[Tony Rome]

I am looking for a sublimation printer that would be able to print at least 13x19.
I think I would be OK with a desktop.
My budget is under $1000.00
I am able to screen print and I also have a large format Roland that I can print full color vinyl heat transfers.

I thought this would be a nice addition, I would not have to weed any vinyl and would be good for small orders with multiple colors on light shirts to save screens/setup I would have screen printing.

Main use would be one offs for customers that just need a shirt or two but I want to advertise and also sell my own designs on ebay.

If I had to guess I would say light to medium use (hopefully that would change).

I have read a ton of articles in this forum, unfortunatley a lot of the articles are older, I am wondering what is the go to printer for what I am looking for under $1000 ($500-$1000) at LEAST 13x19 and I want professional quality.

Thanks for any help.
The past older models I saw were Ricoh 7000 and Epson Workforce 1100 but it seems they are old now.

Thanks for any help!

 

[joeshaul]

If you're in the US, I don't think such a beast exists. I think around $1500 will get you an 11x17, don't recall there being much higher than that for small desktop use though. Unless you're talking used, but doubt anyone can give an accurate price on something used, let alone how well it'll actually function (sublimation printers not properly drained will usually destroy printheads).

 

[Tony Rome]

I am confused, I see printers like the Epson 1400 for less than $500?
But, OK, let's say I bump it up to $1500.00 What you got?

 

[joeshaul]

The problem with small scale sublimation is the patented ink in the US. You may find a printer for cheap, but then you got to dump all the money into the sublimation ink, and you're limited on your options

Ricoh GX7100 series set from Coastal was what I was looking at for $1500.

Your workforce probably isn't too bad around the same pricerange. WF1430 probably around $300-$350 (I'd probably just buy it from Coastal and use a discount code, t-shirtforums has one in the prefered customer discount thread or whatever). 6 sublimation inks at $147, quick disconnect/bulk setup for like $149, then 5-10% off with code, so probably $1400 before code with paper/accessories. You might also have to buy the sublimation profile for the printer separately.

I don't know how the Epsons have changed, but lack of use would kill them pretty quick, I went through two C88s in three years way back when (would enter my slow season and just try to print some mousepads and crap to keep it functioning). I've been using a Ricoh for about the past 2-3 years and it's been fine (gx3300 series which is only 8.5x14).

 

[Tony Rome]

Thanks for the info, I do believe the 7100 is only 11x17?

 

[joeshaul]

Yeah, I was responding to what I was inferring to in my original post about $1500 getting 11x17 (hence "the ricoh gx7100 is what I was looking at for $1500"). That was the best bundle I found when searching a little while back.

I'm surprised companies don't offer Workforce 1430 bundles, which leads me to believe there is possibly something wrong with the architecture or the longevity, or maybe they just don't expect people to have the technical capability to set it all up, whereas the Ricoh systems you plug the carts in and you're good to go (unless you accidentally put regular ink into it first). But for around the same price as the Ricoh you can get that wider setup, I broke everything down in the previous thread if you were to get it all from Coastal, don't know about shopping around (sub inks probably won't vary much, the printer you can probably find for $300, but who knows when you'll get it).

 

[superD70]

Epsons are still the best printer for the money hands down.
Here is a link to a 7510 refurb for 200$
Epson WorkForce WF-7510 All-in-One Printer - Refurbished - Product Information - Epson America, Inc.

 

[macrooo]

EPSON SC F6000 is quite expensive, but excellent choice

 

[uncletee]

If you can find the epson WF-1100 they are great for 13x19, the newer version is the WF-7010 pretty cheap. good luck uncletee

 

[headfirst]

I am looking for under $1000 ($500-$1000) at LEAST 13x19 and I want professional quality.

What an interesting mythical beast. I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist any more.

 

[Tony Rome]

Wow, $369.00 (WF7010) on Amazon, and I am sure with some research I can find it a little lower. I even see the 7510 can be used for sublimation and prints 13x19 for $175!!!
No idea what the difference between the 2 is, besides almost $200 lol.

But, do these lower priced WF printers truly offer professional quality sublimation, I mean besides bigger prints and lower cost per piece, what else do I gain by going to the wide format (big boys?)

Next, what am I looking at to convert this to sub? Where is the best place for ink (not buying sawgrass), do I need profiles, need to convert anything else?

Thanks!

