# average cost of ink to print one tshirt transfer



## mishav

What is the average cost of ink to print one tshirt transfer? This is for the heat sublimation transfer using an inkjet printer. If laser can be used, please specify the cost as well.


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> What is the average cost of ink to print one tshirt transfer? This is for the heat sublimation transfer using an inkjet printer. If laser can be used, please specify the cost as well.


It depends on:
What size transfer, 
What percentage of ink coverage
What brand of ink (as prices vary a lot).
What container quantity you buy.


With my 1 litre sublimation bottles I can print a solid A3 size transfer for around 13 pence, which is around 15 cents.
Do the same with one of those Sawgrass printers using geniune ink, and you are looking at around $1.50 per transfer.


Laser toner is a similar story, and white toner in particular is very expensive. My sister has a massive Ricoh C7100x laser printer that takes litre size tonner bottles and her full coverage A3 page cost is around 10 cents for CMYK, 40 cents for white, and 20 cents for clear.
Try that with one of those small OKI white toner printers and you will be looking at 60 cents for CMY and over $2 for CMY+white.


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## mishav

can you please tell me what printer you use and whether it does a good job? Are there printers that do a better job than the one you have? In terms of the quality of the printing?


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> can you please tell me what printer you use and whether it does a good job? Are there printers that do a better job than the one you have? In terms of the quality of the printing?


Those numbers are from using an Epson WF7210 to print 2,000 adult shirts. It used around 1.5 litres or yellow and black inks, and around 750ml of Cyan and Magenta. So just over 4 litres in total.
Those were all 100% cotton shirts with screen-printed sublimation base, and they came came out nice!
Smaller runs will consume a bit more ink due to the printer wasting ink for cleaning the printhead.
Are there printers that do a better job? Sure there are ... The Epson SC-F500 does not cost $2,000 for nothing... But would you be able to tell the difference without putting prints side by side? I cannot.


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## mishav

can you tell me how many transfers per hour it can print? 
where do you buy ink? Is it refillable cartridges that you use?


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## mishav

also does the ink evaporate or dry out in the cartridges? I remember I had that problem once with an inkjet printer.


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## NoXid

TABOB said:


> ...with screen-printed sublimation base...


On a white cotton shirt, I imagine? Curious why you took this approach over CMYK DTG or JPSS. Tell me the shirts were black and durability suitable for retail, and I'll be searching the interwebs for fairy dust all night 

I remember talking about your CMYK DTG + screen printing setup. You crazy guy, you actually go and do the "unicorn" projects I daydream about


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## PatWibble

mishav said:


> can you tell me how many transfers per hour it can print?
> where do you buy ink? Is it refillable cartridges that you use?


 Speed depends entirely on image size and complexity, and paper and print settings chosen.


If you are printing a high resolution photo onto A3+ (13 x19") using 'Best Photo' and matt paper settings then you will be lucky to get a dozen sheets an hour.
Smaller or less complex images or text is much faster.


Speed increases if you are prepared to sacrifice quality by printing at 'Photo' or 'Text and Image' settings. 

Some papers will allow you to print using 'plain paper' settings which speeds things up, if quality is not important.


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## PatWibble

mishav said:


> also does the ink evaporate or dry out in the cartridges? I remember I had that problem once with an inkjet printer.


 Some ink is better than others. You need to print regularly to stop ink drying in the printhead, for most inks.
I use 'Inktec Sublinova Smart' which doesn't tend to dry out so badly. Last year one of my printers wasn't used between Christmas and Easter and printed fine first time.


Refillable cartridges are good if you are printing small volumes. For everyday printing a ciss is better.


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> can you tell me how many transfers per hour it can print?
> where do you buy ink? Is it refillable cartridges that you use?


It took around 3 weeks to print 2,000 transfers and it was printing for around 6 hours per day, mostly unattended while I was doing other things. I use sublinova inks for consistency, but any brand will do.




mishav said:


> also does the ink evaporate or dry out in the cartridges? I remember I had that problem once with an inkjet printer.


I don't let it evaporate... I print it .




NoXid said:


> On a white cotton shirt, I imagine? Curious why you took this approach over CMYK DTG or JPSS. Tell me the shirts were black and durability suitable for retail, and I'll be searching the interwebs for fairy dust all night


Yes, white and light color shirts. It's screen printed, so durability is excellent. Can it be done on dark shirts? Yes, I have tried it and it does work, but requires two screen printed layers. 
Why not DTG? Because I just had to put the papers in the tray and let it print, while my DTG printers were printing dark shirts. No other reason really.




NoXid said:


> I remember talking about your CMYK DTG + screen printing setup. You crazy guy, you actually go and do the "unicorn" projects I daydream about


 Yes, I thought I was some kind of genius for a while... Until I realized other people have been doing the same for years .


