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arty-rc

Printer conversion

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Hi All. My Ricoh SG3110dn printer crapped out last year and cannot be repaired.   I have been refurbishing HP photosmart printers for over a year now. I get them cleaned out as if they were brand new with no trace of ink anywhere in the printer. These printers have a separate print head and ink tank/cartridges. I was wondering if I would be able to use this printer, with refillable cartridges, as a sublimation printer? The cost for refillable cartridges and sublimation ink would be under $50. I'm willing to give it a try so I am looking for your opinions. Thanks.

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I don't know much about the Ricoh printers but I used to run an Epson WF and went back and forth from sublimation to regular ink several times without any issue. If Ricoh uses regular ink (not gel) the sublimation ink seemed rather watery and was not hard to flush out when going back and forth. 

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Ricoh ink is a gel ink and is quite expensive. When the machine was working it was great. I could not use it for months and it would work perfectly. The gel ink would not clog up the print head. My unit's circuits went bad after 8 years. I'll wait a few days for a few more responses before going for it. Thanks. 

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no idea here but I would be skeptical that gel ink would work in an hp - heck not sure the epson ink would work because I think hp uses heat to burst the ink out of the head I read a long time ago and the reason that hp's aren't used for for sublimation.

I know nothing for certain and didn't stay at a holiday inn express last night :/

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Found this while doing an online search:
 
"Can I use my HP printer for sublimation?
 
In order to have a chance at working the printer must be functioning properly and it must use Piezo Print Technology. This means HP, Canon printers cannot be used in the art of sublimation since they do not use Piezo print technology."
 
I'm looking into the Epson ecotank printers. Just have to buy them brand new and fill with sublimation ink. Average price starts at $199.
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If my memory serves me right, wasn't there a company that sells complete epson sublimation printers with and without a ccs system for a good price? Even though my Ricoh gave me great service I'm not doing too much work due to my caregiving for my wife. I can't see spending a lot of money for a new Ricoh printer and the expensive cartridges for it.

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MZ SKEETER,

That name rings a bell with me. I'll check on them now. Thanks.

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Hi all,

Well I went ahead and bought the Epsom printer and Sublimation ink from the internet. I filled it up and after changing some of the settings I made up two name badges. So far, so good. I felt good to be at it again. How often should I print out something small and/or do a nozzle check. I know that Epsom's don't like to sit idle for too long. The ink from the internet is very inexpensive compared to the Ricoh ink so it's not a big deal to print something every day or so.  I haven't been doing much work over the past year due to my wife's illness. I wanted to get back into it to keep my mind clear and active. Thanks

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Would love to hav3 an answer for you arty but I haven’t had an epson in so long I have no idea.  I sold almost all of my sublimation stuff to someone starting locally.  Hoping to travel more and work less , once we can.   Good luck sir and enjoy.  If you see janette say high from me 

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I would print every day. I don't think it has to be a whole lot but run a nozzle check so every nozzle get s squirt. I did for quite a while and then forgot to an soon had a plugged head. At one point I tried to set up a program on my mac that would strt up and print every day like the solvent/ecosolvent printers do but I had limited success with that. I was able to go on trips and come back several days later and not have any issues though, BUT the sublimation ink seems to have fairly high amount of solids floating. The main problem with the Epson is that the actual print head part stays in the machine and you just change out the cartridge of ink. (that is part of why the ink cost less) Most inkjets have the pintehead as part of the ink container so you ger a new print head every time you change ink. They are a real PIA once they get plugged. I was succesful on clearing one plugged machine but my other one ended up in a dumpster. The WF7710 was what I was using at the time I think I had only paid a couple hundred for and I did a sublimated set of jersesy for a softball team so it had paid for itself on one job. Things may have changed since then, I haven't followed prices or the latest printer tech. I have gotten so busy with tee shirts that I stopped taking on a lot of the peropheral things. I DO miss playing aorund with trinkets like dog tags and key chains etc...

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All you need to know.

 

And I wouldn't go back and forth. Sublimation ink is too expensive. You'll have to refill the tubes every time you flush, and that's a massive amount of ink. A second printer is way cheaper than buying ink.

 

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