The
type of ink that you use is more important than the printer!
Yes, you read that correctly. The type of ink that you use is more important
than which specific brand of printer that you use.
The reason is because so many printers use a type of ink that is very water
soluble and therefore washes out very easily. Because
of this fact, we strongly suggest that you read this page very closely.
You won’t make any money if your customers are unhappy because their shirts
lost most of the color in one wash.
Inkjet
Printers and Inks
All printers used for heat transfers are standard, off-the-shelf
printers. There is nothing special (modified) about any of them. Most
of them (despite manufacturer’s claims) print just as good as any
other printer, for heat transfer needs.
Four General Ink Types
- Regular, OEM inks
that usually are included with new printers
- Heat
Transfer Inks, especially made for heat transfer work
- Archival
Inks, some of which are very good for heat transfers
- Sublimation
Inks
Practical
Facts About The Four Ink Types -
Regular,
Ink cartridges – The regular inks made for some of
the printers are actually decent (the Epson C88+ and the Epson
1280 come to mind). Some are not very good at all, because they
wash out so easily (unfortunately, this includes a great number of HP printers).
What’s important to remember is that OEM inks are not made to print
heat transfers. They are specifically made to print regular paper.
If you own an inkjet printer, and want to use it, then the only smart thing
to do is to test the ink that is in your printer. Print a transfer
with it, heat transfer it to a shirt and then wash it. This ain’t
rocket science, so just see what your eyes tell you. If the results
don’t please you, they certainly won’t please your customers. -
Heat Transfer Inks
– These are inks specifically formulated for vibrant color,
able to withstand the high temperatures of heat transferring
and with excellent resistance to water. They are nearly always cheaper,
than regular OEM inks in cartridges. They are especially cheaper, when used
in a CIS (Continuous Ink System).
There are many on the market.
We offer our own excellent brand of heat transfer inks: TransMagic!™ Inks (details are on another page). There are others
(some with some really wild claims). If you are not sure about the company, ask
for a printed sample. Any company worth their salt should be willing
to provide some kind of small sample (we do). If they won’t send
one, why should you take a chance? -
Pigment
Inks – While many types of ink have good washability, pigment inks have
the best washability…period. This includes our own TransMagic! Pigment Inks™.
If you already own a printer that uses pigment inks, you would only need a heat
press and heat transfer paper to be in business. This would be the cheapest way
to “test the waters”. -
Archival Inks – These inks were actually developed to produce
much longer lasting photographic prints (regular inks fade relatively
quickly), but some use them for heat transfer work. We confess
to not knowing a lot about the different types of archival inks but mention them
in the interests of balanced and complete information.
One oddity that
we have noticed is the fact that so many that use archival color inks;
say they use regular black ink. It seems that, for whatever reason,
regular black inks wash better than many archival black inks.
We don’t know why. As always, before you make any investments in
an unknown, we suggest that you get a small printed sample. -
Sublimation Inks
– These highly specialized inks are normally used to print
directly into the polymer coating of specialized sublimation items and directly
into the fibers of polyester. These inks do work with most commercial
grade heat transfer paper because the inks can bind with the polymer film
that is transfered to the shirt.
Pure sublimation is an entirely different type of decorating
process than heat transfers and is mostly used for products other than
shirts. We don’t suggest this ink for just shirt heat transfers
(mainly because of costs) but, because of very high resistance to water, it
is excellent for sublimators, who just need to knock out a few cotton
shirts. If you want to learn about sublimation, when you finish learning about
heat transfers, you can go to our classroom web site at www.dyesubinks.com.
We will teach you.
Practical Ideas To Use In Your Planning As
my granny used to say, “There is more than one way to pluck a chicken”.
The best printer and ink to use is what fits your needs and your
budget. There is no one way. There is only the best way for you. If
your budget is really tight, don’t spend your last dollar on equipment
(you will need some money to buy shirts too). Instead, start smaller
and get an inexpensive printer, like the Epson C88+, that uses
decent regular inks, a pack of our excellent heat transfer paper,
the best heat press that you can afford and have at it. Work
hard and smart and save part of your profits to get “bigger
and better”, when you can afford it. Yes, we
all want the very best but we wouldn’t be a very good supplier or friend
if we encouraged you to be equipment rich and cash poor. You need to be
practical. On the other hand, if your budget
allows you to start off on a more professional level then definitely
consider our TransMagic!™ Inks and MagicFlow!™ CIS™
delivery system (detailed information for both are on another page). You will
quickly recoup your initial investment costs and be producing a shirt with a superior
image. We mentioned archival inks above, but you
will have to learn about that on your own. We have no opinion, either way, except
that we obviously chose to offer a top-quality heat
transfer ink, rather than archival inks. Sublimation
inks, as we suggested, should really be considered primarily for its specialized
decorating uses and then used for the occasional cotton shirt, if needed.
Four
Facts You Need, if starting with regular inks If
you can't afford one of our MagicFlow!™ bulk ink delivery systems, with our special
TransMagic! T-shirt inks (you will learn about this on the next two pages) we
offer this advice- -
Be
very careful about selecting “all-in-one” printers or printers that
have all of the colors in one cartridge. One color always seems to run out fast,
requiring replacement of the entire cartridge. This will cut into your profits
real quick. -
Don’t
forget to do a wash test before you produce an order. It’s much better
for you to be the one to find out about the results. -
An "ink status monitor”
should pop up on your screen, just before you start to print. It supposedly shows
the current ink levels in your cartridges. Treat the information as a guide,
not as gospel truth. Always keep spare cartridges handy. -
The last tip is about "nozzle
checks" and "head cleanings". Information about both is in every
inkjet owner's manual. Learn what it is, how to do it and when you should do it.
It’s important!
That does it for your general education on inks and printers. Now let’s
look at TransMagic!™ Inks and the MagicFlow!™ CIS™ delivery system.
Updated: Sunday August 1, 2010  |
