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  1. #1
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    The idiots guide!

    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!

  2. #2
    Administrator Justin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mugman71 View Post
    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.
    http://www.sawgrassink.com/education...ting-guidebook Might be a good starting point....although, why would you want to go anywhere other than the DSF? Lol.
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  3. #3
    Member NikGrey's Avatar
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    I don't think you were waffling at all - it's nice to see a post like this which details the way somebody else does things as I'm sure everyone has slight variances.

    You say you were using 120gm paper which was not Sublimation paper (maybe I read that wrong) - I'm really surprised that worked so well, obviously that weight paper would hold the ink/dye but I wouldnt have thought it would have surrendered enough of it, not enough to print onto a Mug anyway !

    AS for this heating the bottom of the Mugs, certainly before a 'Full Bleed' prints - I understand this from a physical point of view, I know Simon has a device in his workshop for this (Hot Plate) but what is the 'Idle Temp' for in some mug presses? I would hve thought that if you put your mug in at idle temp and allowed the press to go through its full heat temp cycle that idle temp time would be enough to pre-heat the mug enough?

    I know his press did not have an Idle Temp, so maybe I just answered my own question - a question I should't really be asking myself in this thread in the first place..lol.

    Oh, and I started with cheap stuff but have upgraded to the recognised stuff just to avoid complications and wasting too much time and materials.
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    Its 130gram matt, I stand corrected. I am doing some on real sub paper so will see if results are better.

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    I had written a long reply to this, and then my net connection failed and I lost the post.

    You should a marked improvement from using proper sublimation paper - assuming you have bought decent sublimation paper, and not cheap/unbranded tat - if you don't see a difference then something is wrong! You may find that you need to adjust your temperature and timings now you have proper paper.

    You can mix sublimation inks technically, but the problem you will have as the inks change from the old to new is a shift in colour, which won't be good for the consistency of your product.

    If unbranded in any was including the seller's advert, I would be very wary - if it were a decent brand he was reselling, no matter how grey-market that is, he would want to be shouting about the brand name to show its a good product. As he isn't, this leads me to think that it isn't a recognisable brand, and then he could easily change his supply if/when he finds a lower priced option.

    Find a supplier that can get you branded inks, and a brand you can find more than one supplier, so your eggs aren't all in one basket for getting new stock in.

    Once you have found a new reliable supplier, and the new inks are flowing, get an ICC profile made for your printer/inks, so your colours are right.

    If your printer and press are working for you (no matter how cheap they were compared to more expensive options) if they are working for you, and making you money, there is no reason to upgrade just for the sake of it - if that model of mug press works, then buy another one that's the same as a backup (or additional if you want to make mugs quicker!)

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