 

[headfirst]

do these lower priced WF printers truly offer professional quality sublimation,

No. These are desktop printers, not professional printers. Nothing you can do to them will ever make them pro grade printers.

That said I have a couple 1100's and love them. They are tanks.

I mean besides bigger prints and lower cost per piece, what else do I gain by going to the wide format (big boys?)

When you go above 44" a whole new world of ink suppliers opens up to you along with a better wider range of papers that aren't available in cut sheet. And, the cost per print is significant. Don't discount it.

Last, you'll get good color profiles. You must have good color profiles for your inks and substrates and that really great deal on ink you found on ebay isn't going to have profiles.

 

[mgparrish]

Yeah, I was responding to what I was inferring to in my original post about $1500 getting 11x17 (hence "the ricoh gx7100 is what I was looking at for $1500"). That was the best bundle I found when searching a little while back.

I'm surprised companies don't offer Workforce 1430 bundles, which leads me to believe there is possibly something wrong with the architecture or the longevity, or maybe they just don't expect people to have the technical capability to set it all up, whereas the Ricoh systems you plug the carts in and you're good to go (unless you accidentally put regular ink into it first). But for around the same price as the Ricoh you can get that wider setup, I broke everything down in the previous thread if you were to get it all from Coastal, don't know about shopping around (sub inks probably won't vary much, the printer you can probably find for $300, but who knows when you'll get it).

A couple of points.

1. All Epson tabloids go 13 x 19 out of the box.

2. Note sure what you mean by a "bundle". For Ricohs it is necessary for the vendor to remove the pigment inks carts as it is not a good idea to install those first.

On tabloid Epsons there are "bundles". They ship you the printer then buy either carts or CIS which every you choose, or in some cases like sawgrass you have 2 ink choices.. Not all offers prefilled carts on every Epson but here is an example of a "bundle". You can create your own "bundle" when you order.

Epson Artisan 1430 13" x 19" Inkjet Printer

For the Sawgrass Epson "bundles" they expect someone can either install a CIS or plug in carts just like on a Ricoh. They have full documentation and videos for the support and of course the dealers can all assist in the setup. I think you make presumptions that don't exist.

 

[joeshaul]

By bundle, I mean the company is selling you a set of goods (package/bundle/set/whatever you want to call it, Merriam Webster probably has more words) to get you started. IE: the printer, the inks, the profile, the CIS if necessary, the paper.

If you look at Coastal's site, they offer a few printer packages/bundles, in the Small Scale/Large Scale Sublimation categories, the first option is packages. YOU linked to one of their printers, but I don't see anything else on there about what's needed. Sure you can then manually add the inks, the CISS system, the ICC profile, and so on, which I had priced out earlier in the thread, but people don't research, hell, look at the OP on this thread, a lot of times he's still just mentioning how much the printer costs, the printer's just a variable in this equation.

The problem not buying in a bundle, is sometimes the end user doesn't know what they need and they buy blindly. The forum is inundated with posts of people not having the ICC profile, of getting inks without a CIS and scratching their head, of buying a regular printer because they think it's a sublimation printer and never even bought the inks, their HP photo paper do a good job with sublimating.

 

[mgparrish]

By bundle, I mean the company is selling you a set of goods (package/bundle/set/whatever you want to call it, Merriam Webster probably has more words) to get you started. IE: the printer, the inks, the profile, the CIS if necessary, the paper.

If you look at Coastal's site, they offer a few printer packages/bundles, in the Small Scale/Large Scale Sublimation categories, the first option is packages. YOU linked to one of their printers, but I don't see anything else on there about what's needed. Sure you can then manually add the inks, the CISS system, the ICC profile, and so on, which I had priced out earlier in the thread, but people don't research, hell, look at the OP on this thread, a lot of times he's still just mentioning how much the printer costs, the printer's just a variable in this equation.

The problem not buying in a bundle, is sometimes the end user doesn't know what they need and they buy blindly. The forum is inundated with posts of people not having the ICC profile, of getting inks without a CIS and scratching their head, of buying a regular printer because they think it's a sublimation printer and never even bought the inks, their HP photo paper do a good job with sublimating.

Huh?

Information Station - Sublimation

Clearly you haven't bought a system from them before, or from Conde. Or from Johnson Plastics.

http://www.coastalbusiness.com/informationlibrary/sublimation/gettingstarted_sublimation.pdf

or the videos out there on vendors websites. Who would buy over a thousand dollars of specialized equipment and not take time to look around the website or not to call the toll free phone number with any questions? No one is left in the dark buying from those places or out on their own to figure things out. Sorry, but that dog don't hunt.

