Re: New Mug Oven
Posted: 05 Aug 2015, 13:58
OK, update on the oven adventure...
Turning the oven fan off solved the problem with the gassing inks printing to the exposed areas of the mugs, but raised the time needed for the 24 mugs by 10 minutes, and even then there were too many badly printed ones.
So, we're now fully sealing the mug transfers to the mugs - so heat tape goes the full height of the mug each side of the handle, and then the full circumference of the mug top and bottom (using a bench mounted dispenser, spinning the mug to apply these pieces)
This has stopped the gassing inks going anywhere in the oven, and is giving a better quality print onto the mugs themselves too, much crisper edges.
We're still using the green silicone wraps, as the prints aren't good enough without them.
We have updated the print page sizes in the printer driver so sheets of mugs get cut off so that there is just enough room to position the transfer and tape each side of the handle - so as much mug as possible is protected from stray inks in the oven as possible (just in case) but also this means it's easy for new staff to position the transfers straight and dead centre - otherwise it doesn't fit.
Calculating approx 70cm of tape per mug is not being used.
Turning the oven fan off solved the problem with the gassing inks printing to the exposed areas of the mugs, but raised the time needed for the 24 mugs by 10 minutes, and even then there were too many badly printed ones.
So, we're now fully sealing the mug transfers to the mugs - so heat tape goes the full height of the mug each side of the handle, and then the full circumference of the mug top and bottom (using a bench mounted dispenser, spinning the mug to apply these pieces)
This has stopped the gassing inks going anywhere in the oven, and is giving a better quality print onto the mugs themselves too, much crisper edges.
We're still using the green silicone wraps, as the prints aren't good enough without them.
We have updated the print page sizes in the printer driver so sheets of mugs get cut off so that there is just enough room to position the transfer and tape each side of the handle - so as much mug as possible is protected from stray inks in the oven as possible (just in case) but also this means it's easy for new staff to position the transfers straight and dead centre - otherwise it doesn't fit.
Calculating approx 70cm of tape per mug is not being used.
