[Cjoe Design]

It looks like I am getting a new 4880 to replace the one I have that has a bad nozzle. Right now I am running the eight color Sublijet. which because of the bad jet has toasted all my ink and I have to start with all new inks because all the head cleanings have more likely than not drawn my carts below 30% so I cannot charge the new printer.

I originally went with the full eight color to get the best color on my sublimation. Now seems to be the time to be sure I want to stay that course. Allthough I would love to go in other directions I seem to do a majority of t-shirts which I could probably get away with less exact detail the eight color offers.

Should I go Hybrid?

How much quality will I lose going from eight color down to four? I really want to focus on the higher end products and keepsakes where you print on hard substrates. Will I regret cutting back to four colors when sublimating?

Without a cutter can you still do enough jobs to validate spending the extra money buying the ripper? Eventually I would love to get a cutter but presently I spent all the money set aside on the first printer only to blow $1200.oo in ink and only sell about $700.00 worth of product before my printer reads REPLACE INK CARTRIDGE. I am in the hole and can't afford any bad dicissions.

Should I go Chromablast Hybrid? I don't see a whole lot of advantages. From what I have read, this process only really works good on white shirts which I will allready be able to do with sublimation. I know that cotton shirts are cheaper but is it worth converting half of your system over to something that limited?

 

[DAGuide]

Cory,

Do you still have your first 4880 printer? If so, are the CMYK channels working properly? I ask this question because you can download either the Sawgrass hybrid driver or MultiRIP hybrid RIP software to test them out. Just print something that you have already done with an 8-color setup and compare the results. Another trick that you can do if you are not ready to decide what to print on the other 4-channels is put cleaning cartridge or something else (i.e. the Epson OEM cartridges, distilled water with refillable cartridges,...) in the other 4 channels. You have to have some type of liquid running through the other channels, but what that liquid is can be up to you. This could give you some time to make sure you select the correct ink to put in the LcLmLkLlk channels. There are plenty of MultiRIP users that don't put sublimation and heat transfer inks in all 8-channels. If it is not right for your business, then why do it. You can always add them in later. The same could be said for just putting CMYK sublimation inks in with other liquid in the other channels and if you don't like the output... put the LcLmLkLlk sublimation inks in those channels to get back to the 8-color system you had before.

Hope this gives you some things to consider.

Mark

 

[Cjoe Design]

My new printer is supposed to be here on Monday. I am using the box of the new printer to send back the other. I have 7 days from reciept of the new one to return the old one. I am still working on getting sublimation ink replaced so I do not have to flip the whole bill on wasted ink. Right now the only new inks I have are Black, Blue, Light Cyan, and Light Magenta. I had them ship me blue because of all the trouble I had with that channel and the other 3 I figured I was using the most of. So I have all the wrong inks at this time to try out your method.

Mark, I should have listened to you 2 months ago when you told me I must have a defective nozzle.

 

[DAGuide]

Cory,

Consider what you went through as a business lesson and think about all the positive things you learned from it. Some of us that had a 1280 or 1800 dye sub system went through the same type learning lesson. Now, I can say I am in a better place because of it.

As for the inks, just wait till you have the CMYK inks ready for the new printer. Then you have two options:
1) Put just the CMYK dye sub carts into the printer and put the Epson OEM LcLmLkLlk cartridges into the other side. Run test prints using the Sawgrass and MultiRIP hybrid trial software. If you are not happy with the results, then remove the Epson ink and put in the other dye sub cartridges.
2) Put in all 8 dye sub cartridges and run the previous setup you had. Then try the Sawgrass and MultiRIP hybrid trial software. If you are happy with either hybrid software, just use that one.

I have said this before so it should not be new. Every Epson printer has firmware (not controlled by any RIP or driver) that tells the printer to spit ink out of all 8 channels - no matter what ink is in there - based on the number of times the nozzles are fired. So if you go with option #2, you will see that a little bit of the other 4 channels of ink will go down overtime. This is noticeable when you are running a hybrid setup, but you will be wasting the same amount of ink if you are running an 8-color setup. It is just harder to notice that the wasted ink on an 8-color setup as you think you are printing that ink.

Good luck with the new printer.

Mark

 

[Cjoe Design]

Mark, with the Rip will I be allowed to run the CMYK sublimation ink on one side and CMYK Epson inks on the other side for my Test? Do you have videos of how you switch between the two sides. Is it as simple as selecting a seperate printer?

 

[Cjoe Design]

Has anyone else done this comparison? I have been running the 1280 printers for about 6 years and I was totally happy with those machines but they have the Light Magenta and the light Cyan. I haven't used a CMYK only printer in years. I would think the quality must be pretty good if the Hybrid is making the mark that it is.

Any hybrid owners out there? Are you happy with the Quality? Do you need to stay away from photos on hard substrates where imaging is more noticable?

