Do you want to move your printing hobby to a vast level and start your customized clothing sublimation printing business? But you do not know what printers can be used for sublimation? I have got you covered because this review is all about guiding you regarding printers used for sublimation. Your success in the dye sublimation business will depend upon the printing quality of sublimation printers, so it is essential to get the best sublimation printer for heat transfer to get quality and efficient results.
To get started, you must know about the two types of printers that work on thermal principle and other work on pressure principle. Thermal printers do not support sublimation ink, whereas, with pressure or piezo printers, you can get your dye-sublimation work done at a faster rate. In this review, I will discuss the printers that can be used for sublimation and the brands which offer you the best sublimation printers.
What Printers Can Be Used for Sublimation?
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You can find many brands offering printers you can use for sublimation. But the best one comes under the category of Epson, Canon, Hp, and Brother printers. These brands provide you with highly efficient and quality printers that will help you complete your work in a minimal amount of time. Moreover, these sublimation printers come with outstanding features. In this article we will discuss what kind of printer you need for sublimation.
Epson Sublimation Printer
Epson printers for sublimation work on the pressure principle and can be converted into sublimation printers. As mentioned earlier, the printers that work on piezo technology can be used as sublimation printers by pouring sublimation ink into these printers. Moreover, Epson has made several sublimation printers that are comparatively less costly than other brands.
Still, most people convert their regular Epson printers into sublimation printers to reduce the cost of using sublimation printers. Epson sublimation printer gives excellent performance and produces high-quality images. Moreover, it allows the user to replace the regular ink with sublimation ink quickly.
The commonly used Epson sublimation printers include F150, F 570, and F10070H. With regular printers of Epson, you will have to buy sublimation ink separately. Once you change the ink in the regular printer of Epson, you will not get a warranty according to their policy.
Can I Use Canon Sublimation Printer?
Canon printers work on thermal technology, so they are technically not used as sublimation printers. You cannot convert a regular canon printer into a sublimation one. If you use sublimation ink, the ink will expand due to thermal printing, and your dye sublimation will be negatively affected. You may find Canon Dye-sublimation printers in the market, like excellent desktop Selphy printers.
These printers use sublimation ink to give you a quality image on a film by a built-in heater. It does not require paper insertion in the printer. Moreover, these dye-sublimation printers by Canon are costly therefore are not commonly used by people. Canon dye sublimation printers work through wireless technology and are easy to connect with several devices. Moreover, it gives you an excellent quality image.
Can I Use Hp Sublimation Printer?
Hp also works on the thermal principle and will disperse the image with its heat technology, thus functioning as a sublimation printer. You may not be able to convert Hp regular printer into a sublimation printer. But Hp allows you to choose between their variety of sublimation printers that support sublimation ink or UV ink.
The Hp sublimation printers are very costly and are only used in large-scale industries. Furthermore, these printers do not come with sublimation ink, so you will have to buy them yourself. For a regular printer, you cannot use sublimation ink because of the dispersion of images.
Hp sublimation printers are highly efficient and produce good quality images with a dynamic range of colors. These printers are easy to operate, and you can connect several devices at the same time. Furthermore, it comes with an easy setup process and works at high speed.
Can You Use a Brother Printer for Sublimation?
Brother sublimation printers are an ideal choice for those who work with dye sublimation as a hobby. These printers can be used as sublimation printers, but nowadays, they are not producing their sublimation ink, making it non-recommendable for professional use. You may use some other sublimation ink, but your image quality on fabric or picture will be compromised.
Therefore, I will not recommend using Brother sublimation printers unless they get their sublimation ink for a clearer image. Moreover, these printers are not very expensive and are the best choice for hobbies or low-level tasks. After using it for several days, you may get annoyed by its quality, but you can get outstanding image quality with the excellent sublimation ink.
Tip to Choose What Printers can be Used for Sublimation?
To choose what printers can be used for sublimation depend upon your requirements. First you have to figure out for what purpose you are going to use sublimation printer and how much prints you will take at a time. If your requirements are to take multiple prints at one time then Epson, Canon or HP are the best choices.
If you will use sublimation printer for images then you have to consider multiple factors. One of them is which type of sublimation printer you are using for the projects. Any printer which are using digital printing can be used for printing images with sublimation.
FAQs
What Epson printer can I use for sublimation?
Epson sublimation printers are an ideal choice for dye-sublimation. Many businesses use these printers for customized clothing. It is hard to choose sublimation printers because many options give you excellent quality results and come with fantastic features. The most common Epson printers you can use for sublimation are Epson Expression photo XP15000, Epson WorkForce ET 3750, and Epson Ecotank 3760.
Can you print sublimation on any printer?
Yes, you can print sublimation on a regular printer. The regular printers that work through thermal mechanisms are not used for sublimation, whereas the pressure-based printers can print sublimation. For printing sublimation on a regular printer, you must clear the already present ink in it. Because if you mix sublimation ink with the regular ink, you may not get the desired result; therefore, it is essential to flush the system entirely to get a quality image.
Can you put sublimation on cotton?
Yes, you can put sublimation on cotton fabric. Sublimation is related to 100 percent polyester fabric, but you can now sublimate on cotton thanks to the technology. The heat transfer vinyl system allows you to make vibrant colors on cotton. You can use Siser EasySubli technology that is made with the collaboration of Siser and Sawgrass. This heat technology allows you to put colors on fabric other than polyester.
Conclusion
Dye-sublimation is one of the most renowned hobbies people follow, but you can take this hobby to the next level with a perfect printer. Many brands offer sublimation printers, but some are very expensive and can be used in large-scale industries.
You can convert your regular printer into a sublimation printer depending on the principle your regular printer follows. Here is a detailed review of what printers can be used for sublimation to help you learn about brands like Canon, Epson, Hp, and Brother Sublimation printers.
