Hi, i just purchased a 6 in 1 heat press machine. Thought this was going to be easy to start my own t-shirt business!?! Can someone help me figure some things out. How do I covert my printer to use sublimation ink? (canon MX340). If so, how do I go about this? Can I use regular printer ink and put on t-shirt? With that, is this a good quality design vs. sublimation ink? Can I use scissors to cut vinyl for shirts? The more I search the more info is coming about, and man I am nervous to do the wrong thing. I have many wanting to buy my designs on a t-shirt but no real knowing of how to go about it. (at least i thought I did, until I hit the internet.
How do I covert my printer to use sublimation ink? (canon MX340) - can I use regular ink for transfers?
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I'm not sure if you can, but hopefully other members will be able to shed some light on this.
There are printers that are more commonly used for dye sublimation...like the epson or ricoh brand of printers.
This might sound like a silly question, but do understand all of the different types of heat transfers?
There are inkjet heat transfers, laser heat transfers, vinyl transfers, plastisol transfers, and dye sublimation.
Dye sublimation cannot be done on 100% cotton t-shirts. It's a special process that creates a chemical reaction with the inks and the garment (100% polyester or a high poly blend) so that the ink fuses with the fabric. Dye sub also can't be done on dark garments.
When you say transfers with "regular inks", it sounds like you might be talking about heat transfers. For heat transfers you want a printer that prints with pigment inks (like those found in many Epson printers). You'll also want to use a quality inkjet transfer paper (like Jet Pro Softstretch or Ironall). Even then, there will be a bit of a transfer "residue" around the white space in the images and the quality is not the same as dye sublimation.
Which two processes are you trying to compare here?
You can get a good breakdown of the different printing types and quality comparisons between them here:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t37985.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t48532.html
No, you'll need a vinyl cutter to cut out vinyl designs for t-shirts. You can see the process here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/t-shirt-crossover-diary-heat-press-newbie/t10363.html
Anytime you have a question, feel free to start a new topic about that question. That way each topic will have a unique subject title that will help experienced users know what type of help you need
There's a lot of great information here and sometimes it can take a while (and a few follow up questions) to make it sink it. Once you start understand the different printing types that are being discussed (by reading through the threads I linked to above), it should help to make things clearer.
There's many ways to do this without wading through the learning curve of becoming a "printer" yourself.
There's no rule that says you have to do everything yourself. If you're a great designer, that doesn't mean you have to learn to be a great printer in order to sell your designs.
There's many options available.
Using an online printing and shipping service like Zazzle, CafePress, PrintFection, etc is one way to upload your designs quickly and let another company handle the hassles of printing, customer service, ecommerce, etc. You just send the people interested in your designs to the free stores hosted by those services. As people order, they print and ship the orders on demand.
You could also setup an ecommerce website yourself through a service like storenvy.com, shopify.com, or bigcartel. You would upload pictures of your t-shirt designs and when someone orders you could send the order to a company that does Direct to Garment (DTG) printing to print the order on demand and ship it to the customer. You could get a bunch of t-shirts screen printed and warehouse them in your house and ship out the orders as they come in. You could get plastisol transfers made of your designs and heat press the transfers to the t-shirts as the orders come in.
You have lots of options
Just keep reading, asking questions and moving forward.
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Rodney has given you a lot of info...In short my 2 cents..Canon is not a good choice for any transfers..Epsons seem to be the best for this...but not the 1400 which uses Claria inks. I do not think there are any solutions for using sublimation inks in a Canon You cannot switch back and forth between sublimation and OEM inks without wasting a lot of pricey inks.
Canon printers cannot be used for sublimation period.
They don't have piezo electric print heads, they have thermal print heads which would cause the ink to start the sublimation process even before it hits the paper. The thermal print head uses heat to transport the inks.
Piezo print heads like used on Epson and Ricoh and a few other wide format models use electrical charge to push the inks thru the heads.
But can you convert an epson printer to sublimation after you have used it as a regular printer?
Yes. If there are long ink lines like on large format or a few select desktop models then you need to purge out the old inks.
Most desktops just install the carts and do a head clean or 2.
I would suggest you get that from your ink vendor. Also, suggest you use an ink vendor that offers ICC profiles.
I use Cobra
email me if you can. i have alot of questions about my canon printer printing on sublimation paper. my email is [email protected]. Thanks and i look forward to hearing from you soon.
Canon cannot be used for sublimation, the printer uses heat to transport inks, it will start to prematurely sublimate in the print head due to the sub ink.
You must use a piezo head like found on Epson or Ricoh. These use electrical charge to transport the inks thru the head and not heat.
I use Koala Tshirt Transfer paper for light & dark Tshirts( mirror printed for light ). My printer is a Canon Pixma MG3650 inkjet & they come out great. I use a Cricut Maker to print & cut designs too. I also use a heat press to attach them.
I want to start using a mug press & sublimation ink but cannot find anywhere that tells me IF I can use the ink in my printer. I be interested to find out.
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You cannot use sublimation ink in Canon printers.
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Do you use special ink or just regular ink
Sorry new here
I’m confused. There’s all types of information online about the cannon pixma being used for sublimation. It’s actually one of the top 10 sublimation printers listed on several sites. Because it uses heat to transfer the ink. So why does everyone say canon can’t be used? I’ve been using mine with heat transfer paper but why can’t I use sublimation paper?? I’m going to buy a pack and try it. Consumer sites wouldn’t list that printer as a sublimation printer if you couldn’t use it for sublimation. It’s even printed on the box when you buy the printer.
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Already answered above.
Now, if you're talking about just running some sublimation paper through your printer, it might print on the paper. You might even be able to get it to transfer to the substrate--although that's highly unlikely. However, if it's not actually sublimated onto the substrate it will not "stick."
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Ok then. How about posting some links of all of these places you've seen online using Canon Pixma's for sublimation? I, for one, would be very interested!
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