# compatible sublimation ink



## MR.NEED ANSWERS (Jul 14, 2008)

i would like to know are their any compatible replacement inks for sublimation inks for a cheaper price but still hold a nice quality ...
bottles etc. that i can buy to refill ...either a refill cartridges or an cis bulk system ?

because i know their are inks that are compatible to pigment inks ...like the HT inks & mis inks etc


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

Unfortunately Sawgrass holds the patent for sublimation inks. Sublimation ink isn't an inkjet ink as such, but a specialist ink, produced for a specialist purpose.


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## bulldog1 (Feb 18, 2008)

DREAMGLASS said:


> Unfortunately Sawgrass holds the patent for sublimation inks. Sublimation ink isn't an inkjet ink as such, but a specialist ink, produced for a specialist purpose.


With all due respect to Sawgrass and the money they invested to invent this ink; I almost feel hostage to them just like we are beholden to the oil companies for gas pricing. What Sawgrass did to Texas Original Graphics when the owner of TOG invented a viable alternative to Sawgrass is nothing more than the type of tactic that Microsoft does when someone like Netscape make an alternative product that was just as good, or better than the Internet Explorer that Microsoft had. I bought ink from TOG and it was a very good quality and the price was about half that of Sawgrass. After the court hearing where Sawgrass sued TOG for infrigement on their patents, the judge basically saw that TOG's formula did not violate Sawgrass' patents and instead of fighting on to win the good fight, TOG succombed to Sawgrass' money and allowed them to "acquire" TOG's sublimation ink division for a boat-load of money. It's us little guys that continue to pay $75+ for one sticking ink cartridge for an Epson C-88 (times 4 when you need all colors) that are taking it in the shorts. Sawgrass and their greed is literally forcing small companies like ours to move away from sublimation and over to Vinyl cutting. Another advantage to moving away from the high cost of Sublimation inks is the high cost ($4.78+ for one white T-shirt) and thickness of the special 50% Poly-on-the-outside shirts that you MUST buy in order to use the sublimation process. Can't even use dark colored shirts. Now compare this to vinyl cutting, and T-shirts that cost $1.50. 

I'm all for making a buck yet Sawgrass is literally killing the industry through their greed.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

Here in Europe we can buy a small Epson printer for around £30 ($60), a CIS for around the same figure, but four small bottles of Sawgrass ink costs about £230 ($460). To put that into perspective, the ink costs *seven* times that of the printer itself.


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

jimjobin said:


> With all due respect to Sawgrass and the money they invested to invent this ink; I almost feel hostage to them just like we are beholden to the oil companies for gas pricing. What Sawgrass did to Texas Original Graphics when the owner of TOG invented a viable alternative to Sawgrass is nothing more than the type of tactic that Microsoft does when someone like Netscape make an alternative product that was just as good, or better than the Internet Explorer that Microsoft had. I bought ink from TOG and it was a very good quality and the price was about half that of Sawgrass. After the court hearing where Sawgrass sued TOG for infrigement on their patents, the judge basically saw that TOG's formula did not violate Sawgrass' patents and instead of fighting on to win the good fight, TOG succombed to Sawgrass' money and allowed them to "acquire" TOG's sublimation ink division for a boat-load of money. It's us little guys that continue to pay $75+ for one sticking ink cartridge for an Epson C-88 (times 4 when you need all colors) that are taking it in the shorts. Sawgrass and their greed is literally forcing small companies like ours to move away from sublimation and over to Vinyl cutting. Another advantage to moving away from the high cost of Sublimation inks is the high cost ($4.78+ for one white T-shirt) and thickness of the special 50% Poly-on-the-outside shirts that you MUST buy in order to use the sublimation process. Can't even use dark colored shirts. Now compare this to vinyl cutting, and T-shirts that cost $1.50.
> 
> I'm all for making a buck yet Sawgrass is literally killing the industry through their greed.


 the process of sublimation has been around much longer than the Sawgrass company. The process was discovered in the 30's, I still don't understand how sawgrass pulled this off. I guess if you fight long enough and have the deepest pockets you can buy the verdict you want. .... JB


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

Sawgrasss will never have any political or financial clout, in the far eastern countries that are currently flooding the world market with cheap sublimation inks. Basic commercial sense dictates that if you have a product that is perceived as being very expensive, then other businesses (and individuals) will inevitably find alternative solutions.


