How To Convert An Epson Printer into a Sublimation Printer

Do you follow hot crafting trend? Do you want to convert Sublimation printer for your incredible crafting projects into eye-catching sublimation prints?

Sublimation printing is hot crafting trend to turn your mind-blowing imaginations into crazy  sublimation designs in reality. You have been interested in getting started with sublimation printing for a long time, but the cost of sublimation printer kept you from taking the plung? Don’t worry anymore.  You can start now & you will find how easy it is to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer at a fraction of the price of a regular sublimation printer.

We hope this article will clear your confusions & questions regarding sublimation printing, converting an epson printer into a sublimation printer & to satisfy your sublimation needs such as sublimating on drinkware, flags, welcome doormats, and much more Crafts in the comfort of your home.

Whether you want to create these crafts for yourself or sell them, Sublimation is fundamental and unlocks opportunities for lot more crafting gadgets. These are simple and easy-to-follow steps for anyone who wants to convert Epson Printer (Ecotank ET- models, including T3170x) to a Sublimation printer at home without any extra effort or cost. So, you will like the guideline & understand the basic things that are essential for this process.

What is Sublimation & How Epson works ?

what is sublimation?

Sublimation printing aims at transferring an awesome sublimation design from sublimation paper to a fabric with the help of heat and pressure that changes the solid particles on sublimation ink into a gaseous state that embeds itself into the fabric and stays there for longer periods of time.

Sublimation Popularity

The popularity of sublimation printers has raised over the past years after receiving high-quality results. If the process is done correctly the user will have mind-blowing results of crazy designs and however, er you like it. So, we need to know how the process and working of such a product for us to have a satisfying result.

Sublimation Process

All you will have to do is to select a design and print it through your sublimation printer. When the design is printed, add the ink on top or wherever you like onto your piece of fabric. After bringing the fabric and the ink together a transfer paper is put between either an ironing presser or anything heated to combine them.

The pressure and the heat will create gas which will bring the fabric and the special paper together embedding the design into the fabric. Resulting in it looking bright and vibrant on the piece of fabric.

The pressure is supposed to be exerted onto the fabric, cooling the ink down and turning it into a solid on the surface. After this cooling, the press is released and the transfer paper is soon taken off the surface gently resulting tina you design printer onto your fabric or whatever object, or material has been used. Once mastered the process you can create tons of creations how you like!

How Epson Ecotank printer Works

Epson Ecotank printer comes with easy-to-fill cartridges with properly labeled ink tanks. The ink provided lasts about 2 years while being used often. 11,200 pages can be printed with an incredible amount of given ink and given about 30 ink cartridges. Exclusively to make it easy for us to fill each tank with a specific color & comes with unique bottles which help us save the ink as well and not pour extra of it. You can convert Epson Ecotank into sublimation printer. Check out the instructions on how to convert sublimation printer.

Epson printer also offers us a large amount of paper sheet tray which is about 250. It provides up with a touchscreen of about 2.4’’ or higher. Greatly 2-sided printing and high network system. 

Ecotank printer by Epson is used for basic printing on assignments, homework, or any design you like. Above all, you can convert an epson printer into a sublimation printer easily & it can be used by anyone as it doesn’t require too much effort.

About Epson Ecotank Printer

You are interested in Epson Ecotank printer & you are wondering if they are worth the money? They are expensive and we have been paying more for the printers since last decade. However you can buy the most basic level Espon printer because they are cheap and you will be a convert to Epson ecotank because you will find epson ecotank printers have an amazin amount of prints from each tank.

When you buy ecotank you will find that you can use one ink tank for entire one year and all you need to do is to refill it again when it is empty.

You will find ecotank printers are different from traditional toner cartridges or laser cartridges, they come with an ink tank that is refillable & you can purchase just ink in a bottle. You will refill ink tank & epson claims that one ink tank replace 80 tradtional ink cartridges, you will find huge saving on the printer ink.

You will find ecotank printer economically beneficial as well as environmentally beneficial.

