# NEED help with Sublimation printing for cell phone cases



## extell (Jun 26, 2012)

Hello, I was hoping that somebody could help me out with this situation. I am already selling cell phone accessories (reselling) but now i want to start making them myself with sublimation printing system. So here it goes: what kind of printer should i use ? i have like canon pixma 250 will that work if i print it on heat transfer paper? or what kind of paper do i use ? whats the best and cheapest heat press should i use? i saw few articles about heat press should heat up to 360 in order to transfer it to a aluminum inserts for iphone cases, is that right? Aluminum inserts?- is that what its called? where can i get them for cheap price? is there anything else i should know before i start this ? 
thanks in advance to all those great ppl that are able to share this things!!!


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## sandy2470 (Mar 2, 2010)

You need a printer capable of using sublimation inks and special sublimation paper. Heat transfer paper won't work. I would recommend reading up on the different types of printers and bulk ink systems in the sublimation forum, there is a lot of good information in there. Best of luck


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## lben (Jun 3, 2008)

You'll need an epson printer, sublimation ink (very expensive), sublimation paper, and a heat press that can go over 400 F. Sublimation works best at 400 F. You can get all of those supplies at conde.com (including the iphone inserts and cases), or from most of the sublimation vendors on the left.


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## OWJones (Jul 20, 2012)

It is possible to get started in dye sub on a budget. I found someone one a different forum selling an Epson WF1100 printer already setup for dye-sub printing and bought the printer pre-filled with dye-sub ink, and with 60 mL bottles of each color for refills, a stack of blank mousepads and a mostly full pack of 11x17" transfer papers for $230. Then I spent another $200 locally on Craigslist for a used heat press.

That got me started. Then I spent another $240ish on miscellaneous blank products so I could produce a set of examples to display and have a small inventory on hand for quick. 

If you shop around, you can probably find a similar deal. You do need to make sure you buy a printer that will support dye sub ink and then not use it for anything else - if you run other inks through the printer, you'll waste a lot of time and very expensive ink flushing it out.


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## extell (Jun 26, 2012)

i found this thing online "Digital heat press with mug,hat and plate sublimation attachments, bulk T-Shirts, Epson 730 printer with a CISS ink system, and sublimation/chromablast paper all included" for 500$. is this a good deal or is it even gonna work ?


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## zzPrint (Nov 19, 2014)

Conde is a great resource for printing custom cases. They offer the blank products, the ink, paper, heat presses, etc. And they have a lot of helpful videos too.


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## ceesiren (May 6, 2014)

extell said:


> i found this thing online "Digital heat press with mug,hat and plate sublimation attachments, bulk T-Shirts, Epson 730 printer with a CISS ink system, and sublimation/chromablast paper all included" for 500$. is this a good deal or is it even gonna work ?


If you find a printer already set up with dye sub inks, you're probably good, but you need a really good quality heat press for dye sub because the heat needs to be even and reliable. There are a lot of junk heat presses for sale online, so be careful.

That price seems very good to me... but I'd wonder why someone is selling it so cheaply. I'd definitely ask that. Maybe they are bad at sales, but if it's a cheap system, quality could have been the issue.


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