Tiggy....... are the refills cheaper on ebay than kopykake?

I bought my compressor & airbrush from Harbor Freight for less than $100 total. LOVE LOVE LOVE that store. I lost a piece last time I took the airbrush apart & just picked up a new one this afternoon on sale... $14.99 for a dual action internal mix airbrush. If you decide later that you want a "nicer" airbrush, you can still use the compressor. I think my compressor was around $65. They have a website & it lists store locations.

tiggy.... which merchant do you get them from on ebay? These can be refilled many times? Thanks

Hi Everyone,
I happened to come across your site today and was reading up on this particular topic and being that I am a person in the Edible printing industry I thought I would add my input.

Edible ink printing systems must never use or have used regular ink in them. Regular ink is a contaminent in this industry and printers must be dedicated to edible inks only from the beginning.

To explain chip resetters, newer models of ink cartridges have computer chips attached to the ink cartridges. These chips monitor the ink levels of the cartridges, the chip recognizes approximately how many prints it takes to empty the cartridge of ink, and when it has reached that amount the chip inhibits further use of that cartridge, forcing you to replace it. A chip resetter resets the count on the computer chip therefore making the printer believe it has a new cartridge on it.

The down side to using a chip resetter is you have to remember that each ink cartridge has a filter built in which filters out impurities. Once that filter becomes saturated it will allow impurities to pass through onto your prints.

I always advise my customers to never refill their cartridges more than 2-3 times before replacing their cartridges. This keeps the print head in good shape and provides for the best quality in their photo prints. The price of new edible ink cartridges are minimal for the Canon printer models.

As far as Airbrushes....I just got a new one from Harbor Freight Tools (they have a website). It is the Quick Change model and it was on sale for $7.99! I was really skeptical at first because my original brush, which I have destroyed 3 needles, is so much heavier and is metal. The HFT one is plastic which is actually better for cleaning and not having to worry about rust.

The best part is the plastic jars that come with it. There are 5 and I put one color of airbrush paint in each one, and then you just change the jar when you want to change color, NO cleaning of the airbrush required! It's worth getting two sets just to have 10 canisters.

The only problem I had was connecting the smaller hose to my original compressor, even with the adaptor that comes with the set I still needed another part, which I found at our plumbing supply place for $2.50. Still a really cheap investment for a beginner.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks, PhotoFrost.

Here's the link to the place I bought the cartridges from http://www.distribution-online.com/ I have an epson and it sits for months at a time without being used and it has never clogged on me. I can't vouch for all printers but this has been my experience.

Thanks Tiggy for the information, Photo Frost...... Which Cannon do you have? I just bought the Epson CX 8400 and so far so good. I'm worrying about the clogging after awhile now with this thread.

Currently I am using 2 printers the Canon IP3500 and the Canon MP520

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/BuyEpson/ccHome.jsp

Got mine for $43.00 total with free shipping. This was less than anywhere including Ebay. I linked through Upromise, which gets $ for college for my girls and also got a $5 off coupon!

I've had my epson printer nx200 for about 2 months. I bought it hoping it would save me time on kids cakes. Unfortuntly I just can't do simple things. My hubby just says I'm OCD. But I love getting wild with it ,so now I got to learn to control my cost. Or charge more. This is my latest overdone.

I got mi brand new cannon ip3500 on ebay for $20.00

Hi: I just got my workforce 600 from Office Max. It was on sale. I keep remembering what my Dad told me along time ago. " You get what you pay for". I am planning on doing a lot of edible images around the holidays to compensate for the cost.
Target has the workforce 200 and 400 on sale now but I want a good printer.
Now, I have to save up for the frosting sheets and the ink. Plan to have them before the 4th of July.
I plan on doing an eligible image for my granddaughter's 4th birthday which is in July.
I also got my airbrush and compressor from my cake decorating store and it was from Kopykake. I have the black compressor not the red one. Plan on getting the red compressor maybe next year. Vicki0052

so can you just go a hardware store and buy an airbrush and compressor? and just use the cake airbrush colours for it?

How much do frosting sheets run typically????
Can you get any printer or a certain one?

Would someone who has an airbrush and compressor please post a picture of what you have?
I would like to get something inexpensive and I just checked the Harbor freight website and they have a compressor for $7.99 (it's just a mini 250 psi one) and an airbrush for $7.99.
If I'm only using it occasionally mostly for luster dust will this work?

I just looked at these ,but the compressor is 12volt .The price is very good but you can only use it with your cars cigerate plug.and have your car running while you use it To use electric power it has to be 120 volts.

I don't like the air brushes with the glass bottles on the bottom because they are heavy and awkward to use.

Don't mean to hi-jack, but I have a question for all of you edible image users (since you are here). I can't afford a system of my own right now and am planning to go to Wal-Mart to have them do a couple for me. How far in advance can I do this? If I do it early, can I store them in a plastic bag to keep them fresh. Our Wal-Mart is about 20 min. away and I don't get there every day.

Don't mean to hi-jack, but I have a question for all of you edible image users (since you are here). I can't afford a system of my own right now and am planning to go to Wal-Mart to have them do a couple for me. How far in advance can I do this? If I do it early, can I store them in a plastic bag to keep them fresh. Our Wal-Mart is about 20 min. away and I don't get there every day.

As long as you keep them in an air tight bag and out of sun light they should be fine.

good to know about those, thanks! I will keep looking for something better then.

Should I get the kind of airbrush that has a little chamber on the top to add the colour to? Like what the nail technicians use? Thanks!