Looking to get my wife an edible image printer. Looking at the epson workforce 1100 wide format. She's had a lot of request for the edible images. How much of a pain in the butt are these about clogging up? What are some preventive maintenance tips you can give to help out? If I clean the print heads after every use will that help and if so clean with what? I had one of these printers in my screen printing shop and really liked it. Never had any problems with it but im sure dealing with these types of inks are totally different.

I also bought her the cricut cake yesterday. Waiting on it to arrive and I think I'm more excited than she is. I have a 34 in vinyl cutter from U.S. Cutter, also from my screen printing business, that is now closed. After reading the forum a little more last night I see where some are using these types of cutters instead of the cricut because you are limited on designs. Has anyone ever used one of these? I'm going to get new blades and clean it up and see what happens. Going to get some frosting sheets from michaels tomorrow to test and try it out. Hoping it works. Would like to put this expensive equipment to use again and maybe enjoy the cake making with her. I loved designing and creating things with my screen printing so maybe I can be some help for her.

Any help or suggestions are welcome! I will follow up to let you know how the cutter works out.

I haven't used the wide format printer... that's the one I wanted originally, but the people at icingimages dot com talked me out of it - and they were the one's standing to make the profit so I'm guessing it really is a pain. I got the Canon IP3600 instead and I love it!

Is that a wide format as well?

The person who invented the technique has a blog with great information on using the electronic cutter for cake decorating. www.creativedesignsforcakes.blogspot.com
Any electronic cutter will work if it has a blade and mat. Follow the suggestiona in Linda McClures blog and you should have success.
I like to use the Icing Image icing sheets in my electronic cutter. They cut very well and look great on my cakes.

Thanks for the help!!!

If and epson clogs you can't take the print head out and clean it like you can with the canons. Contact Debbie at www.icingimages.com and she will give you all the information you need to know on edible image printers. I also highly recommend their gold label inks and premium forsting sheets for both printing and use with electronic crutters. I've tried other brands of frosting sheets and they tend to come loose from the backing causing them to slide around when cutting and end up tearing. I always get nice clean cuts with the icingimages sheets. The customer service from icingimages can't be beat!!!

No, the Canon ip3600 just takes letter sized paper.

How DO you clean the canon printer heads ? Help

If you go to Linda's website she has the information to order the accessory package for just the blade and housing.

The canon print head can be removed and cleaned with hot water.

I did look at the silhouette and that's what gave me the idea to use the cutter I already have to save a lot of money. Hopefully it'll work.

Yes it connects to your computer. You can cut any design you choose as long as its a vector image and not a bitmap, which i'm sure is just like any other cutter on the market. My cutter is pretty big but they sell the smaller desktop cutters as well. I still haven't had time to test it to make sure it'll work. I've got to find a mat. The only ones i've found are the scrap booking ones with the sticky backing. Any ideas?

I did buy a cannon printer (mg5220) for her edible images. Thanks for the info on the the removable printheads. Thats what made my decision on which brand to get. I did a test print on a frosting sheet from icing images and it turned out great!!!

I don't know what size mat you need but I use the flexible cutting mats from the dollar store http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=81961&catid=185823&aid=338666&aparam=81961&scinit1=pla&scinit2={keyword}

Oh good! Thanks!