Introducing myself - advice on purchasing sublimation equipment needed please

[monkyanger]

Hi everyone,

I am brand new to dye sublimation and to be honest I have no idea what I am doing other than having read some of the forums.

I plan to start with mug sublimation purely because I have an order from a friend for 300 mugs at £3.75 each and I plan to use the supposed profits to buy my first equipment.

I am hoping to spend apporx £600: £150-250 on a printer, £80-£140 on a mug press, £150 on ink and a CISS system
and the remainder on paper, tape, templates etc.

Are these prices realistic and does anyone have any opinions which printers and presses are best in this range.

Thanks for your time:redface:

[WorthDoingRight]

Well, if you join as a member on this forum for £10 then you can get from BMS a nice DF1 press for £125+VAT and then spend your money buying the Ricoh A4 SG3110DN for £285+VAT (which I believe comes with the sublimation ink cartridges). Tape is so cheap as to not be a concern and good quality paper around £15. If you are a full member then talk to Paul as he has a range of templates and I am sure would give you a good deal. I would stick clear of the CISS route and start with the Ricoh as it is a much easier printer to use and maintain then most CISS systems.

[monkyanger]

WorthDoingRight

Thanks for the impressively speedy reply. I have paid my £10 a few weeks back but am only now just getting around to selecting the equipment.

Can I ask, with regards to the Ricoh A4 SG3110DN and not using CISS, do you have a rough idea of how many mugs of full colour could be printed purely from the cartridges and what do a full set of sublimation ink carts for this printer cost.

Thanks again

[socialgiraffe]

I echo WDR's comments... Ricoh all the way. CISS are good but you have to use them daily I believe to prevent the heads clogging. The Ricoh can be turned off for a month if you do not have the orders and when you turn it back on the printer will simply go to work again.

Not sure on the number of mugs that can be printed as there are many variables. Have a search on this forum as there is a Ricoh cost per page PDF somewhere. I also think this is on the BMS website who I totally recommend to purchase from, great supplier and great prices on stock. They are always knocking around on the forum at silly hours to answer questions and help in anyway.

£3.75 for 300 mugs is a great price there. Wish I could get that sort of money!

Get your heat tape of ebay as you only need the 5mm stuff and it is cheap as chips.

lastly, I would check with Justin about your membership. You have paid the £10.00 but it is still showing as a Junior Member.

[Paul]

Second what fella above me said

[WorthDoingRight]

As a member from BMS £167+VAT for a set of 4 cartridges. It has been calculated on here a number of times that if you add the cost of the mug, the paper and the ink together it comes to around £1 in total. So if you sell 300 @ £3.75 then your profit should be 300 x £2.75 (ignoring labour) = £825 that should buy you all you need with spare.

Have you looked however in the FOR SALE section as there was a secondhand printer and mug press combo going in there for £350. If you are not printing the mug all the way around then you can get 3 mugs out of each A4 sheet (2 if you are going all the way around).

[monkyanger]

Hi again all,

Am I getting the printer models mixed up. The Ricoh A4 SG3110DN detailed above is shown as £285 plus VAT but searching on Amazon it shows it available new for £130, is this a different version to the sublimation one??, Sorry for being thick.

[socialgiraffe]

I suspect the Amazon one does not come with a full set of sublimation inks which are £170.00 plus VAT, so in effect BMS is £15.00 cheaper before you have applied any forum discount

[Scotty@BMS]

I suspect the Amazon one does not come with a full set of sublimation inks which are £170.00 plus VAT, so in effect BMS is £15.00 cheaper before you have applied any forum discount

Or the 2500 loyalty point 'cashback' promotion currently running on this machine...

[harlequeen]

I had bought that very setup suggested to you and have done about 400 mugs so far, without needing any new ink. I can't say how many more I will be able to do before needing new, obvioulsy.