Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Ok so I had an Epson Photo R220 printer and we worked out all the kinks and it was running great. We're doing photo and graphic transfers on 100% Organic cotton shirts
Then the printer died and of course since it's a year old it's discontinued and no one has any in stock.
We bought a C88+ since I'd read all the praise of the Durabrite inks. Well we are having no luck getting them to look as nice as the R220 looked. The colors are muted and dull and they fade a bit when washed. Still testing but it's pretty far off.
So I'm debating buying a R260 but I see the inks changed to Claria Hi Definition inks, which leads me to believe that I will have more problems.
My other option at this point is to buy an R220 online which I found for 180 bucks!
Am I missing something with the Durabrite inks? The images are 300dpi, printing on photo settings, have a professional heat press. I was hoping the Durabright was going to blow me away but I have to say, I'm not so impressed.
I have an R220 that I use now in good condition. I thought I was the only person that had a R220 because you never hear much about them. You are right that it's a good printer. I was wanting to get a wider format for what I'm wanting to do.
Last edited by Rodney; April 18th, 2007 at 01:38 PM.
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Hi Peterp,
I Have Suggestion About C88,just Use Another Ink Like Magicmix Or Everlast Ink, Or Any Heat Transfer Pigment Ink. I Have C3810 Printer It The Same Ink With C88 But I Got I Fade In 1st Wash Using Durabrite Then I Change My Black Ink With Everlast Ink.no Fading At All.thats Why All My Ink Are Heat Transfer Pigment Ink.try Them Experiment Maybe You Will Get The Color You Want.thanks And By The Way Maybe You Can Sell Your Old R220 To Me...hehehe
i have an R260 with the new inks......just for grins and giggles the other day i ran a transfer off on it (the 9600 was busy with another job) and it looked GREAT i pressed the shirt and it's been washed twice with no evidence of fading or cracking yet (*holding breath now*) but so far so good.... the colors are bright and true - no special profiles but i did was change the setting from text & photo to best photo.
If you want to buy a dead printer.... Make me an offer!
We were using the genuine Epson inks. We tried generics but they washed out or ran a lot.
The inks that come with the R220 are dye based inks. And everybody on here suggests using pigment based. So you are saying that you were happy with those inks after washing? I have just assumed they were no good which is why I was trying to replace mine for a printer with Durabrite inks.
So you are saying that you were happy with those inks after washing?
Yes we've been very happy with the regular Epson Inks. We've tested on a whole bunch of different papers and inks with different settings and came up with very good results.
We're still testing the durabrite stuff and have come up with acceptable results but still not as rich and detailed as the R220 stuff. Maybe the durabright will last more washings.
Yes R220 Is Dye Base Ink But I Know You Can Used Pigment Ink With R220 Just Buy A Refillable Cartriges And Used Magicmix And Will Show A Good Print Out Without Fading.
What you did not tell us is what paper you were printing on. The r220 is a 6 color printer also so you use more ink and more color variation. That is an important detail you left out. So if you draw with 4 crayons can you get the same or better results with 6 crayons. As an ex epson demo rep I always thought the r200, r220, r300 were great machines but only if you wanted to print CD's. Other wise I would have gotten an all in one. One of the problems new people have in doing tee shirts and printing their own transfers is they expect to see the same picture they see on a glossy paper, It is not going to happen. I am using a c88+ with everlast pigment inks and I, as an experenced transfer paper guy have had really great results as some of the forum members will tell you. here are few pictures all made with pigment ink. Lou
__________________ There is a center to everything.. I found mine at.. www.heatpressessentials.com What you need to do the job! www.tbiz101.com (New)Heat Transfer Education
Now I'm even more confused than before. I was about to buy a new printer because I didn't think the R220 was a good one for inkjet transfers unless I went and bought a whole new ink system for it. So now I'm hearing that the R220 is very good for it. I thought my prints came out well that I've tried, but I have nothing to compare it to. I sure don't want to go out and buy a new printer and inks and get worse results than I have now. Hmm....
I used the r220 for about a year and a half for my t-shirt business and it printed out GREAT!!! My printer broke down (the paper won't catch to feed it through to be printed...if anyone know a solution let me know)a few days ago so I have been doing research about a new printer... I tried the c88+ and had problems with it so I sent it back. Not to mention the picture did not come out nearly as crisp as the r220 and the paper always printed crooked. I gues I will try the cx5000 or 6000. I hope they do okay because they use the durabrite ink as well and seem to be more durable than the c88...we will see. I talked to someone in compusa today and they were saying that the r220 was the best printer epson made...even better the upgraded photo sylus series. I wonder why they discontinued this model...I absolutely loved it and may end up purchasing one off of ebay or something. Anybody tried the epson cx5000 or cx6000...the good? the bad?
I am mainly concenred about paper jams, durable feeding and printing the image straight instead of crooked.
Also does the type of transfer paper I use affect the feeder rollers to make it unable to grab the paper?
the paper won't catch to feed it through to be printed...if anyone know a solution let me know
We had that problem too from one of the papers we were using that cracked a lot. I cleaned the rollers that you can see down in the printer with a cotton cloth and some cleaner and it worked fine. Read the manual on how to do it, not supposed to use alcohol, just a mild cleaner.
I finally got some decent results on the C88+ for some of the images we use but not all. The photo images look fine but the graphics just don't have the density and saturation of the R220. Luckily I found an R220 on Craigslist for 100 bucks so now we have both to mess around with.
Next time I settle on a printer I'm buying two of them and leaving one in the box. That way when the first breaks I'll have some time to research a replacement!
you can go to the epson.com website and get the info there.
Basically just clean the rollers with a damp cloth, either water or I used a diluted pine type cleaner. I had to wipe it, then feed a sheet of paper to get the rollers to turn over so I got all of them.
Basically, the comparison of dye-based ink versus pigment ink is one of longevity. USUALLY (not always), pigmented inks will last longer than dye-based, and will never come out in the wash. Dye-based inks will often be brighter at first, but often (again, not always) fade/wash out after being washed only a few times. This is why pigmented inks are more commonly recommended.
Now, there are other variables at play here too -- for example, dye-based inks might not wash out if you wash the shirt inside out in cold water, but most customers will just toss them in a mixed washed, rightside out, in hot water. I always test my shirts like this, because I think enough (probably even the majority) of customers will NOT treat their shirts especially delicately, and your tests should cover the harshest treatment. Just another thing to keep in mind.
Epson...Feh! Durabrite ink question. 
i pressed the shirt and it's been washed twice with no evidence of fading or cracking yet (*holding breath now*) but so far so good.... the colors are bright and true - no special profiles but i did was change the setting from text & photo to best photo.