 

[mgparrish]

I am looking for a sublimation printer that would be able to print at least 13x19.
I think I would be OK with a desktop.
My budget is under $1000.00
I am able to screen print and I also have a large format Roland that I can print full color vinyl heat transfers.

I thought this would be a nice addition, I would not have to weed any vinyl and would be good for small orders with multiple colors on light shirts to save screens/setup I would have screen printing.

Main use would be one offs for customers that just need a shirt or two but I want to advertise and also sell my own designs on ebay.

If I had to guess I would say light to medium use (hopefully that would change).

I have read a ton of articles in this forum, unfortunatley a lot of the articles are older, I am wondering what is the go to printer for what I am looking for under $1000 ($500-$1000) at LEAST 13x19 and I want professional quality.

Thanks for any help.
The past older models I saw were Ricoh 7000 and Epson Workforce 1100 but it seems they are old now.

Thanks for any help!

T-ShirtForums Preferred Vendor Directory

The 1430 is a supported 13 x 19 printer, if you go with the CIS system and inks via the Sawgrass route you should be in the $1000 range.

or call Cobra Ink by phone.

They have sublimation support for just about any Epson printer with ICC profiles.

 

[joeshaul]

Huh?

Information Station - Sublimation

Clearly you haven't bought a system from them before, or from Conde. Or from Johnson Plastics.

[media]http://www.coastalbusiness.com/informationlibrary/sublimation/gettingstarted_sublimation.pdf[/media]

or the videos out there on vendors websites. Who would buy over a thousand dollars of specialized equipment and not take time to look around the website or not to call the toll free phone number with any questions? No one is left in the dark buying from those places or out on their own to figure things out. Sorry, but that dog don't hunt.

Coastal and Conde are the only ones I've bought my sub printers through, cept one of my backup c88's way back when, think I got it from Newegg. I did my research before buying, but you think not everyone does? Being an active member of this forum (barring about a three year break), I have seen people post/mess up everything down to the very basics of printing without sublimation ink and expecting it to work. You can act like you're blind to it, but I guarantee you've probably spent somet ime typing out some posts to some poor guy that's way in over their head thinking Office Depot is selling sublimation printers.

 

[mgparrish]

Coastal and Conde are the only ones I've bought my sub printers through, cept one of my backup c88's way back when, think I got it from Newegg. I did my research before buying, but you think not everyone does? Being an active member of this forum (barring about a three year break), I have seen people post/mess up everything down to the very basics of printing without sublimation ink and expecting it to work. You can act like you're blind to it, but I guarantee you've probably spent somet ime typing out some posts to some poor guy that's way in over their head thinking Office Depot is selling sublimation printers.

Yes there are those that don't research, they buy "dye" based printers and think they can dye sub, etc etc yes it happens. I'm not blind to it but that wasn't your contention, your contention was ...

"I'm surprised companies don't offer Workforce 1430 bundles, which leads me to believe there is possibly something wrong with the architecture or the longevity, or maybe they just don't expect people to have the technical capability to set it all up,"



But my point is that if one buys from a good dealer there is no reason they can't get a full "bundle" and get full support ... not be left on their own. I think during your 3 year break the level of sublimation support has improved significantly.

 

[Tony Rome]

No. These are desktop printers, not professional printers. Nothing you can do to them will ever make them pro grade printers.

That said I have a couple 1100's and love them. They are tanks.



When you go above 44" a whole new world of ink suppliers opens up to you along with a better wider range of papers that aren't available in cut sheet. And, the cost per print is significant. Don't discount it.

Last, you'll get good color profiles. You must have good color profiles for your inks and substrates and that really great deal on ink you found on ebay isn't going to have profiles.

But the 1100 is also a "desktop printer"
If the printing ability (dpi/specs) are the same, both Maximum Print Resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi in these printers, which they are, how can one really print better than another?

 

[Tony Rome]

So after some MORE research I think I am going to get an Epson 1430 (around $299) now the crazy thing which I am sure all of you are familiar with is if I get my ink from Cobra, the cartridges are $80 for all six, but with Coastal (Sawgrass) $88 EACH....is Sawgrass that much better, what am I missing?