[Lixhul]

Hello, just starting to get into the heat press business (then screen printing), but at the minute I am interested in Self weeding transfer paper with heat press.

I am asking can you use normal standard ink when printing on a transfer paper, or is Subliminal Ink an absolute nessesity when printing onto transfer paper for the heat press?

Thanks in advance. Also, what printer would you redcommened? I currently have an Epson S21 which cost like 20 quid so its no good I bet lol

 

[mn shutterbug]

What in the world is self weeding transfer paper?

Anyway, sublimation ink is an absolute necessity when doing dye sublimation printing. Ricoh makes darned nice printers for dye sub work.

 

[agensop]

i dont believe it is, i have only heard of self weeding papers with laser transfers, so the need of sublimation angle would be news to me.

self weeding papers is pretty much what it says the only thing that comes off the paper is where the print is. i have heard of this for doing laser prints on dark shirts.

Hello, just starting to get into the heat press business (then screen printing), but at the minute I am interested in Self weeding transfer paper with heat press.

I am asking can you use normal standard ink when printing on a transfer paper, or is Subliminal Ink an absolute nessesity when printing onto transfer paper for the heat press?

Thanks in advance. Also, what printer would you redcommened? I currently have an Epson S21 which cost like 20 quid so its no good I bet lol

 

[bornover]

Sublimation inks would only be used in the sublimation process. Typically, for garment decoration, you print sublimation ink onto a high release paper to then infuse the dye (using heat that causes the sublimation ink to turn into a gas) into a polyester substrate (like a poly t-shirt for example). There is no weeding because you are not cutting vinyl, or any material of any kind, on a plotting cutter and weeding out the parts of the material that you don't want transfered to the garment.

 

[johnbol1]

short amswer no,

 

[Lixhul]

Ah, great thanks for the replies. The only reason I ask this is because for a bulk set of 6 inks it would set me back £300.

My initial reaction was a polite WTF.

 

[stevens07]

You can purchase sublimation ink for cheaper than the 300.00

 

[bornover]

Sublimation ink is expensive compared to other inks. And even more expensive for small format printers.

 

[stevens07]

Sublimation ink is VERY expensive, but I found a supplier a few months ago that I pay less than half that price and it works.

 

[Dynamic J]

I work in a printing company and we also make T-shirts and mugs etc. For the self weeding paper you run the printable sheet through a laser printer (we used our Epson 1400 with standard ink) and then you heat press the image onto a "clutch" sheet. You then heat press the fused sheets onto your T-shirt and peel it away leaving only the printed image. Voila, no more weeding.

The only downside is that it's rubbish! The image quality was very poor and it takes much much longer to produce the finished product than if you use dye-sub. We use the UK's largest supplier of Roland machine's/sublimation machines and products and they won't supply the self-weeding paper for the reason's I've stated. The technology just isn't stable enough.

Don't be put off by the price of sublimation printing. The image quality is better, and the ink's last for ages. You'll gain a good reputation faster if you supply quality t-shirts from the beginning. I'd recommend purchasing the Ricoh GX7000 printer over the Epson 1400 which uses the bulk feed system (we have both). It's far less hassle, head cleans are almost unnecessary (saving you ink) and it's faster and produces a more vibrant image. Plus it's a sublimation printer, rather than a modified Epson inkjet with an invalidated warranty. Our Epson was okay, but we gave up on it because it needed constant maintenance. For a full set of Ricoh sublimation ink cartridges you'll be looking at paying £240.


If you need any more help feel free to get in touch with me, I've a supplier I could recommend to you.

 

[bornover]

Jamie, the Ricoh is not a made for sublimation printer. Ricoh's GelSprinter technology is sort of a blend of laser and inkjet. It is different but not specifically for sublimation.

 

[Dynamic J]

Jamie, the Ricoh is not a made for sublimation printer. Ricoh's GelSprinter technology is sort of a blend of laser and inkjet. It is different but not specifically for sublimation.

Hi Mark,

Okay fair point maybe I didn't phrase myself correctly.

