Dye Sub printer recommendation

[Forrest M]

We currently use epson sylus pro 7890's but since they tend not too last forever under heavy use and it's getting harder and harder to find replacements, we are looking at different printer models to replace them.

We are a photo lab that for dye sub mostly print smaller hard substrate items(keychains, dogtags, ornaments,etc...). However we do also do larger size metal prints(mostly 8x10's and not larger then 15x18inchs) and soft substrate items such as mouse pads and beverage coolers.

I've been looking at the mutoh RJ900X, the sawgrass VJ628, and the epson F6200.
However I have not been able to get a print sample back that matches the image quality of our 7890's.

The mutoh seems like it will definitely not give me the image quality that I'm looking for.

The sawgrass is pretty close to the image quality that I want but not quite there and seems like the ink cost would be high compered to the other options.

From what I've been told lately the epson f6200 should give the image quality that I want. The droplet size is supposed to be smaller than the mutoh or sawgrass and actually be comparable to the epson 7890. But the samples I have been getting back do not look very good as for as the image quality. I'm wondering if the people running the samples for me are just not using good settings?

Anyways if anyone has any info on that matter that would be very much appreciated, as I feel like I'm running around in circles trying to find a replacement printer for our 7890's.

Thank you!

 

[arossetti]

I would skip the sawgrass printer, I'm guessing it is just a Chinese box they rebranded for themselves. I would also look at Roland and Mimaki.

I would think any of those printers would allow you to use 3rd party inks from Sawgrass, Sensient, etc if ink price is a concern.

 

[Forrest M]

I was just looking at some specs for the mutoh rj900x vs our epson 7890's and it looks like the droplet size of the rj is smaller than the 7890(3.2 picoliters vs. 3.5 picoliters).
Looks like they can both print at 2880 dpi.

To me that would mean that the rj would be able to print with equal or better image quality than the 7890.

Is there something that I'm missing that would account for the rj not being able to match the image quality of the 7890?

 

[PrintSolutions17]

Forrest,

I would take a stronger look at the F6200. You're absolutely right, the 7890 will have a bit better of a color gamut bet the 4 color F6200 is not far off by any means and can be color calibrated to look really really good on metal! Are you currently running a sawgrass ink solution on your 7890?

Cost for ink on the F6200 is $115 per L or ($0.11/ml) and prints very close to the same dot size coming in at 4.2 picoliters. The printer is warrantied top to bottom inside and out for 1 year and can be renewed for an additional 2 years after the fact.

IF you have any more questions or would like to give me a call please message me privately and I'd be happy to help!

 

[GoldenPug]

Hey) If you're looking for the best sublimation printer , i advise you to read here . Good article with comparison of prices and model's characteristics