Sawgrass Sublimation

What is sublimation?

Sublimation is a special type of printing, which actually isn’t printing. On one hand, you could say it’s printing with transfers, because the color is first printed on a sheet of paper, and then using a heat press, it is transferred onto the substrate that we want to print on. But in reality, it isn’t printing, it’s DYEING. The color evaporates and fuses with the substrate. We can only sublimate products that are made of polyester (shirts) or those that are coated with a quality polyester coating (mugs, photo panels …). It is important that the material is originally white or light-colored, as sublimation printers do not print white color.

At Gajcom, we use Sawgrass sublimation systems}

Sawgrass is a leading company in sublimation printing, specializing in creating systems and especially inks that enable top-quality prints on smaller items, specifically prints of A4 or A3 size. The entire system works reliably, and the printer prints accurate colors. Moreover, Sawgrass also thinks in the direction of making the printer’s job as easy as possible, even when it comes to preparing files for printing.

You can find more products that you can sublimate here.

You can address all your questions to us via email at [email protected]. You can also directly contact Sawgrass’ free support, which currently offers information in multiple languages (unfortunately, not in Slovenian yet).

Sublimation has recently become a very popular term for practically all printing techniques. Have you perhaps already encountered systems for sublimation on cotton? You probably have, but you certainly did not let yourself be misled. As mentioned, sublimation is only possible on polyester. For printing on cotton, other systems are used, for example, DTG, DTF, screen printing, or Sawgrass Chromablast – this system is the most similar to sublimation, but it uses special inks for cotton and different paper.

Sawgrass is not the only provider of sublimation products, but it is certainly the most reliable. After all, this is the company that invented sublimation and still owns the majority of patents related to sublimation.

MAIN ADVANTAGES OF Sawgrass VIRTUOSO SUBLIMATION SYSTEMS

• Sawgrass uses special gel technology with closed cartridges. This essentially means that the printer requires minimal cleaning. The head stays clean for a long time, even if you don’t use the printer every day. Even after several weeks, the first print you make will be perfect. All you need to do is keep the printer plugged in. Automatic cleanings are not as frequent as they need to be with other printers.Consequently, the printer wastes very little ink. Although the system is very stable, we recommend using it regularly and occasionally checking or cleaning it.
• ink consumption is lowcompared to other systems (such as Epson with its ink refill system). The biggest differences occur during cleaning because Sawgrass wastes almost no ink, so you’ll use most of it effectively. Moreover, since each print is perfect, you won’t need to print repeatedly to get a good result – this again means savings on ink and of course paper, and notably, the waste will be exceptionally low, so you will use fewer products.
• Official distributor for Slovenia for Sawgrass systems is Gajcom d.o.o. Our team also uses all the systems we market – we know why they are good and what advantages they offer, and we can advise you firsthand., if anything goes wrong. We also occasionally organize open house days, where you can socialize with us and other printers who use Sawgrass. You are always welcome to visit us and see everything in person and ask anything you are interested in.
• Good products are also crucial for good sublimation. We market products for sublimation Promattex (quality mugs and other sublimation products) and Unisub and ChromaLuxe (photo panels), all these products are of top quality.
• TruPix paper is currently the cheapest sublimation paper on the market. Funny, because it is also the best. You can also use it with other sublimation systems.
• And the most important fact – the Sawgrass sublimation system comes with a free Colour Management program. It is the only system that includes a free PowerDriver, which is one of the key elements for printing quality sublimation.

Sublimation of unique items

To offer your customers and yourself something beautiful, new, unique, we present sublimation products, which will make printing unique items a pleasure.

Why choose Sitotisk.net mugs?

The mugs are premium of high quality, which in practice means they are nicely coated, without defects, spots, lines …, allowing for an ideal print, they sit well in the press… when we compare our cups with others on the market, the basic advantage, which at least to us means a lot, is that every cup after printing is perfect – no need for repetition, virtually no waste.

WHAT IS SUBLIMATION?

Technically, sublimation is the phase transition in which a substance goes directly from a solid to a gaseous state.
Hmm, very technical, isn’t it? Let’s say it in a simpler way. In the process of creating unique items it’s the transition of special sublimation ink to a product that is coated or made from polyester. So sublimation is not printing, but dyeing 🙂

Items that can be used for sublimation include: cups, t-shirts, plush toys, pillows, puzzles, frames… if the items are made from polyester or coated with polyester, they are likely suitable for sublimation printing. If the items are not specified as sublimation items, you should of course test them first. There are many possibilities.

SAWGRASS Sublimation SYSTEM

Because for our customers only the best is good enough, we use the SAWGRASS  system, which is a leader in the production of sublimation inks in the world. Their system is easy to use and cost-effective.

Sawgrass is an ink designed with gel technology, packaged in sealed cartridges. This ensures maximum reliability and smooth printing. The ink in the printer doesn’t dry out, so the output is 100% perfect even after several days of use. No need for pre-cleaning the printer head.

Thanks to a special free color management system colors are exceptionally vibrant, exactly as they should be, and the resolution is at a level that other printers simply cannot achieve.

In combination with Sawgrass Virtuoso sublimation systems and high-quality products the prints are eternal! The hard surfaces of the prints will not crack, peel, or scratch. Prints on textile products will not fade, no matter how many times you wash them.

Since the printer does not include white ink, sublimation is primarily used for printing on white or light surfaces. However, this does not mean you cannot print on dark surfaces; you just need to adjust the design so that it does not contain white colors.

The system is truly simple, efficient and reliable and that is why we are happy to offer it to you as well.

Whether printing unique items or larger quantities, make it easy and fun.

What comprises a sublimation system?

A good sublimation system includes these basic components:

• A4 or A3 printer
• sublimation ink
• sublimation paper
• products suitable for sublimation printing
• high-quality press

In the market, you can find a variety of inkjet printers – from A4 (SG500) to wide-format printers. You can also choose the method of ink delivery – from closed cartridges that you cannot refill, to hybrid systems.

You can watch an interesting comparison of various small sublimation printing systems in this video. The video is in English.

However, the most important part of a good sublimation system is a quality press. The market offers a wide selection; we advise you to choose presses based on the kind of products you will print, how often, and in what quantities.

How will you know which system is best for you amidst this abundance of options?

Of course, you need to consider financial and spatial constraints, but you should also ask yourself the following questions:

• What products will you be printing?
• What quantities will you be printing?

If you can honestly answer these two questions, you will significantly narrow down your choices. This way, you can select your system based on the following factors:

You can watch an interesting comparison of various small sublimation printing systems in this video. The video is in English.

Print size

The size of the print that your printer allows determines how large a surface you can print on a single product or how many products you can print at once. For example, if you want to print glass tiles of size 30×30 cm, you won’t be able to do this on an A4 printer. If you need fast production of smaller products, you will buy a printer that will allow you to print multiple designs at once.

Type and size of the press

You will choose the printer based on the size of the print you need, and it is the same with the press. You need to pay attention to the size of the printing and heating plate and the quality of construction and robustness. If you print large products or large print surfaces, you must also have a press that can handle such print sizes. For printing on T-shirts, for example, you need a press that will allow you to print on small children’s T-shirts as well as large 3XL adult T-shirts.

For sublimation products, you must press the product in one piece. Find a press that has evenly distributed temperature, heats up quickly, has an accurate thermostat, and a plate on which you can place the products you want to sublimate. When buying a press for sublimation, choose one from the upper third of the price range.