It's not sold as a sublimation printer by Ricoh, what I meant is that it can produce sublimation prints without any mods, straight out the box - so long as you use the SubliJet R cartridges. These are a higher viscosity ink and have been formulated specifically to work with the Ricoh GX5050N/GX7000 printers.

I was comparing it with the bulk feed systems out there, the Epson in this case, where it isn't capable of producing sub-prints unless the bulk feed mod is applied. And when this mod is applied, Epson no longer cover the printer (which I know is easy to get round should you need to send it back to Epson - like I did ).

Anyway, the Ricoh is a great machine and we swear by it! It works out cheaper in the long run too as the maintenance requirements are so low.

Sorry for any confusion

 

[Lixhul]

Thanks for the great reply Jamie I shall look into that printer.

Yeh I have heared theres no point using self weeding unless you use inkjet dye-sub. Basically because of quality.

I cant afford a Vinyl cutter so this is the method I'm sort of aiming for. I mean I refuse to sell iron-on transfers

 

[johnbol1]

Dont you have to have subli t shirts though for subli prints, I mean you cant just go and get a regualr T at a regular price off the shelf an you? (poly cotton)
The ones I have seen seem qute expensive.
and Am I right thinking you can only print on white Ts
John

 

[bornover]

Dont you have to have subli t shirts though for subli prints, I mean you cant just go and get a regualr T at a regular price off the shelf an you? (poly cotton)
The ones I have seen seem qute expensive.
and Am I right thinking you can only print on white Ts
John

For sublimation you have to print onto a polyester or polyester coated substrate. For garments, the higher the polyester content the better and more vibrant the colors will be. Obviously a 100% poly garment will provide the brightest colors.

Not all poly garments or fabrics are created equal. SourceSubstrates' Vapor Apparel blanks and fabric is just about the best for sublimating. Other poly fabrics can still give you problems. I guess you just have to test things out.

Yes, you need to print onto white or a very light color fabric. If it has some color, even a very light one, it will skew your colors that you print. White is the best if you need true colors. To get a black garment in sublimation, for example, you need to print every inch of the fabric. A lot of sublimated garments are printed before the garment is sewn together so the basic color is other than white.

And yes, polyester is more expensive than cotton. Sublimation inks are expensive to, so the over all process is more expensive than screen printing.

This self-weeding topic is strange to me; I don't think what we are talking about has anything to do with "self-weeding". But since sublimation was brought up in this thread, I thought I would answer with real info on sublimation.

 

[Conde_David]

This article should help regarding printers for
Sublimation.

[media]http://www.conde.com/wdg/Road-To-Sublimation-Success-SA-2009.pdf[/media]

 

[royster13]

It could cost you almost as much to get set-up with a sublimation printer and inks as it would an inexpensive plotter such as an Expert 24....

As far as cad cut heat press vinyl.....I have been getting 16.00 to 25.00 for a few stock designs I did up...They cost me 3.00 to 5.00 each...There is a good variety of very good quality heat press material available these days....The glitters, foils, etc. sell at a premium price....

 

[Conde_David]

You can buy an e3300n and sublimation inks
for $440.

 

[stevens07]

Royce...I use heat transfers for my t shirts. How do you make your own stock designs to sell.

 

[Virtualburn]

Thanks for great info here guys, I wonder if you could put me straight as the info I was actually looking for I can't find.

I have bought 200 Aluminium Business Cards for sublimation printing. I have an Epson S22 and I've done some promo shirts using heat transfer which have turned out great for the purpose they are meant for.

My main focus being Screen Print, I completely agree with @Dynamic J that you cannot skimp on quality.

My question is that with the transfer release paper it leaves part of the film covering the ink, with Sublimation is there specific paper you get that doesn't do this? I thought self-weeding was the term but now I'm not so sure.

My concern is that using the normal paper will leave a film over one side of the card.. not sure I want to byu a Sublimation CISS if this is the case.

I have already got a Dye ink CISS for S22. The idea was to buy an empty CISS system for another S22 and just use this for sublimation prints.

Thanks.