# First sublimation printer. Bad print quality, Macbook issue?



## Agfracing (Nov 21, 2011)

Hello all! Bought my first sublimation printer, an epson workforce 30. Installed the sublimation inks and everything is working. My only issue is that I'm running it off my macbook pro and through sawgrass they don't offer the profile for the printer to print sub ink. The prints come out crisp but dark and when transferred onto a shirt they don't pop very well. Even on 100% poly. I have only done a handful of transfers but none have looked great. Anyone else have this issue and find a solution?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Hello all! Bought my first sublimation printer, an epson workforce 30. Installed the sublimation inks and everything is working. My only issue is that I'm running it off my macbook pro and through sawgrass they don't offer the profile for the printer to print sub ink. The prints come out crisp but dark and when transferred onto a shirt they don't pop very well. Even on 100% poly. I have only done a handful of transfers but none have looked great. Anyone else have this issue and find a solution?


If you buy your Sawgrass inks from Conde Systems they offer ICC profiles for Sawgrass Inks ... means you don't need Power Driver. Otherwise you would have to get a 3rd party to make an ICC profile for you.


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## ladyjn13 (Aug 24, 2009)

Agfracing said:


> . My only issue is that I'm running it off my macbook pro and through sawgrass they don't offer the profile for the printer to print sub ink.


Unfortunately, as most have found out on this forum, the problem is Sawgrass, their crappy inks, and (to add insult to injury) their horrible support. When we started up doing sublimation 4 years ago, we took the standard path, as you are now. After 2 years and 4 destroyed printers, we got smart and have cut our ink costs to boot. We found a reliable alternative, thanks to this forum, and could not be happier. Private message me and I will tell you our supplier.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Some other ideas:

The Workforce 30 can lay down a lot of ink. Try backing down by using the Plain paper mode, and Photo rather than Best Photo. The driver for the WF30 won't let you select certain combinations using the High Speed option, so play around with that as well. Turning off High Speed on a WF30 will affect the amount of ink, because (as I recall) it always forces Best Photo.

Instead of wasting a t-shirt, get some nice quality 700D white polyester from your local fabric store. This fabric will have a tight weave, and should show light, but you should not be able to make out any shapes when you look through it. Cut it into 5x7 (or so) pieces, and try those. A yard goes a long way.

Finally, to be truthful, support for Macintosh with color profiles isn't great. You may be better off picking up a used Windows laptop for $150, and using it for your printing. It might also be possible to run Windows emulation on your Mac, though I'm not sure how well printer profiles are supported. It can cost more to set up Windows on a Mac than to just buy a used laptop through Craigslist.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Hello all! Bought my first sublimation printer, an epson workforce 30. Installed the sublimation inks and everything is working. My only issue is that I'm running it off my macbook pro and through sawgrass they don't offer the profile for the printer to print sub ink. The prints come out crisp but dark and when transferred onto a shirt they don't pop very well. Even on 100% poly. I have only done a handful of transfers but none have looked great. Anyone else have this issue and find a solution?


I probably didn't give you enough info in my other post about Conde's support for MAC and sublimation.

Conde has ICC's for both MAC and PC that they do on their own outside of Sawgrass. There has always been limited Power Driver use on the MAC side but using an ICC profile instead of Power Driver _solves_ that problem on the MAC.

Conde has sublimation ICC's for download on their site but you need "Partner Net" access so you have to call them for that. At that time suggest you explain your situation to them even though I think you didn't buy your inks from them. 

They might want you to order something from them in exchange to get that access (which I think is reasonable).

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpvjhCoX2a8[/media]


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

GordonM said:


> Some other ideas:
> 
> The Workforce 30 can lay down a lot of ink. Try backing down by using the Plain paper mode, and Photo rather than Best Photo. The driver for the WF30 won't let you select certain combinations using the High Speed option, so play around with that as well. Turning off High Speed on a WF30 will affect the amount of ink, because (as I recall) it always forces Best Photo.
> 
> ...


Not sure I understand your comment about ICC usage on MAC, so that I don't misuderstand you you are referring to ink vendor support or MAC OS support for ICC profiles as well as the MAC graphic apps supporting ICC's from Adobe?

So many graphics pros and photographers are using MAC that use ICC's so I would presume you mean poor sub ink vendor ICC support on the MAC.

In the video I posted there is some discussion about using VMware on a MAC, seems even Corel Draw can be used if you do that.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

GordonM said:


> Some other ideas:
> 
> The Workforce 30 can lay down a lot of ink. Try backing down by using the Plain paper mode, and Photo rather than Best Photo. The driver for the WF30 won't let you select certain combinations using the High Speed option, so play around with that as well. Turning off High Speed on a WF30 will affect the amount of ink, because (as I recall) it always forces Best Photo.
> 
> ...