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## bulldog1 (Feb 18, 2008)

Wish they'd hurry up and get here! I'd like another vendor for sublimation ink.


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## milabix (Apr 18, 2008)

COEDS said:


> the process of sublimation has been around much longer than the Sawgrass company. The process was discovered in the 30's, I still don't understand how sawgrass pulled this off. I guess if you fight long enough and have the deepest pockets you can buy the verdict you want. .... JB


I hate to always defend Sawgrass, however while the dye sublimation process was discovered in the 30's inkjet printers did not exist yet. Sawgrass holds the patent on formulating an inkjet ink with the dye sublimation dyes which is not an easy task (they might not have been the first to invent it, however they where the first to file the patent and leglly that is all you need to do). Not to long ago dye sublimation inks would be no better than todays white ink solution on the DTG's. The ink would separate and clog the heads in a matter of days.

I'm not a Sawgrass fan, but my issue with them has more to do with their attitude and outrageous pricing than their right to the patents. I am also not a fan of the negative talk about this issue; BASF one of the largest chemical conglomerates in the world setteled and acquired a license from Sawgrass... they certainly have the resources to squash Sawgrass... but they didn't because legally sawgrass is right.

At the end everybody has a choice... go wide, use a printer that is above 42" and buy ink from a variety of other suppliers at half the price. This is also my advice to the original poster of this thread, good luck.

Milabix


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## milabix (Apr 18, 2008)

DREAMGLASS said:


> Sawgrasss will never have any political or financial clout, in the far eastern countries that are currently flooding the world market with cheap sublimation inks.


The far east also floods the market with cheap pirated dvd's.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

I don't think that anyone is disputing that Sawgrass have helped to develop the sublimation technology Mike. It is their excessive pricing that is the problem. It does nothing to help promote sublimation as a print method. 

Fortunately I was given a couple of wide format printers by someone going over to DTG, so I now buy inks at a much more realistic price. How these printers differ to a smaller inkjet other than their physical size, is not clear to me? I sometimes wonder if it is more to do with businesses that run many of these larger machines, having more financial leverage to successfully challenge Sawgrass in the courts?

It is true that far eastern countries flood the market with copies of everything. I bought a cheap Chinese made swingaway press off EBay, as I wanted something compact, for some of the smaller stuff I sell. It was only some months afterwards, I realised it is a virtual copy of a George Knight machine. To give the Chinese their credit though, they did introduce a semi floating top platen and a more comfortable handle assembly, that did not feature on the original machine.


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## gunatausa (Mar 21, 2011)

bulldog1 said:


> With all due respect to Sawgrass and the money they invested to invent this ink; I almost feel hostage to them just like we are beholden to the oil companies for gas pricing. What Sawgrass did to Texas Original Graphics when the owner of TOG invented a viable alternative to Sawgrass is nothing more than the type of tactic that Microsoft does when someone like Netscape make an alternative product that was just as good, or better than the Internet Explorer that Microsoft had. I bought ink from TOG and it was a very good quality and the price was about half that of Sawgrass. After the court hearing where Sawgrass sued TOG for infrigement on their patents, the judge basically saw that TOG's formula did not violate Sawgrass' patents and instead of fighting on to win the good fight, TOG succombed to Sawgrass' money and allowed them to "acquire" TOG's sublimation ink division for a boat-load of money. It's us little guys that continue to pay $75+ for one sticking ink cartridge for an Epson C-88 (times 4 when you need all colors) that are taking it in the shorts. Sawgrass and their greed is literally forcing small companies like ours to move away from sublimation and over to Vinyl cutting. Another advantage to moving away from the high cost of Sublimation inks is the high cost ($4.78+ for one white T-shirt) and thickness of the special 50% Poly-on-the-outside shirts that you MUST buy in order to use the sublimation process. Can't even use dark colored shirts. Now compare this to vinyl cutting, and T-shirts that cost $1.50.
> 
> I'm all for making a buck yet Sawgrass is literally killing the industry through their greed.


