Crystal Printing

[joconnell]

I looked at Crystal with Xpres before I decided to go with the sublimation package. The crystal impressed me at the beginning but what put me off was that the image fades after 12 to 18 months due to UV light. To me fair to Xpres they pointed this out to me when I spoke to them and found them honest and upfront.
Regards,
James

[Justin]

what put me off was that the image fades after 12 to 18 months due to UV light

That's interesting, not heard that, thanks James. We have very high levels of UV up here so something I'll have to bear in mind!

Justin

[Paul]

But is this same with sublimation. When you expose let say door plaque outside i dont think it's going to last 18mc...
Now we got dishwasher proof mugs etc now we need weather proof stuff

[joconnell]

With crystal printing you are printing onto a film whereas in sublimation the ink is inside the surface.

[castlegategiftcreations]

we bought a crystal machine from domglobal which does exactly the same as xpres's one but whenever i put the film in the printer the inks just run all over the place and i have not been able to do one yet.

Great idea but kind of got fed up trying to print onto the film.

We use an epson inkjet printer which is what we are meant to use.

[joconnell]

Julie -anne,
This is what I saw on Xpre site.
"The print is running or smudging on the film?
Ensure you have removed the correct side from the vinyl. The print side has an easy to remove clear film.

The other side (non printable side) has a frosted backing. "
Hope this can help.
Regards,
James

[Stitch Up]

Stupid question I know but you are printing on the correct side of the paper aren't you and the printer option is set for photo and photo grade paper (uses less ink)

John

[castlegategiftcreations]

not a stupid question John as I did wonder this myself when it first started happening so tried the other side and the same happened.

I think i might try again at the weekend as we have just changed to a different epson printer so maybe this will help. I can't see it but I am willing to try as the uv machine is sitting on counter in shop looking like a decoration gathering dust!!!

Thanks for the advice I will let you know how i get on.

[JSR]

We use an epson inkjet printer which is what we are meant to use.

This is probably another silly question, but are you using the right inks?

I don't know what inks you use for crystal printing, but if it's Epson OEM inks, they do most printers with pigment ink these days. Epson used to sell a film-based paper in the old days but stopped selling it when they moved over to pigment inks because the ink would just run off it (unlike the old dye-based inks).

I don't know if this has anything to do with what you're experiencing.

JSR

[DaveM]

I noticed this UV exposure unit on ebay, not sure if it would suit the needs of
making crystals ?

Item Number 330375341030

Never having seen one, I was not sure if tubes needed to be above and below !