In this quick-paced world where everything is just one step away, printers are becoming essential for everyday use in industries, offices, and even our homes. Unknowingly, we have always used a common printer but never heard of changing one into another form. So, How to convert an HP printer to Sublimation Printer is a thing of your interest to read, apply and print.
Is the Hp printer Compatible for Conversion into Sublimation Printer?
Yes, this is possible. We can convert an HP printer into a Sublimation Printer, whether old or new. The old machinery of an inkjet printer turned into a Sublimation Printer by following the steps I am mentioning below. This can probably be the best use of an HP printer to print papers, fabrics, T-shirts, mobile covers, mouse pads, ceramics, and mugs for sublimation printing.
The image is printed with heat and pressure onto the sheet in this process. Sublimation printing is high-quality image printing that lasts long and never fades.
However, we cannot convert all printers for sublimation printing, like those built for paper printing. The printers, which do not have ink cartridges and print heads, can work perfectly for sublimation purposes. All those printers, which can work with sublimation ink and paper, are best to convert into sublimation printers. However, you can not use any inkjet printer for sublimation printing. The ink goes through the heat press for image preparation to portray a quality image on a sublimation medium.
How to convert HP printer to sublimation printer?
If we want to convert an HP printer into a Sublimation Printer, we must do the following things to do the process.
- Sublimation ink for hp printer
- Sublimation paper or fabric
- Heat press
An untouched printer with Sublimation Ink is suitable to use for sublimation. Using an old HP printer could mix colors, which will diminish the desired qualities. When choosing the printing, be sure that the ink colors are suitable for the paper.
Paper quality and other essentials should be counted in to avoid problems during the sublimation process. Then, the most challenging task for HP users is to find the right cartridges and ink tank refills. Suppose we cannot find the cartridges with sublimation ink for HP printers. Then, we cannot convert them into Sublimation Printers.
Secondly, after choosing the image we need to print, we must check for the final image results. This can go with checking portraits, landscapes, and sizes on the desired product. To print the image on sublimation paper.
The paper is inserted into the printer, and we can print out the required image on sublimation paper. If printing on fabrics, observe it keenly to avoid gaps and scratches. After you find it right, heat press the fabric before washing to take notice of any flaws.
The third and last step is to apply heat to your personalized clothing. For this, the Sublimation paper is exposed to the shirt, and then it is pressed with a heated iron to get them pressed on the shirt. Then start pressing from one side of the paper and then go to the end to avoid any gap or lines on the print. After all this, you are free to enjoy your DIY crafts.
How does sublimation happen?
Almost every kind of HP printer is used for sublimating purposes except the HP home printer. This is because HP office printers do not support sublimation ink due to the thermal process. To convert the HP printer into a Sublimation Printer, it is very important to know the sublimation process. The sublimation process happens in the following steps.
- “Image Preparation” is the foremost step in editing the original design according to need after it is scanned into the computer.
- Then in “Screen Artwork Creation,” the screen artwork is made on a clear film with the help of an inkjet printer. This step is necessary to see the colour combination we need to use in the artwork creation process. We can print the substrate using CMYK ( cyan, magenta, yellow, black ) to give a transparent background in the final results.
- The next step is “ Printing the film positives .”The prepared artwork is printed on film positives via an inkjet printer in this step.
- In the final step, “ Sublimating the image, ” a fabric or the medium we need to print is placed on a Sublijet-HD plate. With heat and pressure, the solid dye in sublimation ink breaks. The heat and pressure enable it to transfer from one medium to another with increased adhesive qualities.
Conclusion
The process is simple yet tricky to customize your shirts and other kinds of stuff. Follow all these steps one by one to convert your HP printer to a sublimation printer. Enjoy your crafts now as you wish.