# Epson Artisan 837 Sublimation Prints



## SlaughterRule (Sep 26, 2014)

Hello, Im brand new to the forum though I been quietly lurking for quite some time. I run a home based sports uniform company and most of my product is made offsite. However, I do have a 4 color screen press, heat presses and cutters on site. I do a lot of spirit wear in house. I have not done any sublimation printing as of yet. I did not want to invest a ton of money into it until i got feel for it. 

I recently purchased a CISS system from inkxpros for my Epson 837 printer I had laying around. The CISS came with 6 bottles of sublimation inks. I purchased TextPrint R desktop sublimation paper and some blanks to test on. To start i tested the general printing quality after installing the CISS system. Photos and text test prints came out normal. 

I printed a design to the light side of the sublimation paper, cut the design out, taped it to a polyester coated mug blank and pressed at 400 degrees for 6 minutes per the instructions. When i pulled the mug out not a single drop of ink had transferred to the mug. It was bone white. I tried a few more times and got some faint color to transfer but it can be scratched off. I also tried a polyester iphone case blank. That one had more ink transfer to the blank but no where near to what it should be or even close to being a successful transfer. 

I was reading about printer settings being different when printing sublimation transfers. Would that possible be an issue? Does anyone know what or how i would need to adjust? I couldn't find any sawgrass drivers or anything for the 837. 

Is there anything else Im missing. Should this be working? Or should i give up scrap what i have and buy a sublimation printer ?


Thanks.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

SlaughterRule said:


> Hello, Im brand new to the forum though I been quietly lurking for quite some time. I run a home based sports uniform company and most of my product is made offsite. However, I do have a 4 color screen press, heat presses and cutters on site. I do a lot of spirit wear in house. I have not done any sublimation printing as of yet. I did not want to invest a ton of money into it until i got feel for it.
> 
> I recently purchased a CISS system from inkxpros for my Epson 837 printer I had laying around. The CISS came with 6 bottles of sublimation inks. I purchased TextPrint R desktop sublimation paper and some blanks to test on. To start i tested the general printing quality after installing the CISS system. Photos and text test prints came out normal.
> 
> ...


 Based on your statement I would guess you bought a CISS with _dye_ inks and not _dye sublimation_ inks.

Also, that "R" sublimation paper is for Ricoh printers ... "R" as in Ricoh is the product code. It should give you some transfer though, and not the reason you see nothing. 

Just might give a weaker looking transfer using that paper with sub inks designed for Epson.

Suggest to go back to the ink/CISS vendor and clarify.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

SlaughterRule said:


> I recently purchased a CISS system from inkxpros for my Epson 837 printer I had laying around. The CISS came with 6 bottles of sublimation inks. I purchased TextPrint R desktop sublimation paper and some blanks to test on. To start i tested the general printing quality after installing the CISS system. *Photos and text test prints came out normal.
> *
> Thanks.


 Therein lies the "smoking gun". 

I don't know what you use as a reference for "normal" but sublimation inks will not look "normal" until they are heat transferred, and then only normal after heat transfer if you have an ICC profile specific to the inks and printer model you have.

If your prints are looking normal, then you likely have _normal_ inks.


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## LOGO254 (Sep 26, 2014)

Am yet to venture into this t-shirt business n mugs, plates n all the stuffs, my question is can epson px 660 fit the bill n does it come with sublimation ink system or its an off market purchase? Am in Kenya.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

LOGO254 said:


> Am yet to venture into this t-shirt business n mugs, plates n all the stuffs, my question is can epson px 660 fit the bill n does it come with sublimation ink system or its an off market purchase? Am in Kenya.


 Unless you buy an expensive large format Epson then your sublimation inks are aftermarket.

Look for a sublimation ink or heat transfer supplier in your area that provides sublimation inks with ICC profiles, then see what Epson models he/she supports.


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## SlaughterRule (Sep 26, 2014)

After running the print head cleaning 5 or 6 times I could then see the difference in the ink. It took printing about 20 full color pages and 5 or 6 head cleanings but now that the sublimation ink is flowing everything works great. Super easy to decorate mugs, car flags, phone cases. I wish I would have don this sooner. 

Thanks!!


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## LOGO254 (Sep 26, 2014)

Thanks! that will help.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

SlaughterRule said:


> After running the print head cleaning 5 or 6 times I could then see the difference in the ink. It took printing about 20 full color pages and 5 or 6 head cleanings but now that the sublimation ink is flowing everything works great. Super easy to decorate mugs, car flags, phone cases. I wish I would have don this sooner.
> 
> Thanks!!


 If you were not getting ink to the paper then it should have shown up on the printed paper ... unless that printer has longer ink lines and you had to purge out older (previous) inks that were in the printer before .....

Anyway glad you got this sorted out. Good luck.


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## uncletee (Feb 25, 2007)

sometimes ya just have to wait and see If it gets better. glad it's working now. had my printer issues!! make sure it's dye sublimation ink. message me if you have sublimation questions, been doin it long time now. later uncletee.


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## holly100375 (Feb 4, 2015)

hi i have the epson 1430 i havent even remnoved from box yet. i have the ciss system from inxpro too. but i am almost positive mine is regular inks and not sub. i can send back when i know what to order lol. help. i also have a heat press 16x20 and a cap press. i need to know where and what i need to do


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## winsomebattle (Feb 23, 2017)

Hi David, I have the Artisan 837 as well, and I own a business where I would like to do sublimation printing too. Can you let me know where you purchased the additional components? Thank you so much!


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