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Which Inks for sublimation?
Hi
I have a problem with my R1800 and ink flow, may need to buy a new printer, I know that if I talk to Xpres they say theirs is the best and Novachrome say theirs. I would appreciate an unbiased opinion
Thanks
Robin -
11 Replies
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Ink is all sawgrass supplied so all will be of the same quality. Which ink did you use with the R1800? Sublijet/Artainium/Rotech? I would say it comes down to preference of supplier largely as you should get similar results across the board.
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quote ADW:Ink is all sawgrass supplied so all will be of the same quality. Which ink did you use with the R1800? Sublijet/Artainium/Rotech? I would say it comes down to preference of supplier largely as you should get similar results across the board.No, Sawgrass just hold the patent for all sublimation ink (small format) meaning who ever manufactures the ink have basically had to give sawgrass a wedge of cash.
At the P&P show I got xpres to print me a A4 picture & when I get a chance i’m gonna print out the same picture using my sublijet ink to see how they compare, i’ll let u know as soon as
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Neil – "At the P&P show I got xpres to print me a A4 picture & when I get a chance i’m gonna print out the same picture using my sublijet ink to see how they compare, i’ll let u know as soon as"
Wouldn’t that be also down to software and hardware though. With your sublijet ink you will get different results on a 1290 compared to an 1800 and that is with the same brand. It is hard to cross compare as there are a few more variables.
I’d had a look at the Xpres prints at the show as well and seemed to be a very good quality from the 1400’s they had.
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used the Artanium i think from Xpres but Novachrome say that this lacks consitancy of colour as opposed to the Rotech ink, salesmen eh! who’d have them…
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yip, but if there print from a new 1400 looks poorer than what I can achieve with my old 1290 then I’ll be sticking with Sublijet for my new printer (1400)
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Neil – you’ll probably find the 1400 will be a fair bit better than your 1290 on sublijet. When we changed from the 1290’s to 1800’s we found it to be a significant improvement on quality. I know the 1400 is a 6 ink system so can’t speak for that. With the Powerdriver on the 1800 we had to use the "Lite" version though as the full one was very slow, even though the said it was far faster. As per my previous post, the 1800 was great with that set-up.
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quote Neil Speirs:quote ADW:Ink is all sawgrass supplied so all will be of the same quality. Which ink did you use with the R1800? Sublijet/Artainium/Rotech? I would say it comes down to preference of supplier largely as you should get similar results across the board.
No, Sawgrass just hold the patent for all sublimation ink (small format) meaning who ever manufactures the ink have basically had to give sawgrass a wedge of cash.
At the P&P show I got xpres to print me a A4 picture & when I get a chance i’m gonna print out the same picture using my sublijet ink to see how they compare, i’ll let u know as soon as
Neil – Now my memory is not the best but I am sure I was told that Sawgrass owns the main manufacturers rather than licencing. I thought they even purchased the last remaining company fighting the patent (TOG) rather than complete the court case they were in. I know wide format suppliers source and manufacture their own but didn’t think it so with the few small format brands. I don’t follow it all to much so could have made half of it up in my own head 😉 .
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It use’s the same ink’s as the 1290, just need to get a new quick connect system if I stay with them, it’s just the feckin price that annoys me 👿
Dick Turpin wore a mask 🙄
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DciK Turpin 😉
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When I changed to the 1800’s we tested the inks on the like for like colours on wet paper so the would run and seperate (to much time on our hands in the old days). The 1290 black was quite greenish based whilst the black 1800 was slightly more brownish. It might have been something to do with the 8 ink set-up?
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Sawgrass own the patent for sublimation ink.
They will license it to other companies to manufacture sublimation ink but only on large format, small format ink is a very grey area and this is why a lot of firms will not sell it in small quantities now IE less than 250ml.
There are many brands of sublimation ink out there other than sawgrass, Lyson and Manoukian to name a couple, The R1800 and R1400 should give exactly the same results as each other, except you will be cleaning the nozzles more on the R1800 from what I hear, I have a 1290 currently, with a boxed 1400 in the back ready for when this packs up (also have another 1290 thats only been used with normal ink as a backup)
And an R1800 I use for normal ink only.Out of all the printers I was going to go for it was the 1800 I was advised against this by someone as for the extra expense, and maintenance compared to the R1800 the R1400 was a better option with the same results.
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