Probably a tuff question...

[Thad Nickoley]

Good afternoon.

I have to say that this is the best place in the world to learn. I bought my Epilog laser engraver basing all the knowledge that I learned right here. Now the tough question

I want to be able to put photos on ceramic tiles. I can not, even going back and reading all the old posts, figure out exactly what I need. Also if I can do the photo tiles, what else can I do with the equipment that I have. Is there a reputable source where one can buy a "start up package"? Is there a source that will stand behind the package with tech support and supplies.

I have been looking around a lot and I am looking into a heat press with sublimation. Can this all be done with CLTT? I guess the more I look around the more I am just confusing myself as to the differences between them

Thank you for any help....even if its just a kick in the rear to point me in right direction.

Thad

[Scott Shepherd]

Dye Sublimation will get you into the color tile world. You have to buy the tiles made for it, but it works incredibly well as far as color goes. Brilliant colors and beautiful tiles.

Conde dot com is a great place to start. They have 100's of videos as well. You can even see them doing tiles on the videos. They have tech support that rocks as well.

If you want to dip your toe in the water, the Ricoh 3300 (or something like that) goes for about $450. You get the printer, the dye sub ink, a pack of paper and a few other little things. All you need is a roll of heat tape and a heat press and you're good to go!

[AL Ursich]

I got most everything from Johnson Plastic. Johnson Plastic opened a new Forum that as a Sublimation Section and some really smart people in the Sublimation area have been giving answers.

I do a few tiles. Did a Clock the other day with a 4.25 x 4.25 inlay.

I tried CLTT and it worked. I like the Dye Sub because you can't scratch it off.

There is a recommended felt pad that I still need to get for my 16 x 20 press. If you do too many tiles you can compress the center of the bottom heat press foam then have pressure problems with thin stuff later.

AL

[Mike Null]

Thad

Try doing a search for dye sublimation and CLTT here on the forum.. There have bee a lot of threads on the subject.

Before you go out and invest in a printer and heat press and the ultra expensive sub inks try MyTransferSource. He'll print your transfers at a very low cost.

You'll need to have access to a heat press.

If you decide to buy a heat press take a look at Insta. They are the top line in the field and mine is 12 years old with no down time or repairs.

[Thad Nickoley]

Thanks for the info. I have been on line for hours researching this. I feel like the more read the more I am confused. It seems like the Geonight dk20s is a pretty popular model for a heat press. Does anyone have this model? I have also been on bestblanks dot com. There web site is helpful.

One thing that is just not getting through my head is that their Packages come with two printers. I am still not understanding the differences in the processes (obviously...if I don't know why you need 2 different printers, there is something I am not getting).

I know I said that I want to do tiles but I don't want to buy to small and then all the sudden want to do a t shirt and have to buy bigger. That being said....if they are two completely different processes then i can buy the bigger press and only the printer for the tiles.....anyway, now I'm confusing myself again....back to looking around on the web.

How about this. Given the dismal info that I have given.....if you (I) had 5K to spend. Where would you start? What would you buy.

[Eric Seest]

Take a look at conde dot com, I have found the prices better than bestblanks and the tech support is very helpful. We wanted to add color to our laser business so we went with a package from conde and we are very happy. Got the new ricoh and the dk20, they are both excellent. Would definitely recommend the ricoh because unlike most sublimation printers this one can sit for weeks at a time and not clog up the print head. The dk20 has a large opening that will accept up to 3/4" thick product, if you have questions conde can't give you; call geoknight up and they are happy to help out as well. Good luck and I would say it is a good addition to our business.

[Scott Shepherd]

In my opinion, forget the t-shirts. You can't do cotton with dye sub, so you are forced to buy special dye sub friendly shirts that cost about $6-7 each for the blanks. With a shirt cost that high, you can't compete with people that are doing direct to garment printing or a screen printer. That's just my opinion.

