DSF

Hi all,

I am new to dye sublimation and am feeling completely lost, so I'm sincerely hoping someone can help.

Our setup is as follows:

Printer: Ricoh SG2100N
Paper: Subright Sublimation Paper
Ink: a good quality Sublmiation Ink (unsure of brand)
Mugs: Premium ORCA Coated
Mug Press: Blue Wave MP160 Mug Heat Press

The company where I purchased the ink from have provided me with a custom ICC profile for our printer/paper/ink combination.

The issue I'm having is that when sublimating on to the mugs (a photo for example), the image looks a lot darker than it should be (almost as if it's got a brown tint to it). I then tried to sublimate my companies logo which has bright blues/greens/pinks, and it just dulled down every colour, and the green appears to have seperated slightly so there's a yellow 'glow' to the one side of the green.

We have wasted about 10 mugs trying different heat/time settings, but not getting anywhere fast.

The heat settings we've settled on are 200 degrees for 180 seconds, but other than that, I'm now a bit lost.

Thanks in advance

180 and 180 so you maybe going far too hot - but please post some pictures of the mugs you have done so far, as it will help us

I had to investigate major problems with uneven heat coverage on a brand new Blue Wave MP160 very recently.

Pictures of your mugs would be helpful.

Thanks for the replies. I did try at 180 degrees for 180 seconds but it didn't improve the result.

Here are the original images and the finished mugs.

Hmmm! See what you mean.

Have you printed any test images prior to this using your current setup? Something with basic colours?

I use a series of colour and tone wedges containing RGBCMYK and Black 10%, 20%, 30% etc together with industry standard reference images. It provides a more objective approach to how the colours reproduce.

The other thing I have noticed is that suppliers/manufacturers often seem to give different (reduced) time and temp recommendations for the Ricoh printers. I'm not sure that would apply here - depending on your ink.

Brixhamboy;106186 wrote:Hmmm! See what you mean.

Have you printed any test images prior to this using your current setup? Something with basic colours?

I use a series of colour and tone wedges containing RGBCMYK and Black 10%, 20%, 30% etc together with industry standard reference images. It provides a more objective approach to how the colours reproduce.

The other thing I have noticed is that suppliers/manufacturers often seem to give different (reduced) time and temp recommendations for the Ricoh printers. I'm not sure that would apply here - depending on your ink.

I have tried printing our company logo which does a similar thing. I think it might be a combination of the printer and the sublimation process. The colours look a little off when printing (a bright cyan looking a little dark), but look much worse when on the mug (a bright cyan looking more like a teal colour).

I don't particularly like the Ricoh printer and wanted to use my Epson printer isntead, but got sent the wrong refillable cartridges so decided to persist with the Ricoh as I bought it for this purpose.

might be your 'good quality sublimation ink' - even with a profile, is it the right one for your printer?
look at very fine detail on image and then mug (hair round eye etc) - is it 'soft' on the mug - maybe sign of over cooking as is blacks going brown.
We mug at about 160c for 90secs

logobear;106188 wrote:might be your 'good quality sublimation ink' - even with a profile, is it the right one for your printer?
look at very fine detail on image and then mug (hair round eye etc) - is it 'soft' on the mug - maybe sign of over cooking as is blacks going brown.
We mug at about 160c for 90secs

Thanks - the ink is intended for the Ricoh printers. I'm not at home at the moment so will look at the mugs when I get back and will have another go at reducing the temperature.

Quick question.....if you are unsure as to the brand of your cheap ink, how will you be able to purchase the same next time to ensure consistency?

Justin;106190 wrote:Quick question.....if you are unsure as to the brand of your cheap ink, how will you be able to purchase the same next time to ensure consistency?

for a start, it wasn't 'Cheap Ink' in my opinion. I know the seller I bought it from (CityInkExpress) but I don't know if they make the ink or resell it from another manufacturer. The ink was purchased from here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/272020810242