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3D sublmation Machine Review
Hello everyone and this update is to post my results and review of my new 3d Sublimation Heat Press.
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Review Video
http://youtu.be/IiEngEXp5qs
Production Video links since i can only have 1 video per post
http://youtu.be/izckXNa4HcA
http://youtu.be/IONxy9Se9B8
My original review was going to be a video post however I have reconsidered and decided to just make normal review with pictures and only a short video of my production process (Will link once done uploading). To start things off i will list my current setup.
Ink - ArTainium UV+ sublimation ink
Paper - 100ft Roll of Tru-pix
Printer - Epson Artisan 1430
Iphone Blanks - Same Company as Machine
Although i am new to sublimation, i must say that i am extremely pleased with the images that i produced. Although it was kind of trial and error in the beginning, i got the process more of less down pat. The machine is actually larger then i anticipated. It is 13 " tall 19" wide and 20" long. Heavy as hell as there is quite a bit of metal involved in its structure. The outer most shell is made from a hard resin material which is quite strong. The heated area where blanks go is cast iron I believe and the over all construction is very clean.
The only issue one might have is that on the 1st use i noticed a bit of warping on the resin that comes in contact with the heated plates. After the 1st use it stopped waring and there was no further issues.
The internal parts of the machine are pretty simple.
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Working Area. 12" by 17" Insides.
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Back of unit has a pressure gauge to show how strong a vacuum you are getting . Also Power on and off switch.
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Consist of vacuum pump, filter and what i think is a large capacitor . Please Note that the filter needs to be emptied once in a while. I've done 12 cases and not a drop yet. White tube is actually the exhaust from what i believe is the vacuum.
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Standby and active button. (shows time and date when off)
. Setting Timer, Setting Temperature, Starting the heating process, Starting Vacuum phase, Starting Timer and the great thing about this machine is that you can actually set what units (C/F) you prefer. Quite a sleek and nice panel and can ask for the unit in 110V or 220V so you better know your stuff
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Silicon vacuum screen and rig. As you can
see i kinda burned it a bit with testing however
it can take a hell of a beating that is for sure.
Cost about $3 USD to order an extra one. I
bought 3 =D
Finished Products
Obviously the most important part of a review is the quality of product it produces. Below are some photos of my finished I phone 4 cases which i made. Some are terrible as this is my first time however you can definitely tell i got better quickly.
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This was my first attempt. The far left one i pressed at 190 C for 6 mins Came out horrible. Blurry and not imprinted at all. The other two turned out a lot better however there was some type of discoloration across the top portion of the case and not the bottom. After some though i realized it was because air was trapped where the camera hole was and so i made sure to fix it on next batch.
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Attempted two. Came out a lot better. I wanted to see what a person would look like however totally forgot to consider resolution and it turned very blurry. Also it was upside down....
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Attempt three. Holy Moses it come out great... at least 2 did. BTW i didn't do 3 at a time. Did them individually bet they were all printed together. The 1st two look fantastic and my GF stole both.... The third one i forgot to set the timer and took it out too early. failed...
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Last Attempt. Nailed it. These are extremely vivid and colorful. They are slightly darker then the originals and i will try and find a way to fix that. But the cases turned out great. They are fully wrapped and sleek to the touch.
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Here are some pictures of the sides. Fully wrapped however must be pretty careful when sticking on the transfer paper. Need to do it a certain way which i will show in the video. i must say that at 500 USD this machine is quite good. Since i have no prior experience with sub units i don't really know if this is high quality product but i like what it makes. It is not limited to phone cases and can make a wide range of stuff like tshirts, glass things, rock things, mugs (12 at a time whoa), shot glasses, metal plates, normal plates etc.. The whole process of making one phone case is included in the video however if my horrible slurring of words fails to communicate what needs to be said, i have listed the process below.
Step 1.
Select and print out images you want. Set time and heat for machine
Step 2.
Start the machine heating phase. While heating up, get the mold you want and tape the image (which you printed out) onto the blank (placed on the mold).
Step 3.
Open the now heated machine and put in the blank with mold. Hit the vacuum button and wait till it is fully air free. Be sure to give it a extra patting down to make sure it is tight and airless or discoloration will probably happen.
Step 4.
Hit the timer button aka phase 3 and let it run its course.
Step 5.
Take out the mold and blank once the timer beeps and unwrap your blank. Don't forget to use your heat resistant gloves the whole process as it burns as hell. Place your now very hot blank into a cooling jig and voila you have a phone case/whatever you made.
