# Buying Sublimation ink and cartridges



## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I've been looking on this forum and looking into buying ink for sub. shirts, mugs, plagues and so on. I just bought a Epson stylus pro 4800 printer and it is a 2006 model brand new in the box believe it or not. The ink that came with it is 4 sublijets for the left and 4 chromablast for the right all never been opened. I'm afraid to use it because of it's shelve life. Where would anybody recommend to buy and I've been looking at the refillables because it's going to cost me $800 plus for new cartridges. I've talked to a couple of vendors one was cheap and one was high but quality is my most concern. I know this is a lung full but thanks for for any advice.


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## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

Where in the world are you, and are you intending to use this just for sublimation, or do you want to run it hybrid?


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I'm in east Ky and I'm just trying to find out what is the best setup it came as it looks set up for hybrid as far as the ink cartridges go but as I said there to old I believe to use expiration date being in 08. I want to do sublimation but as far as I understand you have to do one or the other it would be nice to do more if there is a way enlighten me. I'm trying to gather all my facts before I buy any ink. I already do heat transfer vinyl and embroidery. I've got some advice from a couple of others but finding compatible refillable ink. I do a lot of 100% cotton on vinyl pigment ink with would work for that I have read but I want to do mugs and so on.


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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

You can run it as a hybird with dye sub on one side and photo on the other. This way you can print pictures and do sublimation. You will need a rip that can run a hybrid setup like that. We use film maker and have 2 4800 hybirds. One is dye sub and black max, the other is dye sub and photo.

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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

This printer came with a power driver IQ 1.4 version CD I've been reading and it seems like that is something like that not real clear about it. I came with 4 sublijet and 4 chromablast. don't really know what the chromablast is for sublimation or other. I would like to maybe do either sublimation for sure and or 100% cotton with pigment ink or maybe posters or something like that. Where do you find film maker I tried to goggle but no cigar. And do you use refills or the manufactured cartridges and if you don't mind where do you get them. I figure if you have 2 4800 you knoweverthing I'm trying to find out.


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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

I am just taking a guess but you probably got the cmyk for the chrome and another cmyk for the sub. Chrome will do photo and sub will do the sublimation. Im not familiar with the software that you mentioned. 
I do use refill carts for both printers. I purchased the carts and the RIP from american screen supply. 
As for the cotton shirts, I dont know if the chrome inks will work and/or what paper to use since I dont print transfers for that. I only print my personal photos from my 4800 and that is all. The sublimation and film ink gets used the most.

I dont know if the 8 year old ink is still good but im pretty sure they have expired. Call an epson rep for that one.

You can call Fred at american screen supply and he will tell you everything you need to know. The guy is like splinter when it comes to this stuff.

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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I stand corrected. I found filmmaker and it was about $500 more big bucks. I know that's not terribly bad for a good software but I have about $2000 dollars worth of software for my embroidery and vinyl machines and right now I'm just trying to afford some ink. I could pull it out of the old bank account of my own but we started this business first of the year and I'm trying to wean it off of me. I've got about $20,000 in the start up and it is starting to make it's own way but a man has got to do what a man has got to do I guess....Just doing a little whining...


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

Thanks that is kind of what I'm thinking from what you told me. And from what I've read the cotton doesn't do all that well I was told you have to use pigment ink. I think I would like to do poster type things on the other end because I can do a lot with the vinyl bling and rhinestone stuff on cotton shirts. I seen where you was talking about cleaning fluid on the right side in my 1st post. What would be the advantage of that ?


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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

You would run cleaning fluid on the other side only if they are not in use. So for example, if you are only doing cmyk sublimation on one side, you don't and can't run the other side dry. So instead of buying and wasting ink for the side you dont use, you put cleaning solution in the refill carts. It a whole lot cheaper. 

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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I see. That might be an option for me at first the hang up would be the rip software. I may be able to do that with the power driver that came with it. It's for a dual config. It's made by sawgrass. probably want work for nothing but them.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

As for the cotton shirts, I dont know if the chrome inks will work and/or what paper to use since I dont print transfers for that.


I read that chromablast is for cotton and sublijet is for sublimation. You have to use chromablast paper I read it is much higher in price. Some of that came with this printer. They both need light colored garments. Didn't say if it would do photo type stuff or not. If so that would be great. But if a guy wanted to do ink refills what ink would that be ?


