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Ricoh 5050N Sublimation Printers
Just thought i’d share with you and let you all know that I followed Andrew’s Lead and bought the Ricoh 5050n for sublimation. Took a chance and wasn’t sure what to expect for the price but when it came I was very impressed. Its quite a large printer, approx 500mm x 500mm so takes up quite a lot of room on the desk. l also bought a mug press and heat tape from our favourite auction site :lol1: The heat press looks solid enough but you can tell its been knocked up in someones shed in the far east. :lol1:
I bought inks, paper and mugs from Xpres as I’ve read a few threads on here regarding problems with other suppliers. Installed everything and printed my logo out for the 1st mug. Pressed it and – whoops, forgot to mirror the image. Printed another, pressed it and WOW – its BLOODY BRILLIANT – Colours are so sharp and vivid.
A big thanks goes to Jeremy and Andrew for the info on the Ricoh printers and sublimation in general.
Cheers John
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48 Replies
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Hi John
I am with you 100% on that A great machine and fast.
Paul 😀
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Hello all,
My 5050 arrived and in the pack is a 2 year on site warranty mine also came from the on line auction house just need to get the d sub ink and then sell the 2 now redundant new Epson D120`s iv kept for backups.
Ian
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Good on ya John 😀
I’m looking at BMS for my inks as they seem to be the cheapest and every quid left in my pocket makes me jingle 😀 -
Well spotted Andrew – £5.00 cheaper then Xpres. I must have missed that as I scoured the tinternet and couldn’t find any cheaper than £60.00
Cheers John
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i would like some info on that printer, do you need a ciss ink system with it?
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Hi Emily,
No, it uses cartridges, more expensive than CISS but with the new gel technology you are supposed to use less ink and it doesn’t clog as much.Cheers John
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cheer John, well i am looking for an economical Printer, i currently have a D120 at home,but it’s about knackered, I converted it with a ciss,something my mother hates, lol I was thinking of buying her a new d120 for xmas as i have virtually ruined their home printer……..lol
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Have been looking at getting one of these or the epson but sounds this one is better. Can you print on to dark T shirts or is it just best on white?
Thanks Paul
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Hi Paul,
I think its just white t’s with either a polyester covering or a really high content mix of polyester v cotton. Don’t think black would work as it doesn’t print the white in the photo – I’m new to this and could be wrong though. For an all rounder that does white and dark shirts your best sticking to laser prints with special paper – think its called WOW.Cheers John
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Well, I’ve finally sorted by black (brownish) problem. It appears the Subli R inks can be affected in this way by too much time/heat. I lowered both of these on my mug press and the black appears fine. Now getting some ghost flames at the bottom but I should be able to sort that!
I’m hearing great things about the Ricoh printers but I have to say personally I am really disappointed with the print quality. Maybe I need to try different paper or something but my images are nowhere near as crisp as they were with any of my Epson printers, even the D88 and D120. For what I’ve paid to set this thing up I expected something better 🙁
I’ll have to look at everything again, maybe get my supplier to print off a test sheet for me.Cheers,
Justin 🙂 -
Hello,
Don’t know if you saw this link
http://www.sublimationjournal.com/
It shows you how to set up the 5050
Ian
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Yes, followed that through as closely as I can but makes no difference.
Justin
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Hi Justin,
I’ve never had an epson printer so cannot compare the print quality but the photo’s i’ve just printed on mugs are stunning.Silly question – have you downloaded the sawgrass profile and made sure its installed OK.
Cheers John
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Hi John,
I’m using the sawgrass profile profile yes, ver.2. I’ve also tried the 7000 profile but no noticeable difference.
Justin
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Hi Justin, Have you config the driver to show inkjet paper and highest quality print – if so i don’t not what happening with your 5050n – unless your paper isn’t compatable. I’m using Expres for paper and you place it in the printer white side down, I’m also using their mugs.
The photo’s i’ve printed on test mugs so far have been really sharp and vibrant colours. I’ve had a little problem with the lower 10mm of the mug print going faint – think its pressure issue so will sort that out after a few more goes.
Cheers John
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Hi John.
I’ve set up everything as per Xpres guide, I’m using their paper (white side down!)
I will check everything through again though. I know Xpres can dial in to check all my settings but I’m never normally at home whilst they are working which is a pain.
Justin
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Hope you get sorted – i’m sure it’ll be something trivial and xpres will find it.
Cheers John
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Thanks John, will update when things are running as they should!
Justin 🙂
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Justin,
It is worth test printing onto different substrates to see where the problem lies, It’s handy having some white polyester fabric for times like this, cheap and usually available from your local fabric shop.John,
The reason why the mugs are faint at the bottom is likely to be because the base of the mug is thicker and absorbs the heat, try heating the mugs before putting in the press.
Personally, I prefer to use an oven and mug wraps for this very reason.Hope this helps.
Jeremy
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Hi Jeremy,
Ah – never though of that – the mugs where very cold aswell. There where also some deep scratches appeared on the mugs after pressing – don’t know where they came from as they weren’t there prior to pressing. Didn’t effect the photo’s on the mugs but i’d like to know how they got there, it could be the shock of the temp difference cracking the glaze.Cheers John
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Jeremy,
Would you please consider doing a new thread on using an oven for mugs please? Is the cost of buying and running an oven similar/smaller/greater than a press
I understand some oven can be expensive and then you can by the same thing from a JML for £49:99.
Are ovens a better investment than a mug press and how many mugs do they do at a time?
