Pits in Mugs

[NASH]

here here Mandy i too think BMS are great

[JSR]

These pin holes drive me crazy. Unfortunately there is no perfect supplier and each one will have their quality issues. Perhaps a quiet word in the manufacturers ear?

It seems from this thread that most people either don't have this problem, or don't notice it (I'm particularly picky). Getting suppliers to talk to manufacturers when we're the only two people to complain about it won't change anything.

Recently I've been buying mugs from Revolution and haven't noticed this problem anywhere near as much as before. I'm only buying single boxes at a time right now because I don't want to be lumbered with loads of mugs that I can't use. Initial results are quite promising, though.

If you're having this issue, I'd recommend grabbing a box from Revolution and seeing if you have the same problem. They are slightly more expensive than the more familiar suppliers (particularly with the postage on a single box), but I'd rather pay 10-20p extra for a mug than keep throwing mugs away because of these awful white spots.

[smartarts]

We have done ceramic transfers in a kiln that get what they call "sugaring", we were always led to believe it was defects in the glaze. If this is the case it could be that the suppliers who are coating the mugs with a sublimation coating are buying "cheap" mugs with too thin a base glaze on them. Customers should make their suppliers aware of the problem so hopefully they in turn tell the manufacturers.

[GoonerGary]

BMS, I was having problems up until January until I took a break.

Recent batch appear to be better but not perfect.

[bms]

BMS, I was having problems up until January until I took a break.

Did you contact us by email/ telephone at the time? If there are problems please let us know via our website or email us direct with a photo of the problem as we can't do anything about it if we're not advised and we in turn forward this to our suppliers for QC purposes. We have the occasional adverse comment, but in percentage terms of the volume sold each year it is extremely, extremely small. On each container with 50,000+ mugs there are going to be occasions where QC doesn't pick up everything. It is a labour intensive process as every mug is visually inspected prior to packing so human eye strain might have an impact and the odd one(s) get through

[GoonerGary]

Yes I had mentioned the problem over the phone as I had quite a large number of unprintable mugs. It's not a problem that I had encountered with other smugs over the years although the Euro mugs were a lot straighter and had a better coating than anything that I had used before.

I still continue to use them despite the pin holes.

[JSR]

On each container with 50,000+ mugs there are going to be occasions where QC doesn't pick up everything. It is a labour intensive process as every mug is visually inspected prior to packing so human eye strain might have an impact and the odd one(s) get through

The trouble with this particular fault is that you can't visually inspect for it. If the mugs have reached the packing stage, it's too late.

Just about all mugs have some form of "pits" and indentations, but some print fine because the ink migrates into the dimple anyway. Others don't print fine - maybe because the coating isn't in the "pit", I don't know why.

But the point is that you only know the mug is going to fail *after* it's printed. No one standing looking at mugs in box is going to know a bad one from a good one. I certainly can't tell one way or the other before I've printed it.

No way is anyone going to change their coating/inspection process when only 2/100 people see a problem. It's an extra expense that will generate very little return.

[Andrew]

I have encountered this type of problem with some suppliers but have settled where I know I get decent supply. Having said that I am sure it is easy for one or 2 mugs to slip through the net for any manufacturer..

JSR - do you have any cracks in the mugs developing whilst heating on the ones you now buy. Loud pinging noises etc? That is a nice white mug and quite straight but they didn't seem to like the lay flat presses and would get regular cracks. The upright press didn't encounter the same number of problems. The unit price shouldn't be more expensive though.

[JSR]

JSR - do you have any cracks in the mugs developing whilst heating on the ones you now buy. Loud pinging noises etc? That is a nice white mug and quite straight but they didn't seem to like the lay flat presses and would get regular cracks. The upright press didn't encounter the same number of problems. The unit price shouldn't be more expensive though.

Do you mean the Revolution ones?

When I first started out dye-subbing, Revolution seemed to sell the same mugs that Listawood sold but they later switched to a type coated with "Clear coat". I didn't buy any during the "clear coat" era. Today they seem to have switched to some other type with RN (Orca) coating. It's these ones that I've tried a couple of boxes of and they seem okay at the moment.

I haven't encountered "pinging" on mugs for quite some time (not on mugs from Listawood, BMS, or Revolution) - but then I invariably use my mug oven, so maybe I'm just not hearing them? If I recall correctly, the last time I heard "pinging" was when introducing a stone-cold mug to heat during Winter time (before I pre-heated them).

The price works out a little more expensive because of the higher postage and that I'm currently buying just one box at a time. If I satisfy myself with the quality of the mugs and buy in larger quantities, I'm sure it'll level off.

[Kaz]

Do you have a link please to Revolutions website?