Is there somewhere that gives you the basics on mug press printing, ie whats the best printer, inks, paper, press etc. Ive read a lot of stuff on here and its pretty obvious that most of it is trial and error and everyone has their own procedures so heres mine.
The press I use is one of those £100 presses off of ebay, worked well for two years now, must have done 2000 mugs on it. Would like to purchase a better one, budget around £200.
Printer, Epsom B1100 with CISS system. Have a concern as the inks are running out and theres no markings on bottles so not sure what I do re purchasing again as there seems to be lots of places selling sub ink and your not supposed to mix them? The Espsom, after getting it going (see my intro post ) has been bang on despite getting lots of negative press on here. Approx printed 500 designs so far with no issues. Its used daily. Told the 1500 is pretty good?
Paper, 120 gram, not sublimation paper. Looks good but I have just brought 2000 sheets of sub paper to see if it makes any difference.
I heat the press to 180 and leave mugs in for 300 seconds but if doing a few I take that down to 240. I always leave a mug in when not in use or is heating up. I use to use 11oz mugs but now use 10oz as the packaging seems cheaper and less breakages in the post. Just recently I have put the mugs on a radiator before putting in the press and left the transfer on until its cooled. Results are much better especially as any black edged mugs were coming out faded previously ( but only on edges ). I also dont have the mugs clamped to tight. I know there seems to be lots of views on what you should do, for me it was trial and error and Im always open to suggestions and advice especially as this is something I never intended to get into. ( again see my intro post )
So far it all works for me but I want to upgrade everything bit by bit. Any recomendations would be appreciated or tips if you think something I do is wrong or could be improved.
Hope Ive not waffled on to much. Its a great forum with some helpful advice. Wish I had joined a year ago!