New to Dye Sublimation - help required

[Brant]

Just invested in some start up Sublimation kit consisting of Ricoh 3110DN Printer with Sublisplash inks,
Mug Press and Heat press. I use a Mac and would like to know if there are any Pro's out there willing
to come to Worcester and help me set up? would obviously pay for this service.

[Coops]

Hello mate,

Welcome to the forum, I'm nowhere near you nor am I a Pro however there are some very knowledgeable people on here who can surely help you out, they might not be able to come to you directly but if you ask questions they will help you.

What I've found out in my short time in this business is that the only way to learn is my trial and error. You will make mistakes along the way but you will learn from them.

[Brant]

Thanks buddy - just getting a bit frustrated as i'm trying to get the same print colour and quality as I would get if printing to my digital print press. I have my own printing business and thought I'd diversify with dye sublimation so could ideally do with someone to come to my premises and set up the correct profile on my Mac and make sure I'm doing everything as I should. Would rather pay someone to get it set up correct instead of wasting too much time and materials on trial and error.

[Coops]

Are you printing using the ICC profile supplied with your ink?
Sometimes this can cause issues with colours etc.

[Reg]

Your print wont look good on paper you need to press it onto something to see it properly.

[Coops]

As Reg mentioned, the image when printed can appear dull and a bit grainy on the paper but when pressed onto an item you will notice the difference. Make sure you print on the correct side of your paper as the image will not transfer properly if on the opposite side.

[Brant]

Sorry chaps, probably didn't explain myself properly, I am comparing quality and colour after pressing on to mugs and T-shirts and trying to achieve the same or similar result as I get from printing the same image on to paper from my digital press.

[Coops]

Ok. Do you have a picture of what they look like?

There are a number of reasons that could cause this such as pressure, temperature, time, correct ICC profile, paper etc. Also maybe some info on your setup and method of printing may help someone identify the issue for you.

[Brant]

Basically the colour's not quite right but this could be due to the colour profile I'm using on my mac - but my main concern is the lack of sharpness and detail of the print on a T-shirt compared with the original. I will carry on testing printing at different heat and time settings and also compare prints direct from Quark and high res PDFs. Am I asking too much from the Dye Sub process, trying to get similar quality image on a T-shirt as a print onto paper from a high end digital press?

[webtrekker]

I think you are trying to compare two entirely different processes. You can't really compare prints from a digital printing press with prints produced by sublimation.

My experience is that sublimation prints are fine for the purposes intended and result in quality, saleable items, and I wouldn't ask for anything more.