Having a best sublimation printer has power over the sharpness, vividness, and vibrancy of the printouts you get. Most printing professionals and designers prefer to use the sublimation printer over the conventional inkjet printer because of the excellent results. Sublimation printers are an integral part of professional printing aimed at producing different materials.
However, if you have arrived at this page, then there are fair chances that you have not used the sublimation printer and want to know about it. In other words, you may be thinking, what can you do with a sublimation printer? That is why we have especially devised this blog post to provide you with all the essential details that you must know about the functioning of a sublimation printer. So, without doing any delays, let’s get started with the exciting information on sublimation printers!
Sublimation Printing: Brief Account
Before diving into the details of the sublimation printers and answering your question about what can you do with a sublimation printer, you must have basic knowledge about them. By this, we mean that why you should prefer sublimation printing over other forms of printing. The foremost reason to choose sublimation printers over others is that they produce excellent-looking printouts resistant to any sort of damage in the long term.
If you adopt sublimation printing for your textiles, mugs, pages, business-level posters, etc., the images will be outstanding, and they will not crack for an extended duration of time. Having such visuals will enhance the creativity with which the designs have been formed.
Though you can produce kitchenware, pads, and posters with your sublimation printer, however, if you are specifically looking for the usefulness of the sublimation printers for fabrics printing, you will produce larger volumes of customized fabrics with them. In case of the sublimation printing of the fabrics, you will have to use the heat transfer additionally.
What Can You Do With A Sublimation Printer? | Important Functions
When it comes to the question, what can you do with a sublimation printer? Then we must say there is a long list of the items you may transform with the help of your sublimation printer. There is no restriction of the different materials with rigid surfaces or blank rigid surfaces. Also, another noteworthy use of sublimation printing is for fabrics industry, home décor, and different photographs for different purposes.
The following section will throw light on the different functions of the sublimation printers in a detailed and specific manner. So, here we go with these far-ranging and diverse applications of the sublimation printers!
Fabric & Sublimating Printing
We have inserted fabric printing with the sublimation printers at the top of the list of the main works that you can do with them. The reason is that different printing agencies related to textile mills are using this technique of sublimation printing on a massive scale. Also, this is the main function of the sublimation printer in response to your question on what can you do with a sublimation printer?
The success of the sublimation printing can be related to the extraordinary output in vibrant and sharper prints. Among different types of fabrics, you will be able to sublimation print items used for making custom tents, T-shirts, kitchen cloths, etc. In this regard, the sublimation printer personnel might be using the “All-over” designs present in the pattern or other images. Such designs cover the whole cloth to be printed.
This type of printing is more straightforward and quick since the sublimation printer has to repeat the same pattern several times, and also, we can say it feeds in the memory of the printer. As a result, it is easier for the sublimation printer to make color choices from the base eight or four. Some users complain about the white lines they get in the final prints. These lines appear due to different hindrances occurring during the printing process.
Therefore, you need to pay much attention during printing so that you can overcome any bad setting of the items inside your sublimation printer, e.g. folding or taking items before wetting.
Sublimating Printing of the Glass
Another important application of the sublimation printers we must not forget to share is the sublimation printing glassy materials. As you are well-aware of the fact that glass is prone to breakage very easily. That is the reason you need to pay special attention to the printing of the glass. Be very cautious when you are using the heat press during this process.
The good news is that good heat presses come with extra coverage which is meant for protecting glass. However, you don’t need to use it if you are already doing things carefully. Another important consideration in this regard is that the response of the glass towards heat is different in comparison to the response of the fabric towards heat. As a result of this, you might be getting some sections having foggy aspects.
If you encounter such a situation then we suggest you go for using halftones. Using halftones will be covering this issue in a good manner. Also, you can use textured material instead of using blank glass. With the textured material, you will be getting clearer and sharper images. In any case, you need to do the sublimation of the ink in a correct-reading manner.
