People using sublimation printers should understand that the printing speed indicates your printer’s performance. Therefore, it makes sense to worry about low sublimation printing speeds. Remember, low speeds mean low efficiency, which can be costly in terms of time and money.
Sublimation printers have many printing modes. The high pass modes, with high precision, normal speeds, and high accuracy, tend to slow down your printer’s speeds.
The low pass mode is the opposite, with high speeds and low accuracy. If you do not select the high pass mode, but your sublimation printer is printing slowly, you know there is a problem, which is why we are here to help.
Why is my sublimation printer printing slowly?
There are a few reasons why your sublimation printer could be printing slowly. Some of these include:
1. Outdated Drivers:
A driver on your printer acts as a simple program that it uses to drive its hardware and connects it to a computer. Therefore, if the computer version is low, the drives are too old. This would mean that the print data transmission to the printer would be slow.
In addition, if the configuration is low, the data transfer speeds will also be low, resulting in slow sublimation printing speeds.
2. Large Images:
Let us say you are using your sublimation printer to imprint images on textile. If the image selected is too large, then speeds will drop drastically. Sometimes, when the image exceeds 300M, the printing speeds become too low, and the printing could stop midway.
3. Low Memory:
If the printer has low memory or the memory card installed is full, your printing speeds will be low.
4. Abnormal Trolley Motor:
If the trolley motor on your sublimation printer is not working okay, you will experience slow printing speeds.
5. Wrong Settings:
On your sublimation printer, you select the driver through your settings. So, if the settings are wrong, you will be working with the wrong driver, which translates to slow sublimation printing speeds.
6. Clogged print head:
A slow sublimation printer may have a clogged print head. This can prevent the printer from printing correctly. If this is the case, you will need to take the printer in for service.
How do you fix a slow sublimation printer?
The problems mentioned above are relatively simple to solve. For instance, you can contact the manufacturer’s support team for assistance if you have slow drivers. They may give you an update, or if you have corrupted software, they will guide you through the removal and reinstallation of the program drivers.
In addition, if you are running low on memory, you can start printing pictures saved on an external drive/cloud storage before printing them on your sublimation printer. Alternatively, you could clean up your internal storage by removing unnecessary files before uploading new pictures for printing.
You can correct your wrong settings by going through the user’s manual and changing them to the correct ones per the manufacturer’s specification.
As for an abnormal trolley motor, you can request tech support from the manufacturer. Finally, if the slow speeds were due to poor connectivity, either in the USB ports or wireless connection, you can correct this by getting the right cables or disconnecting and connecting your Wi-Fi.
You can also try cleaning the print head and the rollers to fix the slow sublimation printer printing speed.
How do I increase sublimation printer speed?
Are you struggling to get your printer speeds back up? Here are a few tips on how to make your sublimation printer work faster:
- Check connection- wireless printing can be slow due to poor connectivity. If that is your problem, find the strongest Wi-Fi connection between your computer and the printer. If not, you can use a USB cable to boost your printing speeds.
- Reduce the print quality- A high-quality print means more passes. More passes result in slower printing speeds. Reducing the quality can considerably increase your sublimation printer’s printing speeds.
- Increase RAM- low memory can slow down your printer. More RAM equals a more powerful machine capable of printing more documents faster.
- Compact your pages- Compact pages hold more content, which translates to fewer pages. By including a typeface and reducing margins, you can have more content on a page, and it is possible to increase the printer speeds.
- Updates- If your printer cannot go beyond a certain breakneck printing speed, chances are, you need an update. Update your drivers, restart your systems, and wait to see the printing speeds increase.
What speed should I print at?
For sublimation printers, the maximum printing speeds and accuracy are the main selling points. These dictate the quality of the printer. The printing speeds depend on whether you want colored or black and white prints and the quality. For instance, an Epson WorkForce WF-7720 prints 8-ppm black-only documents and 6ppm colored documents.
On the other hand, the Sawgrass SG500 prints a 600*600 dpi resolution in 15 seconds, while the same paper takes 6 minutes and 40 seconds with 4880*1200 dpi resolution.
How can I make the sublimation printing process faster?
To improve the sublimation printing process, you need to make every component efficient, from the digital printer that produces images on the sublimation transfer papers to the heat press.
Since the heat press takes the longest time in the printing process, you can increase the output by getting more heat presses.
Another thing you can eliminate in your process from increased output is the manual handling of the transfer material. So, instead of manually clamping and unclamping the material on the printer, you can buy an automatic press.
Doing so can guarantee high output, even for high-quality prints.
FAQs:
There are two scenarios when your Epson Ecotank could take a long time to print. If you have been printing for a long, your printer will slow down as a protection mechanism. Slowing down means protecting the internal mechanisms from overheating, which could lead to damage. To resolve the slow speeds, you can let the printer rest for a few minutes, then get back to work.
On the other hand, the slow speeds could be due to working out parts. For this, maintenance is the only solution. However, if the speeds drop suddenly, the connection between your computer and the printer could be problematic.
The time required to press a sublimation transfer will vary depending on the size and complexity of the design, the type of fabric, and the heat and pressure settings of the press. As a general rule, however, it is recommended to press for at least 45 seconds at a temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Conclusion:
After using your sublimation printer for a few years, the speeds may decrease. If you are experiencing poor connectivity, changing your network could do the trick. If the paper quality is too, you can take fewer passes on the printing paper. Also, routine maintenance will help you maintain high sublimation printing speeds.
