[CreativeClod]

I'm giving up on the tedious work it takes to screen print, not to mention the cost and the mess. I would like to try sublimation. Is it possible to jusyt buy an ink kit for my Epson 1430 and continue, or is it much more involved than that?

 

[binki]

The shirts cost more and it takes longer to print than screen printing and the market is smaller. We don't do it any more, well, after 1 year we gave up on it.

Maybe if you go large format and print/cut/sew it would be worth it.

 

[NoXid]

Yes, you can buy refillable carts and dye sub ink for your 1430. See Cobra, or the like. You need a heat press.

As @binki alluded, white polyester shirts are not as popular as black cotton ones, so that can limit your market.

You can also sublimate onto mugs, mouse pads, phone cases, and other "blanks" of various types that have a coating to (or that by their innate nature) accept dye sublimation. For mugs you'll also need a convection oven or special press and some other odds and ends.

 

[bpfohler]

Before you give up on screen printing and dive right into sublimation I urge you to do some research.
Sublimation is less than 2% of our sales. Yes there are a lot of products you can sublimate but there’s not nearly the market for printed mugs, mouse pads, phone cases...... as there are for t-shirts. We only use it for award plaques.
It’s also not as easy as some people would have you believe. Color management can be difficult and confusing. Royal blue on your computer screen may not necessarily print royal in a mug or mouse pad and you can end up wasting a lot of products.
If you don’t use it every day you’ll end up running multiple cleanings.
Sometimes I feel like chucking our printer right out the door, I’d rather screen print 100 t’s than sublimate 10 shirts.

 

[hawaiianphatboy]

The 1430 is a six color ink system, so that means more ink to buy for sublimation. the 1430, on mine anyway, after a while stopped grabbing the sublimation paper. I am not sure if it had something to do with the coating that is on the paper that would cause the rollers to stop grabbing. With sublimation, you are also going to want to keep a close eye on where you buy your supplies and how you print them. I made the mistake of buying cheap sublimation paper on ebay and other sites, not knowing that the way these papers work can be different between the manufacturers. Some paper looked good with on ICC profile and some wont, than when it was time to re-order, i forgot where i got the good paper from. Also, unlike screen printing, you cant fix small mistakes like the rouge ink spot. They will not come out with a spot cleaning gun. The amount of wasted materials will grow as you try sublimating different items. I have gone through dozens of mugs, phone , mouse pads, coasters and dog tags, trying to dial in the process. Being in Hawaii, the cost of shipping replacement blanks is a killer for me. However, if you like wearing white polyester/dri fit type shirts, you can get some pretty nice designs on them. Good luck and Aloha