# New to Dye Sub Inks? refillable cartridges?



## zantees (Oct 13, 2009)

New to dye sub, I have an epson 1400 that I'd like to set up. I want to get refillable cartridges and bulk ink or dye sub cartridges. 

Will these cartridges below do the trick or do they have to be specific to dye sub inks? 

Refillable Cartridges For Epson, Canon and HP printers
Inkjet Refill Cartridges for Epson 1400 | Ink Refill cartridges for Epson 1400

Where to buy inks? Sublijet vs Artanium?

Thanks for help.


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

any refillable cartridges will work. We hvae bought them from echostore.com and they work great.

They have sublimation ink cheap too. I have used it for 2 years with no problems.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

Your best bet is with one of the Sawgrass QuickConnect bulk systems. Those aren't refillable carts, but the refill system is rather easy to work with in that you simply close a valve and pop off one refill bag and pop the new one in and open the valve. There's no mess that way, and it keeps air out of the system, reducing potential issues. While technically, refillable carts aren't specific to sublimation inks, due to the above and other considerations, they might as well be.
Regarding Artainium vs. Sublijet - simplified, Artainium requires the use of an ICC profile and knowledge of setting them up and using them. Sublijet has its own color matching print driver from Sawgrass, along with the capability of doing spot color printing and matching, and the profile is built into that already. Sublijet costs slightly more, but is considered the best; Artainium is slightly less expensive but requires more knowledge and more experimentation may be necessary. If you have a Mac, Artainium is the only way to go unless you develop your own profile for Sublijet.
Windows based PCs can use either. 
Recommendations: Use Sublijet, and the Sawgrass QuickConnect bulk system for the 1400. Buy it from Enmart.


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## AbstractD (Sep 23, 2009)

Team... how's the ink, good stuff? vibrant? i have refillable cartridges.. and been looking for ink so i might get some from echo


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

We have done t-shirts-and they looked good. 

We found that most people simply prefferd screenprinting-and it is cheaper. Cost usually wins out. 

We sublimate some moisture management shirts similar to Under Armor type material for sports teams-but our primary use for sublimation is in the awards industry. 

We use sublimation for metal and the plastics and it works really well. The plaques sell. If you are not in the awards business it is a good companion industry. 

We just about wore out a Epson 1400 in about 1 1/2 years. We then switched to an Epson Workforce 30. A $50 printer from Office Depot and only takes 4 colors instead of 6. Much easier to manage the refillable cartridges instead of the bulk system having to be primed. 

We cleaned the heads on the 1400 and it works fine now. We use it to print the positives for screenprinting.

We have no complaints with Echo Store. $20 bottles of ink instead of over $100. Whos knows-I never used the expensive ink-maybe it is 6 times better than what I have been using-but bottom line is that my customers are happy.

But then again-I am not selling ink-I am selling the products that they are printed on


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## AbstractD (Sep 23, 2009)

Do you still need to install the ICC profile?


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## SuzieQ5 (Oct 17, 2009)

I'd be curious to know if the refillable ink "off-brands" produce well as well on hard substrates as the Artanium/Sawgrass brands? Anyone care to comment? Thanks much.


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## rodrigo (Sep 9, 2006)

Sawgrass Artanium, the best inks I have ever tried.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

SuzieQ5 said:


> I'd be curious to know if the refillable ink "off-brands" produce well as well on hard substrates as the Artanium/Sawgrass brands? Anyone care to comment? Thanks much.


Having larger format printers means I'm not tied to using Sawgrass products, nor do I pay out those silly sort of prices for ink either.

Although I use bulk feeders rather than refillable cartridges, alternative brand inks also produce high quality output on both hard and soft substrates. Some of those alternative brands will even work with the regular printer driver too.

Draw your own conclusions.


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## SuzieQ5 (Oct 17, 2009)

Thank you Custom UK - The costs (and space requirements) of the large format printers were not do-able for me, so I ordered an Epson 1400 and refillable cartridges. Is the dye sub ink for the large formats the same ink as would be used in the 1400 or would there be problems?

It would make sense to go with the large format if in the future I am able to expand my art business since the ink ends up being the most expensive part - it's a trade-off I guess.

I appreciate your thoughts.


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## GAW (Jan 11, 2010)

Keep us updated on the 1400. I am looking at purchasing one also since they are cheap and just getting into sub dye


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

Custom UK-you are totally correct.

We had a bulk system feeder and when we moved I damaged it and frankly did not have the time to figure out how to prime it. We also realized that we rarely did anything larger than legal size-so we moved to the Workforce 30-still with Echostore ink for $20 a bottle and with no ICC profiles. 

Like CUSTOM UK says-draw your own conclusions-but here is a forum member with larger format printers that is apparently able to get acceptable results from a variety of inks.

I am a medium sized screenprinter who only has sublimation to keep from buying an engraver when we started up 3 years ago. I bought a 1400 and ink and only spent $500 total instead of the $3000 it would have cost for an engraver. 

We have found that people like the colors on awards when we use their logos, etc. Keychains, mugs and the other things will also sell-but I doubt you can make a living with it. At least to me-it would be difficult to justify $3000 when you could buy some used screenprinting equipment (or even a used embroidery machine) that cost very little to run.

This is the first I have been on the forum in a while-but a little busy-but I have been suprised at how many emails I have gotten over this.

Sorry for the rant-I just find it odd that the ones saying that something does not work normally has a solution they can sell you to make it work.....

I do not sell ink.


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## Malpeque (Dec 21, 2011)

GAW said:


> Keep us updated on the 1400. I am looking at purchasing one also since they are cheap and just getting into sub dye


 I've been using the eppson 1400 for 7 months now one for cotton printing & one for sub printing.cotton am using refillable cartridges and am planning to go the same for sub.


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