Adkins Studio Twins Problem with Sublimation

[mrmarecek123]

Hi,

Could you please help me I am still quite new so I rather ask before I will start to play ....
I tried to sublimate two images (2 mugs) to Durham Mugs from BMS. I am using TruPix paper.
Unfortunately on both of them is not a colour on the top of the mug ..... (image was properly printed)....
Once I took sublimation paper down from the mug I could see different colours on the paper on both parts.


Temperature 170 Degrees C, Time 140 seconds.

[Justin]

Up your rime to 160/180 for a start. Make sure the blanket is tight but not overly tight and just curves over the edge of the mug. Upload a photo for us that will help :-) It sounds like not so much heat is getting to that section, a common issue in the base which can be pre-heated.

[mrmarecek123]

Thanks Justin for your reply.
This is what I mean.

[webtrekker]

I have 2 separate mug presses and had much the same problem as you, so I tried applying the sublimation wrap to the mug and placing the mug in press 1 to pre-heat at 110 degrees C for 240 secs. I then transferred it to press number 2 at 180 degrees C for 180 secs. Perfect!

I've just printed 2 boxes of mugs off today for a market I'm attending tomorrow and every print was spot-on.

Seeing as you have a twin press, why not give it a go?

[Earl Smith]

I have the same press and have the same problem (sometimes).
My solution, and its probably wrong, is to press once the right way up and then to turn it over and press again upside down.
This is very time consuming but for me its not a problem as Mug printing is just a side business to my embroidery and t.shirt printing. I rarely get orders over 50 pieces and these can be done in a day while I work the other machines.

[arthur.daley]

my advice here would be to look on Amazon or Ebay for a Teppanyaki grill - 2000watt ANdrew James jobby is just the thing at 25 - 30 quid. You just turn it on, set the thermostat to the absolute lowest setting and fill it with mugs base down. Give them 5 minutes and turn the first 4 over so they are rim down, give them a couple of minutes. Wrap the first two and put them in the press, wrap the next two ready. When you press the second pair then push the mugs along the grill. Turn over the end four and put 4 more on the empty end - repeat until done. You get about 12 mugs on the grill at a time. There is a longer one available but never tried it. If the mugs are too hot to wrap, don't put so many on so they spend less time on the grill!

This has been discussed here many times - the base of a mug represents a large thermal mass to heat up and the open end and handle act like radiators dissipating the heat. You can warm them in the press but the real trick is to get the whole mug warmed evenly if you want to print top to bottom bleeds. You need enough pressure on the blanket to get the paper to start bending gently over the ends of the mug. The transfer paper needs to be cut over size - ie 2 transfers out of an A4 rather than 3. Print the transfer so that the printed are extends beyond the ends of the mug by about 2 millimetres. You should have about 10mm of white paper above and below the printed area so that the blanket is completely covered - you don't want any ink vapour finding its way onto your blanket.

If you do all this and you are using good quality mugs which are straight, round and have a good quality coating then you should get nice even prints.

Personally I still try to encourage clients not to print full bleed unless its a design that just cries out for it.

[justr77]

The issue at the bottom is down to the shape of your mugs, you can see the crinkles from where the paper has had to wrap around the barrel shaped bottom.

The last few boxes of BMS european mugs have all been like this for me, switch to a better / straight mug and i bet your problems with the bottom will go away

[webtrekker]

my advice here would be to look on Amazon or Ebay for a Teppanyaki grill - 2000watt ANdrew James jobby is just the thing at 25 - 30 quid. You just turn it on, set the thermostat to the absolute lowest setting and fill it with mugs base down. Give them 5 minutes and turn the first 4 over so they are rim down, give them a couple of minutes. Wrap the first two and put them in the press, wrap the next two ready. When you press the second pair then push the mugs along the grill. Turn over the end four and put 4 more on the empty end - repeat until done. You get about 12 mugs on the grill at a time. There is a longer one available but never tried it. If the mugs are too hot to wrap, don't put so many on so they spend less time on the grill!

This has been discussed here many times - the base of a mug represents a large thermal mass to heat up and the open end and handle act like radiators dissipating the heat. You can warm them in the press but the real trick is to get the whole mug warmed evenly if you want to print top to bottom bleeds. You need enough pressure on the blanket to get the paper to start bending gently over the ends of the mug. The transfer paper needs to be cut over size - ie 2 transfers out of an A4 rather than 3. Print the transfer so that the printed are extends beyond the ends of the mug by about 2 millimetres. You should have about 10mm of white paper above and below the printed area so that the blanket is completely covered - you don't want any ink vapour finding its way onto your blanket.

If you do all this and you are using good quality mugs which are straight, round and have a good quality coating then you should get nice even prints.

Personally I still try to encourage clients not to print full bleed unless its a design that just cries out for it.

Have you tried applying the wrap before pre-heating Arthur? Works great for me, but not using an oven, just 2 mug presses. I apply the wrap, pre-heat at 110 deg C for 240 secs then press at 180/180. Never had a bad result, and it saves trying to apply the wrap while the mug is fairly hot and it's losing the benefits of pre-heating as you are fiddling with the wrap.

[Skarekrow]

Have you tried applying the wrap before pre-heating Arthur? Works great for me, but not using an oven, just 2 mug presses. I apply the wrap, pre-heat at 110 deg C for 240 secs then press at 180/180. Never had a bad result, and it saves trying to apply the wrap while the mug is fairly hot and it's losing the benefits of pre-heating as you are fiddling with the wrap.

So you could have a crappy cheap Chinese press for pre heating duty

Paul

[webtrekker]

So you could have a crappy cheap Chinese press for pre heating duty

Paul

Are you calling my press crappy, cheap and Chinese?

Yes! It works fine!