How Ink Works in Inkjet Printing Versus Dye in Dye Sublimation Printing
Now, to the eye, sublimation ink and dye appear pretty much the same. They are both liquid, and both are printed using an inkjet printer. In our industry, the printers are usually wide format, maxing out currently around about 124 inches, or just over 10 feet. Dye Sublimation Printing However, the printing machine, or inkjet printer, does not see ink and dye the same, and they cannot be interchanged once a printer is printing either dye or ink without some down time as lines are flushed and the like. I can't say what "the like" is, as I've never seen anyone convert a printer from ink to dye or from dye to ink. Inkjet printer dye sublimation ink is based on the CMYK color spectrum, which stands for Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black, and prints down the yellow first, then magenta, then cyan, and finally black. I have often wondered why it wasn't called YMCK instead, but maybe people would've confused it with the YMCA, who knows. Dye Sublimati...