Getting into the swing of mug printing

[Skarekrow]

Hi All

I am still here and printing mugs. Our other business has been mental the last few months so the mugs have taken a bit of a back seat.

I am printing a box of 36 mugs at the moment and I got to wondering what techniques and tips people have for streamlining their workflow when printing mugs.

I am new to it and probably quite slow so I need all the help I can get.

How do you trim your paper so they are the same size etc.Do you print all your prints, then trim them, then wrap them round the mugs and then start printing or do you -like me- print the designs and as they come out of the printer, trim them and wrap the first few mugs, get them in the press and whilst those are doing I am trimming and wrapping more mugs and then boxing the first ones etc

Paul

[webtrekker]

I print 2 wraps to an A4 sheet (landscape) with crop marks for lining up in my guillotine. This makes every wrap exactly the same size.

[GoonerGary]

I like A4 for printing mugs. 3 designs per page.
Print all the transfers, allow to dry for a while.
Cup of tea.
Trim them all in the trimmer a few mm top and bottom of design.
Turn on the presses.
Attach transfers to mugs and print as you go.
Do another job whilst they cool.
Pack the orders all at once towards the end of the day.

Printing and packing at the same time (one product at a time) slows down the production line.

[Customprintwales]

Getting into the swing of mug printing

You be careful that you don't smash the mugs when you bring the platen down. I presume you're using light pressure?

[Skarekrow]

Getting into the swing of mug printing

You be careful that you don't smash the mugs when you bring the platen down. I presume you're using light pressure?

I see what you did there

[socialgiraffe]

I like A4 for printing mugs. 3 designs per page.

Wish I could get away with 210mm paper width.

My customers like using a full 225mm wide print so that the print is less than 10mm from the handle. Means that I use loads more paper

[Disky]

i use a mate thats a print finisher to clice my a4 into 3 which works well for me, custom print size in my ricoh and bobs yir aunty

[Skarekrow]

That is a good idea. I might see if I can get my printer to slice my A4 down to individual mug size.

Paul

[webtrekker]

i use a mate thats a print finisher to clice my a4 into 3 which works well for me, custom print size in my ricoh and bobs yir aunty

Unfortunately, that doesn't really work for me. The edges of the wrap are too far away from the handle, even on a 10oz mug, plus you have to allow a little more because the Ricoh's can't do borderless prints, not that that would matter much anyway as I'd probaly end up with gassing when sublimating a borderless print.

Also, the height of the wraps would be smaller than the 93mm height of my 10oz mugs, so a full top-to-bottom print couldn't be achieved.