What printer??? So many to choose from… My brain hurts!!!

[Chris Wool]

hi dye sub and canvas dont normally go together can do it just not normal.
the 7800 is a very (very) good paper and canvas printer you must run the pigmented type inks.

chris

[Craig Eales]

Chris…
Are you saying I could run a roll of canvas through the printer?
I was thinking of printing it onto the sub paper and pressing it directly onto pre-primed and stretched canvases… would that not work?

It does sound like a good choice for the printer though… cool.

[Chris Wool]

there are several makes of stretch canvas, for you to print on to then stretch on to frames, unfortunately the print quality varies and you may have to try several to find one that suits your taste.
the 220 carts will last a fare while

there is a couple of smaller epsons that are normally used for dye sub.

chris

[Simon.James]

just got rid of a 7800 it was a good machine far to good to to do t-shirts on. the k3 technology inks are brilliant, remember the heads on these machine are made by epson!!! who are secretly supplying heads to everyone even Mimaki I think?..

this is a great machine for canvas, but as for t -shirts you wouldnt convert this machine to dye sub, it would cost a fortune, dye sub is probably the best option for t-shirts, but you would have to print on polyester coated t-shirts which are double the price and what will you make £3 to £5 each

I have a 50 quid a4 epson D88 using Dura brite inks and a £240 t-shirt press from Honk kong and the results are brilliant, we do shirts and Hi vizz jackets phot quality and they wash fine…but you got to do a lot of t-shirts and canvases to make even a little bit of money.

I have done a few t-shirts off my Mimaki JV3 but the average joe on the street wouldnt tell the difference between a £50 set up and a £12000 set up when buying your T-shirts off you.

The Epson 7800 is more geared for the Photo Pro Market, but a great machine! slow compared to true solvent machines, but I have got stuff out in car parks for nearly 3 years with no fade of the epson 7800.

i hope this helps

[Andy Carnegie]

You could also consider a colour laser printer such as the oki c5600 which will be very economical to run long term compared to dye sub. The Magic Touch specialise in this process so you may want to compare them to other dye sub specialists.

I am not sure how that would handle canvas though.

[Craig Eales]

Thanks for all the advice peeps… i’m not sure about the oki c5600 – it’s a mono printer isn’t it? or is that just me being stupid???

I’ve decided to get 2 printers now anyway – 1 for canvas, and another for the t-shirts and that.

I was just about to write a cheque for £1900 for an A1 Epson 7880 – BUT…
I’ve just seen that a can get a HP Designjet 500 for less money, but it can print twice the size nearly!!

Would the quality of print be so badly inferior?

I’m in this to make some money, so the bigger the better as far as the canvases go!

[Andy Carnegie]

quote Craig Eales:

Thanks for all the advice peeps… i’m not sure about the oki c5600 – it’s a mono printer isn’t it? or is that just me being stupid???

It’s a colour printer

[Simon.James]

as for the t-shirt printer get yourself a £50 epson.

send me an a4 image and I will send you a tshirt to look at.

[Simon.James]

the epson is awesome for canvas work, unless the hp has improved they used to give a very large dot. and i dont think thy will be as light and water resistant as the epson Prints.

If you ring epson uk and hp uk they will both send you working samples on canvas, wouldn’t rush if i was you!

simon

[Andrew Bennett]

quote SIMON JAMES:

as for the t-shirt printer get yourself a £50 epson.

send me an a4 image and I will send you a tshirt to look at.

is that with a £300 ink system?

[Simon.James]

we have a got a £300 dye sub system but we only use it for mugs (polyester coated) for t- shirts we use normal epson dura brite ink.

if you boil wash any t-shirt it will knacker any way, so the dye sub route will be so expensive to run, the t-shirts are twice the cost and you will never make any money.

done a guns roses t-shirt last year, paper from ebay seller 10 x a4s sheets – £6.50 t-shirt a £1 ink maybe 30pence

a £50 printer and a set of genuine epson inks @ £25 a go and i have washed maybe 10 times and its still acceptable to wear.

all the manufacturers will say you need to buy £300 dye sub kit replacement inks @ £195 a go and polyester coated t-shirts @ £2.50 – £3 each a go but they dont guarantee them when they go wrong.

you only need dye sub for mug machines

reccomend an epson d88+

[Andrew Bennett]

Hmm,
I have a 1290, I must check what inks are used in it.