Major mug printing issues everything is giving me trouble

[SDT]

So I ended up buying mugs from Coastal along with their 4 in 1 mug press. I also got a Sawgrass SG400.
I have had nothing but issues with the press, mug quality and even the printer and its software. I am at my wits end with it all.

So last night I started testing my setup for 11 oz white mugs as I had been doing black mugs (which is another problem) And came to the settings of 370F for 250 seconds (as coastal recommends) which produced a perfect mug last night. Today I want to do an entire case of mugs. So I turn on the press and let it sit at 370F for about 5 - 10 minutes to make sure its good and hot. I put my first mug in it came out perfect. I then put my next mug in and its faded. I try upping the time to 260 faded more, so I figured maybe I need to reduce the time to 240 faded even more. So then I start messing with the pressure and make it firmer, faded worse, back off the pressure faded, really back off the pressure really faded, go back the other way applying more pressure still faded. No matter what I have done I cannot get a second mug to come out good i have now burned through 11 mugs with no success.

I was having problems last night with the very left corner of the image being faded, it seems when I moved my graphic inwards (away from the handle of the mug) by 1/8" that resolved the fading issues last night.

I do not know what to do I am beginning to think it is the type of press I have as the center knob depending on how you adjust pressure seems to make the cuff distort so that either the left or right side of the cuff is large or smaller than the other side.

https://www.coastalbusiness.com/multi-f ... ckage.html

[cook_58]

I cant help too much with it as i dont have any of those machines.

Might seem really silly to ask, but did you print on to the correct side of the paper, I've been guilty of that, and my print on to the mug or other things comes out with losts of speckles. Happene a few times.before i figure out thats what i had done.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Mrteajunkie]

5-10 mins without a mug in will have most likely damaged the heating element.

im not sure about *f but I use 180*C for 240 seconds but my press is different than yours and times and temps vary some by extremes with different presses.

if you turn off your press let it go cold and then pre heat to temp then do a mug without waiting the 10 mins does it come out ok?

[SDT]

I cant help too much with it as i dont have any of those machines.

Might seem really silly to ask, but did you print on to the correct side of the paper, I've been guilty of that, and my print on to the mug or other things comes out with losts of speckles. Happene a few times.before i figure out thats what i had done.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Yes I checked that.

[SDT]

5-10 mins without a mug in will have most likely damaged the heating element.

im not sure about *f but I use 180*C for 240 seconds but my press is different than yours and times and temps vary some by extremes with different presses.

if you turn off your press let it go cold and then pre heat to temp then do a mug without waiting the 10 mins does it come out ok?

I did not know about the heating element getting damaged..... They never told me that it could not be left on with nothing in it.

I did figure out the issue... I got so irritated with it after trying multiple times and temps I really cranked up the pressure to the point where it is pretty difficult to close the clamp and I can say if it is difficult for me to close it has a lot of pressure on it. Since doing that 370F @ 255 seconds seems to be the correct setting. So it looks like this was caused by not enough pressure but I know I did not have it even this close to this pressure when I pressed the test the mug day before and the mug yesterday and those came out fine and then it went downhill from there.

I think this press is a piece of junk, depending on how much the thumb screw is adjusted to increase the pressure, at different points the the sleeve distorts where it is wider on one end and narrower on the other, this to me is probably what is causing fade out at the bottom of the mugs intermittently. Also the plastic thumbscrew melts from the heat of the sleeve/ heating element.

I think I am going to get this press instead https://www.heatpressnation.com/hpn-dig ... chine.html since it has 4 pressure adjustments (2 on front, 2 on back) versus the singular center one on the back of my current press. Unless there is one that can tell EXACT pressure settings.

[webtrekker]

It could also be the mugs. Being based in the UK most of us don't have any experience of Coastal's mugs, but mis-shapen, or poorly coated mugs will also affect your prints a lot.

I see you weren't too happy about fading next to the handle. Why not try an oven instead of a press? My halogen oven (about £50 in the UK) holds up to 4 mugs at a time and can produce full top-to-bottom, handle-to-handle prints without fading. All you need to get started is the oven and a set of silicone mug wraps (ebay, about £5 each).

[cook_58]

It could also be the mugs. Being based in the UK most of us don't have any experience of Coastal's mugs, but mis-shapen, or poorly coated mugs will also affect your prints a lot.

I see you weren't too happy about fading next to the handle. Why not try an oven instead of a press? My halogen oven (about £50 in the UK) holds up to 4 mugs at a time and can produce full top-to-bottom, handle-to-handle prints without fading. All you need to get started is the oven and a set of silicone mug wraps (ebay, about £5 each).

Where did you get the oven from, any links to it available?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[webtrekker]

Where did you get the oven from, any links to it available?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

The one I bought was the last one in stock at The Transfer Press. It's just the same as many other models out there from the likes of Argos, B&M, etc. Here's a pic ,,,





Although not shown in this image, I also bought the chrome extender ring that increases the height of the oven for better airflow, although it's not essential as the mugs still fit in the oven. An oven thermometer though is essential as the temperature knob is not very accurate.

[cook_58]

The one I bought was the last one in stock at The Transfer Press. It's just the same as many other models out there from the likes of Argos, B&M, etc. Here's a pic ,,,





Although not shown in this image, I also bought the chrome extender ring that increases the height of the oven for better airflow, although it's not essential as the mugs still fit in the oven. An oven thermometer though is essential as the temperature knob is not very accurate.

Thanks for that!

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[SDT]

It could also be the mugs. Being based in the UK most of us don't have any experience of Coastal's mugs, but mis-shapen, or poorly coated mugs will also affect your prints a lot.

I see you weren't too happy about fading next to the handle. Why not try an oven instead of a press? My halogen oven (about £50 in the UK) holds up to 4 mugs at a time and can produce full top-to-bottom, handle-to-handle prints without fading. All you need to get started is the oven and a set of silicone mug wraps (ebay, about £5 each).

It seems like once I moved my graphic inwards 1/8 of inch on each side it resolved the fading issue (which may have been being caused by not enough pressure too)

I have never seen a hallogen oven, interesting.

I have been thinking about getting a breville countertop convection toaster oven. My understanding is a lot of people use these for mugs. I hoping to eventually get a commercial space somewhere and get the counter top HIX and then go to the conveyor. I was going to use the Breville to sublimate polar camel tumblers but I cannnot find a distributor for the colored ones, only the white ones. I have checked Coastal, Conde, JDS, and a few others not sure where people are getting the colored polar camels from.