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Tcrow said:


> I've been looking on this forum and looking into buying ink for sub. shirts, mugs, plagues and so on. I just bought a Epson stylus pro 4800 printer and it is a 2006 model brand new in the box believe it or not. The ink that came with it is 4 sublijets for the left and 4 chromablast for the right all never been opened. I'm afraid to use it because of it's shelve life. Where would anybody recommend to buy and I've been looking at the refillables because it's going to cost me $800 plus for new cartridges. I've talked to a couple of vendors one was cheap and one was high but quality is my most concern. I know this is a lung full but thanks for for any advice.


If I were you I would not run those 8 year old inks in your printer. Those are so far past expiration you are putting your printer at risk.

If you are not going to use those old inks (I would hope) then you have a few options.

*Option 1.* 

Buy _new _inks and use as either hybrid or dual CMYK, Sublijet IQ + Chromablast. 

You had indicated that you had a use for printing on cotton, and you could also do 50/50s this way with the Chromablast option too.

A dealer such as Conde Systems would give you more info on this setup but for your reference you can read more about this at ...

http://sawgrassink.indigofiles.com/product_documentation/hybrid/Epson_4800_Hybrid_Ink_Config_Instructions.pdf.pdf

There is a dual CMYK/Hybrid Power Driver on SG website. Look underneath ... "Drivers and Profiles for Printers No Longer Available on the Market:"

http://www.sawgrassink.com/technical-support/sublijet/powerdrivers

*Option 2.*

Use as an 8 color printer.

This could be either Sawgrass Sublijet IQ, Artainium (SG) or a 3rd party ink source such as Cobra inks. 

That printer is old so Cobra doesn't have an ICC for that but they have 8 color inks and do custom ICC's for $25

Cobra's inks are around 1/5 the price of SG inks.

https://cobraink.com/index.htm

*Option 3.* 

Use Multirip Hybrid.about $650 for the lite version. If you also need for screen positives then the full version is $850.

http://www.multirip.com/hybridrip.html

The lite version will allow hybrid printing 

Sublimation. 

Sawgrass Sublijet IQ or Sawgrass Artainium

Inkjet non-sublimation transfer using a polymer carrier paper.

Chromablast (light garments only)
MultiInk (light or dark garments.

*Option 4.*

Use a different 3rd party RIP for hybrid or dual CMYK not listed above. I can't speak to these specifically except that you may have more flexibility on the ink selections if using dual CMYK or Hybrid.

*******

Having said all that. Chromablast is nothing more than pigment ink printing on a polymer based transfer paper. You can use any good pigment ink and good quality transfer paper such as JPSS and get the same or better results and at a much lower cost. 

Your most cost effective route is to use the printer as 8 color sub printer and get 3rd party sub inks, the SG patent will expire the 1st of September and there will be a much wider and more competitive inks selection soon.

For your 100% cotton or 50/50 transfers suggest get good pigment and JPSS transfer paper AND buy a $200 or less Epson tabloid size model. Do you really need 17 inch wide transfers for pigment inks?

No RIP software would be needed, no expensive inks. Only a low cost printer would be required to do the pigment transfers.

Anyway, something to chew on.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I do appreciate the advice and no I'm not going to use the old ink. I'll more than likely take them apart and see what makes them tick. The thing is although the printer is old and I don't 7" but I have it and It's never been used. Why not use it ? I would like to maybe do posters or something and sub. if that was possible without buying a $400 dollar program or more. If not I might use it for regular things or so. Just checking options and I can see what you say. Not really sure about the cottons because what I have read they don't do all that well even with pigment inks as do sub. But you have gave me something to chew on and thanks again.


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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

I would be willing to buy it from you. Where are you located? 

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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

don't know what the 7" thing was about . must of taken a trip to lulu land or something. I did talk to cobraink and there sending me a some samples. I don't know what sub. wood do around here. There eating me up on vinyl transfers. School starting and all. So I'm thinking by using this printer would be cheaper to go with the 8 colors cmyk on the left and the Lt. Bl Lt. cyan Lt. meg. and Lt.Lt. Bl. and running I thing the it's called oem or something. And if that is right why would that be cheaper.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

Thanks ole buddy but I think I'll hang on to it. I haven't given up hope yet. I'm old to and I'm sure my drivers are off the market but I'm still running. And by the way I do appreciate your input. I'm in eastern Ky where you at. I tried to call A.S.S but couldn't get thru, will try again.


