Question about edible ink printers?

Check Icing Images website for the type of canon printers that have edible ink cartridges made for them. I just bought another iP3600 canon printer from Staples last month. I had an iP3500 that I blew the print head out. So the answer is yes you can buy a new printer, but not just any printer and it should be dedicated only to printing edible images with edible ink. Check the web for other sources of edible ink as well. I hope this helps.

I too just bought a Canon IP3600 to dedicate for edible ink but I haven't decided whether I should buy the more expensive spongeless cartridge or the regular edible inkcartrige. Each website claims that either the spongless is better or that the claims are bunk. Can anyone (other than those who are selling them) share their real life experience with either one?

I would like to know too, I'm saving up to buy edible ink cartridges. I've used two different brands of regular edible ink cartridges with sponges that really clogged up my print head on my iP3500. I thought it was from not being used weekly. Do the spongeless really work?

I know I am biased since I own Icing Images, but let me tell you why we converted to them. My job is to test things, make them brake, find out why they brake, try to fix them and find out why ! I am constantly testing inks, ink cartridges, every time someone new comes on the market with a new ink and a new cartridge, I test it. When the sponge free cartridges came on the market, I totally ignored them. Did want to test them, but eventually I did. I was very impressed. Remember an edible ink cartridge are the same parts that are used in "regular" ink. But the edible ink is a thicker ink and just doesn't work as well with a sponged cartridge. What I found was two fold. First, I found better color and then I found that we have fewer problems with printhead problems. Now the ink is different because there is no sponge and obviously the style of cartridge is different. Having no sponge I found was helpful for a few reasons. First, no sponge takes up less space, giving you more ink and second, we found that we had fewer printhead problems. The sponge regulates the ink and because the sponge holds ink back, with edible ink being thicker, sometimes what we found was that the printhead was fine, but the cartridges were regulating the flow too much causing what we thought was a printhead problem. Because the ink is thicker and harder to pull through the sponge, this emulated a printhead problem. We use to have to stock printheads at our office because customers had so many problems with sponged cartridge, We dont have to any more. Our sales our up but our service calls are way down...way down...way down. Nothing is perfect, but compared to the sponge cartridge days there is a huge difference, What I also know, is all my other "buddies" from other companies in the edible ink world are now experimenting with the sponge free cartridge. Just yesterday, one of the other major edible ink companies emailed me to show me what they are doing...they are going sponge free. Why, the results are better. He sent me pictures of prints and was amazed at the coloring difference. Another one of the major edible ink cartridge companies is still trying to get his ink to work with a sponge free cartridge. My feeling is that soon everyone will switch. That brings me to another point. Edible inks are different and you do get what you pay for. There are a lot of companies popping up offering cheaper inks. We have tested just about everyone of them. I am not going to sit here and tell you which ones are doing what. But I can tell you, you get what you pay for. Edible printing overall ads about $2.00 worth of product to your cake. If you are concerned about price, up the price of your cake. If you want to save money, refill.No matter whose ink you are using, you are still adding product to your cake and need to recoup your costs. Remember edible printing saves you time. But when you create an edible print, you are adding value to your cake. You need to charge for it. Edible printing is more than just putting a picture on a cake. iiDesigns is taking edible printing from the picture on a cake, into a whole new realm of cake decorating and accenting your cakes. If you are concerned about price, again, charge your customer for the added feature. Remember, though edible printing is just like anything else that you buy...you do get what you pay for.

I use spongeless cartridges for printing photos on regular paper.

Before you buy the printer, look on ebay for the refillable cartridges. It never hurts to have a set or two on hand. You can then buy the food ink in larger bottles for economical use.

Be very leery of the ink you buy on ebay. Some is good...some not so good. You do get what you pay for!

I have had an ip3600 printer for 4 yrs. I have had to replace print head numerous times and actually had to buy a new ip3600 at one point. Had major clog problems with sponge cartridge. Once I switched to Icing Images newer cartridges my world changed. Sometimes I go a couple months without printing and everything works fine.

As a supplier of edible ink cartridges, we have had a different experience with the spongeless cartridges. Although I can't speak to the experiences of others, we tested them and found them to be erratic in performance.

It is helpful to understand that the basic design of all inkjet cartridges requires a sponge-like material to create "back pressure" which prevents the ink from just running out unregulated. If a spongeless design was beneficial, I can assure you that Canon, Epson and HP would utilize it, but they do not. Billions of dollars of R&D by these companies has resulted in cartridges that use sponges to provide a balance of back pressure to allow the printer to in effect "sip" the ink as needed. Being able to eliminate sponges would save them billions of dollars annually, but they have still not gone that route.

Printhead problems are predominately the result of clogging from the drying of food coloring within the tiny nozzles of the printheads. The resolution of the printers has increased dramatically in the last few years, which means the size of these printhead nozzles has shrunk, causing the clogging problem to be more of an issue. There is really no magic fix other than to run a daily test print to lessen the chance of the edible ink drying within the printhead, and to thoroughly flush the printhead if clogging starts to become a problem. As unappealing as it is, all printheads need to be replaced at some point.

Hope this helps,

Sweet Art Company
www.sweetart.com

I've used several brands of ink and both types of cartridges. Nothing compares with the gold label inks from icingimages and the spngless cartridges. I'm a firm believer in "You get what you pay for".

YES for sure.

I buy EMPTY refillable cartridges on ebay, and the food grade ink from a food supply because it comes in larger bottles that are very economical.

There is also a BIG difference in frosting sheets. I've tried them all an IMO the premium sheets from icingimages are the best.

In discussing printhead problems, I will tell you that when we began selling the sponge free cartridges, we no longer had to carry printheads for our customers. While printheads can wear out, generally our customers are no longer wearing through them in the normal lifetime of the printer since we switched. I will tell you that nonedible companies make their money on the consumables, not the printers. Therefore they are less likely to use a spongefree cartridge. More ink per cartridge means less profit for nonedible ink companies. In addition, the sponges in the cartridges were originally designed for non food product. Unless a sponged cartridges is designed for edible use, the sponge inside is not created for edibles. This is why sponge cartridges have to have alcohol in their inks. It helps to sanitize the sponge. However, alcohol increases the chances your printhead will be burned out prematurely. We have been selling the sponged cartridges for years now and we are so ecstatic with the level of satisfaction our customers have. When our customers are happy, we are happy!

I am so confused, I just spoke to Canon over the phone and they said they do not make edible ink printers. I have read people buying Canon IP3600 and others for printing edible ink and paper, can anyone give me any information? would be appreciated. Thank you

Maria 42: You buy the printer and the ink cartridges separately. There is no edible printer. You can not use the regular ink and the edible ink in the same machine. Use one machhine for the edible ink and get another machine for the regular ink. Understand? Denise