Search

Setting up Your Printer

Congratulations on your new Sawgrass printer! Before you can begin creating vibrant, professional-quality transfers, there are a few important setup steps that need to be completed. Proper installation will help ensure reliable performance, maintain print quality, and protect your printer throughout its lifetime.

This article will guide you through the initial setup process, including unboxing the printer, installing the ink cartridges, attaching optional accessories, and connecting the printer to your computer or network. By following these steps, you'll have your printer up and running and be ready to start printing in no time.

 

1. Unboxing the Printer

  1. Prepare a place for your printer that's sturdy, with space on all sides for ventilation and climate control, and a nearby outlet as the printer should be left on 24/7. Do not place the printer in a humid or dusty environment, the printer must also not be place in direct sunlight and away from any heat source.
     
  2. Next take off the protective covering from your printer's packaging and remove the plastic film from around your printer. It's time to come out of the box!
     
  3. Carefully grip the bottom left and right sides of your printer to lift it. We even added indents on the back sides to help with the transition and to ensure a secure grip!
    mceclip9.png
  4. Once your printer is out of the box, go ahead and remove all pieces of tape from the outside of the device.
    • Don't forget the tape attached to the top cover or the Styrofoam block located on the inside of the printer. Make sure you remove this because if you don't it could result in Service Code errors!

We recommend you keep the box and packaging so you can use it again when moving the machine

 

2. Attaching the Option Tray or Bypass Tray (Optional)

  1.  After all tape is removed from the device, you will want to attach your bypass tray or additional paper tray, if you have purchased one.
     
  2. Once everything is attached and the printer is in the correct location, go ahead and turn the printer on. The black power plug connects to the left side of the printer.

For further information, please see our detailed guides:

3. Installing the Ink Cartridges

A very important note before we insert the cartridges: please doublecheck that these are the inks you want to use. Once loaded into the machine, this will be the ink type through the entire life of your printer!

  1. Remove the packaging from the print cartridges.
    Do not touch the ink supply ports of the cartridges.
     
  2. Open the right front cover.
    mceclip0.png
     
  3. Check the orientation of each cartridge with the ink Use by Date facing you, and then install them gently.
    mceclip1.png
    Install in the following order from the left: black, cyan, magenta, and yellow.
     
  4. Push in each cartridge.
     
  5. Repeat steps 3 to 4 for all four cartridges.
     
  6. Once all 4 cartridges are inserted, close the right front cover and power the printer on.
    mceclip2.png
  7. This will start the 7 - 13 minute initial ink charge process. This might be a noisy process but don't be alarmed! 
    Note: While the printer is performing its initial ink charge, we recommend downloading Sawgrass Print Utility so that you're ready to begin the installation process as soon as the ink charge is complete.
     
  8. As soon as this process has been completed, the printer will return to a Ready state and display the ink levels.
    Important: You may notice that the ink levels will not be at 100%. This is normal as the ink will have been used to fill the ink lines and print head.

Important: For EU and EUX models we strongly recommend also setting the Auto Off function to OFF.

As per our recommendations, the printer will need to be left switched on at all times in order for the printer to performs its automatic maintenance. The printer has an auto-off function which allows the printer to power itself off when not connected to a network. We recommend setting this Auto-Off function to Off as per the instructions below. 
Menu> System Settings> Admin. Tools> Main power off network disc.> Off

 

4. Connecting the Printer

Now we need to connect the printer.

Please note however that if you are wishing to connect the printer via USB, you will be notified during the installation of the printer driver the exact moment when to connect the cable to your PC or Mac.

 

Connection Method Article Reference

USB

mceclip6.png

 Connecting an SG500/1000 via Ethernet or USB

Ethernet

mceclip7.png

 Connecting an SG500/1000 via Ethernet or USB

Wireless

mceclip8.png

 Connecting an SG500/1000 to WiFi (Excludes EUX model)

 

5. Installing Sawgrass Print Utility

 

Now that the printer has completed its initial ink charge, is connected and displays a Ready status, the next step is to install Sawgrass Print Utility, if you have not already done so during the setup process.

Sawgrass Print Utility is required to print to your Sawgrass printer and provides access to printer management, color settings, and print controls.

  1. Download Sawgrass Print Utility
  2. Install Sawgrass Print Utility
    Once the download is complete, open the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install Sawgrass Print Utility.

  3. Create an account and sign in
    Launch Sawgrass Print Utility and sign in using your Sawgrass account.

    If you do not already have an account, select Create Account and follow the on-screen prompts to register. Your Sawgrass account is used to sign in to both Sawgrass Print Utility and the MySawgrass design tool.

  4. Install the printer driver
    After signing in, Sawgrass Print Utility will guide you through installing the correct printer driver for your printer model.

    If the printer setup does not start automatically, go to: Settings > Printers > Add a Printer

    Then follow the on-screen instructions to install and add your printer.

Once complete, your printer is ready to use and you can begin creating and printing your designs.