We came across some paper today that most certainly is NOT dye Sublimation Transfer paper, we are not quite certain what it is! The customer purchased it as Dye Sublimation Transfer paper from an E-bay trader for £5.00 a pack!
The customer had purchased an Epson WF-3010DW printer from us and started to use this paper which developed a couple of issues with slow drying and then track lines vertically through the print. The customer brought the printer to us for checking and as soon as we saw the customers prints, we knew it was the pinch wheels that were leaving tractor marks as the paper fed through the printer. (A photo is attached)
We set the printer up here and printed a sheet of OUR transfer paper and there were no pinch wheel tractor marks. We then printed a sheet of the customers paper and it left tractor marks. A couple of reasons why this was happening, a) the ink was not drying on the paper which allowed the pinch wheels to put dots through the ink and also to re-print the ink in dotted lines vertically. The other smaller issue was the paper surface hardness being too soft.
When I handled the paper after printing I got ink on my hands. If you look at the picture you can see the smudge marks where my fingers held the paper. Quite frankly the paper was rubbish and not fit for purpose. There is no way you will get a decent image on this paper without the dotted lines.
Be careful out there guys.