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If you are considering the purchase of a T-shirt making system, a frequent
issue for potential buyers of such systems to produce goods made with the
dye-sublimation process is how does ink jet dye-sub compare to laser dye-sub. To
help answer that issue, here is some information that might help.
With ink jet dye-sub you can produce 100% polyester T-shirts, 100% polyester
fabric items such as mousepads and car flags plus polyester coated hard goods
like mugs, ceramic tiles, etc. To produce them you need a specialized release
paper. For hard goods many will use a photo paper like Accuplot. For 100% poly
T-shirts, they will use a release paper like Conde Systems JetCol 500. Some
folks even use ink jet sublimation to make 50/50 T-shirts using Cotton Trans
prep spray or something like SoffTee transfer paper as a prep sheet.
Laser dye-sub is very similar in that you have specialized papers for each
purpose. For making 100% polyester fabric transfers (like the Jerzees MOVE
fabric T-shirts) you use laser release paper (similar in concept to JetCol 500).
For making hard goods transfers you use Sublilaser
for Hard Goods which is similar to Accuplot or TexPrintXP. For making 50/50
or 100% cotton T-shirt transfers you either use Hottee
transfer paper or release paper with Cotton
Trans as a prep spray. Hottee is a lower cost, much quicker method for making
50/50 or 100% cotton T-shirts. The equivalent option exists with ink jet dye-sub
if you were to print on TransJet II with ink jet dye-sub, then transfer to 50/50
or 100% cotton.
All that said, it then comes down to which method you opt to choose. There are
advantages/disadvantages to each system and the decision on which system you
choose should be based on your production levels and which items you produce. If
you are making T-shirts, you might want to go with the system that yields the
results you want (quality of the finished transfer, type of T-shirt fabric you
will be using and quantity of T-shirts produced per day), plus you will want to
factor in the cost per print. If hard goods transfers are your focus, the cost
per print and print speed will be less significant. Knowing your business' needs
to meet your customers' demands will lead you to the correct decision.
In terms of advantages/disadvantages, here are the factors for ink jet: Ink jet
dye-sub makes a high quality hard goods transfer and a decent 100% polyester
fabric transfer. On the Internet you can find the initial investment in a low
end ink jet printer with dye-sub ink cartridges (that hold about 80 pages worth
of ink) can run you as little as $614 (Epson C88, dye-sub ink cartridges,
transfer paper, starter Sof'Link T-shirts, misc production items such as heat
tape), although a starter R800 system runs $1084. Your cost per print using
these systems will run you in the 4 cents per square inch range. The printer
will normally kick out a page in just under 2 minutes. In terms of reliability,
the biggest concern will be jet clogs if you leave the printer unused for
extended periods of time. If you are printing a lot (50+ pages per day) you will
need to be concerned about nozzle life.
In terms of advantages/disadvantages, here are the factors for laser dye-sub:
Laser makes a high quality 100% polyester fabric transfer, a high quality
transfer for 50/50 or 100% cotton T-shirts and a decent quality hard goods
transfer. Your initial investment in a low end laser system would run about
$1324 ($299 for an Okidata C3200 that prints 12 pages per minute, $675 for about
1000 - 1200 pages worth of dye-sub output (depends on what you are producing),
plus another $350 for the various sizes and types of transfer paper that let you
produce anything (T-shirts or hard goods)). Your cost per print runs about 1
cent per square inch of coverage and in 2 minutes you've got 24 pages output,
not 1. The laser is reliable and never has jet clogs when you leave it sitting
unused for a period of time.
Whether you are buying bulk inks or ink cartridges for the ink jet, you will run
through the dye-sub inks much more quickly than dye-sub toner. A set of ink
cartridges for the C88 run $276 for 80 pages. The R800 cartridges set you back
$483, although I am unsure how many pages that will yield. Bulk inks will save
you in terms of cost per print (about half of what the cartridges run).
Basically to get to 1000 pages output using C88 dye-sub cartridges you can
expect to buy 12 sets of cartridges, setting you back $3312.
Bottom line is you are the one who knows what your customers demand from you and
that will define which solution is best for your business. Don't let the wide
array of transfer paper options available for the laser confuse you because that
wide array of papers translates into a wide array of options for producing items
inexpensively. Whatever decision you make should be based entirely on an
analysis of your business needs. We believe you will likely choose the
laser alternative to ink jet because of its many advantages.
To get started, go to Okidata dye-sub Toner.
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