Hello

[socialgiraffe]

At last a forum that is of interest!!!!

My name is Simon and I have been in the screen print and dye sublimation industry for about 15 years. Over the past 5 years the dye sublimation industry has really taken off and am currently printing about 10k mugs per month. Trust me, after reading many of the posts on here, whether you print 1 mug a month or 10,000 we still experience similar problems so I look forward to you helping me as much as I look forward to helping you (if I can!!!!).

Regards

[Justin]

Hi Simon and welcome to the DSF! You seem to have landed a great job printing those mugs, good for you

Be interested to discuss your printing methods in another thread.

Justin
DSF Admin

[bms]

Welcome to the forum Simon

[Lee]

Hi Simon!

10k a month eh! Thats why Im soo quiet!!!!!!!

:-p

[Andrew]

At last a forum that is of interest!!!!

My name is Simon and I have been in the screen print and dye sublimation industry for about 15 years. Over the past 5 years the dye sublimation industry has really taken off and am currently printing about 10k mugs per month. Trust me, after reading many of the posts on here, whether you print 1 mug a month or 10,000 we still experience similar problems so I look forward to you helping me as much as I look forward to helping you (if I can!!!!).

Regards

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the forum.

Do you mainly screen the mugs or sub print them? Might look into screenprinting of mugs soon.

Cheers,

Andrew

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Andrew

We do both and more

My company traditionally was a screen print only company, however due to the industry we supply (tour merchandise for rock and pop groups) we found that deadlines were too short for this method, so we expanded into dye sub and heat transfer in general. We purchased a "5 mugs at once" press from Dom Global a really nasty Epson with CIS (which found its way into the skip after 1 day!!!!) and have never looked back (once we had the Ricoh 7000 delivered!). We still do traditional screen print as the mugs are about half the price and certain customers require pantone matching on black mugs etc so we have more control via the traditional route. We also do a water transfer that means we can print anywhere on the mug (including handle and inside) and IS dishwasher safe and some really nice work with varnish and frosted effects but those are for the gallery when i have taken some photos

If you ever want a quote for mugs, then PM me. I am convinced we are one of the cheapest around, our quality is superb as 90% of our mugs are sold on tours by the likes of JLS, Katy Perry, Jesse J, Take That and my personal favourite... JEDWARD

Hope the above gives you some idea of what I do.

Regards

[Andrew]

Sounds good Simon. Why did you decide to go the press route rather than use your ovens that are used on screenprint etc? I don't know many medium size printers so would be interested to know how you operate on the various different systems. There is not much info out there when you go from printing the odd box compared to the odd pallet. Things obviously change when getting bigger but no defined route.

Screenprinting and waterslide decals are fast approaching as something we are going to be looking into soon. Screenprint looks a little more complicated and costly to get into when you have no past experience.

[socialgiraffe]

Simple answer to that one... cost and capacity. Our adelco dryer runs us at about £5.00 an hour and cures cotton shoppers from 7am through to about 5pm everyday. Squeezing in mugs would be a problem. Having said that even if I had the room I think I would still stick to the 5 mug press option. It takes my guys about 3 mins to wrap 6-9 mugs, it takes about 1 minute to dewrap and put in the bag. 5 mugs take 240 seconds so it sort of works out that the operator is always doing something. I am actually going to purchase another 5 mug press soon so the operator can increase the output to 80 mugs an hour. Having seen pretty much every option out there I can honestly say that not much really changes. Okay you have more mug presses and you spend a heck of a lot more on ink! but essentially with sublimation you still have to wrap a print round the mug and heat it. Screenprint and waterslide is a whole different ball game and something I would be very wary about before entering. Especially in the current market(which I do not see changing in the next few years). One thing I would say is that before purchasing any machine ask yourself how versatile is it? We purchased a DTG D1 a few years back, have to say that it was the worst purchase I ever made. £17k was sold for £1500 in less than five years, and I think its turn over was less than 6k over those years. My versacamm however... 9K 7 months ago and has turned over about 13k already. Love those machines.... why? Today I printed 5 garment transfer for clothing (2 white and 3 dark), 250 a4 heat transfers, 2000 2inch stickers, 4 small vinyl banners and 6 art canvas prints, all from 1 machine and 1 set of ink. Now I know the examples I have used are digital but the principle is the same. We have a machine that is called a printall. Really nice piece of screen printing kit, but more importantly my head printer really knows his stuff which is absolutely vital. Have you thought about any of the 3d machines out there? If I was going to grow my business I think I would go further into digital as I think that is where the market is heading. Lastly, where abouts are you based? I am in Hatfield, Herts so you could always pop in and I will show you around (you have to like horses and dogs as we are on a farm!)

P.S. Sorry for going on a bit... just realised!!!!

[Andrew]

P.S. Sorry for going on a bit... just realised!!!!

A forum is the best place to go on a bit

So it's largely other stuff beyond mugs that you spend a lot of time doing then? Sounds like you have a nice bit of lit going on. I've given up diversifying and sticking to mugs for the time being. I've got a pad printer and hot foiler that cost 20k gathering dust. I have a market for mugs so that's what I sticking to right now, hence the questions about screen and transfers etc. I was going to look at Deck ovens as it seems hard to find a suitable conveyor at a decent price. Haven't got the first clue about the screenprinting itself though but it'll be a nice learning curve.

[David B]

Hi Simon and welcome. Sounds like you have some serious kit there. What printer are you using for the canvas and stickers on? I presume it is a printer cutter.

Regards David