In today’s tutorial I’m teaching you step-by-step the easiest way to convert your Epson Ecotank 2720 (ET-2720) into a sublimation printer!

 

Sublimation printing is a really neat way to make prints that you can transfer onto a wide variety of sublimation blanks, like t-shirts and mugs to name a few. I’ll show you how to convert your printer and then a couple of test prints I did on a mug and a onesie. 

Supplies: 
Epson EcoTank 2720: https://amzn.to/32Cwy9U ​
Printers Jack Sublimation Ink: https://amzn.to/3v8jsO7  ​
Gloves
Empty Bottles

Instructions: 

The Epson Ecotank 2720 printer comes with 4 ink bottles: Black, Yellow, Magenta and Cyan. Each of the bottles has a special top that only fits into it’s corresponding ink tank, as you can see in the picture below.  You will empty each ink bottle, clean it out, then refill it with the corresponding sublimation ink.

Take the cap off your first ink bottle. Gently unscrew the lid by holding the top. You will hear some clicking noises, but the lid should come right off. 

Empty your ink into an empty bottle if you wish to save it. You can always just dispose of this ink, but I have another regular Ecotank printer that I use it in. 

Repeat the same steps with the remaining 3 ink bottles. 

Next, wash each bottle with warm water only. 

*Make sure to keep the ink top with the correct ink bottle and not mix them up.*

You’ll want to make sure the water runs pretty clear and you’ve gotten rid of as much of the ink as possible. I found a little bit stays in the top of the lid, but I didn’t worry about that. 

Let the bottles air dry completely. I sped up this step by using my blow dryer on a low setting.

Once your bottles are dry it’s time to fill them up with the sublimation ink.

Fill the ink bottle with the corresponding sublimation ink color. The Printer’s Jack sublimation ink is vacuumed sealed and then has an inner seal you’ll need to remove.

Fill each bottle all the way up. You can gently squeeze the Printer’s Jack bottles to get the ink out. 

Repeat the same steps with each of the ink bottles and sublimation ink. 

Once you have filled all 4 ink bottles with the sublimation ink, you’re ready to fill the tanks.

Your printer should be off and not plugged in. 

This process is exactly the same as the instructions that came with your printer to fill them with regular ink. Remove the lid of one ink, open the lid of the corresponding ink tank. Place the top of the ink bottle on the filling port and stand it upright. You will hear ink starting to flow into the tank. Do not squeeze the bottle! Wait for the tank to fill up; it will stop automatically when it is full. 

You can see in the picture below, the black tank is full when it reaches the upper line. Remove the black ink bottle and replace the lid. 

Repeat the steps for each remaining color until all the ink tanks are full.

Once all the tanks are full it’s time to plug in your printer and turn it on.

You will charge your inks, align your print heads, load paper and connect it your computer.

All these steps are the same as the written instructions that come with your printer. Refer to those to finish setting it up. 

Once you have completed these steps, your Epson printer is ready to go and will now print with sublimation ink.  

I did a few test prints to try out my new sublimation printer. I used just regular copy paper for these prints, but sublimation paper is recommended. 

Remember you’ll need to use sublimation blanks OR Cricut Infusible Ink blanks (Infusible Ink is Cricut’s version of sublimation.)

First, the mug wrap. I designed this in Cricut Design Space and then printed it out. *Remember sublimation prints need to be mirrored before printing so they come out the right way. 

The ink always appears less vibrant on the paper, but will become brighter once pressed.

I used the Cricut Mug Press to press my sublimation on the mug. Check out the after below. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

Next, I tried a print to go on a onesie. Again, I used Cricut Design space for the svg, and then trimmed away the outer black box, as I didn’t want that to transfer. (Cricut Print then Cut uses a black box that the Cricut machine reads to cut out the image. I don’t need the image to be cut out on the machine, so I just cut away the box.)

Use the Cricut Heat Guide settings for Infusible Ink transfer sheets to get the right temperature for the sublimation. Check out the after below. I love it! 

Converting the Epson Ecotank 2720 (ET-2720) is really pretty easy to do. It’s a lower cost way to have your own sublimation printer and print cools things like this! If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.