Setting up Ecotank printer

• Setup is simple and easy you have to unbox the printer and accessories in a careful manner
• Check you quick go through guide and you will find it a fun
• Insert the individual ink bottles into the tank , you might find it a massive process but it is not, you have to simply open each of the caps of the bottle and place the bottle on the tank, the ink burbles into the tank and not a single drop of ink does fall out, there is no fuss or mess
• The air moves from the tank to the bottle
• Filling stops automatically when the tank is full
• The valve helps prevent ink spills
• You can see how much ink you have filled in each tank from the front side of the printer

How Ecotank printer Works?

• The printer does aswesome job for office document printer
• It prints you stock photos & comes with built in scanner & you can use fladbed scanner
• It works on wireless setup and you can print from anywhere home or office from any device including phones
• It prints effortlessly, prints directly from cameras’ SD card & has made smart printing a lot more easier
• Setting up Epson with smart phones is very simple and time saving
• Offers you printing form any device
• The value you get from eco printers is spectacular in terms of cost & envrionmental benefits
• You will epson ecotank printer a better choice than the competitor similiar products

Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer

Since you are interested in Sublimation Printing for your newest hot crafting projects. Traditional Sublimation printers available in the market can be expensive, so we are here to help you create an incredible sublimation crafting project & sharing how easy it is to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer. 

Why Convert Epson Ecotank as a Sublimation printer compared to other printers?

Converting an Epson Ecotank as a sublimation printer compared to other printers is best because Epson uses Piezo technology that uses high pressure as opposed to heat. Crafters love piezo technology & like to Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer for quite a while due to pressure technique instead of heat.

Supplies needed to Convert Sublimation Printer

To convert an epson printer into a sublimation printer we need the following supplies:

• All compatible Ecotank Printer Models- Select any that you want to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer 
• Sublimation Inks
• Sublimation paper 
• Sublimation Tumbler or fabric
• The heatpress machine

For amazing results and awesome performance it is recommended to use a brand new ecotank printer. However, an old ecotank printer could be used provided if its tanks are properly flushed and cleaned & the ink has not clogged the printer head already. Using an old printer and converting it to a sublimation printer would be cumbersome process & you may not get the desired results.

An important thing to consider for ecotank printer is that the printer should have Piezo technology with fillable ink tanks. So, you can convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer ealsiy with these features.

The Process -Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer

We can easily convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer if we do the method correctly. For turning such a printer into a sublimation printer, we need to do the process carefully and correctly step by step.

Let’s Convert Epson EcoTank Printer into Sublimation Printer

we are assuming you’ve purchased an Epson printer, Sublimation ink (Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye), Sublimation papers, and Sublimation blanks. Now, You’ve each and everything that needs to get best printers to convert to sublimation. Let’s start the process step by step.

Select a Printer

All you need to do is to take an Epson ecotank printer, sublimation ink, and sublimation paper for this process. While making sure the ink cartridges of the sublimation ink fit the eco tank printer perfectly.

Step 1: Open your printer from the box and remove the plastic around it. Do not start your printer. Get your Ink, If you’ve purchased Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye, It comes with pair of gloves for your safety and syringes to fill up the printer’s tanks.

Get Your Printer ready to Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer

To continue further, You need to have your ink tanks cleaned with old used ink as we don’t want them mixing up with the sublimation ink.  It is advisable to use a new printer Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer.

Fill in the Ink Tanks

Step 2: Cover your hands with gloves. Fill one of the syringes you get with Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye black ink. Once your syringe is full, insert it in the hole of a tank and insert the ink in the tank by slowly pressing the plunger. simply fill in the ink tanks with sublimation ink to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer.

• Take an Ecotank printer which contains ink tanks, & open the little openings of these tanks from which you will fill the sublimation ink.
• The opening has small, concealed tips with each having labeling of a specific color. The colors mentioned are Black, Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan.
•   Fill the ink with a specific color in a specific tank. To make the process easy and comfortable syringes are recommended to use so that the ink is easily poured into the tank. 
• The windows of the ink tanks have stained glass through which you can see how much ink has been put in, which alerts you to not overflow the tank. Each color owns its syringe just so the colors don’t mix up.