In the case of VMware this is actually virtualization and not emulation. I think that emulation is not so common nowadays since MAC moved to Intel processors.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/fusion_getting_started_11.pdf

VMware Fusion - Migrating Your Windows PC to Your Mac Easily


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## Agfracing (Nov 21, 2011)

Alright. I checked out cobras site and found an icc profile for the wf30 and sublimation ink. Its way better then it was. But the colors don't pop very good on a 50/50 shirt like I've seen on the forums here. My blacks look dull and not very dark. Looks like an old shirt thats faded.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Alright. I checked out cobras site and found an icc profile for the wf30 and sublimation ink. Its way better then it was. But the colors don't pop very good on a 50/50 shirt like I've seen on the forums here. My blacks look dull and not very dark. Looks like an old shirt thats faded.


You can't get real "pop" on a 50/50. Has more to do with the 50/50 construction of the tshirt than it does with the inks. Some brands the polyester is more on the outer "weave" than on the inside, so it may appear more bold. But if you want real pop needs to be 100% poly. 50/50 can really only give you a vintage look.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Alright. I checked out cobras site and found an icc profile for the wf30 and sublimation ink. Its way better then it was. But the colors don't pop very good on a 50/50 shirt like I've seen on the forums here. My blacks look dull and not very dark. Looks like an old shirt thats faded.


You shouldn't count on that profile for color accuracy since the inks are a different formula, it may help it somewhat but those inks are different, I use them.

Use Cobra's profile for Cobra's inks. Since you have an investment in expensive Sawgrass inks your only real option is Conde's ICC for MAC, otherwise your output on those expensive inks is limited.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Alright. I checked out cobras site and found an icc profile for the wf30 and sublimation ink. Its way better then it was. But the colors don't pop very good on a 50/50 shirt like I've seen on the forums here. My blacks look dull and not very dark. Looks like an old shirt thats faded.


I think I may have made an assuption on your actual inks since you are trying to use a Cobra profile with a different brand of inks ...

Do you have inks not made by Sawgrass and was trying to use Sawgrass color managment with those?

In that case Conde's ICC, Cobra's ICC, or Sawgrass Power driver is not the right setup.

If your inks are not supplied with a profile made for those inks and your printer model you need to get profile for those inks that was made on your printer model, someone else inks profile is not the way to go.


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## Agfracing (Nov 21, 2011)

Im running sawgrass ink and wasn't able to find a mac .icc through sawgrass.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

mgparrish said:


> So many graphics pros and photographers are using MAC that use ICC's so I would presume you mean poor sub ink vendor ICC support on the MAC.


Yes, sub ink vendors.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Agfracing said:


> But the colors don't pop very good on a 50/50 shirt like I've seen on the forums here. My blacks look dull and not very dark. Looks like an old shirt thats faded.


What Mike said about 50/50. If you want to test the capabilities of your system, you need to do it with all the right parts, and not with a fabric that dispersion dyes won't even affect.

Are you in the US? Do you have a Joann store near you? If so, go online, join Joann's mail list, and get a 50% Off One Item coupon. Visit the store (you can also do it online), and get the 100% poly I mentioned. It's about $8 a yard, $4 with the coupon. You only need one yard to start.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Agfracing said:


> Im running sawgrass ink and wasn't able to find a mac .icc through sawgrass.


Well I wasn't sure. For Sawgrass inks Sawgrass offers Power Driver only. Power Driver is not an ICC, it is a printer utility that has the ICC's built in, it substitutes for the Epson driver, but it is not a stand alone ICC. Only Conde offers ICC's for Sawgrass inks.

Artainium (also sold by Sawgrass) only offers ICC profiles but no printer utility like Power Driver.

Power Driver is a printer driver with advanced features, wheras an ICC file is just a file describing the color correction.


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## ladyjn13 (Aug 24, 2009)

mgparrish said:


> You can't get real "pop" on a 50/50. Has more to do with the 50/50 construction of the tshirt than it does with the inks. Some brands the polyester is more on the outer "weave" than on the inside, so it may appear more bold. But if you want real pop needs to be 100% poly. 50/50 can really only give you a vintage look.


 We use Gilden Dry Blend 50/50, TexPrint HR paper (95% release), and Cotton Trans 50/50 Spray. Our colors pop, no vintage look here. In fact on white shirts, we get almost a true WYSIWYG.

Our customer couldn't be happier!


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

ladyjn13 said:


> We use Gilden Dry Blend 50/50, TexPrint HR paper (95% release), and Cotton Trans 50/50 Spray. Our colors pop, no vintage look here. In fact on white shirts, we get almost a true WYSIWYG.
> 
> Our customer couldn't be happier!


Yes, but that would be due to your prepping with the Trans spray. Laser sub toner does better that dye sub inks (without prepping) as the base toner will add some color (but not 100%) to the cotton fibers, but still not as good as 100% poly, but for text and line art a little bit better than vintage looking.

