Help required please

[Burrelly7]

A little help required please.

Having recently purchased a swing heat press I'm yet to get a print to come out correct. I'm using the Epson W4015 with Sawgrass cartridge inks and correct ICC profiles. I know the printing side is fine as I can print mugs and they coming out really well with vibrant colours etc.
However, when I try and heat press something (tried jigsaws,mouse mats,metals,coasters so far) everything comes out dark, yellow tinged and sometimes blurry. I have stuck to the manufactures recommendations for times/heat/pressure but to know avail.
The thing that is really thrown me is I can take a print to work and use there Xpres Swing Press and it comes out fine!

An example of my pressing at home with say a jigsaw, would be 200 degrees for 50 seconds using medium pressure. Any ideas as I am really confused and to be quite honest fed up.

many thanks Gary

[Justin]

Maybe bring your temp down a little to 190c, time seems about right. What paper are you using? What type of press do you have and are you confident that the temp reading is right? I have an Xpres swing away and whilst it's a superb press I checked the temp and found it to be out by around 10c so now allow for this.

From what you've said everything is pointing the press so try with a lower temp and see if you notice any difference. Whilst you're testing it may be an idea to use cheaper items, cheap coasters are ideal or cut your print into smaller sections and re-press the same item, t-shirt in different areas etc. This will save you wasting your blanks

[WorthDoingRight]

Well blurring could be the print moving during pressing. The yellowing could be too much heat or even the fact that the icc profile is for ceramics and not other sublimation items. Jigsaws normally need firm pressure. If however they come out ok at work I wonder if your press is showing one temperature but infact is another. It may be worth investing in a cheap ir non-contact thermometer (sub £10 on eBay) to check what your actual temperature is. I suspect it is a pressure or temperature issue if they come out fine at work. If however they do come out fine at work it may be as simple as you are not giving the ink on the paper time to dry before pressing (which by having to take the paper to work you may have fixed without realising it).

[Burrelly7]

Thanks for the advice. I'm using the Xpres paper (bright white side up). I'm going to chop some mouse mats up tomorrow and try printing the same image on each one. Would you suggest altering the heat first? is that more critical than time/pressure?

im only using the digital readout as evidence of the press heat, I have no other way at present to check its true temp.

[WorthDoingRight]

Well, if you start by lowering the temperature then you can do the following. Print an image out and place on top of a sacrificial mouse mat and then press for say 10 secs and then peel back a corner of the paper and take a peek if the image quality is ok then you can stop heating, if not then press again for another 10 secs and check again. This way you should be able to find the minimum time at a given heat for the image to transfer. I would suggest that you start off by halving the recommended time so if for a mousemat it was 1 min then try 30 secs and then add 10 secs more etc till you find the right time.

I have one of these in my draw http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Non-Contact-D ... 3f1d0f98ff and for £10 it may be worth ordering for peace of mind. I once was sold a press supposedly in deg C and wondered why my flex was not sticking - turned out to be in deg F - luckily my ir thermometer highlighted the issue quickly.

[socialgiraffe]

Thanks for the link WDR. Just purchased one of those as I always wondered where I could get something like that which actually worked.

[WorthDoingRight]

Thanks for the link WDR. Just purchased one of those as I always wondered where I could get something like that which actually worked.

They work really well and you can walk around your house looking for hot and cold spots - very useful for adjusting radiator thermostats to balance heating also.

[socialgiraffe]

No eating in my house only coal fires as its 16th century and can not install heating due to bricks possibly drying out.

Hot spots are identified by burning fire, cold spots are identified by anywhere over 2 feet from hot spot LOL!!!

I was thinking that I could walk round pretending to be James Bond with a futuristic type weapon though

[WorthDoingRight]

I think you should just walk around with a clipboard and measure lamposts and trees in your road - and if asked say you are measuring them for Global Warming changes lol

[jennywren]

When I first started and still do now for pressure, before you heat up the press, I keep a blank and use it all the time, example mouse mats, I put one underneath and adjust the pressure till I get the feel of it. (hard, medium, light what ever is required ) You can feel by the push down and closing what it is, you soon get the feel of your press and what is required. You can practise with the press being cold without wasting anything. Have a try and see if this help, it cost nothing but you do get to know the idiosyncrasy of your press, believe me they all different, even from the same brands. Try place the item that your pressing in the middle of the press where pressure is more even, if its blurry then the paper might have move, if your doing jigsaw, to practice just do one piece at at time. yellowing is temp.