Sublimation printing with new epson 1800

[Steve Underhill]

I use a 1290 with good results, I also have an R1800 for normal printing which is the best printer Ive ever used due to the 8 ink tanks and the colours it reproduces, so Im assuming this would port over to sublimation just fine.

Sawgrass incidentally are the manufacturer of Artanium ink,
sawgrass is the company, and Artanium is the brand name.

if youre looking for a cheaper option on the ink and feed system instead of a £450 sawgrass set up have a look at continuousink.com
I bought my set up there for £180 and its just fine.

I use a thermopress swinger heat press as you can remove the platen and replace it with a mug or cap press which cost £389 each instead of £600 for a mug press and £600 fora cap press seperately.
hope this is useful

[Tracey Little]

Steve

Thanks for your reply…will look more into the R1800 then I think. I only need the mug press as I have a flat press which I use for the computer cut garment film application. otherwise your set up would have been perfect as want to to baseball caps too…..

Cheers

Tracey

[Steve Underhill]

No problem.
One thing Ill tell you about sublimating mugs and other stuff is dwell times, I had sheets telling me 50 seconds for this, light medium pressure on that etc, and the mugs were supposed to be 40 seconds, thats no good, using decent sublimation paper and good ink its 2 minutes plus, I wasted a load of mugs that came out faded that way, so expect to lose a few but make sure they stay in long enough, I had some coasters from xpres the other day and they were 50 seconds and thats just not long enough i tried adding 10 seconds and 5 degrees each time till they cfame out perfect and wasted about 5 I think, so its just trial and error.

[Lance Sherrard]

Steve, I’m playing with the idea of getting some sublimation gear as well and starting to build my knowledge base.
Is that good for a general rule, the longer the better and a bit more heat ?

best

lance

:thumbsup:

[Steve Underhill]

Not always Lance
too long and you get the image spreading and blurring, and too short a time and all the ink hasnt released and you have a wishy washy image.
too much heat (especially with mugs) can leave an impression of the heat tape on the sides, or burn a t shirt etc
its all a game of trial and error, be prepared to waste maybe 10 items of each product youre doing as a rule until the settings are right.
T shirts are by far the easiest thing to sublimate in my experience, hard items like coasters placemats and mugs being the most tricky to get right as they all have different dwell times.
A guy I know does his mugs for 50 seconds at 165 degrees using normal laser paper, they come out fine but ask any sublimation supplier and they will be amazed its not at least 2 minutes and 200+ degrees. s
So a lot will also depend on the brand of sublimation ink and also the brand of release paper you use.
What I tend to do with a new product is this.
Press one at the minimum reccomended time pressure and heat, see how it comes out, write the 3 settings on it, then try again with another 5 degrees and 5 seconds maybe more pressure, again write the settings down, proceeding until you have a perfect substrate and thats the one to keep next to the press.
Most people will be amazed at the worst coaster, placemat or mug so the wasted ones make plenty of family freebies or work stuff.
LOL
have fun just ask if theres anything else you need like suppliers etc
Steve

[Martin Forsyth]

I used to use 1290’s with bulk ink, but they only seemed to have a lifespan of about 6 months 😮 I went through loads.

Now have two 1800’s and they are MUCH better. faster for one thing, but they seem more reliable, and you dont seem to get the heads clogging anywhere near as much as with the 1290’s.

Subli is great for mugs, and hard items, but I don’t personally like it for t shirts – they look good, but feel ‘orrible. (cotton/polyester mix).

Mugs – I do at 196 deg for 3 minutes 🙂

Some people might disagree, but I think the paper is important too – I personally find truepix great for mugs, and hard items, and I use the proper paper for clothing – you get more vivid colours that way.

Cheers

Martin

[Tracey Little]

Cheers for replies,

Martin what Inks are you using sawgrass or artanium? I want to get the system but not sure to go with Transfer Press or Novachrome. Thanks for any advice

[Steve Underhill]

Sawgrass are the company that make Artanium Inks.
theres lots of inks out there Artanium being the most expensive,
Lyson make it, or continuous ink do a good one I use continuous ink system and its half the price I pay about 30 odd quid per 125ml bottle and artanium is closer to £50
(thats what a guy I know who used artanium paid anyway)

[Martin Forsyth]

I use artanium inks 😀

[markcosten]

I have a R1800 printer and bulk ink system which as a newbie is giving me a few problems, when printing skin tones for pictures to sub onto mugs it can come out with a green tint to it. I can only presume this is either to do with the colour profiles or maybe more likely ink problems as I am constantly getting messages when starting to print that I am not using the official Epson cartridges ( which I obviously know as I have replaced them ) but the printer then seems to exclude a particular colour or 2 at random. I have on many occassions gone through the nozzle check & head cleaning which sometimes seems to help but I don’t think that is the answer.
Has anyoody got any advice on this as it is starting to drive me mad, I have tried printing the images onto a mug but the colour looks terrible.

[Kevin Lewis]

quote squeak:

Hi, went to Sign UK with the intent to come back with a sublimation print set up for mugs…heat press, printer and CIS…….but got confused with the different inks…Artanium or Sawgrass…the two A3 printers 1290 or new 1800 and the Mug press…. Novachrome and Transfer Press both looked good.

Novachrome had an excellent stand and I liked the way the mug was printed to the edge. What Mug presses are you guys using? Has anyone tried the new 1800 printer along with the cis and how does it perform? would appreciate any tips or comments on which system to get.

Thanks

Hi

There’s some confusion in this thread with ref the inks.

Sawgrass are the patent holder for small format dye sub ink, and they produce Artainium, Rotech, & Sawgrass Sublijet.

These are the only licensed products on the market, the cheaper inks that have been mentioned here, aren’t licensed.

As long as you’re using one of the above inks you’re fine, but if you’re using a none licensed ink, then you may have a problem when you come to buy more ink, as the vast majority of firms selling this inks are stopping it, sawgrass are making it very difficult for them, and there are only a handful of companies still selling none licensed ink.

R1800 is a great printer!

Cheers

Kev

[Kevin Lewis]

quote Steve Underhill:

Sawgrass are the company that make Artanium Inks.
theres lots of inks out there Artanium being the most expensive,
Lyson make it, or continuous ink do a good one I use continuous ink system and its half the price I pay about 30 odd quid per 125ml bottle and artanium is closer to £50
(thats what a guy I know who used artanium paid anyway)

Hi,

Artainium isn’t the most expensive….

Sawgrass have the brands : Artainium, Sublijet IQ, and Rotech. Sublijet IQ is the most expensive. Artainium & Rotech are the same price at £49 per 125ml, sublijet is £67 per 110ml bag.

Cheers 😀

Kev