sublimation equipment

[Maxie]

We use a EPSON 3880, problem is that it has too many colors.    Try and get a 4 color printer.
We've done a lot of mugs with a Knight press.
Sublimation takes time, we press the mugs for 4 minutes.      It's a great gimmick, I've given a lot away.
We make mugs with good customers logos on them and give them a present, they love them and often order more that they pay for.

[ZooCity]

Good thread.  We dye sub truckers at the moment and get our transfers from Stahls.  I'm evaluating bringing it in house since we have two epson 4800s and I only need one head for film printing. 

One thing we've found with apparel is that the temp needed to sublimate can be too high for some products.  A lot of the trucker caps for instance have poly thread that will bleed like mad if you get the heat on it and many of the white poly/foam front panels get a bunch of speckles from the heat.  I heartily agree with everyone's comments on supply chain.  I would like to use this tech on performance wear but fear that much of it would not take to the necessary pressure and temperature very well.

But I do like dye sub and I think it has an overall role for most any shop.  Advantages to having it in house that I can see are:

• the ability to set your sheets up any way you like, i.e. with extra blank transfer paper around the image to avoid edge marks without paying the contractor for that paper as if it was printed
• control over color
• faster turnaround (not that expediting a stack of paper from a contractor is that expensive...but you could offer select items on a short turn)

[sweetts]

I actually just sold my stuff, I wasn't selling enough so all that ink was getting dumped. The first year was good though. I would suggest getting the largest printer you can afford as well as a large heat press, it will open up more options for you. As far as the time it takes,,,,it takes time a mug is over a minute but man it looks good.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I actually just sold my stuff, I wasn't selling enough so all that ink was getting dumped. The first year was good though. I would suggest getting the largest printer you can afford as well as a large heat press, it will open up more options for you. As far as the time it takes,,,,it takes time a mug is over a minute but man it looks good.

A minute?

Oh I think our setup takes WAAAAY over a minute!

Did I misunderstand you?

[sweetts]

That's like it's just down the road kind of minute