You only need 1 printer, and like Eric said, the new Ricoh's you can let sit for weeks and not have any problems. The Epson's will clog if you don't use them every few days. We've gone about 10 days without printing anything on the ricoh and it just fires up and prints.

The reason we went with Conde is there support. I'm not sure what others are offering because we didn't get much help from some of the other big names out there, but it appears you get the Sawgrass ink powerdriver for running the ricoh. With Conde, they give you their own driver and you get an ICC profile to go with it. That's the color profile software you need to help you get colors dialed in. They actually open the printer, remove all the original ink and all the drivers for the printer. So there is no confusion on using the wrong anything. When you get it, you call them, they walk you through the entire setup from start to actually pressing an item (make sure your heat press it up to temperature before you call them ).

Make sure you do NOT get a clamshell heat press. A swing arm, non-clamshell would be ideal, in my opinion.


If you want to do larger stuff, you'll be looking at the larger ricoh.If I had $5K, I'd do the large ricoh (GX7000), a mug press, and a swing arm press. I'd spend the rest on materials to sublimate.

With Conde, I actually have an account rep assigned to me. They call from time to time to see how we are doing. I've been buying products from Johnson for years and years now and I've never had anyone call me to see how I was doing or if I needed anything. I like people that treat me like a customer instead of just an order to be entered.

Conde also has a free ink program right now. If you buy an entire set of inks, next time you buy a set, you get 2 free black cartridges (I think that's how it works), which is a GREAT value.

[Thad Nickoley]

Thank you all. It seems like Scott and Eric are talking are talking about dye-sub. I think I am starting to be able to till the difference. I will keep poking around and probably give Conde a call but it seems to me that the CLTT is the cheapest/easiest way to go. What are the biggest cons of CLTT?

I think that I read somewhere that the pictures can actually be scratched off? If that's true then its not even an option.

The dye sub scares me since I may spend substantial time idle. It sounds like the Ricoh printer helps with this but still scares me a bit.

[Eric Seest]

Thad,
If you are worried about the printer sitting and not being used for a while I would strongly recommend the ricoh. Don't tell my account specialist at Conde but we have let our printer sit for over a month without printing, it just sits there with the power on; and when we go to use it it starts up perfect the first time. All we do is a head check which uses very little ink and then away we go as long as everything looks good. For the most part the printer takes care of its self. We got an Epson to start with but was terrified with the bulk system because of the exposed bags and hoses (Children & sharp objects get the idea) and then having to break a piece on the printer to install it. We were able to return the bulk system and went with the Ricoh. We have the Ricoh 7000 and it is worth every penny we spent on it; actually it has already paid for the entire set-up (with the laser did that). Hope this helps your worries.

[Martin Boekers]

As others have said Conde is very good, If it wasn't for the Ricoh I would be out of the Dye Sub arena completely.
The Richoh 7000 has been great, the Epson I had wasted ink wasn't consistant,
probably because low volume and clogged jets. Magic Touch is the toner based
transfer sheets I use
they run fine on my Xerox Phaser, cons since this is surface transfer the toner can be scratched off.
So I let clients know that it is for decorative purposes only, and to be careful with dusting
or cleaning it. Plusses I have made many small tile murals (frames from LRI, Laser Reproductions)
You don't have to use special tiles, standard big box store tiles are fine. Saves $$$
Print quality is nice but not the quality of dye sub, yet a very sellable product.

Dye sub is a higher quality product, but you are limited to coated products
One thing Conde sell is hardboard sheet stock. This gives the option to laser
cut sizes and shapes that aren't available as a stock item. Nice!

I find both have their uses, if you set up for dye sub, CLLT the only additional cost is the transfer paper.

One thing with the CLLT is you can transfer to most substrates, I recently did a series
of stainless steel name tags (not Cermark) but quick easy and cheap.
If you mess up on the transfer or tile a solvent such as acetone will remove
the toner so no product lost.

Hope this helps,

Marty