[RSNJ19]

I just bought an Epson Workforce 7520 and I would rather use dye ink than pigment ink, can you do this ?

 

[olga1]

Yes but why do you want to use dye ink ?

 

[20vK]

For printing positives?

 

[RSNJ19]

Because Dye ink is so much cheaper than Pigment ink, which is cheaper than Sublimation ink.

Over the last three years I have gone through 3 Epson printers. I bought an Epson R1900 and installed Sublimation ink. It worked fine for our first season. Because our busy season is only 6 months the printer does not get much use the other 6 months. Even though we ran head cleanings often the head still plugged.

The following season I bought another Epson R1900. Tried a different manufactures Sublimation ink. The same result. Printer worked fine the first 6 months. Ruined the head in the off season.

The following season I decided the problem was the fact that the Epson R1900 had very fine holes in the head to deposit ink (as small as 1.5 picoliters). So I decided to buy an Epson Workforce 1100 because it had much larger holes in the head, (3 picoliters liter).

Unfortunately, I ended up with the same results. Printer worked fine the first season than plugged in the off season.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the problem is the fact I do not run enough ink through the printer to keep the head from plugging. Also, Sublimation ink has a shelf life that causes the ink to deteriorate over time. As does all ink, but it is worse with Sublimation ink.

The above mentioned printers are good printers. But it is critical that you use them often. But because Sublimation ink is so expensive it is like throwing away gold straight into the garbage if you are not using it to make products to sell.

So, even though I am not going to run Sublimation through this Epson 7520 I still want to run dye ink because it is so much cheaper and the viscosity is much thinner.

I have experimented with dye ink verse pigment ink on transfers onto cotton shirts and I have found the dye ink is just as vibrant (if not more so) and holds up just as well during wash cycles over time.

For my Sublimation needs I have decide to buy a printer that was manufactured for Sub ink.

Hope this helps.

 

[20vK]

Dry air can also be an issue. It's humid where I live so print heads tend to last, despite lack of maintenance.

I would have just printed half a page each week in the off season. Saves buying a new printer.

 

[RSNJ19]

Agreed.

If one ran four sheets of paper (one for each color) of full coverage ink, it would probably keep the print head clean. But because Sublimation is like liquid gold, a lot of money would be wasted each year just moving the ink.

If I had to do it all over again I would pull the Sublimation ink completely out of the printer and install either Dye ink or cleaning solution into the head, then simply shut the printer down for 6 months.

The only problem with that is if I were to get the occasional order for a few Sublimation items I would have to turn down the business. In the long wrong it would be cheaper than throwing away printers every year.

My cost for dye ink comes to .03 cents per milliliter.
My cost for Pigment ink comes to .36 cents per milliliter.
My cost for Sublimation ink comes to 5.53 ( five dollars fifty three cents) per milliliter.

As you can see, that’s why I say Sublimation ink is like liquid gold. It doesn’t take much ink waste to add up to a lot of money.

However, the point of my post was not to talk about Sublimation ink, but rather to ask if anyone out there has run dye ink through an Epson Workforce 7520. There is no reason it should not work just fine but I just wanted to see if anyone else had any experience doing so.