DSF

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Hi Joel,

Welcome to the forum. You will find several posts along the lines of 'I've bought some kit cheap and it's not working, please can you help'. Often the replies start going down the route of suggesting you need a custom profile made to work with your inks and if you buy different inks in the future you'll need to get another profile made. CIS systems can also be problematic and other support problems arise from the ink not flowing properly and undertaking head cleans etc and starting a significant learning curve associated with the hard way of getting into sublimation printing - can be cheaper if it works for you but for people starting out the 'buy cheap' often resorts to buying twice to get an easy to use, reliable working solution.

There will undoubtedly be several replies suggesting you dig in and lots of help offered. If you want the easy, reliable, supported route, then consider the Ricoh SG3110 sublimation printer package - this is a new printer, sublimation cartridges, specific colour profiling software free of charge called PowerDriver and full back up support from your supplier as well as hundreds of UK users printing with the same set up.

bms;88642 wrote:Hi Joel,

Welcome to the forum. You will find several posts along the lines of 'I've bought some kit cheap and it's not working, please can you help'. Often the replies start going down the route of suggesting you need a custom profile made to work with your inks and if you buy different inks in the future you'll need to get another profile made. CIS systems can also be problematic and other support problems arise from the ink not flowing properly and undertaking head cleans etc and starting a significant learning curve associated with the hard way of getting into sublimation printing - can be cheaper if it works for you but for people starting out the 'buy cheap' often resorts to buying twice to get an easy to use, reliable working solution.

There will undoubtedly be several replies suggesting you dig in and lots of help offered. If you want the easy, reliable, supported route, then consider the Ricoh SG3110 sublimation printer package - this is a new printer, sublimation cartridges, specific colour profiling software free of charge called PowerDriver and full back up support from your supplier as well as hundreds of UK users printing with the same set up.

Thanks @BMS, I've been on your site before and I'm tempted to make a few orders once I get going.

Ricoh looks good - but I find the consumables are not economic for my very tight budget, and I could not find alternatives. But then again, I'm going cheap.

What do you think?

I thought when I started that I could do the whole 'cheap' route.. thankfully, found this forum before doing so.. and will never look back *although did a slightly cheaper flat press*

I use trupix paper, a ricoh printer and sawgrass inks, a larger generic flat press and a Genie mug press... all blanks are from reputable suppliers.. and thankfully, the only errors I have ever had are usually down to 'user' issues..

I do believe in the saying 'buy cheap buy twice' when it comes to sublimation..

bms;88642 wrote:Hi Joel,
this is a new printer, sublimation cartridges, specific colour profiling software free of charge called PowerDriver and full back up support from your supplier as well as hundreds of UK users printing with the same set up.

You will probably still need a custom ICC profile made to get good photo's from the ricoh, powerdriver is ok but a custom profile is better. With that said the ricoh SG3110 is a good choice of printer to get you going.

galerion;88646 wrote:You will probably still need a custom ICC profile made to get good photo's from the ricoh, powerdriver is ok but a custom profile is better. With that said the ricoh SG3110 is a good choice of printer to get you going.

Thanks for your help! I've spent about £400 so far, so I'm not sure I can push towards a Ricoh just yet. I'm 15.

Still, the price of consumables for the Ricoh haunt me slightly...

muckyducky;88647 wrote: Still, the price of consumables for the Ricoh haunt me slightly...

Sawgrass ink is a tad pricey but unless you have a wide format printer you are not allowed to use any other brand of ink.

They may look pricey but they go a long way.

galerion;88649 wrote:Sawgrass ink is a tad pricey but unless you have a wide format printer you are not allowed to use any other brand of ink.

Can you roughly guide me through custom ICC profiles please? Until I can get a bit of a return to fund a Ricoh printer. It's worth a try I guess.

gorgall2;88650 wrote:They may look pricey but they go a long way.

How much do they have in them, roughly? I've been buying 100ml of generic sub dye for my EPSON (4 colours) for about £30.