UK Printed Mugs;150499 wrote:We ourselves have done trials with all the printers on the market and our conclusion is that only the SG400 with a custom profile gives accurate colours. SG500, Epson models modified for sublimation as well as the F100/F500 are not good enough.
That's a very sweeping broad statement.
I always had very good results with InkTec in modified wide format Epsons, and are happy now that we've moved to the HP Stitch S300 with HP's sublimation inks.
If you have good inks, and your own profiling kit then you should get good, consistent results on a modified Epson
JBA: For what it's worth, my 10+ year old Ricoh GXe-7700N threw up a error code 975 last week, which for this printer was a terminal fault and so I quickly needed a replacement.
Like you I am not a volume manufacturer, we sell individual items direct to retail customers and the margin is such I am not chasing around to save a few pence here and there on inks and mugs, I want consistency and good support and a machine that will print with no issues if not used for a few days.
I felt I did not need another A3 so went to Nova Chrome (who supplied the Ricoh) for the SG500 and the included Sawgrass Print Manager, I had no issues with their previous Power Driver and I always used their inks in cartridge form, again easy. Nova Chrome do offer excellent technical support and within 36 hours I was set up again and printing, they helped over the phone to properly set up the SG500 & Print Manager and for me, the end result has been excellent.
So, a vote for the simplicity of the SG500 and great technical help from Nova Chrome, others will disagree, but for a low volume producer with high margins I do not have the time or inclination to faff around with other solutions and I know with a 2 year back up from Nova Chrome, it's another potential area for problems to be ticked off. Just a thought.
Paul;150506 wrote:Just my 5pence worth - F500 prints amazing quality and never had an issue with the colours. Only software/driver is terrible
Reference your issue with F100, keep the epson and inks as they are good and cheap. Make a custom ICC and you should be good to go. At least next time when you use epson ink you know they are consistent and they wont disappear from the market like some cheap inks.
I would love to create custom ICC for you but I am so busy right now, That I don't even know where is my spectrophotometer I know there are some inks companies out there who will do it for you. cost currently is about £35/£50.
If you wont be able to find anyone, i will do a browse for my gear!
Thanks Paul, Shane at cityinksexpress says "Im sorry but that that model is locked down with the manufacturers software and their own papers - pre-installed
We cannot do anything with it"
So that's why I think I will send it back and get a SG500 maybe. I will try to get a sample print from my file from one first. What are the Epson eco tank printers like with dye sub inks? At least there are ICC profiles for them. Jon
pw66;150505 wrote:Maybe the Epson L805 from Ink Experts. About the same price as the F100. Six colour photo quality printer using Inktec Sublinova inks, properly profiled.
So, a vote for the simplicity of the SG500 and great technical help from Nova Chrome, others will disagree, but for a low volume producer with high margins I do not have the time or inclination to faff around with other solutions and I know with a 2 year back up from Nova Chrome, it's another potential area for problems to be ticked off. Just a thought.
Yup, that's me. Low volume with reasonable margins I will have a look at what Nova Chrome can offer, thanks
JBA;150511 wrote: What are the Epson eco tank printers like with dye sub inks? At least there are ICC profiles for them. Jon
For over a decade the Epson 1390/1400/1500w have been the mainstay of the (non sawgrass) sublimation industry for low and mid volume small format users. Even some high volume users have used multiple printers in preference of going down the wide format route. There are probably as many people using those printers as there are using SG 400/800.
The L1800 (a3+) an L805 (a4) are the eco tank versions of those printers. There is a cost premium for buying ecotank (the 1500w was around £200 + cost of cis and ink, compared to nearly £800 for the L1800) but they are still cheaper than and argueably better then the the SG500/1000 or F100. Ink is a fraction of the cost of Sawgrass ink.
There are cheaper Epson eco tank models if you don't need a six colour photo quality printer.
The irony is that the industry has shown Epson what they want, but Epson know 'better'.
Problem #400 ;-(
Epson dye sub does not play well with MacBooks. Inkexperts discontinued support for Mac in Nov 2020 it appears,
"Support for the following devices will be discontinued as of 11/11/2020All Apple devices; iMac, Macbook, iPad, and iPhone.
Android devices; Chromebook, all mobile telephones and tablets.
Linux based systems. The decision to cut support for these devices comes down to colour correction.
Devices listed above do not offer, cannot currently use, or completely ignore custom ICC profiles."
My best option is to buy a dirt cheap PC and use it as a sort of print server I think. Then I can use an Epson Eco tank with an accurate icc profile. And I thought platform wars were so last century...
Does that sound like a useful workaround to you?
thanks, Jon
