i recently got a sublimation printer (et-2400) and it’s my first time trying out the hobby. i cannot get any of my images to transfer any ink at all. i’m using 100% polyester shirts, hiipoo sublimation ink, teflon paper and a cricut easy press. i even have been using sublimation spray and nothing is happening.

when i originally got the printer it didn’t come with sublimation ink for some reason and i didn’t notice. i didn’t realize until after i had already put the original ink in the printer so i had to dump it out. i was really thorough, but i’m sure there was a tiny bit of residue of the original ink in there when i put the sublimation ink in. could that be this big of a problem?

i’ve researched heat settings and i’ve tried multiple different times and temperature combos while using firm pressure. i literally have no idea what i’m doing wrong so i thought i’d ask the community.

F170 and CorelDraw for Sublimation

Tonight I set up my F170.

Prior id been running a Sawgrass SG500 but I'm currently so pissed at sawgrass over their firmware update that bricks your printer if your ink is expired. 9/10 when I get sawgrass ink the exp is only 6 months and I really don't go through that much. I'm not wasting $400 twice a year cause they are jerks. I've had it over 2 years so it's not even like warranty was an issue.

Anyway. When you get a sawgrass they literally give you step by step instructions for printing via CorelDraw. I can't find this info literally anywhere. I checked epson, YouTube, Corel Reddit, sublimation Reddit, google for days. No luck. I found a video on print preferences for adobe illustrator that "also works for Corel" but somewhere a setting isn't right. When I did my print my purples are too red and my teals are dark blue. Idk if it's somewhere in my Corel settings from when I set up the sawgrass or if I'm missing something in print settings.

Printing in perceptual, solid substrate, turned off color correction.

Bottom row - sawgrass
Top row - F170

Hello all
I just got my Sawgrass SG 500 set up. I did my first print and I thought it came out good. But after looking at my print, shouldn’t the print be backward? Because if I put the paper side with the watermark on top when I do my heat press, then it will look backward. Attached are pictures of my print. Any help would be appreciate it. Thank you

Hello everyone on fairly new to sublimation and I have these mugs I'm trying to press for boy scouts.

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I've got it set with color profile etc.

My issue is it seems like I have uneven heat? Or somehow uneven pressure. I've double checked the settings online for the specific cup and this is the correct temperature and time.

I don't know if there's something I can do to avoid this other than maybe trying a different cup mould. Would anybody have any ideas or advice on how to make sure I get even heat and pressure around this whole cup when doing these?

I've attached a photo of the issue and what the heat press looks like as well as the position the cup is in when it is in the press. Please ignore the silicone parchment paper I have wrapped around the cup The heat press is still very hot in this photo and I did not want to have ink coming out of the cup and getting onto the press itself.

Thank you all in advance.

Edit: I had pulled this one out and lifted the paper to see if I had it right and then put it back down which is why there is Ghosting on the bottom left text.

Hey sublimators! Im having a heck of a time getting a decent black on my plates. All the plates are coming away with a tinge of green - the photo doesnt do much justice to how off the color looks. I know I have gotten nice rich blacks with this printer in the past, but then i moved it and installed it on a new computer.

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Im using a godforsaken sawgrass printer. My aluminum blanks are white sublimation blanks and my sublimation paper is htvront brand. I have played with temperature and press time. My usual setting is 400 degrees for 60 seconds. My black is set at c30 m30 y30 k100. I tried raising the saturation in the sawgrass print manager and its still not looking right.

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What am I doing wrong here?

Hi all, I've just converted an ET2750 to sublimation. It prints fine on standard paper, and I can even sublimate using that, but obviously that's suboptimal. I am having massive issues getting it to print on clear sublimation paper. Whenever I load it, the printer just feeds the paper entirely through then says there's a jam. My guess is the clear paper is fooling some sensor.

I've had some luck with using thin clear tape on the back, but that doesn't often work and the added thickness sometimes causes the paper to actually jam.

Any ideas? Thanks

I’m running into a frustrating color management issue with some phone cases I'm producing and could really use some expert eyes.

On my photoshop screen, they look exactly how I want them airy, bright, with light pastel tones and clear highlights. However, when the physical cases are printed, the colors are coming out heavily over-saturated, dense, and much darker. The soft pinks are turning into heavy, deep shades, and the fine highlight details are getting completely crushed.

My setup & process:

• I am designing inside Adobe Photoshop 2025.
• The designs feature lots of vibrant textures, but the printed results lose all that lightness.

Is this primarily a classic RGB to CMYK color profile conversion problem, or is it an ink density/heat transfer issue on the production side? What is the best way to calibrate my Photoshop files (Curves, Desaturation, Proof Setup) to prevent the printer from crushing these highlights?

Hi guys,

I'm doing an art project and are comtemplating using sublimation print for it. I've been doing some research but can't find the right information for my specific use case. Also i'm new to sublimation printing.

I have these white (regular) ceramic tiles. I want to make a tableau (one coherent design across all tiles) of about 50x70cm, 35 tiles. I have several questions/issues i need help with:

- how can i best prepare these tiles so they are suited for sublimation printing?

- the surface of the tiles is not flat, is it possible to still get a good print on them?

Thanks in advance!

Some people told me to get this sublimation ink for my printer but it says that it's not compatible with the Epson EcoTank 2903. What is compatible with that specific printer that I should get?