 hey dude i feel the same way 
but dont worry 
I will find soon a replacement for this disaster ink 
here is some cool stuff to check:
Subli TOPIC 

Please, note that I put a lot of links here but be aware that I’m not advertising or trying to bias your opinion ,I’m here simply to give you more info and then u can do your own research.
I will be more than happy only to learn from you if you get more or new info.
SUBLIMATION INKS is my favorite HOT topic at the moment. - March 2011
I just hate to pay 120 $ for 110 Milliliters water plus some drops of paint. 
There is Company called Sawgrass out there that want to make all people in this business to live in “consent reality” and look like idiots. I’m not a revolutionary guy or anything like that I just don’t like when people get stupid by numbers and agree with the bad situations in the world.
They are alternatives j Here are some of them 
Site that sells Sublimation inks from SINOINKS
sublimation
Their Inks are very low price 25$ per litter but the delivery to USA is 150$ for 4 Litters

The inks are actually from this company
FUJIINKS-Top Quality Dye Sublimation Inks For Digital Heat Transfer Printing
and they sell them here : Fujiinks - Top Quality Dye Sublimation Inks For Digital Transfer Printing 
the delivery there is 135$ to USA 
The inks are NOT good for EPSON 1400 they will clog the heads immediately 
To go around drying inks you need 
CLEANING PRINT HEAD SOFTWARE 
Download Printer Jockey
If you are all about using not original inks the money for this software will return back to you in 1 day. I would very strongly recommend this software for anybody using sublimation inks.
It’s the best cleaning print heads software for many model printers mostly Epson brand
bad thing is that one of the best option that allows scheduling cleanings Don’t work as soon as you exit the program/ software
In order this best option of the software to work you can’t exit the program. It has to stay always open on your desktop or minimized in the bar/ this inconvenience sucks.
http://www.c-horsesoftware.com company has to take this note and fix this inconvenience in the future.


Apollo Colours screen and litho ink manufacturer in the UK - Inks for Textiles
Company specialized in some interesting typeof inks 
Welcome to Sensient Technologies
Company that produce inks and other chemicals 

DyeSub.org - An educational site for dye sublimation and digital transfer printing.
Cool site for sublimation info A lot of info there a little bit outdated but very good 

Amazon.com: Sublimation Ink-CMKY for Heat Transfer Printing: Office Products
This is a link to show that Sublimation inks are sold not only by Sawgrass
This link in Amazon is up to date of my post may be in few weeks will disappear but you can search Sublimation inks in Google shopping cart or Amazon or eBay and you will find all sort of sublimation inks.

Ink World - The Most Widely Read Ink Magazine in the World
the Magazine everybody in printing should know about.
Ink World - The Most Widely Read Ink Magazine in the World
Here the same magazine listing a lot of US ink companies.
Home
company in Colorado USA selling Sublimation inks 
OTHER INKJET PRINTER INKS RECOMMENDATION
http://fillserv.com
Reseller of all type of inks, They do very good business and have very good prices
I buy inks for Canon IP Pixma printers from them by the gallon the price is very good for the excellent quality 
I saved ” big time “using my 20 Units Pixma ip 4700 and couple of 13 x 19 Canons
other site for supplies
Sublimation, Sublimation Ink, Sublimation ink cartridge, Heat press
SUBLIMATION PAPER 
http://beaverpaper.com/index.php/dye_sublimation_products/
The manufacturer of the best sublimation paper for Epson Printers using Sublimation Inks