As opposed to chemical/spray prepping on white tshirts have you tried using a paper like JPSS as the "prep"? Much easier to apply, no hand after the first wash and no "window" on white 50/50. The end result would be the same, a polymer placed on the tshirt for the dyes to hold onto.


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## ladyjn13 (Aug 24, 2009)

The spray is extremely light and there is no hand even before the first wash. It could not be any simpler.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

ladyjn13 said:


> The spray is extremely light and there is no hand even before the first wash. It could not be any simpler.


What are you you using to apply the spray? Going back a few years some of the laser sub toner users were doing this and had somewhat automated with electric sprayers and dedicated areas in their work area for the processing, but they were banging out tshirts all day long where a "assembly" line kind of thing could occur.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Mike, Coast is pretty good as a seller. If you haven't tried them they're decent to work with. I have not used their 50/50 spray, but I've bought some other specialty sub items from them. They are one of the only US sellers of true 95% release sub paper. (Julie mentioned TexPrint HR, which I don't believe is 95%. But Coast does sell some. It tends to smear black on my Epsons, but for other designs, it works fairly well)


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

GordonM said:


> Mike, Coast is pretty good as a seller. If you haven't tried them they're decent to work with. I have not used their 50/50 spray, but I've bought some other specialty sub items from them. They are one of the only US sellers of true 95% release sub paper. (Julie mentioned TexPrint HR, which I don't believe is 95%. But Coast does sell some. It tends to smear black on my Epsons, but for other designs, it works fairly well)


Seems I have bought from them years ago, they have been around a long time.

For the 50/50 spraying doesn't make a good fit for me since I am space limited as it is. I can see dust issues while the stuff is drying and being applied unless you setup a good clean space to keep the stuff while it is being processed.

If one has the space and can work this into a "science" and does enough tshirts may be OK. 

For me I don't see the advantage of this over using JPSS 50/50 and pigments inks on white tshirts. I always show washed samples of tshirts to my customers, they understand the hand is only after pressing and gone after washing. Most people will wash a printed shirt like these before wearing anyway.

But we all do what works for us.


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## ladyjn13 (Aug 24, 2009)

We purchase the 50/50 spray by the gallon, put it in a $0.99 Store plastic spray bottle, mist the shirt, pre-press the shirt for 10 seconds, and then sublimate at 380*F for 65 seconds. Voila! 

If we are doing a pocket piece on the front and another image on the back, mist the pocket piece area, pre-press, sublimate, flip, repeat. We have two swing away GEOKnight presses and do production line work, passing shirts between the presses and then final press for labeling.

We were using the 95% release paper religiously from Coast Graphic Supply until we had horrible feeding issues with our new printer. The Epson WF-7010 has a curved paper path (like a Laser printer) and gave us fits with the Coast paper. The Beaver TexPrint HR is indeed a 95% release paper and does not have any feeding issues.

We keep the one cassette tray loaded with 8.5"x11" paper and the other loaded with 11"x17". We are loving this setup.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

ladyjn13 said:


> We purchase the 50/50 spray by the gallon, put it in a $0.99 Store plastic spray bottle, mist the shirt, pre-press the shirt for 10 seconds, and then sublimate at 380*F for 65 seconds. Voila!
> 
> If we are doing a pocket piece on the front and another image on the back, mist the pocket piece area, pre-press, sublimate, flip, repeat. We have two swing away GEOKnight presses and do production line work, passing shirts between the presses and then final press for labeling.
> 
> ...


Seems some of the laser sub toner people were using a "mask" of sorts over the spray area to help keep the overspray out of areas where it doesn't need to be, of course they had electric sprayers which = time to setup and clean up afterwards, you are manually spraying so no issues with cleaning the sprayer so much perhaps. 

Curious how this works on light color tshirts in terms of "backgrounding", but if it works for you that is what really counts.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

Mike, The poly spray I've used has the consistency of water, and is completely water soluble. You can just keep it in the sprayer and it won't clog up. I have used the kind of sprayer where you can turn the nozzle to close off the opening. Don't know if that helps or not.

Another possibility is to use a Preval sprayer, which turns the liquid into an aerosol spray, like out of a can. I'm not sure it's really needed, and it's an extra expense. 

Julie, I'm still not sure TexPrint HR is 95% release. Beaver does not make that claim, and the two papers have a distinctly different surface feel. The true 95% paper is so sticky and tends to wick up moisture so much that its curl cannot be undone. These aren't problems with TPHR. For me, I require a true high release paper for printing onto 100% polyester plastic sheets. TPHR works poorly as it has insufficient release, whereas the 95% release paper Coast sell does. Did Coast tell you it's 95%, or did you read that elsewhere?


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