Mixed with distilled water it's sold as tape head cleaner! And spectacle cleaner!

- A quick seach on Ebay will reveal suppliers that will sell you IPA by the gallon! Or find a local supplier of ultrasonic cleaning machinery... It's used a lot by them.

It's safe on most plastics; which is why its used so commonly in the electronics industry. - We just use standard refillable carts. But you can (and we have) flush out an entire CIS with it! And I see no reason (apart form possible airlocks - dealt with in the usual way) why you couldn't syringe the ink out of a cart, flush it through with IPA then start introducing another ink...

Another thing it's handy for is unblocking epson heads... We flood the pad the head rests on, put the cart back in the 'park' position and go home! Next morning its usually done its job!

- Very good for cleaning your glasses too!

[JSR]

They also said that Ricoh does not advise using it for dye sublimation...

There is no printer that's been designed to use dye-sublimation ink. Whether you use Ricoh or Epson printers, it doesn't matter - the manufacturer won't advise using it for ink that isn't OEM.

We don't choose between Ricoh and Epson printers based on them being the best for dye-sublimation ink, we choose between them because they're all we've got. It comes down to which square peg you want to put in which round hole.

Ideally, you'll want to budget for a second backup printer if you're serious about dye-sublimation printing.

[John G]

And I see no reason (apart form possible airlocks - dealt with in the usual way) why you couldn't syringe the ink out of a cart, flush it through with IPA then start introducing another ink...

The Ricoh is a sealed cart system with gel inks - putting the Iso through the system might do more harm than good as I think it uses a different nozzle to the epsons. When setting up the Ricohs with sub inks there is a big warning saying "Do not install original Gel carts" they wouldn't put this on for fun.

[Matt Quinn]

The Ricoh is a sealed cart system with gel inks - putting the Iso through the system might do more harm than good as I think it uses a different nozzle to the epsons. When setting up the Ricohs with sub inks there is a big warning saying "Do not install original Gel carts" they wouldn't put this on for fun.

True... Very true...

But then there are good commercial reasons for doing that sort of thing... If you sell a system as fit for a particular purpose then it needs to be just that. Whether though user-error or not 'bounce backs' cost you money. Neither Epson or Ricoh for instance actually endorse their products being used with third-party inks. And as much as that might have to do with their financial interests in selling ink cartridges, it also helps eliminate a possible source of unpredictable break downs...

Commercially, a vendor having already 'pushed the envelope' by selling the machine in an 'unofficial' configuration doesn't need any more complications in the mix!

Now; flushing a printer out with IPA is a technique I reckon would be known to many working in Gicleé or high-end photographic printing... BUT! - I have heard of woolly-brained muppets substituting all-sorts for the IPA! - I know of one idiot in Glasgow who filled his CIS with cellulose thinners and started running it through! Plastic reacts to this fluid in a very similar way that it does to that model aeroplane glue we all used as kids! - Screen wash and Windolene are other things I've heard of being used on (and wrecking) printers!

- Welcome to the Great British public! A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Now; I'll put my hands up to being unfamiliar with the Ricoh - If it can only be used with Dye Sub Inks that are specially produced for it... Well; presumably there AREN'T refillable carts or a CIS available that would allow IPA to be run through them in the first place?

The key would be viscosity... IPA is water-thin, a solvent to many contaminents, a degreaser - and safe on most plastics. IF there are refillable carts for it and it can be used with standard viscosity inks then IPA will almost-certainly do it no harm...

About the only 'harm' I've ever known it to do to a piece of electronic equipment is to take the print off control panels that were made using water-soluble paints; we used it to de-brand some of the CB radios fitted to our production vehicles to make them less conspicuous!

Lets put it this way... Next time you get an injection from the Doctor they'll swab the site with 'somethuing cold'? Vaguely alcoholic smelling? 99% chance that's IPA you're being swabbed with... NOT to be inhaled excessively or ingested of course; but it's a pretty safe solvent as solvents go...

Heck they even say you can spray it on the inside of your shoes to kill the bacteria and keep athlete's foot at bay! - Softens the glue mind you! :rolleyes:

[bms]

I've phoned the supplier and they confirmed the printer came with gel ink... not sublimation ink. They also said that Ricoh does not advise using it for dye sublimation... I've looked on this forum and many people seem to be using it for that so I'll bite the bullet and order some 'proper'

Any advice on best place to get the ink from?

I find this VERY alarming. This is a supplier that is recommended in the suppliers list and then they say Ricoh does not recommend using this for sublimation and this has now cost this person a lot of money. Some suppliers ought to be audited before they are recommended and a comment like this demonstrates that this supplier doesn't know what they are talking about.

Every Ricoh printer that goes out the door from us has a big A4 print that says DON'T INSTALL THE GENUINE RICOH CARTRIDGES as the inks get sucked into the tubes and you can do up to 15 head purges to get this out which is very expensive. It would be cheaper to buy a new printer and install the SubliJet-R cartridges.

[Paul]

Martin. our list is not a "recomended list of suppliers" this is only list of suppliers that based in uk. we never recomend to use them. all we do recomend is to look around and pick the best one that suit customer needs.

any way. what supplier this is MArtin? As I can not see any one from the lis mentioned in posts please PM me. thank you.

[bms]

Pm sent...