Utilizing Dye Sublimation Printer To Its Best For Apparel Industry

To digitally add custom graphics to clothing, chairs, snowboards, fabrics, promotional products and more is what dye sublimation printer offer.

This quick and effective digital print method is replacing traditional screen printing practices for shorter production runs and for output that requires multiple colors and photographic imagery as for many sign and graphics businesses.

There are things which you should know about dye sublimation printer and its printing process if you are thinking of adding this type of technology to your graphics business:

Items which you can sublimate with Dye Sublimation printer

When the term “dye-sublimation’ comes in mind, we are sure that snowboards, metal sheets, and floor mats are not the things which pop-ups first.

Thanks to wide-format printers that enable the cost-effective customization of everything from large banners to ceramic tiles, dye-sublimation of both fabric and rigid materials is now possible.

Penetrating the surface of the substrate with ink is how dye-sublimation works. When heated, enabling the bonding of ink, man-made materials such as nylon, certain plastics, and polyester fabrics contain polymers.

Beautiful and permanent colors are embedded in the substrate or fabric, rather than printed on the surface is what dye-sublimation printing yields. Even after multiple washing, images on fabric will not fade or crack even images on hard substrates will not chip, peel or scratch.

Dye-Sublimation with different machines

In the process of sublimation clothing printing is only the first step of the process. You will need heat and pressure for the sublimation to take place.

There are two-part processes in which dye-sublimation works:

1) Using sublimation inks, print graphics onto special transfer paper.
2) To transfer the ink-on-paper to the item you want to decorate, use a heat press.

You will also need the following items which are essential if you are planning to use your dye sublimation printer for applications that includes everything from apparel to décor and soft signage:

1. Software and a Computer for sublimation textile printing

To design and process your digital graphics for sublimation textile printing and to manage your overall print production, you will need a computer and software.

You will have to research different RIP software and ensure that it is compatible with your printer as not all sublimation printer manufacturer supply software with their machine.

2. Cutting Device

For simple cutting of knit materials and for the cutting of sealing of woven fabric, you will need a rotary blade and hot knife. But, if you plan to print and sew your own apparel, you will ultimately need an X/Y table cutter or digital flatbed cutter/plotter with registration capabilities.

3. Sewing Device

For custom apparel, custom upholstery, banner pole pockets and silicone edge sewing for SEG graphic application, apparel, and soft signage products require some manner of sewing and hemming.

For apparel and small signage solutions and computerized automatic sewing machine, this requires a manual sewing machine with auto-command and auto-feed features for large format joint and hemming.

4. A quality heat press

Heat presses are readily available but largely varies in size and applications. At 400 degree Fahrenheit, they simultaneously heat the ink on the transfer paper and the polymer fibers within the substrate, enabling the transfer of ink-to-media as despite the variations, they all function in the same way.

The heat is then removed and the transfer paper is peeled off leaving behind a permanent, full-color graphic on the substrate, after about a minute.

It is of the high resolution with the quality of the picture with dye sublimation. Only professional graphic artists had access to this printing technology in its early years.

Even professionals needed to have large printing runs just to make the cost of printing more practical as it was way too expensive for the average consumer.

So has the processes and equipment that goes with it as the technology has now evolved. Capable of printing really stunning photos are for now as we have desktop dye-sub printers.

As they are designed to print photos only, dedicated photo printers differ from all-purpose printers as in addition to photos they oppose the text or graphics documents.

Some models even feature batteries that allow you to print without the need for an outlet as they are generally compact in size and lightweight. Though there is a few that feature inkjet technology, most photo printers including the dye sublimation printer are built around a thermal dye engine.

Uses of this printer

Used especially in the demanding graphic arts and photographic applications, for many years, dye sublimation printers were the specialist device.

Forming the basis of many standalone portable photo printers that surfaced in the second half of the 1990s, the advent of digital photography is what led to the entry of this technology into the mainstream.

In producing high quality and high fidelity photographs, is in what a dye sublimation printer specializes in. Sublimation clothing printing is now practical and affordable as there have been improvements.

Printers have both gone down in price and in size which is what is better. To see dye-sub printers being sold alongside photo inkjet printers is now very common to see.

The basic concepts and principles of dye sublimation are now seen through these new printers. To make them stick to the paper, they heat the dye pigments. Coated with a protective layer is how the colors are infused with the paper. From being damaged with the exposure to the UV lights, is what it prevents.

It needs to have specialized paper is what the one catch of dye sublimation needs. To produce the best colors the special paper also contains film packs that are specially formulated. You cannot use it for printing other pages as the dyes are for one-time use only. These printers can make, these downsides though are only a consequence of the high-quality prints.

With the help of sublimation printing machines all over sublimation printing is performed. In order to meet the exact requirements of the industry, these are offered in the comprehensive range. As the process takes less time, these are tremendously employed.

In order to meet the exact requirements of the buyers, the sublimation printing machines manufacturers are offering their products in a comprehensive range.

On simple principle, these machines work. On the transferable paper, the computer-aided designs get directly imprinted on. In order to print these designs on the fabric, these printers involve the pressure and heat applications.

As it offers long-lasting designs, this is the main advantage which is associated with the prints of the sublimation printer. These machines offer high-definition designs apart from this. They can easily offer customization in the designs as the main flexibility associated with these machines.