Where did you buy the heat tape?Originally Posted by Chad
Where did you buy the heat tape?
Neil Brothers
GoonerGary (12-02-2025)
Just had a sample of the new one, 24 grams compared to old 28 gram but does feel less quality. Real shame that they've changed. Anyone have any alternatives that feel better? Thanks
I had samples and they are total crud, will not be using unisub anymore
The backing is terrible and you have to be careful or it peels, they feel light and cheap too.
Also they warp and bend being mdf
I tried all temps and pressure till i got to one where the print was ok but it was too much pressure and they warp
So they are not usable at all
More so for the same price they are charging...it means if i used them i would have to lower my orice to reflect their cheapness of quality which i can not do.
Unisub claim its their white sub toos they are famous for...sorry but its not as ive found cheapo coaster which print and look the same when finished lol
It was the hardboard backing which is why they were good.
Xpres did sent me their own version of coasters with hardboard but i found the price just too expensive also the edges of where the white part was cut was wonky in areas looking none professional
Liminal (08-06-2025)
I totally agree but I am finding it difficult to find placemats of similar coating quality with nice rounded corners though. Any suggestions? As for coasters then since using jigs then tape marks are not a problem any more but I would imagine in reality this was a cost cutting exercise by Unisub rather than "oh the backing company company went bust".
They would deny its cost cutting but either way i know for a fact MDF is cheaper thats why 99% of sublimation coasters are MDF. The others were tempered hardboard which is always more expensive
Thing is pretty sure unisub could have just bought the company that made the backs and brought it all in house.
Unfortunately i have been looking and looking and only xpres here in the uk do their own hardboard coasters.....which i find odd as why can unisub not use the company thats making those hardboard coasters for xpres
My issue with the xpres ones is while they seem a tiny tiny thinner and press ok with no warping is the price is 68p per coaster compared with unisub which is about 60p per coaster
Also the few samples they sent me there was dodgy cutting out at one of the corners same and all samples just the top white part where you could see it was not cut straight
Soni did not order any due to price and that issue as for me i was not satisfied with selling coasters with that issue plus paying more each coaster
I have 2 boxes left of the old unisub ones and a few boxes of the bigger cork back ones so once i run out nit sure what ill do
Its not like the mdf coasters are any cheaper where i could sell them at a lower price to match the now worse quality. As i sell coasters with designs on for £4.10 each plus i have ebay fees and often even people don't want to pay that small price for a coasters and all i get are loads of watchers on the items so i end up knocking 5% off
So my earnings per coaster are not big where i can again lower price even more as theres no point going to the effort of doing it then.
I will say though the front sublimation coating on unisub for me is not the best in the business like they make out either.
Every cheapo coaster i have tried has always printed and looked good it was the hardboard backing that set unisub apart from the rest.
Even those xpres hardboard coasters print same as unisub ones. Also often in a box of 40 unisub coasters i would get a good few where the backing was scraped and had marks along, often the top coating would have lines and marks scraped along also i have actually had a good few where theres been dark bits of something under the top coaster and even small tiny dead bugs under it which could not be used
So unisub are living in dreamland in thinking the main aspect for buying their coasters is just the coating on them
Last edited by mark25810; 08-06-2025 at 09:46 AM.
^^^Unfortunately i have been looking and looking and only xpres here in the uk do their own hardboard coasters.....which i find odd as why can unisub not use the company thats making those hardboard coasters for xpres
Im wondering if xpres are just cutting these themselves out of excess stock of the https://www.xpres.co.uk/unisub-hardb...d-3-17mm-thick so this maybe a short lived thing - time will tell i guess
I don't think so because when i found out about the unisub issue the guy in email said they are doing their own but price is higher and mentioned wait times because of shipping from over seas.
Though maybe they didn't want to say they are doing them in-house though guess he had no reason to lie
What jig do you use? Finding the backing a nightmare with tape peeling off the mdf
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