Hello,
I posted this in the introduction forum, but thought I might get a faster answer here.
We own a quilt store and have a commercial embroidery machine. We offer embroidery services to our customers and we just attended an ISS show in Ft. Worth. We were interested in dye sublimation and were looking at the Ricoh GX7000 printer. We hope to offer some unique enhancements to our quilting customers.
Some questions if you don't mind:
In your experience, is this a reliable printer?
Does it require much upkeep?
Does the printhead have a clogging issue?
If it needs service, where do you get it done, since it is a modified printer for the sublimation inks?
Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.
We are using it and compared to our Epson it worjks a lot better, the downside is the maximum size so for shirts etc it is very limited. Cost of printing is about the same
O an our TRicoh cleans itself at intervals so there is les change of clogging. For servicing the printer I guess the company you buy it from should be able to help you out. We have had no issues
Just a word of advice - sublimation is not always as simple as it is made out to be at shows. Unless you are dedicated in learning the art of sublimation you can get frustrated very easily.
I started out the wrong way with another company and a junky printer and inks. They had awful support.
I was frustrated and ready to give it all up.
I also then found Conde and talked with Derek and got some great information. I bought a Ricoh GX5050
printer since I was only looking to do small items. Conde's support has been great and even has after hours support. The first item I made with the Ricoh came out great and I was thrilled. I never had a problem with it clogging and the profiles they provided look good.
My only mistake was getting the smaller printer and a small press since I wasn't looking at all the possible items to sublimate. I have since bought the Ricoh GX7000 and a larger press and doing all sorts of plaques, tiles, shirts, and other items. I have never had a clogging issue with the 7000. Think about what you want to do and make sure you buy equipment that will work for you for the near future.
As someone else said there is a learning curve and can be frustrating. With the ability to call someone at Conde and get advise when I had problems made everything much easier. Many Thanks to Sonya, Derek, Vicky, and Derek for great customer support.
I will be happy to asnwer any questions you may have about sublimation. The key to being successful in sublimation is starting with equipment you can count on and vendors who will stand behind there products.
To start you will need: a printer used for sublimation, sublimation inks, sublmation paper and sublimation substrates.
In your post you are looking at the Ricoh 7000. It is a good printer and you can print up to 13 x 19 paper, if you get the extra paper tray.
I see you are going to be sublimating to fabric. I would also suggest looking at one of the Epson printer..maybe 1400 or 4880. The 1400 uses carts or a bulk ink system. The 4880 uses carts only. The reason I am suggesting the Epson printers ...you can print on a high release paper..i.e. . Jet Col. When the JetCol paper comes out of the printer is extremely wet. I take mine over to the press...swing the lid around ...don't close..let the paper dry for about 5-10 secs...and you are ready to press.
I use the JetCol on everything fabric. The colors really pop out when using the Jet Col paper. The GX 7000 is best suited for the SPP general all use paper or Text Print. The Jet Col is a little too thick causing track marks on the image when using the 7000.
Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.
And, thank you so much for all the comments ya'll have made. It is greatly appreciated.
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I am a complete newbie here on T-shirt Forum and I'm sure this question has been asked many times before, so my apologies. I'm looking to buy the Ricoh GX7000 dye sub printer to do dye sub on t-shirts for my business. I am very much a start up, so I'm worried that if I don't have a regular amount of orders and the machine sits idle for a day (or two or three), I'll have clogging issues. I've heard (and seen) the gamut of responses....from folks who haven't experienced clogging, to those that leave the printer on all the time to prevent clogging, to horrific stories about cleaning out lines and wasting valuable ink, etc, etc. Can someone give me a perspective on this? Would hate to drop $800 on a printer if I'm going to have issues if it sits idle, especially as I'm trying to launch interest in my t-shirt designs, etc.
Separate question but related question- I'm likely only to print using the black ink cartridge....can I just buy the black ink and put 4 black cartridges in, or does the machine not print without having the color cartridges in? I figure if I can utilize 4 black ink cartridges and not waste money on the color ones, that'd be hugely beneficial for me. Help!! thanks all! Good to be part of this community!
First question: Mine has gone for as long as a week without clogging. I always leave it on as someone else suggested and I print out a test sheet once a week if I am not using it.
Second question: I would not use black in all of the heads in case you ever want to do color at some point. I don't know if it would work without the color cartridges, but I would surmise that you would get error warnings without cartridges installed.
With the ricoh, you need all the cartridges in the printer. Doesn't work without them even if missing one. Also each color slot has different cartridge configuration, so you probably wouldn't be able to insert black cartridges in place of the color ones.
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Thank you both for the prompt and thorough replies! I appreciate all your thoughts and help. Great to know there are a lot of helpful folks here on t-shirt forums!
Exploring Sublimation 
