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OT - Who knows about tank printers?

JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,906
edited February 25 in The Commons
Hi there! I am looking at upgrading my printer (on a budget) I'm considering the Canon Megatank G3270 but I'm getting conflicting information and nothing on the website. Can this printer be used to print on printable inkjet vinyl or not?
Post edited by JasmineSkunk on

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  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    It is still an inkjet, so yes. The main difference is you don't replace those expensive cartridges unless they break, but use bottles of ink to refill the cartridges. I have a Canon Pixma G4210 that is similar technology & it works fine. It is still an inkjet.

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,906
    edited February 25

    Okay, so here's this issue... The Canon G3270 is a tank type printer, meaning it doesn't have a cartridge. Instead it has independant empty tanks that you pour the ink directly into. Okay so I have already researched and found out that it can be turned into a sublimation printer. A sublimation printer uses specialized sublimation ink formulas to be used to transfer designs onto shirts and stuff with a heat press. I am not trying to do that, actually, but....

    The issue is that the Black ink used by Canon is a hybrid ink that is both dye and pigment. The individual magenta, cyan, and yellow are already a dye based only ink. Only the black is a mix. The problem with the black hybrid ink is that it can not be used very nicely with printable vinyl due to the pigment in the formula... and I want to use it to print on printable vinyl with my cricut.

    Okay so, I'm wondering that since it can be turned into a sublimation printer, can I just use a dye based ink in the black tank, or perhaps use a brand for epson that is known to work well with printable vinyl...and if I can would I use all the epson line or just change out the black, if this is even posbsible...

    I hope all that made sense... LOL

     

    Post edited by JasmineSkunk on
  • NylonGirlNylonGirl Posts: 1,819

    Have you considered getting an Epson Ecotank printer?

  • nonesuch00nonesuch00 Posts: 18,131

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Okay, so here's this issue... The Canon G3270 is a tank type printer, meaning it doesn't have a cartridge. Instead it has independant empty tanks that you pour the ink directly into. Okay so I have already researched and found out that it can be turned into a sublimation printer. A sublimation printer uses specialized sublimation ink formulas to be used to transfer designs onto shirts and stuff with a heat press. I am not trying to do that, actually, but....

    The issue is that the Black ink used by Canon is a hybrid ink that is both dye and pigment. The individual magenta, cyan, and yellow are already a dye based only ink. Only the black is a mix. The problem with the black hybrid ink is that it can not be used very nicely with printable vinyl due to the pigment in the formula... and I want to use it to print on printable vinyl with my cricut.

    Okay so, I'm wondering that since it can be turned into a sublimation printer, can I just use a dye based ink in the black tank, or perhaps use a brand for epson that is known to work well with printable vinyl...and if I can would I use all the epson line or just change out the black, if this is even posbsible...

    I hope all that made sense... LOL

    It cannot be turned into a a real dye sublimation printer because in that technology the ink is IN the paper, not in the printer or the print heads. Those printers use the heat of the printers rolling heads to melt the dye waxes in the appropriate places on the paper to create the image. That's why the print process requires 3 passes, one for each primary dye wax color. If someone is calling printing on a vinyl sheet in an inkjet technology printer sublimation they are wrong.

    And furthermore, no, the tank is subset part of the module called the cartridge that contains the ink jet print head nozzles as well. It's the same tech except the cartitridges are bigger and called tanks because you can refill them. It's still the same tech and yes, they can print to that special vinyl paper some businesses sell. Don't ask me about steadfastness though.

    I believe, when using that special vinyl paper in such a printer yu choose "photo paper" as the paper type, rather than "normal paper".

    I can tell you I have inkjet photos printer on inkjet photo paper from Kodak from 25 years ago that still looks as good the day it was printed. And I have a small Canon Dye Sublimation printer still and printers printed as early as 2007 on special dye sublimation paper from Canon from 18 years ago also still loook like the day they were printed.

  • NinefoldNinefold Posts: 256

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Okay so, I'm wondering that since it can be turned into a sublimation printer, can I just use a dye based ink in the black tank, or perhaps use a brand for epson that is known to work well with printable vinyl...and if I can would I use all the epson line or just change out the black, if this is even posbsible...

    Given that some people are demonstrably using a dye-based black ink in that printer, I think this is likely to work, but in your place I'd be very reluctant to try it, because it will void the warranty. If you try it and it doesn't work, you have a printer that can't do the work you want to do with it and which you can't return.

