imprinting on mugs and apparel

mark76

Right now I am just playing with this and want to know if I absolutely need a dye sub printer , I know the quality is exceptional and would later get one, but I could go months without printing and wondering what would be the best printer to get to use my shirt press and mug press

inkette

Hi Mark,

I've added Dye Sub items into the business around late December 09. I mainly decorate apparel with my Brother GT 541 Direct to Garment Printer that I have had since Jan 07. I was looking into Dye Sub since some of my customers were asking for photo mugs.
I talked with an peer/aquaintance who's been doing Dye Sublimation for 5 years. He strongly recommends the Ricoh Gel printers since he had recently bought one and has awesome results and no problems. I talked with a few Dye Sub blank goods suppliers(Conde, Nova Chrome, Johnsons Plastics, Unisub) and they all said that would be their top choice & for great vibrancy and resolution. Ricoh printers use a gel based ink that won't leak all over the insides of the printer when moved, so its a good machine for taking to fairs and events. You must use the SawGrass Dye Sublimation Inks in a NEW Ricoh printer tho. I was told you cannot transition a Ricoh printer after running regular ink because its impossible to purge all the ink from the system. Sawgrass is the only manufacturer for Dye Sub ink used in the Ricoh GX printers.
I hope this answers your questions or helps your research.

Sandra,

By Word of Ink Apparel & Promotions
www.bywordofink.com

mark76

Thank-you, that was very helpful,