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  1. #11
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    I get the mottling every now and again but, to be honest, it's my own fault. If I've had the patio doors open and the room is cold, and the prints have been sitting ready to be used then I may end up with the mottling but I put that down to them being either damp or cold as it only ever happens under those circumstances. Here's some photos of a case I've literally just finished making:

    EDIT: Apologies for the quality; I hate photos taken using a phone but it's almost time for the kids to go to bed and I don't have time to take proper photos :\
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #12
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    Hey ArtyGamer,
    Thanks a lot for your explanations and the photos. Will much appreciate if you can find some time to shoot and post a video. That will be a great help for lots of us. Thanks again.

  3. #13
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    I've tried to get someone to help me with a video but it's just not been possible thus far. What I did (for now) was to take photos while I was doing a case to let you see what I was doing. They're just phone photos so the quality is a bit gash, but hopefully you'll get a better idea and be able to see the outcome.

    Photo 01 (below):
    This is how I tape my designs - just one reasonably long piece of tape at the top and bottom of each print. On the blank side, obviously!



    Photo 02 (below):
    This is how it looks on the printed side, with the tape now behind it. You'll notice that my Photoshop template has a white guide box to let me see where the aperture is on the case - an iPhone 4 in this instance. You may also notice that the image is considerably lighter than the finished case - this is because I literally wasted dozens of test-print cases, tweaking the curves each time until I got to the point where the finished case matched the on-screen representation. I now use that same curve layer for all my designs prior to printing so that I know the finished case will be black where it's supposed to be, white where it's supposed to be, and the colour gradients exactly how I want them.



    Photo 03 (below):
    This is where I now peel the protective film from the case and place it exactly where I want it on the printed design. The peeling process creates enough of a static cling that the case doesn't shift easily once it has been placed on the design. You can still move it if need be, but it's best to use the white box as the pivot point so that this part remains a constant while you adjust the distance on either side to get a vertical symmetry. You'll also notice that I leave a LOT of bleed around my image - this is so that the sides get full coverage and so the edges also take on the print rather than the customer looking down at their phone and seeing a white edging.



    Photo 04 (below):
    Close up of the white box within the aperture so you can see how it's lined up. Obviously, I've left a considerable amount of overprint so that the camera window doesn't end up with a white edge around it.



    Photo 05 (below):
    Once the jig has been in the vacuum press heating up to 200 degrees for twenty minutes (from cold), I take it out and place it directly on to the case while it remains in situ. I had trouble working out how I could possibly take a photo of this stage as I need two hands, and I couldn't. So what I actually do is to hold my left index finger down firmly on the case at the bottom area while I slot the hot jig into the top part of the case, then I slip my finger out at the same point as I push the jig down with the rest of my right hand. Obviously I'm wearing gloves at the time! The case NEVER moves, which will be a combination of the static cling and the fact that I'm holding it down while I place the jig inside the case. It also helps that the cases are slightly larger than the jigs until they're heated.



    Photo 06 (below):
    Now that the heated jig is sitting in the case, I pull up the top tape and secure it to the jig, then do the same with the bottom tape. I make sure to pull these pretty tight while I press down hard on the jig so that no cold air ever gets between the case and the printed design as I'm sure that could affect the result. So you'll see from this that there is NO design whatsoever inside the case, unlike many of the YouTube videos where they encourage you to fold it all over the place and tape it in various places. Ultimately, all you need to do is hold it in place long enough to get it into the vacuum press and that takes care of shifting the design to the case, so there's really no need to go crazy like you're wrapping up fish and chips with newspaper! As soon it's in the press, I hold my palm down on top of the case while the vacuum kicks in so that it has a ridiculously tight fit over the top of the case and jig. Once the vacuum has pulled the membrane down fully on to the base of the chamber, I then look at the corners to see if they need a little nudge - if they've been gathered TOO much by the vacuum process, I'll rub my fingers gently down the crease to help disperse it. Then I close the lid...



    Photo 07 (below):
    The finished case! This remained in the heat press for 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and to save time messing around with timers while the press is hot and there's a hot jig sitting on the case, I kept it sitting at the twenty minutes it was originally set at, and just paused the timer once it reached 16 minutes 30 seconds remaining, disengaged the vacuum and took it out straight away. As soon as the print was ripped off, the case went straight on to a dummy iPhone 4 that I got from Amazon (links to all my dummies at the bottom), and dropped straight into a bucket of cold water.