 

[DAGuide]

Mark, with the Rip will I be allowed to run the CMYK sublimation ink on one side and CMYK Epson inks on the other side for my Test? Do you have videos of how you switch between the two sides. Is it as simple as selecting a seperate printer?

Cory,

Just for testing purposes (because you have to have some liquid in the other 4-channels), you can run with Epson inks in them. I have never tried to continue to use the Epson inks with the profiles done for MultINK (because they are different inks... the profiles should be much different).

Do I have videos???? I have more videos and PDF documents than you are probably prepared to watch or read. Any time I get asked a question 3 times or more, something goes up on the MultiRIP FAQs page - www.multirip.com/faq.html. Since most decorators work at night and the weekends as well, this information is very helpful when your distributor is typically not available - much like this forum!

Since you are focused on sublimation printing, here is the video showing how you can print sub tranfers - [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpgh9_O03_w[/URL]. We do have Easy Dye Sub and Easy Transfers printers setup that allow you to pre-select your settings and just select the correct printer you want to use. Here is a good highlight video of what MultiRIP does - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atkN...youtube.com/view_play_list?p=21D25BCFE830E1CA.

Otherwise, feel free to ask any specific questions you might have. You can download a free trial version (prints a watermark, but you can still get a good idea for how well it does) at this link - Download a free trial version of MultiRIP Hybrid & MultiRIP GP dtg RIP Software.

Good luck with your new printer whichever way you decide to set it up!

Mark

 

[Cjoe Design]

This brings up another point. I have just learned to deal with the print spooler stopping after about 50% of my jobs. I guess this is just part of the problem with the Sawgrass driver. Sawgrass showed me how to start the spooler over but it doesn't always do the trick and I still have to restart the computer every once in a while. Is this something that is eliminated with the MultiRip or is it a lack of memory in the 4880. Can I upgrade the memory on the 4880 so I can just push print like I do on all my other Epson printers?

 

[DAGuide]

Cory,

I am not aware of any MultiRIP users (or even any PowerRIP, RIP Pro from DTG, Flexi-Jet RIP,... users - as the core engine of the RIP is running more than just hybrid printers) have print spooling problems. Of course I am not sure if this is something that Sawgrass has told you is a problem with their driver or if it might be something with your computer setup or a combination of both. However, you are more than welcome to try the MultiRIP software out and see if the issues vanishes or continues. In any type of printing, the more RAM / processing speed you have... the better off you will be. But I am running a Toshiba laptop that I got the day after Thanksgiving for below $500 (which basically means it is nothing special) and I have not encountered the problem you are talking about over the last 10 months. I have come across some of the lovely Vista problems though (periodically getting the Blue screen that locks everything up and forces me to hard-boot down). But that is a totally different story that I would like to have with a guy name Bill Gates.

Mark

 

[conde tech]

Cory,

Sounds like you have been through a lot. Mark has definitely given you some good advice. The only thing I would add.... is to make sure you have a chip resetter for the mantenance tank. If you haven't had to deal the maintenance tank yet. As you use the printer, you will eventually get a message about the "maintenance tank near full" or "maintenance tank full." You can just reset the computer chip on the maintenance tank with a chip resetter. Epson wants you to buy a new maintenance when you get those messages.

Good luck.

 

[Cjoe Design]

It shouldn't be a lack of memory. I have the latest Quad Core processor with four gigs of Ram. I have seen many threads with people talking about the same problem with the spooler and Vista. I don't get it with my 1280 or c88 which are hooked to the same computer and are not running the Power Driver. I think it is just Sawgrass not coming up with a good driver or Epson really making it difficult to run their latest printers without Original Epson ink. Cause I got to tell you not knowing the ink levels sucks!!! Sawgrasses first response is JUST BUY ANOTHER SET OF INKS. Great Idea here's another $1200.
Plus, my plan is to upgrade to the 220ml carts as they run out but I definately cannot shell out the cash for a full set of the 220ml.

 

[Cjoe Design]

Sonya,
I am getting a new 4880 on Monday so I won't need this chipsetter right away but if I keep resetting the maintenance tank won't it eventually overflow? Where do I get this resetter? Do you guys carry it at Conde because I order from you gays every week and then I wouldn't be paying some company $10 dollars in shipping for a tank that weighs less than a half of pound.

 

[DAGuide]

Cause I got to tell you not knowing the ink levels sucks!!!

I just turned down a deal by someone that wanted to trade me a brand new 4880 with full set of hybrid inks for my used 4800 with 1/2 the inks already used. For me, knowing the ink levels was not worth a new printer and what equated to 4 cartridges of ink. So I completely understand what you mean by this.

 

[conde tech]

I suggest you empty the maintenance tank every time you reset the chip on the maintennace tank. That way you will not have any problems. Yes, Conde carries the chip resetter.