Brother printers for sublimation use.

[Winterbits]

Hi all, new to the forum and sublimation.

I am wondering will I get a better print quality with one of the a3 printers or the one you reviewed on here? The cost is only £50 extra and the capability of doing a3, although I can't see myself printing a3 very often?

Infact what do people print in a3?

The printer will probably be used with a laptop on a market stall with the power coming from an invertor off a car/leisure battery. If needs be I could run the car to charge it back up. So power consumption would be better off lower but only if quality is not undermined.

Sorry to ramble on a bit.
Kind Regards
Ian

[Justin]

You won't get a better print quality as they're still 4 colour printers. A3 means you can print larger place mats, sun shades etc. but bear in mind you would need the larger heat press for this. 99% of most folks work is probably done on an A4.

[Winterbits]

Thanks for that, think I will be sticking to the A4 version then, helps with the power consumption too

[WorthDoingRight]

Thanks for that, think I will be sticking to the A4 version then, helps with the power consumption too

Lol compared to the cost of the ink, power consumption in standby or whilst printing will be minimal difference between A4 or A3 printers

[JSR]

Hi all, new to the forum and sublimation.

I am wondering will I get a better print quality with one of the a3 printers or the one you reviewed on here? The cost is only £50 extra and the capability of doing a3, although I can't see myself printing a3 very often?

Infact what do people print in a3?

The printer will probably be used with a laptop on a market stall with the power coming from an invertor off a car/leisure battery. If needs be I could run the car to charge it back up. So power consumption would be better off lower but only if quality is not undermined.

Sorry to ramble on a bit.
Kind Regards
Ian

For the sake of the small price difference, you may as well go for the A3 so that you have the ability to do larger prints and/or more prints on the same piece of paper. In other words, more flexibility for the day you do have a larger press. If you don't see yourself doing A3 "very often", then that suggests you may see yourself doing A3 once or twice. If you already have the A3 printer, it's a simple matter of changing the paper. If you don't already have the A3 printer then you'd have to get one especially for that "once or twice" occasion. Unless you're really tight on available cash, it makes sense to go for the printer with the most options your budget will allow.

Do bear in mind though that the print width is limited to A3 (11.7") and you can't print A3+ (13") as you would with an A3 Epson. There isn't too much around these days that needs the extra couple of cms (but it was useful in the old days when there were 12" diameter glass clocks!).

As for better quality? There's nothing wrong with the quality from the A4, so I'm not sure how much better you're looking for. Your biggest concern when using an unsupported printer is colour accuracy and, for that, you'll need a custom ICC colour correction profile (speak to forum member Paul).

There are newer printers from Brother these days, and you would be best advised to go for one of them (that others have used) than going for one of the ones I originally reviewed.

[daviddeer]

Hi JSR,
I am going to attempt this process with my dcp 330c and MFC-5890CN Printers.
To create the ICC profiles do you print the colour swatch on paper and use the profiling device on that or must you transfer it to a substrate before using the profiling device?

[JSR]

Hi JSR,
I am going to attempt this process with my dcp 330c and MFC-5890CN Printers.
To create the ICC profiles do you print the colour swatch on paper and use the profiling device on that or must you transfer it to a substrate before using the profiling device?

You have to transfer it to something because dye-sub inks don't reach their final colour until heat has been applied. Unfortunately you can't profile a mug because it's not flat, so you need to find something close to the substrate you're profiling. I've used everything from mousemats to t-shirts to the 10x8 sheets of metal from BMS. The metal seems to work the best.

[daviddeer]

Thanks for that,
I'll get the printers set up and order the metal.
Happy days!!

[meldean]

Hello Everybody

Im in the process of setting up with a brother printer for sublimation and was wondering if there is a preference on which papers to use to get best results.

Thank You

[Paul]

my works great with texPrint.