    Photo 08 (below):
    You'll see from this image that the design not only goes right up the sides of the case but also on to the facing edge. This probably isn't necessary, but I just don't like the idea of someone maybe getting a predominantly dark case from me and it being let down by this glaring white edge that you'd see as you looked at the phone. That was my main reason for wasting so much time working out the best way to go about doing these cases. You can also just about make out that the corners have also taken on the design, but the next photo will show that better.



    Photo 09 (below):
    Apart from the dodgy bit of loose plastic at the bottom (which I smoothed off with a Dremel when I noticed it after I took the photo), you'll see that the image carries all the way around the corners and edges of the case. My thoughts are that I get a better transfer because I'm not folding the design here and there with creases all over the place. I'm letting the vacuum do all the work, and I just give it a little nudge by smoothing it where I think it's necessary, depending on how the vacuum membrane gathers the image at the corners.




    EDIT: Forgot the links to the dummies!

    iPhone 4/4S: http://amzn.to/1qsGDiR
    iPhone 5/5S: http://amzn.to/1shbjza
    Samsung S3: http://amzn.to/1liqyqF
    Samsung S4: http://amzn.to/1gaEq7k
    Last edited by ArtyGamer; 11-05-2014 at 04:13 PM.

  4. #14
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Looks good ;-) Great design btw.

    This design really helps with corners, you can get away with a certain amount. Have you printed something a little different that really needs to be 100% clear on the wrap around?
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  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justin View Post
    Looks good ;-) Great design btw.

    This design really helps with corners, you can get away with a certain amount. Have you printed something a little different that really needs to be 100% clear on the wrap around?
    I've only got two other designs sitting printed at the moment, one has a lot of detail going over the corners and the other has a solid blue... and you'd REALLY see pale spots on the blue. Give me a few minutes to go photograph them :)

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  7. #16
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    There you go... it's probably not easy to tell that this one is a clear print because of the nature of the design, but you'll see there's no breakage in the flow of the pattern or any pale spots



    This one is much easier to see since it's the same TARDIS one as before and it has a solid blue, which is something that would make it really noticeable if the colours were to fade. I do admit though, if I've got a lot of orders to get through in a day, I'll not spend nearly as much time making sure each case is 100% perfect and will still send it out if there's a tiny bit of fading just as long as the case actually fits and the main area of the design is pristine. When I do each case one at a time, rather than six at a time, I never have any fading.



    I did try the gold foil as I bought ten sheets of it along with the press, but I've never been happy with the colour matching. It's always far too severe in terms of contrast, and the colours are a bit odd. I also feel as though the sides and corners look stretched when the foil is used whereas the paper never does that.

  8. #17
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    Cases look great. I know what you're saying about the gold film, I have some concerns. So it maybe that we're trying way to hard to wrap these corners then?! lol.

    I must say I'm amazed how good your corners look, I would have thought the paper wouldn't sit right once the vacuums on.
    Last edited by Justin; 11-05-2014 at 04:44 PM.
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  9. #18
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    Thanks Justin, I appreciate that - always good to hear feedback someone in the know. I'm also glad it's not me, as I thought I was just doing something wrong. Once I can afford to waste more cases and buy in a load of the gold foil, I'll maybe start some trial and error with that but I may just stick to using paper as I don't sell my cases for very much and would rather not end up spending a quid per print!

  10. #19
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArtyGamer View Post
    Thanks Justin, I appreciate that - always good to hear feedback someone in the know. I'm also glad it's not me, as I thought I was just doing something wrong. Once I can afford to waste more cases and buy in a load of the gold foil, I'll maybe start some trial and error with that but I may just stick to using paper as I don't sell my cases for very much and would rather not end up spending a quid per print!
    Well, I wouldn't say i know what I'm doing yet ;-) Often ask myself what the heck am I doing!

    TBH looking at your cases I don't think you'll gain anything from going to film, your corners and prints look great so why add the expense. i'm at the testing stage, I have plenty of gold film, will be trying others...but I'd still ike to play more with the paper solution.
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    Great, thanks for the photos. Good job, these cases look awesome.
    May I ask you what press you use? Is it this red model?

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