Best Sublimation Printers
Sublimation Printers
Print sublimation may be a lesser-known printing technology compared to inkjet and laser, though it’s truly amazing what you can accomplish with sublimation printers. These special printers apply heat to colored dyes to produce or transfer an image onto media.
Portable instant photo cameras use sublimation to produce images, which is how they’re able to be so compact. Dye sublimation is also the technology used to produce text, graphics, and images onto merchandise. Virtually all branded and promotional merchandise — like apparel, mugs, hats, and specialty photo products — use dye sublimation to transfer the design onto the product.
Photographers, artists, and designers also prefer to use dye sublimation for their high-resolution images. With sublimation printers, you can create vivid images with a wide gamut range and deep colors. The dye also has fantastic longevity and won’t fade easily.
Discover The Many Types of Sublimation Printing
· Photographic Dye Sublimation Printers: Many consumer models of sublimation printers are used for photography. Photographic printers in this class are fantastic at producing high-resolution images with rich colors. They’re also able to accommodate a wide range of sizes, including non-standard ones.
Additionally, the printing process of dye sublimation ensures that images don’t streak or smudge from ink. Dye photographs and prints are also considered very fade-resistant and fingerprint-proof. Printers of this nature are available in a portable size to use on the go or as larger machines used by professional photographers and artists.
· Heat Press Dye Sublimation Printer: Heat press dye-sublimation printers are most commonly known and used for printing designs and images onto apparel, such as t-shirts. There’s a wide range of different types of heat press printers from ones good for casual home use to those used for commercial apparel production.
Flatbed press sublimination printers are one type that can be fairly large and useful for printing onto wider-sized fabrics. There are two main types of flatbed press sublimation printers. The first is the pneumatic flatbed press printer, which is essentially the automatic version of the printer that does everything for you during the printing process.
The other type of flatbed is the manual version, which is one of the sublimation printers for heat transfer that allow the user more control throughout the entire printing process. This model is usually suited to more detail-oriented print work.
· Calendar Press Printers: Calendar press dye-sublimation printers are very large format sublimation printers that are mostly used commercially. This type of printer uses a roll system. As the roll of material is fed through the machine, the printer applies heat to produce the image.
There are two types of calendar press printers: electric and oil drums. Just as the name implies, electric calendar press printers use electricity to generate heat for the sublimation process. Oil drum printers, on the other hand, heated oil is used to transfer images.
· Swing Away Sublimation Printer: When you’re looking to print onto materials that are thicker than a piece of fabric, swing-away printers allow for the extra thickness to be able to print on those materials evenly. This includes items like picture frames, hats, plates, and more.
· Single Press Sublimation Printer: Sublimation printing is popular among hobbyists, crafters, and other people who love the ability to print on a wide range of surfaces, materials, and objects. Most consumer printers are referred to as single press sublimation printers. Of all sublimation printers for sale, these models are typically more versatile and smaller in scale than others.
Most Important Features of Sublimation Printers
· Printer Space Requirements: When you’re deciding on a sublimation printer, you’re definitely going to be considering what you want to use it for. Part of that is deciding how large of a print field you’ll need on average. For example, if you’re looking at sublimation printers that print 13x19 there are plenty of options.
If you don’t need to print on a larger area than that, look for a machine that’s just slightly bigger than that area. Many models available come in the 24-inch size for that very reason.
Additionally, you want to consider the space you plan on working out of. There are plenty of fantastic options available to accommodate all uses and spaces. If you’re working from home or in a small office space, desktop sublimation printers will be your best friend. Those who are looking at wide format printing options for business can explore freestanding printer models to achieve the sizes you need.
· Media and Material Types: Sublimation dye printers are a little different from inkjet and laser printers. One of the most important factors to consider is what you actually want to print on. Sublimation printing is certainly versatile, though some may handle certain materials better than others. If you’re planning to mostly print on thicker material and media, you’re going to look for a machine with different features than one that’s designed to print mainly on t-shirts.
There are plenty of versatile options for general hobbyists who want the flexibility of printing on a wide range of media and materials. If you’re focused on photography, you may prefer to look at options that are more focused on transferring high-quality images to photo paper. Every printer model will have a list of compatible media and materials that it can print on. Be sure to check that out when exploring all of the exciting options out there.
· Sublimation Printer Dye Setup: Most dye-sub printers will have a dye configuration that has four primary colors it uses to print images and designs: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. You’ll find that machines with this dye configuration are the most common types available, especially when it comes to consumer models.
That being so, there are other models that offer more than four colors. Some can even go up to having eight different colors that it uses to print on. Photographers who are looking for really high-resolution photographs with accurate colors will often be the ones interested in printers with a higher color configuration. The color setup is something to be aware of when looking for sublimation printers near me, especially when considering how you’re going to use it.
· Printing Speed: When looking at this category of the printer, print speed varies significantly. Sublimation printers that are designed for printing out 4x6 photographs, for example, will have a print speed of around 47 seconds per photo.
Once you get into larger models with more features and versatility, the print speed gets faster. Most desktop sublimation printer models run at 29 seconds and are faster to produce an 8x10 photo. When you get into large-scale and very high-resolution printing, the speed will be slower. The printing speed of sublimation printers depends on your usage and the types of material you print on.
Possibilities are a Print Away
· Photographic and Art Prints: Photo sublimation printers are fantastic for producing photo and art prints. Many photographers, artists, and print shops use sublimation printers to produce their work for several reasons.
Because sublimation printers use a heat transfer process, it is actually a dry printing process as compared to inkjet printing, which uses wet ink. Dry printing ensures that there won’t be any smudging or streaking in the image from wet ink.
Additionally, sublimation model printers have a lot of versatility when it comes to size, media you can print on, and the range of colors they can produce. High-end photo printers give photographers and artists the ability to print using a wide range of dye colors, which allows them to access a wider gamut range.
· Portable Photographic Printing: One of the most popular forms of sublimation printing is used in instant photo printers. People take these compact printers on the go with them when they’re traveling, spending time with friends and family, and to special events.
Instant printers allow you to print photos out from your phone right after taking them so you can share them with others and remember the moment.
· Promotional Merchandise and Branding: Sublimation makes it possible to customize and brand all types of various promotional merchandise. Businesses and corporations often make use of these promo items. Promotional sublimation printing is possible on mugs, tumblers, phone cases, mouse pads, and similar items to add logos, slogans, and more.
Special merchandise such as magnets, apparel, drinkware, mugs, and more that have photography printed on them was done using sublimation. Sublimation is highly effective at producing photos on the face of different materials while maintaining high image quality.
· Sublimation for Signs and Banners: Dye-sublimation printing is also frequently used to create large banners and signs. Certain sublimation machines transfer images well on vinyl, which is part of why it’s commonly used as the fabric for this purpose.
The dye used in the sublimation process is well-suited to creating signs and banners because it’s very durable and resistant to fading and water damage. Even smaller sublimation printers can produce images onto banners and signs (up to a certain size of course). If this is something you’re interested in, make sure that the printer model supports printing on that material type.
Bringing Your Vision to Life with Lenovo
Lenovo is always helping people produce the work they want at the quality they want. Whether you’re traveling and printing photos on the go or producing fine art prints for a gallery, print sublimation is a fantastic way to express yourself.
Sublimation printers are great for hobbyists, crafters, photographers, designers, and artists of all levels. When it comes to sublimation printing, you have the benefit of a wide range of options to make any of your creative and professional ideas come to life.