BMS: Bring Me Salvation!

[REDQUASAR]

wayupnorth, thanks very much for getting back to me. I suspected before I purchased my press that mug printing might be less than a straight forward exercise, whichever machine you buy, and I anticipated niggley problems such as the one I'm having. It's just that I didn't expect to encounter one so early on. It's all the more frustrating when the answer to any problem is so easy to rectify and so easy to avoid in the first place. You certainly seem to have grasped the nuances of mug printing and I intend to keep a copy of your post for future reference, and make a note of your name, if that's O.K.

[wayupnorth]

Understand your frustration and in this instance BMS could have included their version of the manual with the machine - in fairness it is on the product page and I would have downloaded this before buying the press. No matter, time to move on and get printing.

[REDQUASAR]

O.K, BMS, having followed your online instructions, I've just printed my first couple of mugs and the results were fantastic! I'm very impressed! I disagree with you when you say that your instructions have been written in plain English. My impression was that they were penned by the same author as the instructions I received with my press, but on a good day. They were easy enough to follow, but why don't you do yourselves a favour and take the time to rewrite them properly. You will distinguish yourselves from the competition and insulate yourselves from prickly customers like myself! Also, I think it would be a good idea to consider my suggestion, and pop a note in the box with each press you ship, informing your new customers to ignore the printed instructions which you've enclosed and to go online instead. Better still, include the note but remove the instruction booklet altogether.

One last thing, your instructions advise the operator to slowly submerge the resultant mug in cool water. Why is this? Does this enhance colour fastness or something, or is it simply a precautionary measure, making the mugs safer to handle?

[wayupnorth]

I thought someone else may chime in but....

I think the jury is still out on this one but some people dunk, others don't. The logic (I think) is that it reduces the possibility of ghosting when you remove the mug from the press. The mug/paper is still at sublimation temperature so any gas still floating around can be deposited in the wrong place. Leaving the paper on and immersing in water will stop the process very quickly.

I guess the water has to be at a reasonable temperature or the mug will be stressed and fracture. I do not know what temperature to aim for. Not had any issues with the remove & peel method so far...

To simplify this process I no longer trim the top of the paper but leave it sticking out the top. This gives me a good area to grab and peel away very quickly. It also reduces the risk of burnt fingers.

[pisquee]

I've found that cheaper mugs tend to blur after pressing more - or more specifically when we've got 10oz standard mugs in when printing for other brands we struggle more with this issue than using our own custom made ones. A lot of discussion has been made on the dishwasher safeness of the different coatings, but I've not read of any experiments looking at how much gassing/drift of inks there are after pressing on the different coatings.

[REDQUASAR]

I hate to bang on about this issue, but BMS could make more of an effort to improve their instructions. This is what their pdf states about submerging the mugs (this has been cut and pasted from their site): 7 Remove the mug from the press and peal away the paper. Put the mug S L O W L Y into cool water.

I was under the impression that the paper had to be removed before submerging the mug. The order in which these instructions have been written does, to me at least, suggest this. I've printed a couple of mugs today and removed the paper first before dunking the mug! Thankfully, there weren't any issues. The finished prints were very impressive! (I was really ticked of with BMS as you've probably gathered, but I'm more than happy with my purchase. I know it's early days, but I don't regret choosing their equipment.)
Does anyone know (I'm hoping you do, wayupnorth, because of your background in electronics) the mechanism by which the blankets are heated? Obviously, there's some kind of heat-conducting wire/filament sandwiched between the external materials used in their construction, but is this likely to be a length of wire which is coiled back on itself or will it be some kind of conductive sheet?

[Andrew]

Printing mugs takes time to learn. Methods that suit some do not suit others. There is no magic wand to get perfect mugs. It comes with knowledge and experience. There are many permutations that can result in flaws. Just start practicing abd read plenty of threads on here........ where there will be many answers to questions you will have.

As far as the element is concerned it has the single wire which runs up and down the blanket. This is the heat source which is dispersed the the blanket.

[gorgall2]

I take the paper off before dunking, I was having a lot of issues with ink bleeding, particularly with text, so for me dunking was better than air cooled. Now it's just force of habit to dunk.

[REDQUASAR]

You're dead right, Andrew. Printing mugs is less than straightforward and, from what I have gathered, it will take experience to get things running smoothly. There's no avoiding this. As with any procedure you care to mention, there will be a learning curve to negotiate, especially with a multifaceted process such as mug printing. That's precisely why equipment manufacturers should take reasonable measures to lessen that curve where it's possible to do so. An effective and cost effective way of doing this is to provide well written instructions for the stuff they make and the correct instructions for the kit they've just sold you. If a problem's avoidable, then they should help us avoid it. It's that simple.

This filament, I should imagine that it's very fine wire. Is that correct?

[REDQUASAR]

I've just printed another mug, gorgall2, and left it to air dry. The design is fairly complicated in that it contains text and a recurring gradient. I don't know if it's because my press is brand new, but the print looks fabulous. I think I'll stick to air drying until a problem arises.