Felt Heat Pads for Ceramic Tiles

[DebbieS]

I am having problems printing onto ceramic tiles, they keep cracking, I have got the pressure on the lowest and the temperature is 200degrees, some have cracked straight away and some at 5 minutes.

I have noticed some people use Felt pads, where can you buy them from over here? There was an old post on this a while ago asking the same thing with no answers, has anyone had any luck finding them, please?

Thank you.

[Justin]

I use a white felt pad for some items (Marvelpress) and also silcone rubber sheets which work well. Are they cracking whilst printing or after?

[DebbieS]

They are cracking while printing.

[Paul]

i notice that "resting" your press on the blank before you actually press it to heat it up helps. I use this method when printing glass clocks.

[Justin]

Yes, I think it's good to pre-heat both the tile and the pad.

[DebbieS]

Thank you for your help. I used a T shirt because I didn't have a felt pad/silicone sheet and that has helped, no more breakages, so will now order a silicone sheet.

I also reduced the time and could really see the difference in the quality of the picture with the lack of browning and hazy look when overcooked, so it was worthwhile having the breakages to see that alone.