Advice/help on sublimating printing equipment, please?

[Gary Birch]

Hi Paul
Can’t help you on the Sublimation side but welcome back and give me a bell if I can help.

Cheers

Gary

[Paul Humble]

Cheers Gary, you will be my first point of call for full colour as you always were before.

[Jason Davies]

Hi Paul, good to see you back, how are the cars?

[Paul Humble]

All gone now mate, the Renault that you did the fade for ended up down Wales, the mini pickup in Belgium, the midget in Denmark, the 911 in Scotland, the bay and Splitty down South somewhere and no idea about the beetle.

The joys of divorce, lol! I’m in a happier place now though so alls worked out well and just looking to start doing something I enjoy again.

[Denis Kolar]

I have Ricoh 7100 that can print up to 13"x21" paper.
Uses Sawgrass sublimation ink. The inks are expensive, but the printer can sith for a long time without printing and the printheads will not clog. That is the main issue with a Epson Sub printers

[Martin Pearson]

Nice to see you back Paul, try a search for Ricoh as there have been a few threads where they have been recommended because they use a gel ink & you don’t get the same porblems you did with epson printers.

[Ashley Dawson]

I use a Ricoh 3100 for sublimation with sawgrass ink, only A4 , but big enough what I use it for , mugs, tshirts , place mats , clocks etc.

Plenty of good deals about , and the Ricoh gel ink doesnt dry in the printer like the other ones

[JackGregory]

quote Ashley Dawson:

I use a Ricoh 3100 for sublimation with sawgrass ink, only A4 , but big enough what I use it for , mugs, tshirts , place mats , clocks etc.

Plenty of good deals about , and the Ricoh gel ink doesnt dry in the printer like the other ones

I use the same highly recommend it as well

[Robert Neill]

Hi Ashley… just looking at your post regarding the ricoh gel printer. I am looking to get one myself, you mention that you use yours for various items. Is this all using the standard gel cartridges that come with it, or did you have to use an alternative type ??

Thanks

Robert

[Hugh Potter]

You have to use the sawgrass inks with the ricoh printers, to my knowledge nobody has yet made generic carts with that type of ink – though I’ve not looked in a couple of years!

[Robert Neill]

Thanks Hugh…. not sure that this answers what my query was though. I was more wondering that if I purchased this printer, would I be able to go straight ahead and set up and print with the inks it comes with, or would I have to first purchase the sawgrass inks ?

Thanks

Robert

[Robert Neill]

Does anyone also know…. with sublimation printing it is done by printing onto transfer paper and then heat pressed onto the item, whether it be a t shirt or whatever. But my question is… at the moment I use my inkjet printer to print onto transfer paper to then be heated onto clothing. So what would be the difference from me using sublimation to my inkjet that I currently use ?

Thanks
Robert

[Hugh Potter]

without knowing the system you use it’s hard to say,

sublimation is done with a transfer paper onto coated or polyester garments, the ink actually bonds to the polyester fibres in the garment or coating on mugs etc. only the ink is transferred. Sublimation inks are not the same as egular inkjet inks.

laser transfer onto white leaves polyester toner on whatever surface you apply to, but it also leaves some of the paper coating with it.

dark transfer works the same with both methods, rint onto paper, cut out and press on face up.

[Robert Neill]

Yes that sounds the same as what I do at the moment, for instance the inkjet that I use for light garments gets printed onto the transfer paper and pressed then the paper removed. Leaving the ink print on the garment. So in what way is that different from using the inkjet to the sublimation…. I am still not getting it..Sorry.

[Robert Neill]

Could you also advise which paper I should use to print onto, because at the moment I use inkjet paper, and I see my supplier only sells inkjet & laser transfer paper.

Regards
Robert

[Hugh Potter]

I’ve only ever used laser transfer or ricoh/sawgrass sublimation with xpres sub paper.

I assume you’re buying the ink for the inkjet as sublimation ink? if not, I’m guessing you must have a costed paper of some kind which leaves behind part fo the paper, sublimation can only go onto polyester (or high content) garments.

afraid I don’t know anything else other than those two methods of print – other than large format textile vinyl which can be print/cut/pressed.

[Robert Neill]

Ye I am just using regular ink from my inkjet paper and ye I believe it does leave the top coat of the paper, so what paper should I use for the ricoh printer and can I use the gel ink that it comes with

Thanks

[Hugh Potter]

if you buy the ricoh from somewhere like xpres or TMT, as a sublimation printer, it will come with the correct sawgrass sublimation inks, they will recommend their own subli paper.

do not put standard carts into the ricoh if it’s for subli – ever!

