Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I'm about to get started in the hobby and have been doing a lot of reading about t-shirts, mugs, plates, etc from this forum(Tons of info!!). From what I understand, the prefered method for heat transfers on t-shirts is to use pigmentation ink...and for something like mugs/plates is to use dye sublimation.
So my questions are....
1)Why can't you use 1 printer for both ink types?...Is it because it's a pain to swap ink cartridges and flush out the head each time?
2)Why do people buy the expensive printers with the RIP software? Isn't it cheaper just to use 2 different printers?
I was thinking about getting an Epson 1400 and using pigmentation ink for shirts and something smaller like an Epson C88 with Dye inks for doing mugs/plates/etc? Am I way off on this or is this a good assumption to start out with...
Oh...last question.
Are printers "made" to be used with certain ink types? For example, I read about clogging etc because pigmentation inks are thicker. Does this mean that those printers shouldn't be using those ink types?
Hi. The reason its not practical to use one printer (non hybrid) is that sublimation ink is very expensive, so you need to eliminate waste as much as possible. If you have any traces of normal inkjet ink left in your printer when you sublimate an item, the ink will not transfer and you will be left with a defective blank where only the sublimation ink has transferred. In effect, your sublimation blank will be ruined.
Clogging would be likely to be more of an issue, if mixing inks using the same printhead. Smaller printers are cheap enough to have one dedicated for a particular ink type. Remember however, that a set of sublimation inks will typically work out substantially more expensive than a C88 sized machine.
I have used both pigment and dye based inks in Epson printers with no problems.
As Will said...it is not really practical to swap inkjet & dye sub cartridges back and forth. I've done it in a pinch but I've dedicated my C88 to dye sub and my Epson CX6000 to inkjet (refillable cartridges).
__________________ Big Daddy Screenprinting -Affordable contract Heat Press Services & Low Volume Screen Printing up to 4 spot colors with no setup or screen fees
Last edited by treadhead; August 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 PM.
Joeseph, I think your thinking like a person in business already. The extra cost of a second printer is better that the wated ink and time needed to switch. Good luck. ... JB
OK...so I went down to Staples and got a great deal on the Epson 1400 ($299 - $50 Instant rebate - $50 mail in rebate - $40 off when you spend $300(I bought some other stuff I needed))
What should I do with the ink that came with it since I want to make this a purely pigmentation ink based printer? Also, how do you identify the ink types....for example, there is the Epson ink that came with it and then the Claira Hi-definition ink. While at the store, I was looking at the Claria ink and besides saying things like water resistant, bright colors, etc, I couldn't tell what "type" of ink it was (dye/pigmenatation)
Thanks Will....By the way, I'm starting to think that I'm getting all this lingo mixed up. I've been reading so many threads on this forum for weeks and there is so much information that it's overwelming.....The types of inks, cutters, printers, papers, methods....AHHH!
Why not have 2 printers? 
