Those who have the Sublimation systems! Would you have a choice or comments on the value of inks used for sub printing? Sawgrass VS. Artainium? I am not sure of one against the other and willing to hear your thoughts.
CrazyJack
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
I've always used artanium and I'm very happy with it. Key is to get the color profile set up correctly. Price has gone nuts since the lawsuit between artanium & sawgrass.
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
Actually Kissy, I think the suit is between Sawgrass and Rotek. So I heard from a dealer.
CrazyJack
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
I also wanted to ask...(forgot? )what do you use your printer for? What printer do you use?
Jack
Posted by Dennis Raap (Member # 3632) on :
Jack, we also use Artanium ink seams to do a good job.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Sawgrass has or is going after anyone else selling inks. Artanium made a deal to stay in production, but I think they are now owned by sawgrass or paying a huge fee, not sure of the specifics.
I use an Epson C84. My biggest seller has been mugs.
Posted by Dennis Raap (Member # 3632) on :
Jack, we just up graded to an Epson 4000.
Our best seller is ceramic tiles we have started playing with small murals.
Posted by Mark Perkins (Member # 296) on :
Hi Jack, I use Artainium inks and have good service from them, they are now owned by Sawgrass. There is a company called TOG (Texas Original Graphics) that is still selling their own inks, they are getting ready to challenge the Sawgrass patent in court, hopefully they will have success and ink prices will return to normal. Their inks are half the price of Artainium. My best money makers with sublimation are full color awards plaques for car clubs, I also do dash plaques too. If you buy a wide format printer you can choose from several brands of ink all priced way cheaper than the same inks that are used in desktop printers, the sawgrass patent only applies to printers under a certain width.
Posted by Linda Schmidt (Member # 2337) on :
Jack- I've been using Color Factory (Sublibrite II bulk) dyes for 4 years now. They were bought out by TOG over a year ago so I buy from them now . The dyes are great. I seldom do a nozzle check. I'm using the Epson 980 (which is no longer available- but I did find one on eBay to use as a backup if this one ever gives out). If I was just going into this I'd sure get the bigger Epson- 6 color, but I have too much invested in the bulk system to re-invest.
My biggest sellers are award plaques, mugs, mouse pads & coasters. I keep a little bit of everything here so customers have a choice when they need something special.
If you need a source for products let me know and I'll put you on to a great rep.
Posted by Pat Phipps (Member # 3617) on :
The litigation did involve Sawgrass and Tropical Graphics (some additional info here: http://www.hilord.com/NewsPDFs/Sawgrass%20release.pdf At any rate, I think that I have used just about every sublimation ink on the market. Like most people in sublimation, I started with Sawgrass and had my share of problems with the black ink, as many others I’m sure. After trying other inks I settled with ArTainium after using it for a large (200 ceramic tiles) job. I use the inks in both an Epson 3000 and an Epson 1280. I think that I’ve probably used about 8-10 sets of carts over the past couple of years with very few problems. No clogging, colors are always vibrant and very stable on a variety of substrates including FRP, glass, textiles, ceramics and UniSub products.
I do T-Shirts, ceramic tiles, hats, license plates and frames, award plaques, mugs, mouse pads, just about anything that will accept the dye. My best sellers are award plaques. One bit of advice I would give with regards to awards plaques.Always buy good quality sublimation aluminum. I’ve had more than my share of problems with low quality aluminum. Hope this info is of some help to you. Pat
[ July 01, 2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Pat Phipps ]
