Suggestions on best Sublimation Printer & Press to purchase

[Kenneth H Brown]

Friends, looking into adding sublimation color to my business within the next month. Any suggestions as to the best printer & press to purchase would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Ken

[AL Ursich]

I would go with a Sawgrass SG800 the bigger of the two offered, the SG400 being the smaller. I have both in the older versions.

I would go with the Geo Knight 14 x 16 Swing Away press capable of 2 inch thick stuff. Many Sublimation products can be done due to the ability to change the thickness. Stay away from a Clam Shell style.

[Ross Moshinsky]

The Ricoh/Sawgrass Gel printers are good for what they are.

I actually disagree with the "Stay away from clamshells" statement. I have a Hotronix 16x20 auto open and can press items up to 1" thick. The ability to press 2 - 8.5x14 sheets is beneficial to me.

[Mike Null]

I prefer the Insta press. I have a swing away pneumatic that's at least 15 years old and still going strong.

Be advised that those printers drink ink daily in their self-maintenance regimen. If you don't have at least a moderate volume of sublimation business this will be expensive to operate.

[Brian Leavitt]

I use the SG800 as well. Good, consistent printer. My only issue with it, and previous Ricoh printers, is the bypass tray. I hate the bypass tray. It simply does not work well, but is necessary if you want to print a 13" x 19" sheet of paper.

My favorite previous printer was the Epson Stylus Pro 4800. With that one I could buy my paper in 17" x 300' rolls and print the whole roll in one page if I had to, which was super convenient for large orders. I don't know if any printers like that are still available for this purpose, but it was a good one.

For presses... I like Geo Knight. I have a DC16 and a DK20S - both swingaways. With the DC16 you can change out the heating block and base for different items. I don't use this feature, but it's there. The DK20S has a 16" x 20" press area and is the one that gets the most use here. We have a couple of Hotronix clamshells. I'm personally not a fan of the style, but they work just fine for sublimation. We mainly use them for cad cut stuff.

[Kenneth H Brown]

Thanks all for your recommendations. Very much appreciated.

Ken

[Terry R Peterson]

Which printer did you go with? We're looking into dye sub's and the Sawgrass SG800 seems to be most often mentioned. Any opinions good or bad on what you purchased?

[AL Ursich]

Here is a update to help answer the questions about what is the best Sublimation Printer to get.

This Sawgrass page does a good job. When looking at the data on color it is good to note that the 3110 can only use the "R" type ink that had less than bold RED in it's ability. I fought that for over a year before Sawgrass came our with the "HD" ink that had a bigger color gamet. The SG Printers are setup for the HD ink. As I mentioned in a post above... You can install the HD ink in a 3110 ONLY after you cut the fins that are keyed to each printer type. Each cart has 2 sets of fins. One for the machine and one for the color. Only cut the machine fins. Then load the SG Driver.

https://www.sawgrassink.com/Resources/Creativity-and-Commerce-Blog/December-2017/Ricoh-3110-VS-The-Virtuoso-SG400.aspx?lang=en-US&utm_campaign=dec-eu-newsletter-us&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=articlethree