Sign in to follow this  
Kelleybell123

Sublimation Printer Recommendations?

Recommended Posts

I'm using an Epson Artison 1400 with Cobra Ink high temp ink.   The 1400 series of printer print using six colors of ink, so you can get better skin tones in photographs, and it prints up to 13x19".

 

I have heard nothing but good stuff about the Ricoh printers, and they're very popular on these forums, just a bit pricey for me.  $225 for a printer and then another $325 for the inks?  Yikes! And it only prints up to letter size pages?  In order to print up to 11x17" you have to pay $1299 for a printer and still pay another $325 for ink on top of that?

 

I bought my Epson (used) for $80, paid Cobra $239.95 for a CISS kit with 4 oz of each of 6 colors of ink.  Even if I had bought the Epson printer brand new, I was still paying a lot less than for a Ricoh.  Sure, I have to print test pages on a regular basis to keep it from drying out, which you don't have to do with a Ricoh, but since I can buy 24 oz. of refill ink for 1/5 the price of what Ricoh wants ($375 when bought separate from the printer) for a lot less ink, but for those kinds of savings, I'm willing to waste a 4 pages of cheap inkjet paper a month... and I've even got all my printers attached to Google Chrome Print, so I can print from my phone when my weekly reminder alarm goes off - don't even have to be at home to send a test page thru the printer...

 

I had an issue with the CISS kit I recently bought for my WF7520 printer - everything went together smoothly, filled properly, etc., but the printer wouldn't accept the cartridges - kept saying they were unrecognized.  I contacted Richard at Cobra Ink who emailed me back with suggestions and then called to follow up.  When that didn't fix it, he personally went down to the mail room and put a new circuit board and battery pack in the mail and I had it in 2 days (at no cost!) and when I replaced the board and battery pack, I noticed the wires were different - the first kit had the battery pack wires hooked up backwards (red to negative, black to positive) and if I had just flipped the battery over it probably would have worked, but that's the kind of support you get from Cobra Ink - he told me if the board/battery hadn't fixed the issue, to just box it all up and ship it back and he'd have sent me a brand new kit - that's why I keep going back to them.

 

I have three printers running on their inks, one with their giant internal cartridges (WFP-4020) and two with their external CISS kits (WF7520 and 1400).

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

what everyone said = the epsons are cheaper until you throw a couple away with clogged heads - for me I will go 2-3 months without printing and the ricoh fires up after being powered down all that time and ready to rock

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ricoh SG 3100 prints 8.5 x 17.  I didn't even know it till I called with a service issue.  They really weren't very good with the service part on my issue as their "fix" did not fix my problem.  I didn't think it would and told them that on the phone before we hung up by he insisted his remedy was the fix.  It didn't work and I went with my gut feeling that I had before the phone call and my remedy fixed the problem.

 

I do LOVE the fact it cleans it's own heads and I never have to worry about it!  So far so good.  I am still on my original ink cartridges but am getting low..... about time to drop the 325!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm using an Epson Artison 1400 with Cobra Ink high temp ink.   The 1400 series of printer print using six colors of ink, so you can get better skin tones in photographs, and it prints up to 13x19".

 

I have heard nothing but good stuff about the Ricoh printers, and they're very popular on these forums, just a bit pricey for me.  $225 for a printer and then another $325 for the inks?  Yikes! And it only prints up to letter size pages?  In order to print up to 11x17" you have to pay $1299 for a printer and still pay another $325 for ink on top of that?

 

I bought my Epson (used) for $80, paid Cobra $239.95 for a CISS kit with 4 oz of each of 6 colors of ink.  Even if I had bought the Epson printer brand new, I was still paying a lot less than for a Ricoh.  Sure, I have to print test pages on a regular basis to keep it from drying out, which you don't have to do with a Ricoh, but since I can buy 24 oz. of refill ink for 1/5 the price of what Ricoh wants ($375 when bought separate from the printer) for a lot less ink, but for those kinds of savings, I'm willing to waste a 4 pages of cheap inkjet paper a month... and I've even got all my printers attached to Google Chrome Print, so I can print from my phone when my weekly reminder alarm goes off - don't even have to be at home to send a test page thru the printer...