Plastic & Sublimation Printing
Another important item that is often transformed through sublimation printers is the plastic and other polymeric substances having different compositions. Since plastic and polymeric substances are unique materials, you will need to apply a slightly different technology for sublimation printing. Let us throw some light on this varied technology. For the sublimation printing of the fabric, you are required to use the heat press.
The same heat press is required for glassy materials. For sublimation printing of the flat surfaces, you use a flatbed press. However, if you want to deposit a 3D design on plastic or other polymeric materials, you will need an oven press instead of the other presses. Some other polymeric substances that are compatible with sublimation printing are acrylic, nylon, and vinyl. So we are hoping, you are getting a good explanation to your question what can you do with a sublimation printer?
We must also mention another change that you will be observing is the image printing on a film instead of fabric etc. Plastic films are always appreciated for their formability and portability. If you intend to do the plastic sublimation printing, check if the material can bear temperatures up to 400 ⁰F without undergoing any changes in the shape and chain length.
Sublimation Printing of the Metallic Substances
Another noteworthy application of sublimation printing is the transformation of aluminum and other metals. You will be excited to learn that sublimation printing can produce excellent prints over aluminum and other metals. You will love the sharp and dynamic colors alluring your eyes. If you choose the high-end products to treat with the sublimation printer then you will have amazing results.
In this regard, we will suggest you buy an excellent quality sublimation printer. Especially if you go for the one coming with the eight base colors, you will be getting extraordinary results. In printing over the metallic surface, you have to make sure that the heat is in direct contact with the metal and paper. Only then you will be getting the expected results. Therefore, you may understand the answer to your question on what can you do with a sublimation printer, when it comes to printing metallic substances.
Sublimation Printing on Miscellaneous Objects
Sublimation printing is not just limited to fabrics, glass, metals, polymers, etc. Rather, you will be amazed to see the other materials you will be getting exceptional results. For example, it is equally good for printing on the canvas that can be easily stretched using a process famously known as the ‘Gallery Wrap’. In addition to this, you will be glad to hear that you can use your sublimation printer to deposit designs on the wood and other wooden items.
After reading these all applications of sublimation printing, we hope now you will be in better positioned to understand the answer to your question on what can you do with a sublimation printer?
FAQs
What can you do with a sublimation printer?
You can do a wide range of activities with the sublimation printer. You may use it for printing your favorite design onto fabrics, glass, polymers including plastic, acrylic, nylon, polyester, etc., wood, canvas, metals e.g. aluminum.
What type of polymers and plastics is suitable for treating with the sublimation printer?
Any sort of plastics and polymeric materials can be used for printing with the sublimation printer. However, you need to check the heat tolerance of these materials for withstanding the higher temperatures without causing any change in their shape.
How can we clean the sublimation printer head?
There is a set of steps that you need to follow to clean your sublimation printer head. You may do it by employing computer commands. Or you can also do this by manually cleaning the printer head.
Which sublimation printers are good to purchase in 2021?
You will find plenty of sublimation printers to consider for purchase in 2021, however, the top choices to go for are DNP DS-RX1HS Sublimation Printer, Sawgrass SG500 – Professional Sublimation Printer, HP OfficeJet Pro 9025 Sublimation Printer, Epson Workforce Pro WF-7820 Sublimation Printer, Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-In-One Color Inkjet Sublimation Printer, and Xerox Phase 3260DI Sublimation Printer.
Final Words
After explaining all the steps in detail, we have arrived at the end of the blog post dealing with the guidelines on what can you do with a sublimation printer? From the above-mentioned discussion, you must have come to the point that a sublimation printer is associated with a large number of applications. All of these applications are commercially significant and used for mass-scale production.
You may also have noticed that for each application, there are related advancements that you need to follow. We hope we have provided enough details to educate you. However, we will be glad to get your queries regarding the subject matter. Therefore, please reach us with your queries and thoughts in the comments section. Thank you!
