Printing onto different blanks

[Justin]

Appreciate the feedback, pretty much what I've been thinking.

I can create my own profiles but haven't really found the need for separate profiles until now. Problem is to get the profile right you have to print onto the actual blank....bloody expensive thing to do! lol.

I do agree that different blanks will always give different results. Coatings vary and I guess there are so many other factors that you just can't guarantee 100% consistency. Temp. of blank, paper, room temp and so on must all play a small but meaningful factor.

[Paul]

@Paul - as it would be quite difficult to profile a ceramic mug can I ask what substrate you use for profiling normally? Is is the A4 white sublimation aluminium sheets?

I have this Spyderprint 3 that I wish to try out and was wondering what I should try it on.

Yes. Allu sheets are the whitest blank so best for profiling. You can also profile on tiles as they similar to ceramic mug.

[GoldRapt]

I've been thinking about moving over to Ricoh recently

Seems to me I recall two people doing that self same thing a couple of years back, didn't they junk the Ricoh printers they bought because of a banding issue?

[WorthDoingRight]

Yes. Allu sheets are the whitest blank so best for profiling. You can also profile on tiles as they similar to ceramic mug.

Many Thanks, not too sure how big the printouts are so will have to see if they will go on a 6 x 6 tile or whether I need a few aluminium sheets.

[Justin]

^Goldrapt - Yes, I initially tried the 5050 when it first came out but was less than impressed and banding was awful. Further down the line hopefully things have improved!

[GoldRapt]

^Goldrapt - Yes, I initially tried the 5050 when it first came out but was less than impressed and banding was awful. Further down the line hopefully things have improved!

I kept mine in its box in case I ever needed a back up printer, hell it was cheaper than the ink it came with

[Justin]

Lol. I was sorting the garage last night and found one of my A4 Ricohs sat there in it's box as well

[pisquee]

I read of someone trying to profile using actual mugs, and he had a hell of a time, due to amount of mugs he needed to do, and how hard it was to get an accurate reading from the mug due to it being a curved surface.
I guess it all depends how much you want to get into things - you could have a white ceramic profile made on ceramic tiles which could serve you well for mugs, then a white metal profile for iphone cover inserts, and then maybe a matt profile made on mousemat for more fabric based stuff. Then if you run into problems with a product that doesn't fit into these category types or doesn't look right, then you need to do a new one. This is a stage I would like to get to, but haven't done them all - I only have one sublimation profile which was done on white aluminium (which works well for most things) and then a few profiles for the different papers we print to. One day I'll hopefully find the time and motivation for doing more sublimation ones!

[GoldRapt]

i think this is probably a problem that a lot of people have.

Essentially its a bit like printing on two different types of paper. If you print the same image on a glossy piece of paper and then print the same thing on a matt you will get colour variation between the two. In the same way I would have presumed that two different dye sub items that have both been coated seperately and probably with two different types of coating will present different results.

Even if your ICC profiles are set up perfectly you may still get the variation unless the supplier of the blanks can provide two items with exactly the same coating. I doubt if that would be possible.

I think this is one of those things were a little bit of customer training is in order. You will need to try and explain that different items do produce different results due to their make up and the reaction of the dye sub ink to each item. Good luck with that

The above might be total rubbish and guys like Paul may have the perfect solution

I would ask from the point of view that you dye sub mugs in there millions, if you had your icc profile done off the mugs you use or just a generic profile that you use for all? please.