A sublimation printer is specially designed to produce high-quality color prints on a sheet of paper that can be easily transferred to other materials including fabric, ceramic, polyester, and MDF with a heat press. A special sublimation ink is used in a sublimation printer to perform sublimation work.
You can start your small custom-designing business with a sublimation printer or you can use it as a hobby to create custom shirts for your team or employees.
Materials sublimation printer works on:
Sublimation printer Fabric:
You can do sublimation on polyester-made fabric including chiffon, crepe, silk, satin, denim, lycra, spandex, chenille, nylon, rayon, fleece, leather, mix (cotton + polyester), and more. You cannot do sublimation on pure cotton and dark black color, there are ways to do sublimation on cotton and dark black color but it doesn’t appear to be perfect.
To do sublimation on cotton and dark black color there is a new technology called dtf printer. Dtf printer requires lots of maintenance as compared to a sublimation printer.
Sublimation printer on Ceramic:
You can do sublimation on ceramic including mugs, tiles, glass, decorative sculpture, pottery, and more.
Sublimation printer on Polyester:
You can do sublimation on things made of polyester including bottles, sports gear, athletic apparel, earring, cards, sportswear, and more
Sublimation printer on MDF (medium-density fiberboard):
You can sublimation printing on MDF which is a wood made of hard or soft wood fibers Those wood fibers can be from sawdust or wood shaving processes.
Sublimation printer leaders in the market
The 2 leading producer of sublimation printers is Sawgrass and Epson.
Sawgrass brand is specialized in building dye sublimation printer only; they don’t produce any inkjet or laser printers. Whereas Epson is famous for its inkjet printers, and they also start producing sublimation printers in 2019 that are still not easily available in the online market right now.
The Epson eco tank inkjet printers can also be converted to sublimation printer Epson just by replacing the inkjet ink with compatible sublimation ink, and are easily available to buy online. Once they are converted you cannot ask Epson tech support for any errors and warranties. According to many people’s experiences, eco-tank printer works great with sublimation ink and produce high-quality results.
To find the good sublimation printer for your needs and to know more about what is a sublimation printer, look at the comparison between the sawgrass sg500 sublimation printer and the Epson sublimation printer as the 2 best sublimation printer or sublimation printer for Cricut.