Cheers -
MODS PLEASE DELETE THIS POST, WASNT AWARE LINKS NOT ALLOWED!
There’s a good ongoing thread posted here:
http://subli.forumotion.com/general-dye-sub-chit-chat-f10/buying-a-mug-oven-t102.htm?highlight=oven
May be useful.
Justin 🙂
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Hi Andrew, They look identical and Argos have the ovens for £46.89
John
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We have to look into this John 😀
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Am I missing something here, for sure wouldn’t be first time….surely an oven is just that i.e. an oven…. set it to temp you want and stick in your ready mugs… what is with special oven scenario peeps……
ian :lol1:
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Not many people have ovens at work to put mugs in and would you want to use your home oven to do sublimation 😮
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If anyone has the standard inks (not SubliR) that came with their printer and are interested in selling them, please PM me your email addy along with how much you want for them.
Many thanks,
Justin 🙂 -
Hi Justin, My standard 5050n carts are up for sale but I cannot pm you. 😳
Cheers John
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Uhm, should be able to receive but can’t send them for some reason. Can I put my email addy on here? Here goes, justin.mann@tjlewis.co.uk
Cheers,
Justin -
Still having problems with my 5050 printer I’m afraid. I have very fine lines running through my images.
I’ve reset all settings to factory default as I thought I may have adjusted a head incorrectly or something but everything looks the same. Tried head cleans, even bit the bullet and flushed one head but nothing is helping.
I bought another 5050 off eBay to use as a day to day normal printer. Images print fine through this so I just can’t understand what’s happening.
Spoken to my inks supplier, they suggest checking all settings which of course I have done numerous times. I’ve even emailed Sawgrass and they have stated that thin lines can often be seen but shouldn’t affect the final image. As the printer wasn’t doing this initially I’m sure they shouldn’t be there now.
Any advice appreciated, really getting fed up of this now.
Justin
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Just an off the wall thought, have you tried paper from a different supplier/manufacturer?
Sometimes it is said that different result can be achieved with different papers.Just a thought.
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Do the fine lines appear on the mugs/media after pressing?
I used to get banding on an old lexmark inkjet printer I had years ago – This was only when I was trying to print photos out on too fast a print speed. If you’ve checked all the nozzles and none are blocked I’d change the settings and have a go at printing at a slower speed.
If this doesn’t work the only thing i can suggest is trying ricoh support website. I’ve had a look through and there is a few trouble shooting pages for the 7000 and 5050n printers.
Cheers John
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I’ve always stuck with Xpres paper as for me it gives the best results. It was fine when I started using the 5050 so somethings happened since then 🙁
I do want to try other papers in this printer though, I’m told Trupix works well.Justin
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Hi John,
The lines aren’t as bad when printed, still there but only slight….just can’t understand where they came from. I’ll try and slow the print speed down if I can. Will also check out Ricoh support.
Justin 🙂
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Just reading through Ricoh support pages, can’t find where to slow print down yet, still looking! As a side note, it mentions that the inks provided with a new printer are starter inks and don’t last as long as the inks purchased separately, anyone know what level of ink are in the starter ones?
Justin
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My guess is the ink is still wet when the wheels that feed the paper through the printer run over the soft ink…..I had this with one make of paper in my Epson R285.
john
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Good point John, I know these inks dry quicker than the Epson but it would explain what’s happening. If I was to slow the printer down maybe this would cure it?
Justin
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Might be worth a try………I ended up using paper which was less ‘waxy’ in texture and allowed the ink to dry fully………but my printer is fast.
john
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Hi Justin,
To change the speed settings you would go into where you configure the drivers – its under the quality settings i think. If you have reset to factory settings you’ll have to go through the whole set up again to make sure its set to the right paper, quality and speed and profiles.There is also something like a print dry setting but I haven’t got that switched on. This again, I think, would slow the print down so internal wheels don’t damage the print.
Cheers John
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Tried changing the quality settings also changed to unidirectional print only. Still looks the same. The lines are very close together which makes me think that it isn’t the rollers. In an inch of print there must be hundreds of lines.
Justin
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Hello Justin,
I also had this problem, you must have perfect Nozzle Check printouts and the Print Quality set to Quality Priority….worked for me.Cheers
Jeremy -
Well, Xpres have exhausted themselves with suggestions and have advised me to speak with Sawgrass. Started a conversation with them but a little concerned to be told that the Ricoh printers do suffer with these tiny lines. They shouldn’t be visible after printing but it is affecting the final print.
Also emailed Ricoh but alas no response yet. I fired up my old Epson D120 for a few comparison prints and the Epson is printing head and shoulders above the Ricoh.
Before I re-mortgaged to buy the Ricoh I only read rave reviews. Now there are reviews being written that the print quality just isn’t up to standard….typical! I read somewhere that the printer is so fast it just can’t print decent quality.
Justin 🙁
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We’ve just setup our Ricoh, very impressed with it so far. I will keep an eye on what has been said, but so far so good. Much quicker than the epson.
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Hi Jason
Very Much quicker than the epson I think, how’s things been going M8 long time No Speak.
Paul 😀
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Hi Paul, surprisingly quick, things okayish at the moment, just winding down for Xmas now and yourself??
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Yes all good m8, glad things are picking up & getting better for you M8, I hope you got your money in the end, did you go on that wrapping course.
Speak soon 😉
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We had to write one of them off but managed to get the rest. Still haven’t gone on a course yet. Spandex keep sending me info so I may go to that one as it is only down the road.
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Good to hear Jason. 😉
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