[Robert Neill]

I ordered the ricoh printer today but it will be coming with the standard gel cartridges, should have it tomorrow. So you saying don’t set it up with the gel Inks?

[Kevin Flowers]

Hi
you cannot run a Ricoh with sublimation inks if it has had the normal gel ink in as the two inks are not compatible and will cause clogging

Kev

[Robert Neill]

Ye I have just ordered the printer, so that’s what I am saying, should I not install the gel Inks just yet?

[Jamie Wood]

From what I have read in this thread, you should not ever install the gel inks which come with the printer. Doing so would render the printer unuseable for future sublimation work. If you are only going to use the printer for sublimation, you need to get subli inks for it, and bin the ones that came with it. I stand to be corrected, but this is the way I see it.

[Robert Neill]

Thanks Jamie…. that’s kind of what I was asking ye

So best place to get sub inks ?

[Hugh Potter]

xpres, the magic touch, any sublimation supplier will sell it. just google sawgrass sublimation ink for richoh (insert model No).

if it’s an A4 the carts seem quite cheap, A3 carts are bigger and will set you back around £70 a cart, about 1/3 of the carts will be used to fill the double ink lines on the A3 printers, but the ink lasts a looong time.

[Jamie Wood]

Sorry, we don’t do sublimation, but maybe someone else will answer. I think Xpres may do them.

[Robert Neill]

Magic…. cheers guys

[Robert Neill]

Waw they are expensive cartridges 🙁

[Hugh Potter]

I bought my ricoh GXe7700n A3 over 2yrs ago, the first set of carts primes all the lines so will go down quck on the indicators, however… I have only just replaced the CMY carts, the K is still going despite saying it’s low for weeks!

it’s done a total of 475 colour prints on that set of carts, a mix of A3 and A4.

[Iain George]

I believe if you did not by the printer from a registered sublimation Sawgrass dealer with their inks supplied as soon as you put the sublimation inks in the new printer your warranty with Rioch becomes invalid. This is because when you buy the printer from a dealer you need to register it with Sawgrass, as they take over the warranty. In fact Sawgrass have now bought out their own branded printer.
http://www.listawoodtradesupplies.com/i … COH&pgnum=

It is basically a rebranded Ricoh but made to their specs to work purely with sublimation inks.

For more information about sublimation check out Dye Sub Forum.

Hope this helps.

[Jon Miller]

Same as Hugh, I have a Ricoh GXe7700n and the inks last surprisingly well! I don’t use the printer very often and it still works well which is good as they are not overly cheap for what they are.. (I also make sure it is left on so it can do its cleaning cycle when not in use)

[Robert Neill]

Oh really. So your still on your original set, I guess I can’t complain at that then. It will have to sit in the box then until I get some funds together to get the sub cartridges.

[Jon Miller]

Being my first set of carts for the printer and wanting to gauge how well they lasted I kept every print I did. I got fed up after a while stacking them up so binned them…if that is anything to go by 😀

[Robert Neill]

So they last a while then. I am tempted to put in the gel Inks as it gonna take me while to get funds for the sub cartridges, can I use the gel then change to sub Inks

[Hugh Potter]

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, PUT THE RICOH GEL INKS IN THE PRINTER.

Not going to say that again.

[Robert Neill]

LOL. Ok got it Hugh.

[Jon Miller]

Indeed, I am pretty sure it states that in the instructions that inserting the stock inks before inserting specific sawgrass subli inks voids the warranty..

In any circumstance…hold tight 🙂

[Robert Neill]

Ye know. There is one thing that keeps niggling at the back of my mind regarding sublimation printing onto clothing.

I have been reading a lot and from what I have read it seems that the sub ink bonds to polyester and not cotton, now if this is the case then that’s what concerns me as surely 99% of t shirts etc are cotton….are they not?

Is this the case guys?

Cheers

[Iain George]

You can get a lot of clothing with a high polyester content nowadays Ralawise and BTC Activewear are 2 suppliers I use.
The higher the the better. If you wanted to to tshirts and have a solvent printer why don’t you just print onto a garment vinyl and press them instead.

[Robert Neill]

Ye. Polyester is more sportswear then. And no I don’t have a solvent printer.

[Iain George]

Have a look at a forum called the Dye Sub Forum and you will find lots of good advice.