Newbie - Press problem?

[ericlemes]

Hi guys,

I'm totally new to sublimation. Yesterday I bought a press and a printer (Epson T25) with the bulk ink kit, sublimation ink and sublimation paper. I'm using 220ºC and 120s. I tried several other pressure, time and temperature settings and I'm unable to transfer a single mug :-(

I tried several times on the same mug, I don't know if this can be a problem.

I'm attaching photos of my press (I think it its an Easefly) and one of the mugs I cooked. The image in the end is a dog face, but it's a kind of yellow and almost none of the ink is transfered to the mug.

I'm not heating the mug. I turn on the press wait for it to heat and then put the mug on.

Thanks in advance,

Eric2013-06-30 10.43.23.jpg2013-06-30 10.43.36.jpg

[s31teg]

is the sub ink
is it a sub mug? polyester coating?

[ericlemes]

Yes,

It's sub ink and ceramic mug (for sublimation).

I noticed that when I put the mug, the temperature drops to ~130-140ºC and takes a lot of time to get back to 200ºC.

[Sawgrass]

Firstly, does the image print correctly to the sublimation paper? Secondly, are you certain that both the ink and the paper are for dye sublimation? Were both bought from a reliable source?

[ericlemes]

Sawgrass,

Yes, in the paper, everything is fine. Both ink and paper are from reliable sources.

[ssp]

give the heads a clean and then do a nozzle check print in maintainence, it will print the various lines in each colour and some black text usually being an epson, check all the colours are present. if this is ok then what brand of paper are you using? i use trupix for mugs. you should print on the brilliant white side of the paper.

[Paul]

if there is plenty on paper and nothing on mugs then head clean is not necessary. Also even if you print on standard copier paper you would still have transfered image on your mug (bad quality but still...)
in your case one of the 2 consumables aren't right. inks are NOT dye sublimation inks or mugs are NOT coated.

[ericlemes]

Thanks for all your helps guys.

Paul, your answer is the best fit until now. I'll return to the store and discuss with the guys that sold me the consumables.

When I bought the press, the guy cooked three mugs. The first two had the same results I'm having and the third was fine. The two first mugs was with the wrong temperature (~120ºC).

This is a mystery for me. I'll talk to the sellers and then I'll post my answer back.

Thanks for all your help. I found lots of interesting information in the forum.

[Paul]

starting point would be about 180C. if nothing transfered when pressed at 220C then i presume mugs or inks are not for the job.

[pisquee]

If you have any scraps of polyester fabric, wrap this around the mug, and then wrap around your paper tranfer, so you are pressing to the polyester and not the mug itself - this will test if the inks are the problem or the mug. For this test, set your press to 200 degrees, but you only need to press for 1 minute.