Mug & T-Shirt Printing

[madbob]

Just about to buy some equipment as I want to print Mugs & T-shirts, there are two systems I have been looking at:

Epson WorkForce WF-3010DW with a ciss system using **** sublimation inks

or

RICOH A4 SG 3110DN using SubliJet-R® inks

The ciss system has much cheaper inks than the SubliJet-R® inks which cost about £200 for a set of inks, is there a massive difference between the two systems? And how long does a set of full inks work on the SubliJet-R® inks in the Ricoh?

If you want to produce Mugs & T-shirts do you have to have two printer setups? or is there a system available that will do both?

Does anyone else have these systems? would they they recommend one or the other?

It just feels like it can be difficult to get a good printer, using the right paper, right mugs that have a good polyester coating and have a decent heat press with a consistent temperature? and if one of these isn't right then it could mess everything up!!!!

Can anyone help?

[bms]

Just about to buy some equipment as I want to print Mugs & T-shirts, there are two systems I have been looking at:

Epson WorkForce WF-3010DW with a ciss system using PrinterKnow sublimation inks

or

RICOH A4 SG 3110DN using SubliJet-R® inks

The ciss system has much cheaper inks than the SubliJet-R® inks which cost about £200 for a set of inks, is there a massive difference between the two systems? And how long does a set of full inks work on the SubliJet-R® inks in the Ricoh?

If you want to produce Mugs & T-shirts do you have to have two printer setups? or is there a system available that will do both?

Does anyone else have these systems? would they they recommend one or the other?

It just feels like it can be difficult to get a good printer, using the right paper, right mugs that have a good polyester coating and have a decent heat press with a consistent temperature? and if one of these isn't right then it could mess everything up!!!!

Can anyone help?

With all due respect, there a numerous posts on here about buying cheap and buying twice. Getting the printer and inks right is one of the most important, then buying reliable blanks with machinery that does the job. I suspect if you go down that Epson route with those inks and a CISS then one of your next posts on here will be concerning colours not right or banding (or both)...

[madbob]

Thanks bms, this is my third post on this forum. Very new to this, so to get someone with your experience reply really does help. I will definitely be looking at posts on here regarding the RICOH.

[Justin]

I can appreciate how it may feel difficult to get everything set-up properly....we've all been there

If you're looking for simplicity then the Ricoh is the way to go. Inks will seem expensive but they last an awful long time in the Ricohs. Sure, you can go down other routes to try and save money but as a new starter you're in for a challenge and a steep learning curve.

You'll still have a learning curve but this can be made a lot easier by getting the right equipment and support in the first instance. A good heat press will pay for itself over and over but will be a hefty investment initially.

We operate a Premium Membership on the forum here, you pay £10 per annum and we can give you some great discounts with leading Suppliers including Xpres and Listawood. 10% off everything including printers and presses in most cases could save you a lot of money.

Good luck on your journey, the forum is full of information you're going to need so have a good long read

[pisquee]

I've never heard of that brand of ink, so it does seem an odd choice.
CISS are prone to problems with inks not flowing properly, so are best avoided.

If you go for a printer from a Sawgrass dealer, then you, in theory have a printer that will "just work"
It is possible to go a more DIY route, with more economically priced inks, but I would only recommend this to people with a technically biased brain, who don't mind doing lots of reading up, learning, and a bit of trial and error before they get going.

The first option, the inks are only available from one manufacturer which are price fixed, and you have a limited choice of printers approved by the ink manufacturer (not necessarily due to the technical suitability of the printer models) but, you have a system which is covered by a warranty in case things go wrong.
The latter, you can choose whichever printer which suits your needs, with an ink delivery method you want, and inks from a range of manufacturers. You may have a warranty, but this would depend on the ink manufacturer you choose, and the suppliers you choose to get things from.

[Angloman]

Hi,
I started with a second-hand printer with cheap china ink, worked perfect or so I thought. I then bought a second hand 7100 Ricoh that lasted 5 days and blew up.
I ended up buying a new ricoh 3310dn from listawood,with sub ink,brilliant, have not looked back, colours are a perfect match every time, support from saw grass brilliant
moral buy new, buy correct and don't think buying second hand and china ink is good

[FutureProject]

I think it all boils down to "if you have problems" using ciss you may strike lucky get the colours right and live happy ever after, you may have a bad ink batch, clogged heads or colour profile problems, all of these problems require flushes, test prints or trial and error. All of these problems burn through ink very quickly, and even cheap subli-ink is expensive when you're wasting it. if you have problems with the 3310dn and sawgrass inks, problems are generally known / easy to fix as your working with known variables, most of the time it's a simple case of tune the temperature down a bit as the gel ink burns when using the temperatures advertised on supplier sites, 5c less you'll rarely have a problem.

[rossdv8]

A lot comes down to whether you are building a business or doing some items as a hobby and to sell in local markets. I'm lucky. I planned to buy quality gear (Ricoh) and ended up being more or less given most of what I needed by someone who tried the 'cheap' way and gave up.

Of course, he didn;t tell me he gave up because the cheap stuff was just a pain. He made it all sound so easy and affordable. And I didn;t know about this forum until after I had wasted a lot of supplies.

I'd agree with a couple of experienced posters here. If you plan to do this for business, go with quality equipment, quality consumables and quality blanks. And read everything you can on this forum and ask questions. They are a helpful, friendly lot here.

I wasted a lot of cheap mugs before I discovered the coating and the thickness of the mug can make a huge difference to the way your mugs look when they are pressed. As an example, two mugs that look the same, one from ebay and one from a local supplier. The ebay one was quite a bit cheaper. But out of each box of 48, at least 20 had pinholes and often bigger flaws in the mug. Almost all of them had sand around the bottom where the mug had stood on some sandy surface after being coated. Some were so bad they could not even be given away. And then out of the ones I could press, the mug material was so thick they took ages to heat and often heated unevenly, causing weird colours I blamed on my press or my technique. Altogether about 30 mugs out of 48 were garbage.

When I ordered some from a reputable supplier, I ordered the budget line. But immediately I could see the difference. Yes, they were still made in China, but they were actually white, rather than off brownish grey. Next, there were no blemishes and no sand baked into the bottom of the mug coating. Next, I could actually feel the difference in the thickness. The mugs heated faster and more evenly. And I'd had a problem with paper sticking to the mugs after they were pressed. Suddenly that problem went away as well.

So it is worth buying quality stuff from a recommended supplier - or one who comes to your rescue on here. You will find a number of quality companies participating in the forum and helping you, and they never try to sell you stuff. They may be competition with each other but they like to help.

There's nothing wrong with having two or three suppliers. You'll find a favourite because of their service, or freight arrangements, or maybe just helpful service. And there will be a time when your favourite is out of somethign and it is handy to have someone else on hand.

Don;t worry too much about how much ink you'll use. For some reason my sublimation printer (same brand and model as my pigment printer) uses around a third as much ink as the pigment printer for the same number and size of prints. You may as well use the best, and learn the tricks to get it perfect.

It is easier to play with getting temperature and press times right when you know you already have perfect inks and ICC profiles.

[madbob]

I think your exactly right about the mugs, we had about the same amount that also couldn't use. Now spending that bit more to achieve the quality we are after.

[ISub-Kerrie]

How are you getting on with your printer now? I assume you have had it a little while now?