Sublimation

[GraphicDisorder]

Discuss with me like I am 5. What is involved equipment wise?

What types of fabrics can be sublimated? I assume heat press is a big part of it?

Any input would be fantastic. Noobie but have some ideas that I assume sublimation would work for.

[Homer]

first, you need....a scale...


 

[GraphicDisorder]

first, you need....a scale...


 

  We have a nice one now

[aauusa]

Discuss with me like I am 5. What is involved equipment wise?

What types of fabrics can be sublimated? I assume heat press is a big part of it?

Any input would be fantastic. Noobie but have some ideas that I assume sublimation would work for.

need   printer with sublimation inks,  rip for the printer,  understanding color (rgb, cmyk) and how to set up color profiles for different fabrics.   heat press of some sort,  fabric/substrate that can be sublimated must have polyester in them as only polyester can accept dyesub inks(special reaction between the ink and polyester at 400 degrees)

[GraphicDisorder]

Discuss with me like I am 5. What is involved equipment wise?

What types of fabrics can be sublimated? I assume heat press is a big part of it?

Any input would be fantastic. Noobie but have some ideas that I assume sublimation would work for.

need   printer with sublimation inks,  rip for the printer,  understanding color (rgb, cmyk) and how to set up color profiles for different fabrics.   heat press of some sort,  fabric/substrate that can be sublimated must have polyester in them as only polyester can accept dyesub inks(special reaction between the ink and polyester at 400 degrees)

Thanks for the reply.

Whats your favorite printer for doing it? So anything with part or all poly can take the dyesub? We have a heat press now,  I have seen people using Epson printers with dye sub? Is that ideal?

[Denis Kolar]

I have a Ricoh printer. Prints up to 13x21. (Now Sawgrass branded printer)
You would probably want to go with something bigger.

Epson, it can be done with the smaller ones to be retrofitted for sublimation ink, but those are prone to clogging.
Full blown 48" sublimation printers from Epson and Mutoh are good.
For those, you would probably want to go with an oversized heat press like Maxi Press from Geo Knight.

All poly items can be sublimated (Light colors only). 50/50 can be sublimated but it will look washed out (Only picks up 50% of the ink).
You can sublimate plastic. stone, metal, glass........anything that has a poly coating on it. (You can see more at http://www.dyetrans.com/, http://www.coastalbusiness.com/, jdsindustries.com)

[mimosatexas]

The ricoh printers are great for small sized stuff (fewer issues with clogging).  For larger format, I really can't speak to whats best, but I'm sure aauusa will chime in as I believe they have a 64" sub printer.

100% poly is ideal for shirts, but you can get a washed out image on blends.  I tested a ton of shirt options when I started doing dye sub and pretty much any 100% poly shirt worked fine.  I actually really liked the G42000 for the price and the fact that it actually felt like a tshirt vs most of the standard 100% poly shirts that have that smooth, shiny/silky look and feel.  I do much more dye sub on things like coaters and sheets of metal than anything else though for whatever reason...

[aauusa]

we have a r1600,  a 1430 and a 7070 all epson.  we mostly use the r1600 and 1430 for sample and testing.   the 7070 is the master printer but is overkill for most.  fabric can be mixed poly/cotton blend   but only the areas with poly will the ink dye sub into.   the image will look faded.

the augusta shirt 3011 we just did some sub on and the ink color was navy,  we used the white/navy shirt and the print was identical to the faded navy in the sleeves.  actually complimented the shirt very well.

[GraphicDisorder]

What about like under bills of hats? Anyone ever try it?

[Frog]

What about like under bills of hats? Anyone ever try it?

The closer you get to the crown, the tougher it's going to be to press them, whether it's the top or the underside.
Large designs are printed (or subbed before construction.

[GraphicDisorder]

What about like under bills of hats? Anyone ever try it?

The closer you get to the crown, the tougher it's going to be to press them, whether it's the top or the underside.
Large designs are printed (or subbed before construction.

I understand, but will they take the print?? Part of the reason we are interested would be that aspect.

[mimosatexas]

would depend entirely on the material/color of that part of the hat and how you can rig it up to heat press.  If it is poly, it will dye sub.  Pretty much all there is to it...

[Shanarchy]

Not to derail the thread, but for the folks offering dye sub, what are you generally doing that makes this worth it? We've thought about it but aren't exactly sure where we would most want to market it.

Also interested in seeing the comments here.

[mimosatexas]

I'm way different from most shops, so for it to be worth it to me was just to have clients i want to keep happy ask for it and for the orders to usually be one offs or small enough that outsourcing made no sense.  I already have the heat press for vinyl etc and already do one offs and small orders with other kinds of transfers etc so it made sense for me as added capability.

[Prince Art]

Brandt-

There are at least a couple of places you can order sublimation transfers online. Since you've already got a heat press, I suggest ordering some sample transfers & various poly & poly/cotton blends, and doing some tests that way. You can get a feel for the process with very little investment. (One we've used: http://mytransfersource.com/)

We've done this, and tried selling some, too, to see if we want to get all the way into this. We have yet to generate enough interest to justify getting all the way into it. So we just order in transfers for the random odd job where it's a good fit. We're pretty much in the same spot as mimosa^^^. (In fact, the main people we do this for is personal friends who want 1 or 2 shirts - people I hate to say "no" to. I rarely make money on it.)

And since you asked for noob advice, I'll say this: dealing with sublimation ain't like printing - or even pressing normal transfers. It requires learning another skill set entirely. I found the fabrics to be way more finicky - trying to avoid press lines is really aggravating. And transfers like to curl, which makes it hard to keep them in position. You can spray them with tack, but if it doesn't mist perfectly, and "spits" instead, you'll get little dots in your print. And the list of little things to overcome goes on.

I found that unless someone needs a tiny quantity of shirts, I'd rather print 4c process, and can make more money doing it. It seems to me that with dye sub, it's best to either go small, or go really big: either do kiosk-style one-offs that have a huge markup; or get all the way into it &  be able to do full garments, and establish yourself with clients who want that & are willing to pay for it.

That said, I'd love to hear from people who've succesfully integrated this into their shops, & how they've done it.