# What's the best dye sublimation printer? Any heat press suggestions?



## goat32 (Oct 5, 2011)

New to the business and seeing what is the best printer to use for full sublimation and regular sub dyes? Also if you could recommend a heat press as well.. Thanks for the help!!


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

There are so many things to consider in dye sub with the most important being what market you are going to attack which will dictate how large of printer/press you will need.

One thing to suggest first - dye sub like all decorating technologies requires knowledge and experience to do it professionally. Some dye substrates take more expertise than others. Before investing money into a complete system one may be advise to get a simply heat press on eBay and have someone else make the prints for you. This will allow you to see if you marketing/sells will justify investing into a complete systm. Please note - we do not offer this service thus I am suggesting this without the hopes of getting some revenue. 

Another key factor ink type. Do you go Sawgrass or Cobra? You can read a lot on this forum on the two. Printers are simply a tool to deliver the ink and should have little bearing on your descion.

If you decide to purchase a complete system buy the minimum as if it turns into a money maker you can easily upgrade to larger equipment and purchase more substrates. Stay away from package deals especially ones that bundle a bunch of items to print on. These are usually stuff that is never sold and pawned off on noobies. You see this junk in classifieds trying to be sold all the time. 

If you again decide to go all in and purchase a complete system you really need someone to hold your hand as again it is part art and part science to create professional results. You need a vendor who will walk you through the learning curve. This market is difficult in itself to succeed and being a noobie without a solid vendor your chances are not good.

Best of luck


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

goat32 said:


> New to the business and seeing what is the best printer to use for full sublimation and regular sub dyes? Also if you could recommend a heat press as well.. Thanks for the help!!


I'm not sure on your meaning of "full sublimation" and "regular sub dyes"?

Where did you hear this term? 

We have sublimation dye ink for heat transfer, dye ink for regular paper printing, and pigment ink for polymer tshirt transfer printing or regular paper printing.

Ink jet printers from the factory are either dye (non-sublimation) or pigment based inks.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Riderz Ready said:


> There are so many things to consider in dye sub with the most important being what market you are going to attack which will dictate how large of printer/press you will need.
> 
> One thing to suggest first - dye sub like all decorating technologies requires knowledge and experience to do it professionally. Some dye substrates take more expertise than others. Before investing money into a complete system one may be advise to get a simply heat press on eBay and have someone else make the prints for you. This will allow you to see if you marketing/sells will justify investing into a complete systm. Please note - we do not offer this service thus I am suggesting this without the hopes of getting some revenue.
> 
> ...


I would add and warn against going to a Sawgrass vendor for printer, ink delivery, and ink purchase recommendations, substrates yes, how to press the substrates they sell, definitly.

Too many noobies suckered into Ricoh GX7000 that end up as paper weights from the Sawgrass vendors. And nothing but BS about other printer capabilites and no mention of sub ink options outside of Sawgrass.

Best for one to educate themselves first on printer and ink options from someone who is not giving advise based on their profit margin from the inks and printer sale. Read the forum posts then ask questions.

Nowadays going to a Sawgrass vendor and asking what printer and inks to buy is just as bad as going to a car dealer and asking the saleman what car one should buy without researching first.


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## goat32 (Oct 5, 2011)

The market I would be going into is making shirts for sport teams.. I have pretty big background in the business aspect but not much on the production side.. I would be willing to look into having someone do prints and me pressing shirts but not sure on how to go about finding someone who does that.. I appreciate all your input and any other help!!


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

goat32 said:


> The market I would be going into is making shirts for sport teams.. I have pretty big background in the business aspect but not much on the production side.. I would be willing to look into having someone do prints and me pressing shirts but not sure on how to go about finding someone who does that.. I appreciate all your input and any other help!!


We have been in this market quite awhile and there is a couple routes to go. We started in paintball but did about anything we could get our hands on. Over a short amount of time discovered there are markets much more profitable than others and markets that have much larger orders than others. In short we decided that instead of trying to be everything to everyone like Animal Customs we would pick the sport of BMX. By focusing on a sport and marketing us as a BMX only provider we grew beyond our expectations. For us picking a single sport worked incredibly well for others they may find it easier to grab bits and pieces.

To really compete in this market you have to be cut and sew. Surely there are bottom tier teams that still purchase a premade shirt with a logo on it but those shrink every year. Let's face it having the best jersey, regardless of the sport, to show off is critical especially with sports that involve kids. 

Getting into cut and sew is not simple and takes some capital. Even farming out the work can be a real challenge. The majority of cut and sew shops run at full capacity and difficult for them to do wholesale work as it is not as profitable. Second there is a wide range of quality between shops which is mostly seen in the workmanship of the seamstresses. You really have to know what you are doing, have industrial sewing equipment and be very experienced in sewing stretch poly material or you will end up with garbage. I have seen numerous post of pics on this site from people proudly showing there creation and can tell from the picture alone how poorly it was sewn.

I would say there is no more profitable market segment than cut and sew when it comes to dye sub but it takes a lot of resources and time to become professional.

Best of Luck!


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## iainlondon (May 11, 2010)

_Maybe a Phone Call to Richard at Cobrainks If your based In The USA,Great Guy and fantastic After sales back up..._


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## Deb222 (Feb 17, 2013)

Im newbie starting dye sub biz for hardgoods. What printer do you recommend? Thx Debbie


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