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Sublimation Printing

We print sublimation transfers on an Epson SureColor F170. It behaves like a normal printer for the most part, but getting colors that actually match what's on screen depends on picking the right color settings before you print — this page covers that setup.

Once you've printed, use the heat press to transfer the ink to a polyester shirt, bag, or other sublimation-compatible blank — see Makers Tools for press temperature and time.

Location: ULab Makerspace

Drivers and manuals​

Epson's product support page has the driver downloads, manuals, and troubleshooting for the F170:

Download the driver for whichever computer you're printing from (Windows or Mac) from that page rather than using a generic or in-box driver — the sublimation-specific print settings described below only show up with Epson's own driver installed.

Selecting the color profile​

Sublimation ink behaves differently from regular ink, so the printer needs to be told to print for sublimation rather than for a normal photo or document. Do this every time, since the driver doesn't always remember it between jobs.

Windows​

  1. Open your file and choose Print. If you're printing from Chrome, its built-in print preview hides the driver's settings — click Print using system dialog (or press Ctrl+Shift+P) to get the real Windows print dialog first.
  2. In the system print dialog, select the SureColor F170 and open More settings, then the printer's Preferences/Properties.
  3. On the Main tab, set Paper Type to Textile. This is the setting that applies the sublimation color correction on this printer — there isn't a separate ICC profile picker to hunt for.
  4. Confirm Print Quality is set appropriately for the transfer (higher quality for detailed photos, standard for simple graphics), then print.

If you don't see a Textile option under Paper Type, ask June (jpeters@universityprep.org) before printing — that usually means the wrong driver got installed.

Mac​

  1. Open your file and choose Print, then expand the print dialog with Show Details.
  2. From the printer drop-down, confirm the SureColor F170 is selected.
  3. Open the Printer Settings (or similarly-named) panel and set Media Type to the sublimation transfer paper you're using.
  4. In Color Matching, keep ColorSync selected, but change the profile dropdown from the generic default to EPSON GeneralPurpose (Textile) — that's the profile built for sublimation transfer, and it's what actually corrects the colors rather than printing them flat.
  5. Save this as a named Preset (the dropdown at the bottom of the print dialog) so you don't have to reconfigure Media Type and the color profile every time you print.
  6. Print.

If EPSON GeneralPurpose (Textile) doesn't show up even after installing the driver, remove the printer from System Settings → Printers & Scanners and add it again — a fresh install has fixed this every time it's come up. If you don't see a Printer Settings panel at all, double-check that you've expanded Show Details in the print dialog first.

If colors still look off after a transfer, check with June before assuming the profile is wrong — humidity, press temperature, and time all shift sublimation color too.