    My partner uses a Canon PIXMA G620 to print vinyl stickers, and the prints are gorgeous. It's $100 more than the printer you have your eye on, but I recommend it pretty unreservedly IF you expect to print frequently, at least every few days. Like a lot of tank printers, this printer's ink forms clogs if it's allowed to sit, and flushing a clog can expend half a tank -- over time, that's expensive. Otherwise the ink economy is great, though. One print is cheap enough that it's more economical to print a test sheet twice a week to keep things moving in there than it is to let the printer sit unused for a while and then unclog it. Anyway, in your place I would save up some extra money and get the G620, which can definitely do what you want, rather than paying less for the G3270, which might work fine or might generate a lot of hassle for you if it turns out that it can't do what you want.

    (Two more sidenotes about the G620. One, set your paper type in the printer's settings correctly. It lays down ink differently on paper than it does on vinyl, and produced some pretty bad prints at first when it was printing on vinyl but thought it was printing on paper. Two, it's a six-ink printer: C M Y K plus red and grey. This is because it's a photo printer aimed at portraitists. It prints skin tones better and with better ink economy than a CMYK printer does, and in general produces great reds, pinks, oranges and purples. My partner has to do a lot of tuning to get vibrant blues and blue-greens looking right, so if whatever you're printing has a lot of those colors, you might want to look at printers with green and/or blue inks, which are aimed at nature photographers. It can still print those colors well, it just takes a lot of tests to get them correct.)

  • JasmineSkunkJasmineSkunk Posts: 1,906

    Ninefold said:

    JasmineSkunk said:

    Okay so, I'm wondering that since it can be turned into a sublimation printer, can I just use a dye based ink in the black tank, or perhaps use a brand for epson that is known to work well with printable vinyl...and if I can would I use all the epson line or just change out the black, if this is even posbsible...

    Given that some people are demonstrably using a dye-based black ink in that printer, I think this is likely to work, but in your place I'd be very reluctant to try it, because it will void the warranty. If you try it and it doesn't work, you have a printer that can't do the work you want to do with it and which you can't return.

    My partner uses a Canon PIXMA G620 to print vinyl stickers, and the prints are gorgeous. It's $100 more than the printer you have your eye on, but I recommend it pretty unreservedly IF you expect to print frequently, at least every few days. Like a lot of tank printers, this printer's ink forms clogs if it's allowed to sit, and flushing a clog can expend half a tank -- over time, that's expensive. Otherwise the ink economy is great, though. One print is cheap enough that it's more economical to print a test sheet twice a week to keep things moving in there than it is to let the printer sit unused for a while and then unclog it. Anyway, in your place I would save up some extra money and get the G620, which can definitely do what you want, rather than paying less for the G3270, which might work fine or might generate a lot of hassle for you if it turns out that it can't do what you want.

    (Two more sidenotes about the G620. One, set your paper type in the printer's settings correctly. It lays down ink differently on paper than it does on vinyl, and produced some pretty bad prints at first when it was printing on vinyl but thought it was printing on paper. Two, it's a six-ink printer: C M Y K plus red and grey. This is because it's a photo printer aimed at portraitists. It prints skin tones better and with better ink economy than a CMYK printer does, and in general produces great reds, pinks, oranges and purples. My partner has to do a lot of tuning to get vibrant blues and blue-greens looking right, so if whatever you're printing has a lot of those colors, you might want to look at printers with green and/or blue inks, which are aimed at nature photographers. It can still print those colors well, it just takes a lot of tests to get them correct.)

    Hey, Thanks for all the info Ninefold! smiley 

    Yes, I am thinking of opening a sticker shop and am busy researching what I can do... ( I have ideas...lol) Everyone kept telling me to get an Epson because of Canon's pigment issue, but... I think the Epson stickers I've seen look a little blurry - or too blended - or something.on any kind of paper and it seems like the Canon's output look "cleaner" to me. i'll check out the one you suggest...

    But... my budget is limited to about $600 and I need it to buy my supplies and packaging and branding and everything as well, so I am trying to figure out what my options are, so I appreciate the info very much!!! Thank you!  smiley So many choices. It's so hard to know what to buy because I really can't afford much "trial and error". And I want ALL THE THINGS!  (Ha!)

    What sticker paper and lamination vinyl do you recomend for your Canon? Any tips or suggestions would be very much appreciated! And thank you again! smiley

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