Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I was in the market for a continous ink system for my new Epson C120, and www.inkjetcarts.us sold a model for a little over $75, which was half the price of others. Now, I'll admit, I have a bad habit, I'm cheap and it always comes back to haunt me. For instance, I first bought a heat press off ebay, and it ended up just being $300 down the drain. Getting back to the point, I'm still in the market for a continous ink system, and I'm currently $75 in the hole.
I ordered the system online through their website - it was professional and simple.
The package arrived four days later and I noticed one of the reserve tanks was cracked. Being excited to play with my new toy, I just tapped it over and thought I'd email them for a replacement --
The installation: 0/10 stars - the company just puts a standard DVD in the box that contains PDF's of installation instructions for over 100 models, so you really have to digg through the files to find your model (the C120 wasn't there so I went with the C110 which looked similiar)... however, the instructions did not tell you how to put the ink in the reserve and carts (should have come pre loaded)... your best bet here is to use google...
I finished installing it and Epson wasn't as dumb as I thought it was -- it rejected the cartridges as not genuine since they weren't -- two seconds later as I prepared to pack this garbage back up -- not only did the cracked tank spill everywhere -- there were TWO OTHER CRACKS that I did not notice and they got messy -- one of them was inside the yellow cartridge so now my c120 has ink spilled all over its insides -- I'm pissed....
So I email the company (tried calling four times and it went straight to voicemail each time)... I got a reply within a few hours (funny he can respond to emails but not calls)... his email said... "Please call us during business hours" -- it was 5:04 pm and business hours for them ended 4 minutes ago... but he was clearly still around and just had no interest in actually answering the phone... so now I go to their website to collect some information and it doesn't appear online anymore...
The only reason they deserve 1 out of 10 stars is for their website being so simple to use...
__________________
I'm always looking for a business partner...
The email from them:
toMarcus Leach
dateTue, Jul 15, 2008 at 5:03 PM
subject[#100401] [1] Return
Actually you would be the very first customer to have a leaking ciss unit and we’ve installed hundreds ourselves as well. You can reach us at 888-497-5289 toll free 9-5 EST.
Ross Hardie IJC
__________________
I'm always looking for a business partner...
Last edited by Rodney; July 16th, 2008 at 01:49 PM.
Reason: removed email to protect from spambots
dateTue, Jul 15, 2008 at 5:03 PM
subject[#100401] [1] Return
Actually you would be the very first customer to have a leaking ciss unit and we’ve installed hundreds ourselves as well. You can reach us at 888-497-5289 toll free 9-5 EST.
Ross Hardie IJC
I ordered a kit from them with similar results. At first it was leaking inside my printer and getting ink all over. Ross told me that it was primed in the open position, so I had to prime them about 4 times (letting the ink flow) for it to work correctly. Then, I too noticed that one of the cartridges was cracked. Ross was kind and sent me a new one but after many, MANY test prints I was not able to get an image printed without the white bars. I eventually got frustrated and ordered a CIS system. I kept the carts because for the price, the ink was a good deal. I recently purchased a CIS system from Inkrepublic and pint size bottles from Inksupply.
Last edited by Rodney; July 16th, 2008 at 01:49 PM.
I bought my system but haven't tried to get it installed yet (too busy....lol) but I will have get these installed this week. I hope I don't have any of these problems....
I recently purchased a CIS system from Inkrepublic and pint size bottles from Inksupply.
I've got one of the "damper" systems on the way - Do you need to worry about the height of the ink, etc., with those? And if so, how do you keep those 16 oz. bottles happy?
o I email the company (tried calling four times and it went straight to voicemail each time)... I got a reply within a few hours (funny he can respond to emails but not calls)
You can answer email from anywhere (blackberry, iphone, home, etc), but you can't answer your office phone from anywhere. That might be why he asked to be called during business hours.
Quote:
but he was clearly still around and just had no interest in actually answering the phone
I know it may seem like that, but it doesn't necessarily make it true. If he left the office, but still had his blackberry or cell phone that accepts emails, then he wouldn't have heard the phone call, but he would have gotten a notification via email. He may have wanted to reply to you quickly to let you know he got the email and when a good time to contact them was.
I know it can be frustrating getting a product that doesn't work, but we have to also be careful about spreading untrue info as facts.
Can you give us a followup to let us know how it turns out?
I've got one of the "damper" systems on the way - Do you need to worry about the height of the ink, etc., with those? And if so, how do you keep those 16 oz. bottles happy?
I got the ink yesterday and haven't hooked it up yet, but here is what I am planning on doing. Inkrepublic told me that either the bottles need to be lower than the cardridges or the printer needs to be raised. What I am going to do is place my printer on the end of my desk and have a metal frame basket bolted to the side of the desk. I will put the bottles in the basket so they are lower than the printer and save me some space on my desk.
Wow, we clearly have missed the boat somehow with you. I believe we spoke by phone and determined that your tank was not cracked and you had a leaking grommet.
I thank you for the feedback on the forum when we spent much time with you on the phone walking you through the installation.
We would clearly replace ANY component that is actually defective and we have spent many hours with many heat transfer customers on the phone and emails clearly helping.
We will not use any similar type of ranking system with you, but if we can provide ANY assistance, we are always here to help.
