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  1. #1
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    SubTHAT! Initial Reviews & Findings

    I was very kindly sent samples of SubTHAT! about a month ago from Troy (IKONICS Corporation) who is the Director of Chemical Research and the Manufacturer of SubTHAT!

    I've never bothered with any of the spray coatings for sublimation as personally, I've never felt you would achieve a constant/even covering unless you had a very good setup in a dust free environment, far too much 'faffing' around, in my opinion.

    A while back I was sent samples from a company who were on the brink of perfecting and releasing wooden products that were pre-coated, I won't go too much into this here but needless to say they're still not at the market and results were far from good.

    So, SubTHAT! what is it? In a nutshell it's a heat transferable film, supplied in sheets which transform raw products into sublimation ready blanks.

    Sure, I watched the videos online and Conde made it look very easy and the end product 'looked' superb but unless I've seen it first hand and tested the product I'm always a little sceptical of something that looks so good.

    My very comprehensive sample pack consists of matte white, gloss clear and matte clear sheets. Troy even included a few wooden sample discs to test onto with pre-cut sheets.

    The wooden discs were totally bare, sanded smooth but coated in no other way. I decided to use the matte white as I didn't want too much of the wood to show through for this test.

    The idea is to heat press the sheet/material onto the blank, allow it to cool, remove a carrier sheet and your product is ready to sublimate.

    I had a play with a few of the discs but wasn't sure on timings so watched the Conde video and went over the detailed instructions Troy had sent over to me.

    First few prints looked good, pretty much what I'd expected, nothing special but hey, it's working. Obviously needed some tweaking. The sheets were going onto the blank discs evenly, no problem. The edges of the discs weren't very clean and were a little rough so the sheet was a little patchy in those areas and was flaking off.

    I turned my attention to some other wooden blanks I have. 3mm thick birch ply, well finished/sanded wood. I'd played with the timings and was pretty confident I was close to the optimal time. I put the sheet on and allowed it to apply for 90 seconds. Upon removal from the press (ouch hot!) the carrier was already lifting, that's fine and I was told this can happen. I allowed it to cool before effortlessly removing the carrier sheet.

    Upon close inspection I could see the coating had completely covered the surface and this time, because I'd used well finished wood, there was no patchy coating over the edges. So far so good. Now, on to the sublimation process. I pressed my image onto the now coated wood for 45 seconds. Excitedly I removed the wood from the press and tore off the paper like a child at Christmas.....too much?!

    WOW! Yes, I used the word and I'll say it again, WOW! I was blown away with the result. It was so much better due to being on a better surface and I'd finally got the timings spot on. The image was incredibly clear, colours spot on in my test image. The very slight grain in the wood can be seen in the image and this looks really, really good.
    It appears immediately very hard wearing and I'm told it strengthens over the first 24 hours anyway. It's hard to show on a photograph just how good this is but I'll attach some of my poor offerings below anyway.

    OK, back to the 'sceptical' me. I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong and being totally honest I hadn't expected much from this but my initial tests quickly confirmed what's being said that this really could be a game changer. Yes, it's very early days. I need to test the other types of sheet, different materials, larger wooden panels etc. but I have little doubt this stuff will continue to impress. The initial blank product appears to be key, you need a decent surface with well sanded/finished edges. You can print onto less even surfaces by applying multiple sheets to 'fill in' the gaps.

    Could this be something new and exciting? I really think it could be. There's no UK supplier/distributor right now so I'm waiting to hear who's going to take this on. We can import form the USA and prices don't seem too bad at all. I have lots of ideas on how this can help my business so I'm sure it could be a valuable tool in the sublimation toolbox. I'm not getting paid for this review and have no involvement with the suppliers/manufacturers in any way but I was keen to share my findings with the Forum. Of course I'll be looking forward to DSF Premium Member discounts but that's not the main focus right now!

    Apologies again for the poor photos, not as dark as this in reality, I'll try and get some clearer ones asap.



    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Justin; 18-05-2018 at 01:28 PM.
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    webtrekker (18-05-2018)

  3. #2
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Here's some clearer instructions on using SubTHAT!

    https://shop.jdsindustries.com/site_...bTHAT_2017.pdf
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    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Membership scheme now available - Just £10 per year - Regular Supplier Discounts and Special Offers!

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    Member harlequeen's Avatar
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    I'm keen to try this, is it available to purchase from the USA at the moment?

  6. #5
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Yes, this is the US distributor. They may ask you to sign up before you can see prices, any problems let me know and I'll speak to Troy.

    http://www.jdsindustries.com/
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    I hope it's not taboo for manufacturers to chime in on review threads, but I just wanted to clarify that the videos that Justin mentioned were made by JDS Industries, not Conde.

    Also, until we have UK distribution channels set up, orders can be placed direct by contacting Mike VanOvermeiren at mvano@ikonics.com. Tell him you're on the DSF and we may be able to offer a discount on your first order.
    Troy Bergstedt
    Director of Chemical Research
    IKONICS Corporation
    Manufacturer of SubTHAT!

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to TBergstedt For This Useful Post:

    Customprintwales (18-05-2018)

  9. #7
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    Thanks for this Justin - I missed the thread about it earlier in the year, but we could def be interested in this. What's the pricing per sheet/roll on it - Can't see pricing on the JDS website

  10. #8
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Troy, can we publish prices on here please? JDS wouldn't allow me to see prices until I'd signed up as a trade customer. Only other issue I had when looking to order was they wouldn't allow a small order.
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  11. #9
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    Filled in application for JDS and clicked the submit button, but it's sat there spinning for 5 minutes now - not sure if an actual person has to click approve for it to do anything.

  12. #10
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    Oh, just seen, it's saying "What does your company specialize in: invalid entry" not sure where that question is to answer it correctly.

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