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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

Tcrow said:


> Thanks ole buddy but I think I'll hang on to it. I haven't given up hope yet. I'm old to and I'm sure my drivers are off the market but I'm still running. And by the way I do appreciate your input. I'm in eastern Ky where you at. I tried to call A.S.S but couldn't get thru, will try again.


HAHAHAHA thats funny. It's sometimes hard to get A.S.S. on the the phone. But dont worry, that A.S.S. is great! 

Sorry. I had to.

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## DPendable (Dec 21, 2012)

Oh yeah, im in AZ. let me know if you need anything. Good luck.

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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Tcrow said:


> don't know what the 7" thing was about . must of taken a trip to lulu land or something. I did talk to cobraink and there sending me a some samples. I don't know what sub. wood do around here. There eating me up on vinyl transfers. School starting and all. *So I'm thinking by using this printer would be cheaper to go with the 8 colors cmyk on the left and the Lt. Bl Lt. cyan Lt. meg. and Lt.Lt. Bl. and running I thing the it's called oem or something. And if that is right why would that be cheaper*.


OEM means you would be using Epsons pigment inks $$. If you use 3rd party pigment inks like Cobra those are much much cheaper than Epson carts. But you would need to know how to refill and reset refillable carts. 

If you go all 8 colors then your printer is married to only one type of ink type, sublimation or pigment. Keep this in mind as you need to make a firm decision on what inks go in initially. On this printer switching ink types is a PITA and expense. Being "OEM" only means you are using Epsons inks and not refilling carts or 3rd party sealed non-refillable carts, pigment or sublimation, but not from Epson.

I use 8 color pigment inks in a 4880 from Cobra with refillable carts.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

hey dpendable just got off the phone with A.S.S. and they really have good prices. Would like to talk to you more about there ink. And a few things if you don't mind. I'll get back to you later. They seem to be affordable any direction I want to go. I'm thinking the split software might work that is with it checking on it but if not I might be buying a rip. Couldn't be no worse than digitizing for embroidery.The software is called powerdriver IQ which I think I already said. If not I'll go another way but it is designed to split the to sides, sub. on one side and pigment ink on the other we'll see.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

DPendable said:


> HAHAHAHA thats funny. It's sometimes hard to get A.S.S. on the the phone. But dont worry, that A.S.S. is great!
> 
> Sorry. I had to.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using T-Shirt Forums


I asked for t didn't I ?


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

I have talked to cobraink and they are sending me some samples. I found some more info about the powerdriver or chromablast split system and what it does is split the channels for sublimation on the left and chromablast on the right in short. Sub. ink on left and pigment on right. That's really the way I might would go with it and I believe the 3rd party I assume you mean refillables would work the same way with that software the printer should only know what the software is telling it I would think. I talked to American screen supply today. I've learnt to spell that out. 
and there prices were a lot more affordable if there isn't any difference in the ink quality. But cobraink is a lot closer to me. Tn and I'm in Ky. If you know anything more about the split setup I'm all ears.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Tcrow said:


> I have talked to cobraink and they are sending me some samples. I found some more info about the powerdriver or chromablast split system and what it does is split the channels for sublimation on the left and chromablast on the right in short. Sub. ink on left and pigment on right. That's really the way I might would go with it and I believe the 3rd party I assume you mean refillables would work the same way with that software the printer should only know what the software is telling it I would think. I talked to American screen supply today. I've learnt to spell that out.
> and there prices were a lot more affordable if there isn't any difference in the ink quality. But cobraink is a lot closer to me. Tn and I'm in Ky. If you know anything more about the split setup I'm all ears.


 You can only use Sawgrass inks if you use Power driver, although the software "splits" the carts in hybrid mode, or dual cmyk mode, the color management is built in and specific to Sawgrass Sublijet IQ and Chromablast. 

You can't use 3rd party inks with Power Driver!


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

That sucks, So my choice is get a r.i.p. for a dual setup and to do a sub. on one side and pigment on the other. And correct me if I've got this wrong. What do you think about filmmaker r.i.p. it is a bit cheaper. If I can split it with a r.i.p. then that's the way I will go. I just like to research all I can before I make a move I don't get in no hurry as you can probably see.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

So what your saying is that I can't do a split with a third party ink without a r.i.p. of some kind. What do you know about filmmaker it is a bit cheaper and sub. and cotton or something is all I'm planning on doing. And whats is the difference between inks from these different ( third party inks) vendors


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Tcrow said:


> So what your saying is that I can't do a split with a third party ink without a r.i.p. of some kind. What do you know about filmmaker it is a bit cheaper and sub. and cotton or something is all I'm planning on doing. And whats is the difference between inks from these different ( third party inks) vendors


 That is correct, you need a special utility such as Power Driver, a RIP like multi-rip, or a 3rd party RIP. 

