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Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 20:19
by Martinx
Using the same Mug Press I had to print 10 mugs with the same design
which I printed on one sheet. Print looked great until I came to pressing the print on the mugs.

First one good, second one ok but third and fourth very poor!
I turned the mug press off each time. I can't understand it at all.
Does the press need a certain amount of time to cool down between each mug?

Consistency is so important to me! Can anyone shed any light on this or give me any advice on alternative printing methods?

Thank you
Martin

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 20:36
by bms
When you say very poor, what makes it very poor? Can you elaborate?
What printer/ inks are you using and what temp/ time combination are you setting your mug press to?

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 21:34
by accdave
Martinx;17966 wrote:I turned the mug press off each time. I can't understand it at all.
Does the press need a certain amount of time to cool down between each mug?

Quite the opposite, should be one out, one straight in, or at least thats my method

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 22:27
by mrs maggot
can you explain why you turned it off each time ?? perhaps put a picture of the mugs up left to right, good to poor, amazed you got 10 wraps off one sheet of paper - how big is your printer :)

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 23:05
by AdamB
................ hold on a sec Martinx - are you using the same bit of paper for each mug?

Prints should only be used the one time, no matter how much ink 'seems' to be left on the paper - if this isn't the case then I apologise but if it is then this may be the problem?

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 05 Mar 2011, 23:27
by smitch6
well spotted Adam, bless him it wouldn't surprise me if thats the problem
we'll have to wait for martin to let us know

i'll admit that was one of the 1st things i thought about when i 1st started out
'could i re-use the prints'
2nd was how long do the prints last for (that got asked and answered by someone else :) )

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 06 Mar 2011, 00:08
by Paul
mrs maggot;17975 wrote:amazed you got 10 wraps off one sheet of paper - how big is your printer :)
no one said it is full wrap designe :) it maybe small logo so on one A4 you can place 30 of them ;)

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 06 Mar 2011, 08:28
by Martinx
Thanks for your reply guys. Sorry I should of gone into more detail. Anyway, in response to your questions

'bms' - Epson S21 printer using ArTainium Inks. Print quality on paper great. Press time 180sec @ 180deg. First few mugs fine, then the black print was more brown and looked almost out of registration! and at one point point paper scorch marks left on the mug!! Weird

'mrs maggot' - The mug press has no idol setting and I was concerned about the blanket overheating so turned off. I wanted to double check each mug separately rather than going full steam one in one out.
Should I go with accdave in that keep the production line moving? Paul is right the print was a logo on one side of the mug only, therefore I managed to get 6-up on one A4 sheet and 4-up on another.

'Adam/Smitch' - I didn't use the same print, but wouldn't that be great if we could, all that time and money we would save...Dragons Den here we come!

I have been pressing mugs for a good few months now and thought I had perfected the process. Up until now I had only ever done one off's so this was my first multiple print job.
Having read quite a few debates on here about the Mug press v Oven, I'm concerned that the Mug Press isn't equipped for producing consistent prints on multiple mugs with the same design. One off's great.
I'm sure that's for another debate entirely.

Thanks
Martin

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 06 Mar 2011, 08:37
by smitch6
i use a mug press and done 16 the other day
and 12 came out exactly right thankfully
the 4 that didn't was because i played with time and didn't have the image position just right so that was my fault

Re: Consistently poor mug prints!

Posted: 06 Mar 2011, 08:40
by smitch6
are you using a protective wrap of some description?
it sounds like they are burning,
maybe the thermostat on your blanket is faulty
hence thats why the 1 works fine but after a while it gets too hot and burns them

i get the odd paper going brown when doing mugs but generally they come out cooked but not a deep brown

my guess is its your blanket