 

I had an issue with the CISS kit I recently bought for my WF7520 printer - everything went together smoothly, filled properly, etc., but the printer wouldn't accept the cartridges - kept saying they were unrecognized.  I contacted Richard at Cobra Ink who emailed me back with suggestions and then called to follow up.  When that didn't fix it, he personally went down to the mail room and put a new circuit board and battery pack in the mail and I had it in 2 days (at no cost!) and when I replaced the board and battery pack, I noticed the wires were different - the first kit had the battery pack wires hooked up backwards (red to negative, black to positive) and if I had just flipped the battery over it probably would have worked, but that's the kind of support you get from Cobra Ink - he told me if the board/battery hadn't fixed the issue, to just box it all up and ship it back and he'd have sent me a brand new kit - that's why I keep going back to them.

 

I have three printers running on their inks, one with their giant internal cartridges (WFP-4020) and two with their external CISS kits (WF7520 and 1400).

 So I have an Epson Stylus 1400, Is this the same thing as an artisan? Can I buy a CISS kit for it? I thought I read somewhere that I could but now I see the word artisan & I'm confused...Thanks

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 So I have an Epson Stylus 1400, Is this the same thing as an artisan? Can I buy a CISS kit for it? I thought I read somewhere that I could but now I see the word artisan & I'm confused...Thanks

 

Somewhere along the line they changed the product name from Epson Stylus Photo 14xx to Epson Artison 14xx, they're basically the same thing.   Stylus Photo is their older model name.  The cartridges and CISS kits are interchangable.  My color profiles show up as Epson Artisan, so that's what I've got used to calling it...

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Epson WF7010, WF7510, WF7520  I use a WF7010 with a cobra ink system and Print payless high temp inks which I didn't need a profile cause its made for Epson and I never had to play to adjust it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've had my ricoh 3300 for a while now and I print legal (8.5x14) all the time with it however now that my sublimation has been staying pretty steady and I'm in need of larger prints I see an epson 7510 in my near future. I have killed several epsons in the past from letting them sit too long and hope I remember to run it every few days but I just can't throw down the cash they want for the bigger ricoh right now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I went with the Epson cause its cheaper and it seems not to dry up if I use it once or twice a week, however lately its been a day here and there not used. I never regreted going the wider WF to print up to 13x19 I even have sublimation paper that goes that big, works great for flip flops.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I think I like the ricoh gxe3300n one that was in a video I watched...I like the fact that it prints its own test pages every so often so as not to dry out b/c I dont see using it every day at least at first anyway. Not too expensive either imo. But I may just go ahead and rig up the 1400 for it too so I'll have a back up also. I'll have to test print it but maybe I will be using it/them more often by then too. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

With the Ricoh you won't have to do a test print only every 3-4 months . . . The epson do one every couple days

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And if your Epson is wireless (which I wish the 7010 was) all you have to do is print a test page anywhere. and a quick head cleaning.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
And if your Epson is wireless (which I wish the 7010 was) all you have to do is print a test page anywhere. and a quick head cleaning.

will check back with ya in 6-8 months and see if that is still fun remembering to print ever couple days LOL

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
And if your Epson is wireless (which I wish the 7010 was) all you have to do is print a test page anywhere. and a quick head cleaning.

 

It doesn't need to be wireless - just make sure whatever computer it is attached to has the Chrome browser installed and you can set it up as a Google Cloud Print printer and then print to it from any computer/tablet/phone that has access to the internet (assuming the computer attached to the printer also has access to the internet)...  You do have to leave that computer turned on, though.   There are also WiFi print servers available that will let you turn any USB printer into a WiFi printer and then, as long as you have your router setup correctly, you should be able to remote print via the internet...

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this