SG and MultiRIp support specific inks. I don't have any experience with other RIPS but I know they exist for Dual CMYK / Hybrid. You would have to consult with the specific RIP vendor for what inks/profiles they can support.


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## fletch (Jan 8, 2013)

I gave up on reading the entire thread, but I highly recommend contacting Conde or Sawgrass about your printer & proper inks. I wouldn't take a chance on 2008 inks. It's not worth the risk of destroying your printer. I also would not recommend using it as a hybrid since both uses take different inks & the chance of mixing & contaminating through the tubes is also risky.

Sublimation is a whole different animal. Inks, paper, everything is specific to the process. Trying to have an all-in-one is probably not a good idea. Personally I love sublimation & continue to push the limits of this process. Who needs cotton anyway...


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

fletch said:


> I gave up on reading the entire thread, but I highly recommend contacting Conde or Sawgrass about your printer & proper inks. I wouldn't take a chance on 2008 inks. It's not worth the risk of destroying your printer. *I also would not recommend using it as a hybrid since both uses take different inks & the chance of mixing & contaminating through the tubes is also risky.
> *
> Sublimation is a whole different animal. Inks, paper, everything is specific to the process. Trying to have an all-in-one is probably not a good idea. Personally I love sublimation & continue to push the limits of this process. Who needs cotton anyway...


There is _no risk_ of mixing ink in the tubes. If there was ... assuming you used the same inks types designed for the printer from Epson, then what you claim would mean that cyan could mix with yellow?

Perhaps you don't understand how hybrids operate, hybrids are done in software, controlling the ink channels only, not a mixture of ink inside a channel or "tube".


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## pisquee (Jan 8, 2012)

fletch said:


> Personally I love sublimation & continue to push the limits of this process. Who needs cotton anyway...


What?
Really?
How?


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## digitizewedo (Nov 2, 2010)

Hi I use a Epson 1430 for sublimation, and a 1430 for heat transfers and another 1430 for film positives for screen printing, I use bulk ink tanks for them. Regular ink $60 thats $10 per bottle, which last about 700 11x17 prints, the sublimation inks are $40 per bottle..

The 4800 cartridges have a lot of ink in them and other than cost I would likely stick with the cartridges or goto quick connnect bags for if you do a lot of sublimation... 

Sublimation for me only makes up about 2% of my business, regular dark transfers make up 20% being print and cut with with my Epson and an optical cutter, 25% for vinyl graphics, and 50 % for screen printing, and 3 % for embroidery. 


Steel Town Graphics


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

digitizewedo said:


> Hi I use a Epson 1430 for sublimation, and a 1430 for heat transfers and another 1430 for film positives for screen printing, I use bulk ink tanks for them. Regular ink $60 thats $10 per bottle, which last about 700 11x17 prints, the sublimation inks are $40 per bottle..
> 
> *The 4800 cartridges have a lot of ink in them and other than cost I would likely stick with the cartridges or goto quick connnect bags for if you do a lot of sublimation...*
> 
> ...


The quick connect bags won't work on the 4800, carts only. The carts hold 110 - 330 mL of ink depending on the cart you buy.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

mgparrish said:


> The quick connect bags won't work on the 4800, carts only. The carts hold 110 - 330 mL of ink depending on the cart you buy.


I ordered refillables cartridges and ink will be here Monday. I'm not quiet sure on icc's and all of that but I'll get it lined out eventually. Setting up as a strait 8 color printer for sub. In case I need a icc profile does anyone have any good recommendations. I started out the 1st of the year with an embroidery machine 12 needle SWF, then added vinyl cutter, QE-6000-24" with expert cloud. Never ever used ether type of machine before and using machines and software I've gotten pretty good at it. I'll figure this one out I figure. 
One way or the other.


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## Tcrow (Aug 9, 2014)

Miss Pan said:


> You can buy italian ink,South Korea Ink and Chinese Ink,they looks very silimilar after print, but italian ink is most expensive,of course ,for some color ,it is more vivid.and Chinese ink is the cheapest one


I don't know what they carry for sure but it was kind of in the middle I believe.


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