A3 sublimation advice

[SBPersonalised]

Hi, been using an Epson XP225 for 12mnths or so that I purchased as part of a start up package for keyrings, mugs, coasters etc and wanted to upgrade to A3. Had an Epson WF7110 from new which had been used occasionally for normal printing. I bought pre-filled sublimation cartridges off ebay and installed them following the suppliers instructions and ended up with a dead printer (error code 0x9A). This has been replaced under warantee with an Epson WF7210, which I have set up but not installed the sublimation cartridges to date as I don't think I would get a 2nd replacement if it goes wrong. I've also got a brand new Epson WF7610 that would take the same cartridges and a brand new Brother DCP-j4120DW that would require additional cartridges to be purchased. The ebay supplier can't provide an ICC profile and I'm struggling to find one for the Brother, so think the Epson WF7610 to be the best option. I have read so much the last cpl of days about all three printers and potential problems and I'm hoping someone on here has experience with one or more of the printers and can advise or suggest a reasonably priced alternative. Thanks in advance

[Customprintwales]

lots of experience of the WF7110 and got through 3 of them in 8 months of so. I don't beleive the heads of the WF series can cope with sublimation ink. there's always clogging up and eventually just packs up.

I also bought the Brother as a temp measure to see me though Christmas when the last WF packed up. The biggest issue I had with the Brother was that the ink kept emptying from the head on one or two colours between runs and I had to do head cleans a few times a day to prime the head. That got expensive on ink.

i have invested in a sawgrass A3 printer and it works really well. Expensive though. I also bought a Epsom Expression XP-900 A3 printer and so far it's been great. If it works as well as my A4 XP-323 then I expect to get years of trouble free operation from it.

[SBPersonalised]

Got an Epson XP900 on order, did you set it up with the epson inks first and then swap it over to dye sub, thanks

[Customprintwales]

mine set up fine with refillable sub ink cartridges first time.

I only use mine maybe every couple of days when I'm busy and need an extra A3 printer but I've had no issues with it. There's a couple of blocked black text heads but the black photo head is perfect and I've not an issue with blocked heads on the other colours.

I don't do any black text as my transfers are printed as photo at high resolution so the text black head doesn't get any use.

When I had the WF7110 I used to be forever cleaning heads even when it was being used many times a day.

The XPs do seem to work more reliably under sub ink conditions. The A4 XP323 has given me years of trouble free use.

[SBPersonalised]

Thanks for all your help, got it all set up, print head test shows a few blocked heads, done a cpl of head cleans and it’s got better. if I print on normal quality I get a few lines, on best quality it’s perfect. Refilled the cartridges and left it switched off for the weekend and will sublimation mate something on Mon

[webtrekker]

Thanks for all your help, got it all set up, print head test shows a few blocked heads, done a cpl of head cleans and it’s got better. if I print on normal quality I get a few lines, on best quality it’s perfect. Refilled the cartridges and left it switched off for the weekend and will sublimation mate something on Mon

I NEVER turn my printers off! They are on standby 24/7 and I rarely have a blocked head.

[Customprintwales]

I tend not to switch off either. that way the printer will do it's maintenance depending on number of prints. When you switch on and off the printer goes through mini head clean cycles which will use up inks and also shorten the time before you get ink waste pad full errors.

Regarding the few head blocks after cleaning, if you print in high quality it will probably sort itself out after dozen or so prints. But I tend to stick to high quality anyway it it seems to give a deeper colour on the item. Uses a bit more ink but I'm not at the bottom end of the market so the margins are there to use a bit more ink.

[InkExpress]

The WF7110 and WF7610 are good printers for sublimation but personally I always struggled with refillable cartridges in them. We could never quite get to the bottom of it but we found CISS worked well, so assumed the printing head did not like the cartridges being removed and reinstalled frequently which can lead to air getting into the printing head.

The WF7210 has replaced the WF7110 (same as WF7710 has now replaced WF7610) the issue with these newer models is, although they use the same ink cartridges (T27 Alarm Clock series) they have a newer firmware on the chip and and so ARC auto reset chips fond on refillable cartridges or CISS do not currently work, or at least not successfully for a prolonged period.

We are currently working on these models and hope to have something soon.

Alex