# Help!! Expanding with Sublimation. What printer, software?



## kmet (Sep 16, 2014)

Looking to expand my business to sublimation printing. My head is spinning from all the info I have read. 
What printer do you recommend? What heat press? software? 4 ink or more? Thanks


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

I use a Ricoh 3110 with gel ink from Conde..works fine. If you are just starting I would recommend this setup..Or you can get a printer with sublimation ink from www.cobraink.com Richard can sell a printer w/his brand of sublimation ink with the correct ICC profile. Mparrish a member has used them with success and has recommended them in the past. Maybe he will chime in. I certainly do not recommend you start with chinese ink as they may or may not have the correct ICC profile for your printer and after purchase support is slim if any..


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

kmet said:


> Looking to expand my business to sublimation printing. My head is spinning from all the info I have read.
> What printer do you recommend? What heat press? software? 4 ink or more? Thanks


 Your printer size and heat press should be determined based on what you intend to transfer to.

Letter/legal size printers are a bit small for tshirts. A 13 x 19 printer would need a 16 x 20 press if you want to print the entire transfer length.

You can find tabloid printer sizes in both Epson and Ricoh. Ricoh is 11x17 but can be extended a little larger with an accessory.

In any case of what size or which model, I agree with Charles, you need ICC sublimation profile support for the ink and printer combination.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

You don't say what you are looking to do with the expansion into dye sub. Hardgoods, softgoods ? Both ? That will help decide on the size printer you need and press also.

What software are you using now with your business ? It may work if your doing graphics with it now. Corel, illustrator, Photoshop, gimp, Inkscape those all work. You could use MS Paint if your really wanted to. 

Inks for desktop printers are somewhat limited right now to Sawgrass, Cobra and the Asian inks.
Sawgrass kills or did printers, 
Cobra has been popular with many users on here 
Asian inks have had hits and misses with users on here.
If you have knowledge of ICC's and don't mind wasting ink/paper and fiddling with color management the Asian inks may work for you. 
They are cheaper. 
Sawgrass is expensive and they killed a lot of Ricoh printers tho now that seems to have been corrected. There are those that believe Sawgrass ink also clogs the Epson's more than it should. 
Cobra ink has a lot of users here and many swear by them. I personally sit on the fence with them as I have yet to get a reply or phone call returned for support. 

You need a heat press that can hit 400F and hold it, tho most items hard and soft can be pressed with less temp. 375-390. If doing hard goods you may need one depending on which hard goods you do that can press from 3/4 1.5 inches.

Good Luck


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## Geekazoid (Aug 26, 2011)

Before we added sublimation to our business, we spent a lot of time figuring out what exactly we wanted to offer, what fit the size of our business (it had to fit in our home workshop), and then I spent months going over different systems and watching lots and lots of videos. I always found David Gross' videos informative. They have tons of videos detailing how to use each of their products, including their printers. It helped take the mystery out of the process.

https://www.youtube.com/user/condesystems

We purchased the Ricoh SG3110DN and have been offering cell phone cases, bracelets, and dog tags. We've been very impressed with the quality of the product, and our customers have too. I'm not sure what you want to be sublimating, but for smaller items, this printer is great. It doesn't need a ton of maintenance and is very efficient with ink usage. It's also light and we're able to carry it with us to shows so we can print items on demand.

I also can't say enough about their customer service. Ted Lawson is my rep has been very helpful. He has offered great product suggestions, and calls to check up with us after we have big shows. I like having a company that I can always count on if I have trouble or questions. 

I would suggest giving them a call, explain to them exactly what you want sublimation to do for you, and let them help you choose the printer that's going to be just right for you.


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