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## mishav

TABOB said:


> It took around 3 weeks to print 2,000 transfers and it was printing for around 6 hours per day, mostly unattended while I was doing other things. I use sublinova inks for consistency, but any brand will do.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't let it evaporate... I print it .
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, white and light color shirts. It's screen printed, so durability is excellent. Can it be done on dark shirts? Yes, I have tried it and it does work, but requires two screen printed layers.
> Why not DTG? Because I just had to put the papers in the tray and let it print, while my DTG printers were printing dark shirts. No other reason really.
> 
> 
> Yes, I thought I was some kind of genius for a while... Until I realized other people have been doing the same for years .


I'm a novice. Can't I just print the transfer and heat press it on a dark tshirt? Why do I need to screen print a layer or even two before that? Aren't the colors on the heat transfer opaque?


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> I'm a novice. Can't I just print the transfer and heat press it on a dark tshirt? Why do I need to screen print a layer or even two before that? Aren't the colors on the heat transfer opaque?


Take a red pen and try to write something on a black t-shirt . Will it work?


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## mishav

TABOB said:


> Take a red pen and try to write something on a black t-shirt . Will it work?


do I have to make an outline of the whole image and screen print two layers or screen print two layers of a rectangular box As the back layer of the heat transfer colors . And then heat press the transfer?


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> do I have to make an outline of the whole image and screen print two layers or screen print two layers of a rectangular box As the back layer of the heat transfer colors . And then heat press the transfer?


You may have to attend a course or something...
Here are the basic stuff:
1. Sublimation only works on light colored synthetic substrates.
So if you want to sublimate white polyester shirts, you only need sublimation ink and paper.

2. Cotton is not synthetic so sublimation will not work.
The way around it is to apply a synthetic coating, which can be then sublimated.


This is just for sublimation, which is what you've asked about.


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## mishav

TABOB said:


> You may have to attend a course or something...
> Here are the basic stuff:
> 1. Sublimation only works on light colored synthetic substrates.
> So if you want to sublimate white polyester shirts, you only need sublimation ink and paper.
> 
> 2. Cotton is not synthetic so sublimation will not work.
> The way around it is to apply a synthetic coating, which can be then sublimated.
> 
> 
> This is just for sublimation, which is what you've asked about.


is this coating clear or white? 
is it a trace of the design or simply a rectangle?


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> is this coating clear or white?


Opaque white on dark color shirts
Clear on light color shirts


mishav said:


> is it a trace of the design or simply a rectangle?


 This would depend on what method you use to apply the coating. This is where things become complicated. 

I personally screen-print it, so it can be whatever I want.


if you go the sublimation route, start with white polyester shirts and maybe try the "FOREVER subli-light" transfer paper for cotton. Leave the rest for later.


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## mishav

TABOB said:


> Opaque white on dark color shirts
> Clear on light color shirts
> 
> This would depend on what method you use to apply the coating. This is where things become complicated.
> 
> I personally screen-print it, so it can be whatever I want.
> 
> 
> if you go the sublimation route, start with white polyester shirts and maybe try the "FOREVER subli-light" transfer paper for cotton. Leave the rest for later.


is the ink for the dtg printers a lot more than 15 cents per shirt? It seems like that is the best way to print on cotton whether it is a light or dark.


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## NoXid

mishav said:


> is the ink for the dtg printers a lot more than 15 cents per shirt? It seems like that is the best way to print on cotton whether it is a light or dark.


Yes, it is a lot more, especially if a dark shirt. There is also pretreatment you need to apply before printing.

You can print sublimation transfers with a $150 Epson inkjet printer. The Epson DTG printer comes in more like $15,000.


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> is the ink for the dtg printers a lot more than 15 cents per shirt? It seems like that is the best way to print on cotton whether it is a light or dark.


 For DTG, printing A3 size images with the 1 litre bottles of Dupont or Imagearmor inks, the costs are as follows:


 White Shirt: around 80p
Black Shirt: around £4.50
If printing with genuine Epson Inks the price is almost double. 

These prices do not include the cost of pretreatment.


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## mishav

TABOB said:


> For DTG, printing A3 size images with the 1 litre bottles of Dupont or Imagearmor inks, the costs are as follows:
> 
> 
> White Shirt: around 80p
> Black Shirt: around £4.50
> If printing with genuine Epson Inks the price is almost double.
> 
> These prices do not include the cost of pretreatment.


what are the drawbacks of using a paper such as https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...05-20&linkId=51513a8f569892373ade72845fda20ba
seems it would solve the problem


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## TABOB

mishav said:


> what are the drawbacks of using a paper such as https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...05-20&linkId=51513a8f569892373ade72845fda20ba
> seems it would solve the problem


https://www.t-shirtforums.com/inkjet-heat-transfer-paper/t442745.html
and
https://www.t-shirtforums.com/inkjet-heat-transfer-paper/t744225.html
Plenty more...


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