About Sublimation Printing
Sublimation is an excellent way to diversify any heat transfer business, allowing you to bring polyester garments to life with vibrant, full-color designs that turn heads.
This process isn't limited to just garments, it's also fantastic for customizing items such can koozies, key chains, luggage tags, coasters, puzzles, photo panels and more!
Sublimation offers an incredible range of possibilities for creating promotional products, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking to expand their branding efforts.
Benefits of Sublimation
Here are some key reasons to consider sublimation:
- Wide Variety of Products: Customize a diverse array of items, including picture frames, coasters, mugs, phone cases, and many more.
- Full-Color Designs: Produce high-resolution, vibrant images that capture attention and stand out.
- Durability: The sublimation process ensures that designs are resistant to fading, scratching, and peeling, maintaining their quality over time.
- Permanent Bond: The dye becomes a part of the product, creating a seamless, professional finish.
- Ideal for Polyester: Particularly well-suited for polyester shirts and other polyester-coated products, ensuring long-lasting, vivid designs.
- Versatile Applications: Perfect for custom apparel, promotional merchandise, personalized gifts, and more.
- High-Quality Results: Achieve a visually stunning and enduring product that enhances your brand's visibility and appeal.
Sublimation provides a versatile and high-quality solution for all your promotional product needs, allowing you to create items that are both beautiful and long lasting.
To learn more about dye sublimation, the benefits, and how to get started, check out our article on dye sublimation.
What Sublimation printer is right for you?
Below is some information to help you get started evaluating the different printer options from Sawgrass and Epson.
Sawgrass Sublimation Printers
One of the most popular sublimation printers is the Sawgrass SG500 and Sawgrass SG1000. Each model is available in three levels of kits described below and in separate bundles that include paper.
Sawgrass SG500 Sublimation Printer
The Sawgrass SG500 is a desktop sublimation printer specifically designed for use with sublimation ink and transfer paper. It is a popular choice for small businesses, hobbyists, and individuals seeking an affordable and easy-to-use sublimation printing solution. The SG500 features Sawgrass's Virtuoso Print Manager software, which simplifies setting up and managing print jobs. The software includes a range of templates and design tools, facilitating the creation and printing of high-quality designs.
The SG500 also uses Sawgrass's SubliJet-UHD Sublimation Ink, designed to produce vibrant and long-lasting colors resistant to fading and wear. The ink is available in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow and in both standard and high-capacity cartridges.
In terms of connectivity, the SG500 offers both USB and Wi-Fi connections, making it easy to connect to various devices, including computers, laptops, and mobile devices. It also comes with a range of accessories, including a starter set of transfer paper, a mug press, and a set of blank sublimation products. One of the key features of the SG500 is its compact size, making it easy to fit into small spaces, such as a home office or small business. It also offers a relatively low cost of ownership, with affordable ink cartridges and low maintenance requirements.
Overall, the Sawgrass SG500 sublimation printer is a popular choice for those looking for an affordable and easy-to-use sublimation printing solution. It offers a range of features and capabilities that make it easy to create and print high-quality designs on a range of substrates, including fabrics, ceramics, and more.
Sawgrass SG1000 Sublimation
The Sawgrass SG1000 is a high-performance desktop sublimation printer designed for use with sublimation ink and transfer paper. It is the successor to the popular SG800 model and is a preferred choice for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists requiring a high-quality sublimation printing solution. The SG1000 features a range of improvements, including faster print speeds, higher resolution printing, and enhanced connectivity options. It can produce high-quality prints up to 1200 x 1200 dpi, ideal for producing high-resolution images and graphics.
Like the SG500, the SG1000 features Sawgrass's Virtuoso Print Manager software, which simplifies setting up and managing print jobs. The software includes a range of templates and design tools, making it easy to create and print high-quality designs. The SG1000 also uses Sawgrass's SubliJet-UHD ink, designed to produce vibrant and long-lasting colors resistant to fading and wear. The ink is available in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow and in both standard and high-capacity cartridges.
In terms of connectivity, the SG1000 offers both USB and Wi-Fi connections, making it easy to connect to various devices, including computers, laptops, and mobile devices. It also features a high-capacity ink system, reducing downtime and increasing productivity by allowing users to print more images before replacing the ink cartridges. One of the key features of the SG1000 is its large print bed, which measures 11 inches by 17 inches, and with a bypass tray, can print up to 13 inches by 19 inches, allowing users to print larger designs and multiple images at once. It also offers a relatively low cost of ownership, with affordable ink cartridges and low maintenance requirements.
Overall, the Sawgrass SG1000 sublimation printer is a powerful and versatile sublimation printing solution suitable for a wide range of applications. It offers a range of features and capabilities that make it easy to create and print high-quality designs on various substrates, including fabrics, ceramics, and more.