We do not have the man power to visit the posts on forums often to find out information, but we always read emails and we do answer the phones. If you call 4 times in 5 minutes you tie up our call waiting on our 2 lines and the calls will defiinately roll to voicemail, which we also call back when messages are left.
No self promotion or negative comments just a response.
Wow, we clearly have missed the boat somehow with you. I believe we spoke by phone and determined that your tank was not cracked and you had a leaking grommet.
I thank you for the feedback on the forum when we spent much time with you on the phone walking you through the installation.
We would clearly replace ANY component that is actually defective and we have spent many hours with many heat transfer customers on the phone and emails clearly helping.
We will not use any similar type of ranking system with you, but if we can provide ANY assistance, we are always here to help.
We do not have the man power to visit the posts on forums often to find out information, but we always read emails and we do answer the phones. If you call 4 times in 5 minutes you tie up our call waiting on our 2 lines and the calls will defiinately roll to voicemail, which we also call back when messages are left.
No self promotion or negative comments just a response.
Ross
IJC
Thank you for tell us your side of the story, too .
I will give them an 8 for an overall score. Customer service was a 9 but I did receive the wrong chips in my cartridge so have to knock off for that and it did take several days for the replacements to arrive.
However, when Ross and I spoke on the phone, he was very helpful and worked with me to figure out what the problem was. Once I received the chips...and finally got back around to getting the printer setup, the cartridges are now recognized. I haven't done any actuall heat transfer prints yet so can't comment on that just yet. But, overall, I am satisfied with them.....
After I've seen that the majority of the positive comments about how good customer service Ross provide, I decided and ordered a HT transfer ink kit for my still to arrive C120.
It also remind me about what a famous intellectual said in 2002 : "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
Don't know if it has something to do with anything, but it is so funny
Hello everyone, This is my first post and I know I haven't done an intro yet...sorry, sorry sorry... However, I wanted to relate my experience with Inkjetcarts and their kit for the Epson 1400.
Out of the box, with the OEM Claria carts in the 1400, I printed very nice, vivid transfers on jpss. This is my first experience with jpss, as I was having my transfers printed by someone else and I wanted to have some independence and more control over quantities. Anyhow, I did a trial press and wash with the Claria/jpss and found the results very comparable to the transfers I was having made for me. I believe they were using an Oki laser printer but not sure. The jpss seems to give a softer hand, and I'm very happy about that. I never pre-heat the garment. I will qualify that by saying this was with my old transfers, but I find that pre-heating dries the shirt out and makes it harder to peel the transfer.
Ok, so after perusing this forum for a couple weeks, I decided to give inkjetcarts a call. I believe it was Ross I talked to, but I'm not totally sure. I was impressed with his enthusiasm and knowledge. Originally I wanted to try the Claria ink (aftermarket) but Ross advised me he had a heat transfer pigment ink kit. This is what I purchased.
The kit arrived this past Saturday, only a day or two after I ordered it (very quick!). The kit was complete with the exception of an instructional cd. I was a little bummed because I wanted to install the carts the next day and would probably have to wait until Monday to get hold of Ross. Not so. I emailed him Saturday night, and by Sunday morning I found he had emailed me a complete set of instructions.
Sunday, I printed out all the instructional literature (since I've never installed a refillable cartridge before) and sat down with a Green Monster and read everything first. THE KEY LINE IN THE INSTRUCTIONS IS THIS..... " HAVE PATIENCE!" So I took my time and laid everything out like I was in an operating room. I have to say, the installation was pretty easy and went well. I printed out the test purge page with the six colors until everything was running clean.
Now it was time to print a test transfer or two. Ross did say in his email, that the inks would have to be profiled. I wasn't sure what I would have to do, but I tried a print with the standard settings right from photoshop. These were the same settings I used when I tried the Claria OEM inks. The resulting transfer looked somewhat faded and washed out. Not to be discouraged, I went into the advanced printer settings and boosted contrast, saturation and CMY all to +25... I left brightness alone. There was a huge difference in my next transfer. Not quite as vivid as the OEM Claria, but pretty damn close.
This is where I'm at now, and will do some more trial printing/pressing today. Overall, inkjetcarts seems to be very much a customer oriented operation and I look forward to working with them. Ross also mentioned in his email Sunday morning that he was experimenting with a new ink that day. I appreciate this kind of dedication to ones business. I will let you know how the transfers print later on today. -Neil
Well I did a test pressing with the fabric pigment ink and the shirts came out great! The Claria seems to print a bit more vivid on the shirt...but not much. Fading in the wash will be the real test between the two. For now, I'll stay with the piggy ink. One thing I noticed was that right after the fabric ink was printed on the jpss, it looked almost as vivid as the Claria I did the day before. However, after a few hours, the fabric ink transfer had a faded look to it (but still better than before I adjusted the printer settings). Upon printing though, the color intensity comes back, on the shirt. I guess many of you already know that, but I hope maybe it will help someone else. Also, I don't pre-heat the garments. 375 degrees, 15-20 sec, med pressure. Teflon sheet. fPeel finger burning hot. Props to Ross and Inkjetcarts for their product! -Neil
Inkjetcarts.us Review 1/10 Stars... 
August is Member Appreciation Month at T-ShirtForums.com - 
.
