Mug quality question xpres - just a bad box? (lots of wonky wobbly mugs)

[gazfocus]

Further update…

Tried reducing the cooking time to 18 minutes today and while it was significantly better, there were still more dud prints than I’d like.

It occurred to me that we used to print our mums 3 up on an A4 sheet and switched to printing on 98mm x 238mm sized sheets. We also switched from Epson Ecotanks to a Sawgrass SG500 a while back.

I did a test run of 48 mugs (3 oven loads) printed 3 up on an A4 sheet and printed on the Epson printer instead of the sawgrass. All 48 mugs came out of the oven perfect.

So, it seems the issue is either the sawgrass printer/ink OR the paper being too long.

Next test over the weekend will be to try longer sheets on the Epson printer and A4 sheets on the sg500.

[JMugs]

This must be so frustrating!

[gazfocus]

This must be so frustrating!

It is incredibly demoralising.

[GoonerGary]

I have had these issues and with printed mugs from all of the same suppliers. Using ovens and wraps. It is always the mug.

MDP mugs used to be perfect, full top to bottom on a 10oz mug. In November, I had the same issues as I had previously with the Neil Brothers AAA 10oz mugs....badly warped mugs.

It is easy to check a mug before going into the oven. Keep it in the plastic wrapper, lay the mug wall down onto a flat table..I use a large metal trimmer to hear it better. When you hear it rocking about, you have got a badly warped mug. You need to check all three sides. It is probably only a 2mm dip, but it is enough to cause a blurred misprint.

When one comes out blurred, I will double check the area and it will always have a dip in that spot.

Socialgiraffe recommends a thinner paper. However, I can't get the same full colour print quality from cheaper paper. I also experienced a repeated quality issue requiring reprints which caused hold ups.

Who has the straightest 10oz mugs? I don't know, the batches change. But keeping your design a good 1cm away from the top can help and discard the 'rocking' mugs.

[gazfocus]

Done some further testing today and only had 3 mugs go wrong so far, 2 of which have fairly obvious dips in them.

So, today we have tried printing mugs 3 up on A4 sheets using the SG500 and they all came out fine. This leaves me to believe it's either the grain of the paper when cutting A4 down to two 98mm x 238mm mug sheets, or, that 238mm is simply too long and the silicone wraps are causing a ripple in the paper.

I've ordered some precut 98mm x 238mm paper to see if that works any better but for now at least, I can crack on and print some mugs.

[gazfocus]

I have had these issues and with printed mugs from all of the same suppliers. Using ovens and wraps. It is always the mug.

MDP mugs used to be perfect, full top to bottom on a 10oz mug. In November, I had the same issues as I had previously with the Neil Brothers AAA 10oz mugs....badly warped mugs.

It is easy to check a mug before going into the oven. Keep it in the plastic wrapper, lay the mug wall down onto a flat table..I use a large metal trimmer to hear it better. When you hear it rocking about, you have got a badly warped mug. You need to check all three sides. It is probably only a 2mm dip, but it is enough to cause a blurred misprint.

When one comes out blurred, I will double check the area and it will always have a dip in that spot.

Socialgiraffe recommends a thinner paper. However, I can't get the same full colour print quality from cheaper paper. I also experienced a repeated quality issue requiring reprints which caused hold ups.

Who has the straightest 10oz mugs? I don't know, the batches change. But keeping your design a good 1cm away from the top can help and discard the 'rocking' mugs.

I did try recuding the designs to avoid the area that was blurring and the blur just shifted with it which is what made me think it wasn't the mug.

[gazfocus]

Another update...So I'm not convinced that printing 3up on A4 has really helped (although too early to tell really), however, we've had more bad mugs today, but now the blurring is not consistent and sometimes it's on the top of the mug, others at the bottom.

I have noticed that wherever there's blurring there's a slight dip/warp in the mug but I'm really suprised the silicone wraps can't cope with such small dips.
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[JMugs]

Hmmm that is a small dip in my experience of dips. I feel your pain!

Janners

[gazfocus]

Hmmm that is a small dip in my experience of dips. I feel your pain!

Janners

Wondering if thicker/tougher silicone wraps will help but sick of spending money now haha.

[Justin]

Would be happy to print one of your designs onto a mug for comparison, if that would be of any interest? We use oven/wraps and XP5013.