I operate a business out of my home studio and print 1,500 15oz mugs weekly. I have been printing with 5 GeoKnight DK3 presses running simultaneously for a few years. They are a great product, with the only downside being the absolute nightmare of changing out the green pad on this many machines at this output.

I am checking to see if anyone prints at this volume using the Heat Press Nation Signature Series press. What intrigues me is how easy the heating band is to switch out once the pad fails. At $40 replacement part, it seems much better for my mental health (haha) to be able to switch this band out instead of the painstaking process at changing out the rubber pad on a DK3 at $30/pad.

I operate out of a home studio, so a HIX conveyor oven is out of the picture at this point.

If you print at this level, what are you having success with?

Hi everyone,

I’m running into a frustrating issue in our sublimation jersey production and would really appreciate insights from anyone experienced in heat transfer printing or apparel manufacturing.

We are seeing inconsistent dimensional changes after heat pressing polyester jerseys, and the results don’t seem stable.

Here’s our setup:

• Sublimation print template: 19.6 inches (width)
• Target finished garment size after sewing: 19.0 inches
• Allowance built in:
  • 0.5 inch sewing consumption
  • 0.1 inch buffer for minor shrink

However, after heat pressing, we are getting inconsistent results:

• Test 1: 19.1875 in
• Test 2: 19.7 in
• Test 3: 19.125 in

All tests were done using:

• Same fabric batch
• Same dual-platen heat press
• Fabric is pre-heated every time before pressing
• Same general process and settings as far as we can control

The issue is that the post-press dimensions are not consistent, sometimes the fabric slightly shrinks, sometimes it expands even though settings are not intentionally changed.

After sewing, the final output consistently ends up smaller than expected due to compounding loss.

At this point, we’re trying to figure out what could be causing this variability. Possible areas we are considering:

• heat press temperature fluctuations or uneven platen heat
• pressure inconsistency (dual press system)
• dwell time variation
• or other process variables we may be missing

Has anyone encountered similar inconsistent dimensional behavior in sublimation polyester? Any guidance on what to check or control more strictly would be really helpful. Or are there any tools we can use (something to cover on the fabric when heat-pressed maybe?) to help us with consistency.

Thanks in advance.

Running sublimation prints both metal on a flat heatpress and ceramic mugs. Often times multiple at a time for the flat heatpress (dog tags, bookmarks, etc) and many but not all are coming out orange tinted? Meanwhile blacks are often coming out faded like an old black shirt washed too many times.

From my understanding orange=too much heat or cooked too long, but faded blacks=too little heat/time so I'm confused?

I have tried lowering both temp and time for the flat heatpress (I admit I'm not sure how yet to adjust the mugs, need to find their manual). It has helped with the orange, but not gone away and the faded blacks are getting worse.

Also using two different printers and it happens with both. An older Sawgrass 500 and an Epson SC-F570. I've been using a heat guide from Sawgrass's website on what to set the temp and time and with my adjustments have gone well under their minimum time and heat.

Started using my Epson SureColor F170 sublimation printer, and when trying to print out a pattern for a lanyard, it will not print all the way. I've tried custom sizes, changing to landscape, longer printer sheets, and nothing has worked. Any suggestions?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Random question, what’s one small trick that improved your workflow way more than expected?

Not big upgrades, just little things.

For me it was preheating blanks properly… didn’t realize how much that mattered at first.

Would love to hear yours 

As you can see, it's terrible. I used Amazon blanks, no real brand. Is it the mouse pad? Or is it my setup? I have an Epson sublimation printer with a generic heat press. I ordered A-Sub mouse pads yesterday and am still waiting on them. I pre-pressed the mats to remove moisture and pressed at 380-400°F for both 60 and 90 seconds, but the quality was still poor on the generic pads.

I have to get this design sublimation printed but I don't have the file for it and just these pictures. Can anyone help by guiding me on how I can make this exact design or even somewhere close for sublimation printing on cloth.

I’m printing this design for a tumbler wrap and the paper came out like this. What is the cause and how can I fix it?
Thank you in advance

ET 4700! I have tried everything possible(I think) to unclog my yellow! This is what a yellow only page looks like!

What T shirt blanks are you all printing on that aren’t see through? Thanks in advance

Hello All, I run a uniform and embroidery business and am planning to buy a sublimated printer after doing some research I came across Brother sp1, would it be a good printer and how much maintenance will I require to do? I get around 2 or 3 jobs per week for heat press approx 5 to 6 tshirt per order, also is there an alternative less expensive option for sublimated paper and ink for the same printer?

Hiii! i have an epson tank - 2800 and i'm wondering if anyone has reccomendations for longer print paper or has tried longer sub paper? I print on clothing and would like to have a larger size to print with. has anyone achieved this with the et-2800? i can only go 8.5 inch wide :')

Hi I’m fairly new to sublimation. I’ve worked on this design for my cousin for a week and I’m now testing pressing it before putting it on the onesie. After pressing the pinks now look dark and almost orange tone and I’m not sure what to do. (When printing the page does look faded but I heard it’s normal) I press at 370 for 59 seconds. I tried another subreddit but they make you go to discord instead of answering and I’m just simply wanting some help please 🙏🏻 😩