Mug Bottom Heat Press

[webtrekker]

Still tinkering around with the rubber stamp idea, using indelible, dishwasher-safe, quick-drying ink.

I'd thought of using my old drill stand to cobble up something to assist in stamping mugs accurately and with the minimum of effort (a bit like a pad printer). The basic idea is a sliding base which holds a mug and an ink pad. The procedure would be as follows:

• From the starting position, with the ink pad under the stamp, pull the handle to ink the stamp at the same time as placing a mug on a jig attached to the sliding table.
• Slide the table to the right until it hits an adjustable stop.
• Pull the handle a second time to stamp the mug with the design.
• Slide back to the left and remove the mug.
• Repeat for all mugs that require stamping.

I reckon I'd be able to stamp a box of 36 mugs in under ten minutes for the whole box. An added benefit (provided the stamp method works) is that there's no heat involved and hence no time wasted waiting for sublimation to occur. There are also no transfers to print and cut. Obviously, tweaking the position of the mug jig, or altering the stamp head would allow for any size stamp and positioning anywhere on the base of the mug. The whole thing would only cost a few quid to make.

Here are some renderings I've knocked up to better describe the idea ...

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[Justin]

Looks great, now go build it! Lol. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do at least 6 at a time if the plan comes together, yes, it will take longer than a stamp but will allow full colour logos. Coating should be here tomorrow/Tuesday. I need to get some heat conductive foam, i.e. from a used blanket possibly and try to cut a circle to fit the base of the mug.

[PaulH]

I do like the rubber stamp idea. I have spent some time looking on google for the "Holy Grail" of indelible, quick drying and dishwasher safe ink, and haven't yet found anything that would fit the bill. Has anybody else found or used anything that has those characteristics?

[GoonerGary]

The stand is cheap!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Drill-Bench- ... ctupt=true

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Worksta ... RILL+STAND

Perhaps glass/ ceramic ink. These are OK for dishwashers.

https://www.marabu-inks.com/products/in ... amics.html

There you go, pad printing ink for dishwashers...

https://www.marabu-inks.com/products/pr ... -1938.html

https://www.marabu-inks.com/uploads/tx_ ... B_0618.pdf

[webtrekker]

This is the drill stand I bought from Amazon last year, which was what gave me the idea ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

I'll admit, I haven't looked too deeply into suitable inks yet but, because others are stamping mugs with 'dishwasher-safe' inks I'm assuming they are readily available.

[Tubstar]

The link at the start from etsy uses Stazon ink, you can buy it from hobbycraft. My wife actually has a pad of it as she used to do lots of crafting etc so its on our todo list to test. Might try and do one in the morning actually.

[GoonerGary]

The link at the start from etsy uses Stazon ink, you can buy it from hobbycraft.

I thought I recognised that ink brand. I've got a stamp and ink pad in a cupboard somewhere. I'll try some on the bottom of a mug.

[pisquee]

We tried Stayzon with a rubber stamp of our logo on mug bases - it is definitely permanent enough for this use, but we couldn't get a good enough and consistent print to make it a viable option.

[webtrekker]

How about baked-on laser waterslide decals?.....

https://www.papilio.com/laser%20bake%20 ... paper.html

[webtrekker]

I did a quick sublimation experiment yesterday. Results weren't impressive ...

I used a Listawood mug (that hadn't been pad printed on the base) and attached the transfer, with a 2mm thick circle of silicone over it to level any bumps, and a £2 coin and heat tape to add some pressure. The green silicone wrap was just to add some extra pressure to the ends of the tape. The mug was placed into my halogen oven at a temperature of 180° C, rising to 200° during cooking.

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In the next picture, the top mug was cooked for 9 minutes and appeared to be very feint.

The bottom mug was cooked for 15 minutes and, although slightly darker, much of the print was virtually missing.

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My conclusion is that, although more pressure may have improved things a bit, the coating on the bottom of these mugs isn't good enough to take a sublimation print. I don't have any other brands available to experiment further.

I might add that the base of the bottom mug, although looking smooth, did in fact have a depression when I ran my finger over the print, which is probably why it printed unevenly.

I have my doubts whether a press would achieve any better results as the advantage of using an oven is that everything is heated up to the same temperature. I think a press would struggle to heat the transfer enough if the entire base wasn't heated at the same time.