DSF

The protective paper is only to catch the ink steams that releases in process so the heat press will not get dirty
Also, I'm not sure but it might also keep the ink from burning, till I got this combination of process I got some burned images, you can see it on the brown tons the most
Anyhow, using this setup I'm getting extremely good results each time
I apply high pressures not medium so the image will be good all over the image, even at the edges of it
With medium pressure I got some weak printing on some spots like it doesn't transferred properly
Here is the results you should get


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So, maybe try to adjust the pressure
I'm using a real high pressure like little more and the mug is going to crack
Your faded print looks like the misprints I was getting in some areas
Also, check the paper, does it have a lot of ink left on it ?
If do it's only heat, time, pressure factors
Took me 24 mugs to get this results so keep it going


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Insted of high pressure, try incressing your time. High pressure doesn't help.

I've found that HIGH pressure shortens element life and can lead to orange peel effect.

What do you mean by "shorten elements life" ?


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Over tightening the element belt seems to make the heater elements fail quicker some manufacturers warn against this.

But one man's medium pressure is another's super tight, bit like a press what I term heavy pressure the wife cant even close the press and if I close it at that pressure then it nearly knocks her teeth out when she opens it..... hence the reason we upgraded to a pneumatic 40 x 50 press, easy peasy press two buttons simultaneously and hey presto job done, also auto opens when time is up....... But I digress.

For now my press doesn't have any issues
But I'm not using it much since my web isn't ready yet
I just found that if the pressure not high I'm getting some misprints at the edges left and right


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pressure enough so you can only just move the mug with a lot of force any more then the element will start to mishape and you can cause microcracks in the wires that provide the heat.