Epson Printers

[R.Prints]

Think I know the answer already, but just want to double check before I do anything. Question is -can all Epson printers be used for sublimation, and what models do people use.

[James990]

I use 1400 and 1500

James

[GoonerGary]

It depends if you want a 'supported printer' or an Epson printer which you can put any sublimation ink into it. Supported printers are here:

http://www.sawgrasseurope.com/consumer- ... ters/epson

Piezo headed Epson printers with refillable cartridges and your choice of ink is your other option.

I have two Epson 4015 DN printers.

[pisquee]

Sawgrass are one company producing sublimation inks, and have somewhat cornered/monopolised the market. If you buy ink and printer from one of their dealers then you have warranty support on the system from them. Sellers of other manufacturers' ink may also offer support/warranties (some included and others as an extra option.) so it's best to ask who you are buying from what they offer in terms of warranty/support before buying.

In general terms, there a few different types of printer and sublimation systems available, but the most common use piezo-electric print heads. The majority of these printers are produced by Epson, based on Epson printers, or use Epson print heads. Other manufacturers of printer that can be used with type of head are from Ricoh and Brother. Ricohs use a slightly different type of ink though, so a sublimation ink made for Epson, would work in a Brother printer but not a Ricoh (and vice versa I assume but haven't tried)
Epson have printers suitable for sublimation work starting at A4 and going up to production printers of more than a metre wide, whereas Ricoh only do A3/A4 models (they have large format printers, but aimed at latex/Solvent inks, so they would likely work but would be overkill for just water based sublimation inks).
Also Epson have cheap home printers, office printers, art/photo printers, and commercial/production printers - with the better quality prints being achievable from the art/photo printers and those with more than just CMYK colour ink options. Ricoh only has home/office based printers with the standard 4 inks.
Some dye sub work is fine with only the colour/quality offered by 4 coloured home/office printers, only you can decide what printer suits your needs in terms of cost, ink, quality etc I would always suggest first finding the printer that fulfill your needs as the route to go, rather than going with a printer a salesman wants to sell you from the small restricted collection they have.

[funkey monkey]

I started out with Epson printers, then jumped on the Ricoh bandwagon! but have now moved back to Epson because the Ricoh printers can't touch the Epson's for print quality for sharpe crisp image reproduction on sublimation items, and before anyone trys to shoot me down this was driven by many of my customers noticing the differance in print qulaity when the Ricoh printer let me down.

But what I will say is go with a printer and setup you can afford and will be happy using along with your customers being happy with their finished products.

[R.Prints]

Thanks for your inputs. I have decided to go back to Epson after trying Brother, and have gone for the WF-7110DTW with re-fillable carts again as I always seemed to have problems with CISS on previous Epsons. Here's hoping this printer works and doesn't go down the constant blockages route.

[pisquee]

If I was going small format, I'd definitely go for a model which has 100ml refill carts available (and removable waste tank, which I think is only Epson's Workforce Pro (WP-xxxx) range, last time I checked. So, still in office printer land, but higher end than the home-office models, and only CMYK. I'd then be putting professional and not consumer inks in it, with a custom ICC .profile

[arthur.daley]

If I was going small format, I'd definitely go for a model which has 100ml refill carts available (and removable waste tank, which I think is only Epson's Workforce Pro (WP-xxxx) range, last time I checked. So, still in office printer land, but higher end than the home-office models, and only CMYK. I'd then be putting professional and not consumer inks in it, with a custom ICC .profile

Hi Pisquee

In your opinion..........

Ignoring running costs, is Epson the way to go in terms of print quality ie definition and colour fidelity and reliability or is Ricoh much the same, possibly easier to set up and run and 'just' expensive to run (due the inks)


Arthur

[pisquee]

Well, put it this way...
with Epson you can buy a 6 (or more) colour printer aimed at printing artwork and photos, and there is a large choice of printer models, and inks.
With Ricoh, you have a choice of a few small office printers, designed and made for printing Powerpoints and letters, and only really the choice of one ink.