Having an absolute MARE!

[Starfront]

Hi everyone,

I brought an Epson SX445W Brand new just for Sublimation printing...

I brought some refillable cartridges from ebay, filled them with Sub ink and left them overnight so all air bubbles would raise to the top as advised...

I tried to prime the print heads (or the part that pierces the cartridge) but ink was leaking into other areas of the bay so i decided to leave it... I looked for bay adapters for my printer without any luck... So I thought to myself why not let the cartridges sit in the printer that way they are being primed at the same time? My assumtion that ink would fill the heads like a bay adaptor?

After 24 hours of leaving the cartridges in the printer ive come to print and NOTHING is coming onto the page...

PLEASE any help would be appreciated!

[Justin]

It sounds like you're using unauthorised sublimation inks (please correct me if this isn't the case) so we can't discuss those specifically. You're also using an unsupported printer so again, support will be limited

Any particular reason why you've gone down this route? All too often we're hearing from new members that have gone similar routes only to meet with these problems. If you're just starting out I'd always advice getting the right equipment that has been tried and tested...experimentation can come further down the line once you're up and running earning some money

Is there any ink left in the carts?

[Paul]

I tried to prime the print heads (or the part that pierces the cartridge)

what do you mean by that?

[Starfront]

The sub ink I purchased was from this eBay Seller: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100ml-MAGENTA ... 753wt_1090


Yes I have about 70ml of all 4 colours still remaining..

I understand it's an unsupported printer but all Epson's can be used for sublimation so ive read because of the print head technology? The tried and tested equipment is way to expensive for a University student!

Thanks

[Starfront]

what do you mean by that?

I mean using a syringe I tried to slowly release ink into the heads, without a bay adaptor but its didn't work, only wrote it for noting purposes.... Novice stuff I know...

[Justin]

This ink is only licensed for large format printers. In theory, yes, you can use most Epson printers but only a handful have been tried and tested over a long period. Cheapest way to setup is get an A4 with supported inks, it'll cost you more to start with but what you'll save in time means you can be up and running straight away and making money!

Really not sure about this 'bay adaptor' Something I've never heard of. You certainly shouldn't need to be priming print heads. Refil carts don't usually suffer these problems.

[Paul]

The sub ink I purchased was from this eBay Seller: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100ml-MAGENTA ... 753wt_1090


Yes I have about 70ml of all 4 colours still remaining..

I understand it's an unsupported printer but all Epson's can be used for sublimation so ive read because of the print head technology? The tried and tested equipment is way to expensive for a University student!

Thanks

All fine but still don't know whats the " bay adaptor" any one can explain whats that in the epsons??

[Ian M]

I would love to know what a 'bay adaptor' is too.

It also looks like that Ebay seller is selling to people who don't have large format printers after they assured us all that they wouldn't. If Sawgrass find out they won't be selling on there for much longer will they.

[bms]

The sub ink I purchased was from this eBay Seller: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100ml-MAGENTA ... 753wt_1090


Yes I have about 70ml of all 4 colours still remaining..

I understand it's an unsupported printer but all Epson's can be used for sublimation so ive read because of the print head technology? The tried and tested equipment is way to expensive for a University student!

Thanks

So buying a printer, refillable cartridges, inks and then it not working is cheaper?? InkTec are not licensed to sell this ink to you as your printer does not have a carriage width of 42" or wider and they are not allowed, under their license, to decant the ink from the 1 litre container in which it is sold. This ink from InkTec can only be sold in 1 litre bottles and once proper checks have been made to ensure you have a wide format printer.

Okay, so rant over - there could be a problem with the printer (have you put in the genuine carts to ensure it works - probably, but you need to rule out a problem with the printer). Secondly, you need to work out if there is a problem with the refillable cartridges so go back to your supplier of these and see what they have to say. They might need to replace them. Thirdly the sublimation inks haven't been tested in the SX445W so this printer may be more troublesome than other Epson printers in getting the inks to go through the printhead - the viscosity of the ink may cause problems in this particular printer. We know even from supported printers in the past that some take more effort than others to get working.

The issue may be one of more of the above, so there is plenty of testing/ fault finding that you'll need to do.

[pisquee]

In a sense, this sounds like a problem with getting refillable carts set up, and filled/primed properly, so we could disregard that it is sublimation ink in a printer less than 42" wide, and any potential/claimed patent issues, and concentrate on it just being ink in some refill carts?