You have come to the right place to get a comprehensive guide on how to pick the best sublimation printer. You can pick the best sublimation printer whether you are in the research phase of exploring sublimation printers or you are in an advanced sublimation business & looking to convert sublimation printers or upgrade your recent printer. You will learn what is available, what is best and what is the difference between the available printers.
Selection of the best sublimation printer will be easier for you now as we have made it simpler for you are going to make an informed decision once you understand what you need & what best option to look for.
The best sublimation printer that you should pick is the one that fulfils all your criteria for what it can print, suits your budget and the technical support or warranty for the device. There’s a wide choice & range of printers to choose from, however pick the printer that best suits your printing needs. If you want to convert a regular Epson printer to a sublimation printer read more about how to convert an Epson printer into a Sublimation Printer.
Prior to buying your best sublimation printer decide which printer is right for you & do you want an inkjet printer or want to convert a printer to sublimation. Decide the size of the printer , the cost of printer & the sublimation inks including technical support or warranty for the printer.
The regular inkjet printers come with piezo technology & you can convert them easily for a sublimation printer. Epson Eco-Tanks are popular and mostly converted for sublimation for these support refillable ink tanks. The regular ink is exchanged with a sublimation ink that works well with Eco-Tank printer when it is new.
The main task of a printer is to transfer ink on the paper. You will get two primary types of inkjet print heads i.e thermal and Piezo Technology . The printers that have piezo print heads work as a sublimation printers whereas the thermal printers wouldn't work as sublimation printers.
All Eco tank printers have Piezo print head and therefore you can easily convert the Epson Eco-tank printers to a sublimation printers.
Sawgrass partnered with Ricoh that was an option back in 2019 to be the dye sublimation printer partner for Sawgrass. The older models of Ricoh SG3110DN and SG7100DN became Sawgrass SG400 & SG800. These models have been updated to SG 500 & SG1000.
Sawgrass is budget friendly as compared to Roland. You can convert Sawgrass printer to a Sublimation printer for it is easy and cost effective.
You can use three types of printers for sublimation: Epson, Sawgrass & Roland.
Roland printers are expensive, therefore users will go for a printer that suits their budget & is easy to convert to a sublimation printer.
Epson is a popular brand that offers many inkjet printers that can be easily converted to a sublimation just by adding sublimation ink instead of a regular ink. Best Epson inkjet printer to convert to a sublimation printer is the one which has refillable ink tanks, & if you convert a new Ecotank printer it works well, it costs less and offers vibrant results for sublimation.
Printers with thermal heads use heat to convert ink ink into air bubbles or vapor that comes out of the chamber from the print head nozzle. As the ink transfers to paper, it quickly cools when the process ends. Printers with thermal print-heads use water-based inks for the heat transfer process. Printers that are popular to use thermal heads are Canon & HP printers.
Printers with Piezo Technology can be converted to sublimation printers easily. Printers with piezo print heads are compatible with water-based, Eco solvent, oil-based, solvent & gel-based inks. The printers with Piezo print heads Epson, Sawgrass & Roland are used for sublimation.
5-Epson EcoTank -4760 (ET-4760)
6-Epson EcoTank -4800 (ET-4800)
7-Epson EcoTank -4850 (ET-4850)