First ever Mug - Bad, Need help !

[Paul]

ditch this method and try different one. where you 100% sure that mug will get enough temperature and time to sublimate properly.

(Where is the hash on a Mac keyboard)

alt+3

[NikGrey]

Spent the day testing different times and heat settings, I looks like 200c @ 200 secs is the best for my situation but I don't think I will ever be happy with the results judging by what I have seen so-far.

My new 'lamp' will arrive today so I can post accurate images to what I am seeing but for now my so-called 'Black' is looking better on the cheaper paper as opposed to the xPress stuff - I am finding that anything over the current setting (with the xPress paper) that the Blacks are going brown (Over-cooking no doubt).

I read on here somewhere that you can use the same Mug for many tests - yes, you can BUT every time you heat the Mug the previous 'Prints' get washed out ! so I can't really compare

I am getting to realise that the 'Mug Design' will play a HUGE PART in this lark as I cannot get anything 'Sharp' in terms of what I suppose must be 'Bleeding' ! There's no way I (At the moment) could offer anything for sale.

Not a great image but here we are:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2000[/ATTACH]

The latest print is the one going from top to bottom.

I notice that RGB colours are head and shoulders above the CMYK - that is probably by design (hopefully

[socialgiraffe]

Have you tried 180 degrees for 240 seconds?

Normally I put the mug in the press

Then press the button to start heating

when it reaches temperature I then press the button again to start counting down

when finished I take that mug out, put a new one back in, and press the button to get the press back up to temp before starting the countdown again.

[rossdv8]

I read on here somewhere that you can use the same Mug for many tests - yes, you can BUT every time you heat the Mug the previous 'Prints' get washed out ! so I can't really compare

I wrote a post for you yesterday, but it seems not to have gone up, so I'll repeat part of it here.
The simple way is to buy a cheap 100% polyester bed sheet. Cut it into appropriate sized pieces. Wrap ordinary photocopy paper around an old mug. Wrap the polyester material around the mug and press as normal.
You can check your approximate colours this way - but NOT accurately your temperatures and times. You can see trends though and it is a cheap way to get close.

[JMugs]

Ricoh printer
Sawgrass ink
Trupix paper
Bms mug press
RGB colour scheme.
Coraldraw set up as per sawgrass video.
Bms mugs.

Temp 170 for 150 seconds.

If the settings are wrong in your software, or your screen calibration is miles out, you will always struggle.
If you are using a supported route start with your software settings, check your screen calibration.
Then progress.

Janners.

[NikGrey]

Thanks for the replies:

SG, Your way is how my press manufacturer describes the 'Cold Press' method and is the way I am doing things.. But I haven't tried 240 secs yet at 180 (will do that today with today's 'Test Mug' I'm convinced this is a Temp/Time issue.

Mr DV8: Excellent tip, I will give that a try for sure.

Jmug: That would mean a whole new set-up, and throwing money at it - I like to struggle a bit as I find it character building and the best way to learn

[pisquee]

We don't use Sawgrass inks, or TruPix papers, have custom profiles for our printers and screens, and don't use standard sublimation mugs, and still get good results - so don't give up.
We ended up at 200 degrees for 200 seconds on our mug presses, with the timer starting as soon as the press is closed. I think the specs for our sublimation ink states that they start sublimating at 160 degrees IIRC, so the temp of the press is set to 200 degrees to accommodate the temp drop on putting a mug in the press, and how much the temp recovers over the 200 seconds

[JMugs]

My reply was just to give you the background before I say use "Blah Blah", as Pisquee points out there are many options in which I also dabble.
I forgot to change settings the other day and a mug was in in for 90 secs at 170 degrees, blinking thing came out perfect, second one didn't though! Now work that one out.
So persevere, but log every thing and have a base line to work from. I may be teaching granny to suck eggs, but if you don't log what you have done, when it works you won't know why.

Have fun.

Janners

[NikGrey]

Janners, there's no 'Teaching Granny to suck Eggs' - I am guilty of assuming someone knows the basics of things I have been teaching in the past and been pulled up about it.

I was trying to log my attempts, by having the time and temp on each successive test but as I was using the same Mug for the test session as soon as I made a new test the older ones faded so that idea (although I thought genius at the time) didn't work

Just the smallest detail can make a huge difference, I'm just looking for what I have missed and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me out.