Other companies for SUBLIMATION Suplies

www.acp.com

www.joto.com

www.trdistributors.com

www.imprintsusa.com

www.coastgraphicsupply.com

www.printa.com

www.welshproducts.com
ONLINE DESIGN T SHIRTS
Designing t-shirt online software offered by these companies: 
Do your own research and make selection between them 
I would recommend to call them and negotiate before buying anything:
CBSALLIANCE.COM | Online Custom Designer & Online Design Software, Custom Online T-shirt Design Software, Best LiveArt T Shirt Design Tool, Website & Web Development Application
design tool - designer - t shirt - ad specialties - expertLogo
E-commerce Website Development of Custom T-Shirt Design Software, Clothing, Accessory, apparel & Shoes.
Flash T-Shirt Designer v4
Online Design Software, Online Lettering Design, Online T-Shirt Design and Online Boat Lettering Design Tool - LiveArt
A video on how a tshirt printing company used DecoNetwork to help achieve their online goals
Online Flex / Flash T-shirt Design Tool, Custom Shirt Design Software Application
T-Shirt Design Software - Flash Tools 4.0 Download
Online Design Software, T Shirt Lettering Design Software, Printing Design Software - iScripts PrintLogic
One in infancy (very primitive) but its free 
jQuery Online T-Shirt Designer (Lite Version) for FREE!! | Intrapopture Studio
I will include more solutions in other posts 

Here is an interesting review for 2011
Custom T-Shirt Design Service Review 2011 - TopTenREVIEWS

Check all links to see who are the main players in the market and thinks what you can do better than them. Do some extensive research about the business aspect of these companies .It’s not wise idea to get into a business without knowing what it is going on at that business already. I see many people are just thrilled with the idea of t-shirt business and invest thousands of dollars and later on admitted it as that huge mistake. The equipment and the technology is just about 10 % of the entire business.
Be Very careful to buy expensive equipment before to get some clear idea for potential markets.

Here is info about color profiles:
6) Installing & Using

Have a good luck researching 
I’m in pain looking for a very good ink for T shirt on a good price It has to give me result as the original sawgrass inks but at 50 times cheaper price 
I use Epson 1400 but if cheap solution for inks exist I will switch to other printers immediately.
The price of the equipment’s( start up cost ) is not very important for me but the price of the supplies is very important . Whats the point to buy 300 $ printer and than to be forced to buy 1000 $ ink set. That is definitely not for me .
If someone knows good solution please help 





FUN
People representing “THE PRINT PARTY” 
Here are some fun videos in You tube. I myself discovered all these stuff for the last 10 years observing what printer manufacturers are doing starting with the Non chipped cartridges for Canon printers 2001
So Im asking what will be the next insane move of the printer manufacturers to make/force You to buy consumables .
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvo77iyQCoM[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCFLam5wn5I[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycD4XkUtbIw[/media]


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## subinks (Nov 21, 2011)

Great article.


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## BigBark (Sep 2, 2011)

MR.NEED ANSWERS said:


> i would like to know are their any compatible replacement inks for sublimation inks for a cheaper price but still hold a nice quality ...
> bottles etc. that i can buy to refill ...either a refill cartridges or an cis bulk system ?
> 
> because i know their are inks that are compatible to pigment inks ...like the HT inks & mis inks etc


Amazon.com: NANO Brand Sublimation Ink for EPSON 69 ink printers - 4 Bottles- 100 ml/Each - Black, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow plus 4 refill syringe: Office Products for ink refil
Amazon.com: 4 Pack Nd Brand Compatible Ink Cartridge for Epson 69, Workforce 30 40 500 600 610 Cx5000 Cx6000 Cx7400 Cx8400 Cx9400 Nx400 Nx300 Nx515 Nx415 Nx615 Refillable Cartridge with Sublimation Pigment Ink and ARC Chip.: Office Products
cartridges

Works with epson workforce 30 printer (69.99 new)


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