DSF

I am new to sublimation and I am thinking about buying a Brother MCF-5910DW based on other threads where I saw it recommended. My question is how do I turn this into a sublimation printer since it is just a normal printer. I know I will need different ink but is there anybody who has done this before who could point me in the right direction of what else I would need to buy or do.

Also is there any special software required to print the transfers and if so whats the best?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum

Plenty of existing discussions on Brother printers, just search for Brother and you'll see. Here's a thread, http://www.dyesubforum.co.uk/vbforum/sh ... ht=brother

Justin
DSF Admin

Hi. All you do is refill carts with subli ink and stick it in the printer.
You will need icc color for you printer.

Dont put oryginal cartrdges to your printer

So in stages:

1) Buy the printer (do not install the original cartridges)
2) Buy refillable cartridges for the printer (Cost somewhere between £10 and £20 depending on if standard or large cartridges (standard allow the front door to close))
3) Purchase sublimation ink in CMYK (4 colours)
4) Fill refillable cartridges with ink.
5) Install cartridges into printer.

Once you have it this far then you should be able to at least print a sublimation print out (suggest you use normal paper setting) and the standard Brother driver for test purposes.

6) Talk to Paul about getting an icc profile (or icm as it is on the 5910).

Richard

Paul;52716 wrote:Hi. All you do is refill carts with subli ink and stick it in the printer.
You will need icc color for you printer.

Dont put oryginal cartrdges to your printer

...but if you go down this route then your help and support is restricted to a handful of users. There are no guarantees and with the Sawgrass Ink costing you around £60 per 125ml per colour then it's not a cheap experiment. Consider this on balance against buying a supported printer, inks, guarantees, support. As a newbie to sublimation printing it might be less stressful going down a supported route, but it's your call

kaskade;52713 wrote:I am new to sublimation and I am thinking about buying a Brother MCF-5910DW based on other threads where I saw it recommended. My question is how do I turn this into a sublimation printer since it is just a normal printer. I know I will need different ink but is there anybody who has done this before who could point me in the right direction of what else I would need to buy or do.

Also is there any special software required to print the transfers and if so whats the best?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

You may want to read these two useful FAQs -

Newbie guide to Dye-Sublimation printers, and Brother printers for dye-sublimation.

The Readers Digest version: If you're completely new to dye-sublimation and you're unfamiliar with using third-party inks, then your best bet is likely to be buying a complete "authorised system" from a Sawgrass-approved reseller. They'll sell you the printer and the ink and will help guide you through the early steps. It won't be particularly cheap, but you'll still have your hair left at the end of it.

bms;52719 wrote:...but if you go down this route then your help and support is restricted to a handful of users. There are no guarantees and with the Sawgrass Ink costing you around £60 per 125ml per colour then it's not a cheap experiment. Consider this on balance against buying a supported printer, inks, guarantees, support. As a newbie to sublimation printing it might be less stressful going down a supported route, but it's your call

I can deal with the stress. While I'm a newbie to sublimation I've a degree in IT and 8 years working in the area ad well al 5 years as a photographer. I've no problem getting my hands dirty to save a few quid as long as I have somewhat concrete instructions

Gaining experience first is the name of the game to going down the unsupported printer route. If I was starting from scratch now I would go down the Ricoh route because it's a bit like 'plug & play'. On top of this you also get support plus the guarantees too. Don't get me wrong in going the Brother route can be done but, be prepared for the head scratching & hair pulling at times to begin with. I am someone who went down the unsupported third party sublimation ink a few years ago & still use the same set up now with no problems at all. The question is would I have done it when first starting out & the answer would be a big fat no. With the experience I had gained plus my experience as an engineer I had an idea what problems I would come across & managed to solve them. One important thing also to bear in mind is that what I find a fix for might not work the same way for someone else.

I think it's safe to say I was one of the first on the forum who went down the unsupported printer route. I did take some stick at first from some people but, I'm glad that some of those can now see the reasons myself & others such as Jonathan (JSR) went down a different route.

same as Ian and jsr and worth, i also went down the brother route rather than the epson.
reason being -
the brother 5910dw's were on sale(as they are now)

less chance of heads getting clogged( aka epson )been there done that yrs ago.

bought bigger refillable carts so will not be filling so often, but they stick out the front of the printer...no big deal if you got the space.

i like the all in one appeal...the scanner on these 5910's are really dam good...just scanned a pic the other night and fired it onto a mug....first time using the scanner on stock/standard settings.

paper tray is hidden out the road - easy to load/change.

but.....these things are BIG..like really bulky - make sure you have enough space around you for this.
I did have some hair pulling at the very begining, as JSR knows all to well lol....if you go down this route you def will need a profile for your printer - see mod paul on here, he's very good and very reasonable and will get you your profile in about 1 week.

and finally - get it from pc world and pay £22 for there 3yr unlimited warrenty...anything buggers up, accident-ANYTHING - take it back to store WITH RECIEPT, they will exchange it there and then....and yes, i did ask my local store about using sub inks - would it void the warrenty...answer was NO...they check to see if it buggerd, then BIN IT

ask worthdoingitright on here....he's got the excat same printer as myself 5910dw.....good luck bud and stick with it.....or buy a WIG LOL

Iam like ian... One of thw first with unsuported printer...
Brother??? How many of bro users experienced problems or clogging??? I must say this is te easiest going printer i ever hsd. Only issue for bros will be icc. Without them you cant start print stright away.. But once you got it....