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Can anyone advise on strictly trade sublimation printing?
Can anyone advise on strictly trade sublimation printing?
I have an order for 260 hi-vis vests to complete for the first week in the new year and want to keep costs right down. can this be done with sublimation printing? How do you set this up and who supplies this.?cheers Karl.
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29 Replies
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Karl
you are better off having them screen printed. I have a couple of numbers of companies London way but i’m sure you’ll find someone more local & save the postage.However you can Dye Sub them as they are polyester but colours can vary because its not going onto white. Do you have a dye sub set up?
Kev
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No mate. need all the advice I can get. Prices – suppliers etc.
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Hi Karl
i buy my Hi-Viz from
http://www.aerussell.co.uk/
they have depots throughout UK, vests un printed under £2. They also offer a printing service don’t know what they charge though.Screen Printers i use based in London are MPA Screen & Digital they are UKSignboard members you can get contact details from the link below
http://www.mpaprint.co.uk/
ask for Nick or Mick.You could also try Ram Promotions he quoted me some good prices recently unfortunately job didn’t come off
http://www.ram-promotions.co.uk/rampromotions.htmHope this helps
Kev
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I print hi viz with dye sub, the only colours that wont be visible are light colours, I buy mine from BTC at about £1 each.
If you use a screen printer you will have a screen set up charge, then a charge per vest to print them.
If you buy a dye sub setup with a small A4 printer and just the 4 inks like a D88 you will be set up to do the next lot then.
It may not be as good as an R1800 setup or a large format JV3 setup but its start, have a look around and buy the inks separately from the bulk ink feeder, the inks wont change much in price but the companies that sell the ink feeders seem to think they are worth about a hundred quid when you can buy exactly the same models on ebay for £15.
unless you opt for the very expensive artanium one that looks like a dalek. -
Steve
is that for Class 2 EN471 (2 body bands & 2 Shoulder bands)Kev
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Don’t know about class 2 en whatever but its this type.
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Is this picture Steve posted, password protected? or is it just me?
Peter
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Sorry its from the btc website, and was password protected,
i had the same problem just now, have uploaded it to photobucket it should be fine now. -
Steve the only problem printing these is that it leaves your platen covered in day-glow yellow, which then transfers to you shirts. So you must remember to cover your plates with a protective cloth.
Peter
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Well, yes, thats why I always cover the platen with silicon sheets.
top and bottom, thats a standard procedure for dye sub printing to be honest. -
Try Safewear in Birmingham, they do great discount for bulk orders, Ive had vests for 65p, with 3m labels, mind you it was 1000 plus, but still worth a try
ian -
quote Peter Normington:Is this picture Steve posted, password protected? or is it just me?
Peter
You can copy and paste those images into a new photoshop file
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Bit long winded just for purpose of illustration, and having to re upload it to a hosting site
I use photoshop all day anyway, cant be bothered with that.
its easy enough to get the password for the site, its all sorted now -
Peter,
Can the JV3 be used for printing the images? Obviously not direct but onto a film or paper to be applied with a heat press.
We have taken orders for hundreds of vis vests and jackets and at the moment the shop is stacked out with the darn things. I need to print these as cheap as possible and as quickly as possible. This could be a mammoth contract for us and after last year ending badly this would be the pick up we need!Karl.
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You can buy sublimation ink for the JV3 yes.
You have to flush it clean and then get a bulk ink system, they may do cartridges but will be way more expensive.
but the JV3 is one of the most common large format dye sub printers, obviously you will have to take more care with head cleans etc, as the ink is a lot thicker than normal ink.
But in short the JV3 is an excellent dye sub printer, but if you are going to convert, yo might as well invest in a large format heat press too, as the JV3 will print large enough to do feather flags, tents, marquees, bar runners, in fact you are limited by imagination.
I would have bought that set up if we had the money for definite.
Once again Give Jan at revolution a ring, they do large format dye sub printing and he always gives good advice.
But for cost effectiveness, dye sub is without a doubt the easiest and probably cheapest way to print Hi viz, unless you are a competent screen printer. -
Karl
most of the Vinyl suppliers can supply a digital textile film print & cut & apply. Should last well with the jv’s solvent inks. Are you doing a single or multi color design. Jackets are weather proofed & can be harder to do & sometimes require a different material, it can be trial & error.Kev
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Steve, I was wondering if solvent inks can be used for this.
Kevin, at the moment we have one set of 500 vests one colour.
There is another set with three colours.
One colour is easy and can be done cost effectively with garment film.
The multi colour ones are the ones where I need to be tighter on what we spend.Karl.
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No Karl, sublimation ink is printed onto a release paper, and turns into a gas at a certain temperature roughly 190 degrees, normal ink or solvent ink will not do this, the best you could hope for with solvent is maybe a faintly smudged vest.
Sorry,
but you can switch between dye sub and solvent I have been assured by suppliers.You can do full colour (minus the obvious ones) on hi Viz no problem, we do.
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Karl
what about getting one of the big suppliers just to supply the dye sub prints for you to apply. Don’t know how the dye sub would fair on weather proofed jackets. The printable textile vinyl works well i did the UKSB shirts for Rob for SignUK last year he had the bar staff wearing them, has i said earlier the Mimaki inks should work well. I wouldn’t be confident about swapping a machine backwards & forwards in between ink types.Kev
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Karl, I print my dye-sub transfers on an Epsom 9600 and to print 500 transfers would cost about £2.50 each (paper + ink + mark-up) that leaves about £1.50 to heat press. I have just done 400 high vis vest’s at £4.00 each and the customer was very happy.
Peter
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By the way 3 colour vest’s will be the same price as there is no extra work involved.
Peter
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Hi , im just about to embark upon sublimation printing onto hi viz … could anyone advise on the process ? temps and time under the heat press etc ?
Thanks
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Hi Viz I always do at 190 degrees for 50 seconds, you can get away with 30 if its lighter colours going on but to get the black nice and dark 50 secs. also cover the reflective with silicon as it can melt depending on quality.
and ALWAYS tape the paper on as it only has to shift a little and you ghost the image and that never looks good. -
Cheers Steeve , Ive just run a couple of test vests off… they turned out great …. only thing is i didnt tape the paper down so i did get a little ‘ghosting’ … Steve can you recomend a good/cheap supplier of materials … inks especially ?
Cheers mate.
Dave
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Hi.
Taping down is a must, unless you can confidently swing the press away, and grab the paper and silicon sheets fast. if its a clam shell just tape it every time.
As for suppliers, what printer are you using? -
Steve, I’ve gone with an Epson WP-4015DN, am i right in saying that sublimation print will only ‘take’ on 100% polyester ? How would i apply an image to cotton ? Or a polyester/cotton blend ?
thanks
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Yes sublimation is only good for 100% polyester, it will work to a degree on polycotton, but the results will be nowhere as good. use flex for cotton.
BMS good supplier for all things dye-sub http://www.printerowners.co.uk/ -
Gordon when you say ‘flex’ , can you explain what you mean and the process it involves ? I am an absolute novice when it comes to printing ! We are in the embroidery business , but we get so much printing work , we have decided to do as much of it ourselves, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated !
Thanks 🙂
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Clothing vinyl
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