A Digital Printing Network

Thinking About Sublimation, anybody else out there doing it?

Let me first say I am very pleased with my Versacamm and all it does. It is truly an amazing piece of equipment and the fact that I can control my own workflow rather than sub it out is the best. That said, I have been researching sublimation systems that would compliment the Versacamm and help diversify my team uniform decoration capabilities. I imagine that there are some other members of this site that also do sublimation. I already understand the basics of it (like it works best on poly and light colors), but I have a few more questions...

-First, is there any type of print/cut media that I can do on the Versacamm that will sink ink into polyester garments like sublimation?

-What type of sublimation printer would you reccomend? I currently have a standard Hotronix manual heat press, do I need something different?

-Cost of media...sublimation paper vs. Quickprint?

-Quality of sublimated garments...Can I truly produce sublimated lettering that is equivalent to a big cut and sew operation like Teamwork or Dynamic Team Sports?

-How does the production time compare to the Versacamm?

-I am in Ohio, are there any sublimation suppliers in the Midwest that I could visit to view the products, or are there sales reps that will come to me to demo them?

-Besides Vapor Apparel, what other brands have good polyester performance wear to sublimate on?

Thank you very much!-Eric

Tags: Sublimation

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Permalink Reply by CYW on November 7, 2011 at 8:28am

Lots of questions, Eric

I'll give it a go but I'm sure plenty of other folks will have input to add

[1] No

Eco-sol ink and sublimation ink are totally 2 different things

With (high) heat, sub ink transforms directly into a gas

[2] We use a Ricoh 7000 with the bypass tray that allows up to 13x19 inch prints. I know Brent (a member on this forum) uses a huge wide format sub printer along with a MEGA-sized heat press. We just use our regular old Hotronix. The only reason you would need anything different is if you needed to press something larger than your press could handle

[3] Sublimation paper is relatively cheap....it's the cost of the ink that will kill you.

The wide format models, like Brents, are more economical with ink costs

[4] I doubt it. As you said, you would need to set up a full print and cut system to get a product like Teamwork sells.

If you sublimate the substrate after it's sewn together, you're going to get void spots. It may look okay for all-over prints (depending on the design) but you'll never get perfect overall color unless you sublimate the fabric before it's sewn together.

As far as sublimating designs onto light colored poly or mostly poly fabric, that would be no problem at all.

[5] Quicker to sublimate because there is no cutting or weeding or masking to deal with

[6] Coastal Business has a pretty good sublimation dept. as does Conde

[7] Any 100% poly (or mostly 100%) light fabric will work just fine.

Also, I know Brent does contract work at very reasonable prices.

Hope some of this information was helpful

Diane

Permalink Reply by Eric Adler on November 7, 2011 at 9:35am

Diane,

Thanks for the input, that is great info. In regards to the quality of sublimation that I can do in house vs. what someone like Teamwork, my thoughts are taking a stock poly garment and adding simple embelishments like team names, numbers, logos and player names. No funky design patterns. Are good quality prints with those simple kind of embelishments easy to achieve?

Eric

Permalink Reply by CYW on November 7, 2011 at 10:06am

oh sure, Eric, numbers, names and logos would be no problem at all.

As you already know, the color gets dyed right into the fabric. No fading whatsoever when put through the laundry.

Colors are usually bright and bold and you can print multi-color and gradients with ease.

No more fussing with those pesky drop shadows ...because you don't need to find an 'ending' point.

They can just naturally fade off into nothingness.

The other (and maybe even larger) factor you haven't mentioned is the whole new world of sublimatable products you can now offer your customers.

Take a minute to browse through Conde's catalog of "stuff" they offer for product blanks.

Lots of nifty stuff.

Again, though, keep in mind the ink is pricey and it behaves like ink for desktop printers (ie. it doesn't last very long) Somewhere on Conde's site, there's a per inch approximate cost

It does open up a lot of avenues if you can use them

For instance, I sublimated some flip-flops for a high school Swim Banquet and then used the same design to sublimate a piece of twilll that I applied as an applique for matching towels

I'll see if I can find some pics for you...............

Permalink Reply by CYW on November 7, 2011 at 10:12am

crumby phone pictures...............

Permalink Reply by Ray on November 7, 2011 at 10:21am

Simple embellishments are easy to to do. Like Diane said the is no weeding or masking. The best thing about sublimation is that you cannot wash off the embellishment or feel it, the embellishment becomes part of the fibers of the poly fabric. Vapor offers compression tees that you can sell decorated for about the price of the undecorated UnderArmor stuff.

At the last wedding I went to, several of the dresses women were wearing were sublimated after assembly and you could clearly see the voids of no color. From what I have been reading those voids have become a fashion statement so they are desired.

Vapor is at the top right now for sublimatable clothing, however, many more mills are catching on and producing poly clothing. The big point about Vapor is they certify their clothing to be sublimation friendly.

Ricoh 7000 printer here and that bypass tray will let you do 13" x 60" and longer. Hotronics 16" x 20" heat press. Per print ink costs are not that bad, less than $.68 for a 8.5" x 11" print. Wide format ink is a lot less tho. My vendors are Johnson Plastics, (warehouses all around the country, at least three in the midwest) Conde ( in AL), Coastal Business ( in CA) and a few other specialty product vendors.

Ricoh 7000 print time is about 30 seconds for an 8.5 x 11. Press time on fabric is about a minute or less.

If you are looking for products to decorate other than just clothing check out the site below:

Dye sublimation Products

Ray

Permalink Reply by Kathy MacMannis on November 7, 2011 at 3:50pm

Okay, I'm kicking myself right about now after reading and seeing Di's picks. A few years ago I got in to sublimation, bought a bulk ink system, and then stopped using it, not even sure why. Needless to say the entire thing became toast (you need to use the ink on a regular basis) Anyways last year I decided to get back into it since I have the mug press, and a ton of keychain etc type stuff. I bought the ricoh 7000 at a show and there it sits, haven't even opened it grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr After seeing your pics Di I think I'll install and get this puppy a running. Seems like a no brainer since heck I do everything else, just need more hours in the day once again.

Kathy Mac

Permalink Reply by CYW on November 7, 2011 at 4:18pm

LOL LOL

you crack me up girl!

seriously crack me up

How many times do we say that to ourselves?

"what the heck, NO PROBLEM, we do everything else....might as well do that too!"

If it makes you feel any better, my new printer sat for awhile too.

I started with an Epson 3000 which I constantly threatened to throw into the Atlantic (no Joke)

Then I bought a laser that was capable of printing white. (looked like crap to me.)

Finally bought the Ricoh......which I love.

Permalink Reply by Kathy MacMannis on November 7, 2011 at 4:42pm

Di, if only what we could see what is actually at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean it would probably be the best indicator of what NOT to buy, and we wouldn't need forums such as this ;-) It might just save us quite a bit of time in the long run if we could just drain the Atlantic and find all of the machines, cars, and maybe even spouses, and tally them all up! Mind boggling to say the least :-)