Adjust your printer

Once you’re done filling up your ink tanks with the right amount of sublimation ink, hook up the power code of the printer to start it up.

Step 3: Once you fill your tanks, now turn your printer ON.You will get a card having full instructions for setting your printer when you purchase your printer.  You can read the general guidelines below:

1- When you turn your printer ON. You’ll need to choose your time standard and location.

2- Then, it’ll go through the preparation process to get ready for Sublimation.

3- Before you start printing the prints it might require you to read the instructions available on the card because the setting of each printer might be somehow different. This setting might require some ink because you’ve to refill the tank when it’s done.

When you refill the printer, you’ve to clean the syringes so that they are ready to use for the next time when you need to fill your tanks to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer.

4- Next time when you’ll use the printer, it’ll run through an alliance arrangement. Regular printer paper can also be used to print alliance sheets. 

5- After doing all this, you can easily link the printer with your computer. You can do this either by using a disk that you get with your printer or by going to the link provided in the instructions.

6-Next take sublimation paper & load it to the ecotank printer. You can adjust the print quality. You may find when the print comes out the print on paper may not look like original design or may look dull or light, however when pressed with heat press on high temperature on a specific material, it will look more vibrant and bright.

7-The final step is to print your desired design onto the sublimation printer. Now you can print this design on any material that you want to use to print the design with the help of heatpress. The heat and pressure will permanently embed your design into the fabric, keep it there until the ink cools down and the design embeds into the fabric permanently.

Which Sublimation ink should we use to convert Sublimation printer?

We have been using Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye for Sublimation printing. If you want to give it a try then you can purchase it. The Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye offers great results, we thought to give it a try and we got results beyond our expectations.

Everyone wants his/her projects with bright colors because color plays a part of the soul in any design. When you’ll make your projects using this ink crafts will have blazing and vivid colors made with this ink.

Another reason for using Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye is that you’ll get everything you need to fill your Sublimation printer in the box when you order Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye. Moreover, this ink is not a warrior to heads of printer when you don’t use your printer on daily basis. Once you pick a Sublimation ink, try to stick with it because If you use more than one ink you will be mixing inks in printer in order to convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer

Which Sublimation paper should we use to convert sublimation printer?

Sublimation paper has always been a topic of discussion when it comes to Sublimation printing. The Sublimation paper is one of the most important things required in Sublimation printing. If you don’t have experience in Sublimation printing, then probably you’ll be confused about the selection of Sublimation paper.

You will experience the difference between your crafts depending on which Sublimation paper you use in your printer. It does not matter which Sublimation paper you use as long as you’re using high-quality ink like Inktec Sublinova Smart Dye ink.

Only one side of the paper is available to print your crafts, and on the other, there may be a printed logo of the company. The printed side is bright while the backside of the Sublimation paper is more creamy and it becomes challenging for most crafters especially when they have visual deterioration.

Which Sublimation blanks should we use to Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer?

The one drawback of Sublimation printing is that you can’t sublimate everything in Sublimation. Sublimation blanks have a special coating on them which makes them suitable for Sublimation. When we provide heat to Sublimation blanks, the pores in the coating of blanks absorb ink and our printed craft is ready when blanks are cooled. 

Fabric is Sublimation friendly and it is recommended to use fabric having a high percentage of polyester. Cotton fabrics won’t absorb Sublimation ink, that’s why the fabrics having a high percentage of polyester have bright and vivid colors on your crafts.

What if you still want to sublimate on blanks that are not sublimation friendly?   

Experience is one of the powerful things which makes you an expert on anything. If you want to sublimate on blanks that are not Sublimation friendly then Sublimation coating sprays are made for you. However, I have no experience with these sprays yet. If you have experience with these sprays I would love to see your comments about them.

Conclusion

Convert an Epson printer into a sublimation printer from wide range of Epson models & enjoy sublimation printing that is getting popular day by day. Series of Printers by Epson has created ease for artists and sublimation fans to enjoy their creativity with sublimtion printing & to get best printers to convert to sublimation from ecotank serires of printers by Epson.

FAQS

How to convert an epson printer into a sublimation printer

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