Epson SureColor 570 Pro Desktop Sublimation Printer
The Epson SureColor F570 Pro Sublimation Printer is a wide-format printer designed for dye sublimation printing. It produces high-quality, full-color prints on various substrates, including fabrics, ceramics, and more. The F570 is one of the latest additions to Epson's lineup of sublimation printers and is specifically designed for small businesses, startups, and individuals seeking an affordable and easy-to-use sublimation printing solution.
The F570 is equipped with PrecisionCore technology, ensuring precise and accurate ink delivery, resulting in high-quality and consistent prints. It also features Epson's UltraChrome DS ink, designed to produce vibrant and long-lasting colors resistant to fading, smudging, and water damage. One of the key features of the F570 is its large print bed, which measures 24 inches wide by 20 inches deep, allowing users to print larger designs and multiple images at once. It also features a high-capacity ink system, reducing downtime and increasing productivity by allowing users to print more images before replacing the ink cartridges.
In terms of connectivity, the F570 offers both USB and Ethernet connections, making it easy to connect to various devices, including computers, laptops, and mobile devices. It also comes with easy-to-use software, including Epson's Garment Creator software, which allows users to easily create and print their designs. Overall, the Epson Sublimation Printer F570 is a popular choice for small businesses and individuals seeking a high-quality and affordable sublimation printing solution. It offers a range of features and capabilities that make it easy to use and produce high-quality prints on various substrates.
Sublimation Printer Bundles
These printer kits are also available with bundles that include additional options, including different sizes of sublimation paper, inks, and bundles with different heat presses and sublimation ovens.
FAQs
Sublimation ink can convert from a solid to a gas without going through the liquid form, allowing you to apply an image to specially coated materials using heat and pressure! For more information, check out our "What is Sublimation" blog
Sublimation printers are printers specifically designed for use with sublimation ink and transfer paper. They create high-quality, full-color designs that are transferred onto various substrates, including fabrics, ceramics, metals, and more. Sublimation printers work by heating the ink, which then turns into a gas and is transferred onto the substrate through a process called sublimation. The ink is absorbed by the fibers of the substrate, resulting in vibrant and long-lasting colors resistant to fading and wear
There are two main types of sublimation printers: desktop printers and wide-format printers. Desktop sublimation printers are smaller and more affordable, making them a popular choice for small businesses and individuals starting with sublimation printing. They are designed to print onto smaller substrates, such as mugs, phone cases, and t-shirts. Wide-format sublimation printers, on the other hand, are larger and more expensive, but they offer a larger print bed and the ability to print onto larger substrates, such as banners, flags, and upholstery fabrics. They are typically used by larger businesses and manufacturers who need to produce larger quantities of sublimated products.
No, you need to use ink specifically designed for the sublimation process
Sublimation is a full color printing process that is a CMYK process and does not print white ink
If you are just getting started and are a hobbyist or DIY-er, the Sawgrass SG500 is a great sublimation printer to start with. The SG1000 has a larger print area to enable larger sublimation prints, but this comes at the cost of taking up more space along with a higher price point, but is a great choice for businesses, higher volume and if you want more versatility for your potential designs.
Sublimation printing works on white or light colored polyester blended garments.
Sublimation printers can cost from $500 to around $2500 for some of the larger printers.
Sublimation printing is a very high quality full color printing process you can print from 300 DPI up to 1200 DPI on most printers.
Most sublimation printers have a automatic daily maintenance operation they perform, which this is why it is important to leave them on even when not in use.
Just like a regular printer, consistently printing at least a few times a week will help keep your sublimation printer up and running.
The standard warranty on most sublimation printers is 1 year from the day of set up, however some manufactures offer extended warranty's. As always, making sure you follow the proper maintenance practices on your sublimation printer will help ensure it lasts for many years and prints.
The cost of consumables for your sublimation printer can vary depending on the brand. However, the typical cost to print is usually less than 1 cent per square inch.
Most printers will come with their own software and drivers which run the printer. Having a current computer with updated software is always suggested.
We offer the Sawgrass SG500 Sublimation Printer, the Sawgrass SG1000 Sublimation Printer, and the Epson SureColor F570 Pro Deskstop Sublimation Printer.
First, find or create a design that you would like to print, and size your design for the garment you intend to sublimate. Next, have the transfer media ready in your printer and use your printer's software to print your design onto your sublimation paper. Now you have a sublimation transfer ready to apply to your garment!
For specific printing instructions, refer to your printers printing guide.
While it is possible to convert some desktop inkjet printers to sublimation, it is a much better option to buy a purpose-built sublimation printer. Nobody likes a brick if it does not work
The Sawgrass SG1000 Sublimation Printer prints on media up to 11" x 17" and 13"x19", the Sawgrass SG500 Sublimation Printer prints on media up to 8.5" x 14", and the Epson SureColor F570 Pro Sublimation Printer can print on media up to 24" in width.
