advice on the right printer

[iaing]

hi friends
as previously stated new at the game, i have been dealing with a chap with a company in england, who has been pretty helpfull with advice and getting the right kind of material i wont to print on, anyway, they are offering a ricoh printer starter pack for £275 a4 printer, now i am printing on to a size the material is 9x7in or 22cmx17cm(approx), in the letter he sent me, he states i would need an a3 printer at a cost of £920, initally he said the a4 printer would be fine, could anyone advise correct printer given sizes mentioned a3 or a4 as you can see there is a fair difference in price and being a novice i dont want to spend on an a3 printer when an a4 would have done best wishes to all and thank you

[socialgiraffe]

A4 Page size 210mm width x 297mm height
A3 Page size 297mm width x 420mm height

Printable area using an A4 printer 200mm x 287mm (approx but close)
Printable area using an A3 printer 287mm x 410mm (approx but close)

So as you can see, if you need to print 220mm x 170mm you can use an A4 printer.

If you are purchasing a Ricoh for sublimation make sure you purchase from an authorised, recognised and reputable dye sub seller.

[iaing]

hi my friend thank you regards iain

[iaing]

would you recommend the transfer press thats who i have been dealing with

[socialgiraffe]

I have not actually purchased anything from them so not sure. I have always received excellent advice from them whenever I have called but it has not led to a sale because of different circumstances.

They are a Stahls group company so I have no reason to doubt that they would be a very good supplier.

It is worth noting that both Listawoods and Longforte offer discounts to premium members (I think they both offer 10%). It might be worth looking at becoming a premium member and then using that discount to get a good price.

[bms]

They are a Stahls group company so I have no reason to doubt that they would be a very good supplier.

I thought Graeme at thetransferpress was an independent. Are they part of a conglomerate?

OP - the A3 model should be available significantly cheaper next week so I'd hold off buying an A3 model just now if you are considering the A3 route.

[socialgiraffe]

Martin, you are correct and I was about to edit my post.

I have never dealt with The Transfer Press at all. I was thinking of Target Transfers

And IAING, next week you will be able to get the Ricoh A3 with a full set of high capacity inks for £675.00 plus VAT which is a good deal considering the ink alone is £240 plus VAT. This would be from BMS who are a reputable supplier and recommended by many on here.

Worth having a hunt round but I suspect this will be the cheapest you can get it.

[cupsforcops]

I bought the Ricoh A4 printer for £89 and then bought the ink on Ebay from China, as recommended by many. It works brilliantly. I am using the Sawgrass profiles and the colour is coming out exactly the same as my previously commercial bought designs. You will save a fortune buying like this, but it will invalidate your warranty as the Ricoh printer was never designed to print with dye-sub ink. In fact, no printer is. If you buy from registered source, Sawgrass take over the warranty. For the sake of £89 for the printer, if it breaks, Ill just buy another. It cost me about a third of the cost buying this way.

Oh yes, an A4 printer will be fine

[Printcess Jen]

Hi, i know this post was a while back however just thought i'd give me advice/experience. I dealt with Listawood and put together a start up package including the Ricoh 7700 plus combi heat press. It all depends on how much you want to spend however I am very glad I bought the A3 printer as it allows a larger tshirt print and is good for larger items like laptop cases etc... If you can afford the larger printer then go for it, i love my Ricoh!
If you speak to Listawood direct and tell them what you want they will put something together for you plus if you order stock online you get 2.5% discount. God it sounds like i work for them (i don't!) i just found them very helpful.

I hope that helps :redface:

[Paul]

They can give you even more discount if you tell them you are premium member of this forum. Becki is a member here as well