What am I doing wrong?

[twinsgran]

I had my first go at sublimating a jigsaw, but it came out blank. Paper had been printed on the correct side with sub inks, heat press was 190c for 60 secs. I watched countless videos to make sure I was doing it the right way so I can't understand it. Any clues please?

[WorthDoingRight]

OK well the starting question is are you absolutely sure you are using sublimation ink if yes then,

1) Check if the press is in degrees F or C. One of my flatbed presses is in F and 190 F is way too low to sublimate anything. If you can set the press temperature up to 380 or 400 then almost certainly that is a F press.

2) Try sublimating a piece of polyester cloth (or a sublimation mouse mat) to see if that works, if so then it is likely to be the substrate is not sublimatable.

[mrs maggot]

im with WDR here but also you did put the image & jigsaw right way up, i mean

press base - jigsaw - paper - press head
not
press base - paper - jigsaw - press head

[quasar]

I also print my jigsaws for 75 seconds with quite heavy pressure at 190 degrees

[Paul]

200C for 60sec. perfect every time.

[Justin]

What paper and inks are you using?

[twinsgran]

Okay. A quick reply as I've got to get back to work. Inks and paper all correct.
Heat press is in centigrade. We tried wacking up the heat just in case and it burned the protective paper, although the image did start coming through onto the mouse mat. [As it set off the smoke/heat alarm, we had to lift the press quick, and only some of the paper came off when I tried to remove it].
When I get home tonight I'll try upping the heat as it didn't do anything at 190c. It's obviously a heat issue.
I've got a few mouse mats I can practise on. Speak to you all later.

[Paul]

I think this is not heat issue. As you would jave some.imahe transfered. But you said you have nothing...

[WorthDoingRight]

I am with Paul, it sounds much more like an issue with paper or ink if you cannot get a good image on a mouse mat at 190 degrees.

Have you ever successfully got an image transferred using your ink and paper to any item? If so that might help us with suggestions. If not then I would have to suspect the ink may not be sublimation ink.

[viccar]

Just a tip ..
cut a mousemat up into small squares then you can practice, then you dont waste a lot of ink or waste loads of mousemats