Trouble with colours on plain white mugs

[dougbraz]

I am failing repeatedly with trying to get vivid colours, especially black.
Ricoh SG7100 printer, Beaver textprint R paper, sublijet R inks, all supposedly correct.
I set the press for 4 minutes at 180 degs C but results are wishy washy.
I pre-warm the mug to take the chill off, even pass the print paper through for a second or two. I use a cover sheet (normal paper) as instructed.
My mug press drops its temp as soon as I place the mug in and close it (normal, I am told). I start the timer once it has dropped about 5 degrees, but it actually only starts timing once the temp reaches 180 degrees again. As it can drop down to about 150 initially, it is about two minutes before the timer in fact starts.
So all told, the mug is in for about 6 minutes. I have increased the pressure, but that hardly made any difference.
I have tried 4 mins straight off the bat, disregarding the "cooling" stage at the start, just timing 4 mins total, but there is negligible difference.
Any thoughts, hints? As I said, I am totally new at this lark.
Thanks
Doug

[Neilb78]

I'm no expert but using the same printer and mugs from xpres and try pix paper,
I do 180 degrees and 3 minutes, when I have faded results it's because I put paper
In wrong way, yesterday had a problem with cyan looking very faint but that was to do
with drivers,

[Listawood]

Hello Doug

Your problem sounds like it could be caused by a number of different things. Firstly are you printing on the correct side of the paper (although if memory serves correct TexPrint paper has their logo on the non print side). We normally recommend TruPix paper for use on the Ricoh printers. Also have you installed the colour management profile and configured everything correctly?

Our recommend cooking time is 3 minutes and the recommended cooking temperature is 180c and it is quite normal for the press to drop to around 150c when you first put the mug in. You can help avoid this dropping so low, by making sure that your mugs are at room temperature or if you have flat bed heat press, switch this on and place a few mugs under the open press to help warm them up. If this is an older press then you may need to replace your heater band.

Finally are the mugs you are using coated for sublimation and have they come from a reputable sublimation blanks supplier?

If you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact me directly on 01485 529796.

Best regards

Kris

[dougbraz]

Thanks Kris - and Neil.
No, the paper is the correct way - as you say, there is TexPrint printed on the reverse.
Printer colour management is all correct.
The odd thing is that using locally bought paper (presumably Chinese) which is more indicated for Epson inks, it works fine, although as Ricoh is a gel, I have to let the print dry for a while before using it.
I thought if I bought the "proper" stuff for Ricoh usage I would obtain better results. The people at Beaver during SGIA recommended Texprint R - to be fair, for printing on Chromaluxe aluminium sheets.
The mugs are without doubt from China, but from a reputable supplier, and yes, coated for sublimation.
One question I have is about cooking time:
You say 3 mins at 180c. Is that total time starting from when you put the mug in, or 3 mins once the press had climbed back up to 180 from the initial drop? My press has a timer that I click on after the temp has dropped 5C, but only actually starts to count after the press has reached the set temp, so all in all, the mug can be in for about 6 or even 7 mins. Is this correct?

Apologies for the "basic" questions", but am a complete newbie here.
Thanks
Doug

[Listawood]

Hello Doug, I would suggest trying the TruPix paper as this is produced by Sawgrass and is designed to work with the SubliJet-R inks and the Ricoh printers and profiles.

What sort of press do you have? It could be that your mug press is not heating up properly giving you poor results.

With regards to the 3 minutes, this is the time from when the press reaches the set cooking temperature. It is not unusual for the press to drop in temperature but it does sound like your press is taking a long time to get upto 180c after dropping when you put the mug in. My only other thought is where is your mug press situated, is it in a cool room or is there a fan blowing on it?

Best regards

Kris

[dougbraz]

I've "solved" it by setting the press to 210 degrees and timing 4 mins from the time I close the press, ignoring the autotimer.
The result is not as perfect as a flat sheet of glossy chromaluxe aluminium, but then again, quality is quality..
The other way is using the local paper (methinks Chinese origin) and 200 degrees - 45 secs on autotimer - works fine provided I let the transfer dry well before placing on the mug. I just thought Texprint would give me better (quality) results, but I understand from the experts that the type of press I have is not one of the best - it has no "idle" temp setting.

[pisquee]

Our presses have no idle temperature, and the ones with auto-timers start the timer as soon as the press closes, and cheap ones with manual timers, we start from the press closing, and run for 200 secs at 200 degrees no problems (with mugs preheated)

[JMugs]

My adkins has no idle temp and for me mugs are 190 degrees 170 seconds...not preheated.

So what do we learn from this?

There is no definitive answer....

Janners.

[dougbraz]

Yup, I guess it's all a matter of testing and seeing what works best with the material you have.
Thanks for all the feedback - always helpful to us newcomers.
Cheers
Doug

[kashif86]

Also consider that, If machine is able to maintain temperature of 180 degree or not? Plus the quality of print sheet also matters.