Does ANYBODY else use the black rimmed ceramic mugs??

[AmySquirrels]

I'm just wondering if anyone else has successfully managed to get consistent results with these in a mug press?
ive spoken about this in a previous post but I'm getting so desperate now as I've gone through So so so many mugs!
They are the MDP black rimmed ceramic camper mugs and I use the MDP mug press. Sawgrass printers with sawgrass inks, tru pix paper etc. Doing all the obvious things like correct pressure, wrap on tight enough, rim outside of element during press.

Ive tried temps from 180 up to 200 and tried ALL of the times for each from 60 seconds up to 400, and I can just never get the font crisp, it's either to faded or just starting to blur.

I know that plenty of people use these mugs in presses so surely it can be done but I am just at my wits end after 3 weeks, endless hours and too many mugs later.

anyone who can shed some light would be my absolute saviour!!

[Mrteajunkie]

Rather than using numerous mugs try doing small prints on the same mug you can use every available inch of space to perfect a small font and image before moving onto a full print.
i did a few of these for my daughter and had no issues but it was a while ago and didnt take note of the time and temp

I know the time was a longer than the 180sec but the temp was only around 180 if i recall correctly.

[AmySquirrels]

Rather than using numerous mugs try doing small prints on the same mug you can use every available inch of space to perfect a small font and image before moving onto a full print.
i did a few of these for my daughter and had no issues but it was a while ago and didnt take note of the time and temp

I know the time was a longer than the 180sec but the temp was only around 180 if i recall correctly.

thanks for your reply! Yes I will definitely start doing that and squeezing every bit of space out of the mugs, I've yet to have a single one come out perfect spanning over 3 weeks of trial and error so it's just so frustrating!
I don't suppose you can remember if you could have gone as much as 400 seconds can you? I've tried these on 180degress ranging from 200 seconds upto 400 and the image is only fully transferring at 400 seconds, anything less I get fading around the top. I have already had to change all of the mug designs so they they are not printing in the top 1/4 inch of the mug as advised by MDP and someone else on the forum, but it's still happening regardless

[Mrteajunkie]

I couldnt say for sure but around 350sec should definately have given enough time for the print to transfer.
I write everything down when i perfect it for future ref but as i only made 4 i didnt bother.

[AmySquirrels]

I couldnt say for sure but around 350sec should definately have given enough time for the print to transfer.
I write everything down when i perfect it for future ref but as i only made 4 i didnt bother.

dang. yes I have one here actually that I did for 340 seconds at 180 and it's probably the closest I have to any of them resembling good, but it must be a little overcooked because the font just isn't crisp, however the top of the image is still faded and you can see on the paper it hasn't finished transferring yet, so if I drop the time to get rid of the font blur it just comes out more faded, it's like a vicious circle. Do you think it might be worth me dropping it lower than 180 and doing it for a longer time or am I just wasting mugs? I was thinking of going to 200 or 210 for a much shorter time but I think it'll just start to blur straight away to be honest

[Mrteajunkie]

Are you sure your mug element is working correctly?
i have had a faulty one which didn’t heat to the ends by the handle and only after replacing it I noticed how much was actually being missed.

[webtrekker]

I've never done these types of mugs before, but if you have the inclination, try dunking a mug with wrap still attached, straight into a bowl of warm water. Remove the wrap while underwater.

I had this problem on some other mugs I was doing and I assumed the blurring around the edges of the text was due to the gassing out of the inks before the mug had become sufficiently cooled.

I'm not saying this will be a solution for you but it's maybe worth a try since you've already lost so many mugs.

[AmySquirrels]

Are you sure your mug element is working correctly?
i have had a faulty one which didn’t heat to the ends by the handle and only after replacing it I noticed how much was actually being missed.

yes, it's actually an entirely new press altogether because the first one from MDP I recieved a few weeks back I was having to press mugs at the press's top temp and time for it to print at all, they thought it was the element and replaced it multiple times, and after the 3rd element they just replaced the whole thing altogether. This one is definitely better as I can press at normal times now (even enamel had to be 210 for 500 seconds in the last one) But as far as I know this one seems to be fine though.
Ive just has the worst luck with MDP presses, I've been tempted to try another type of press but MDP have been so good through all the mider that I want to stick with them if at all possible

[AmySquirrels]

I've never done these types of mugs before, but if you have the inclination, try dunking a mug with wrap still attached, straight into a bowl of warm water. Remove the wrap while underwater.

I had this problem on some other mugs I was doing and I assumed the blurring around the edges of the text was due to the gassing out of the inks before the mug had become sufficiently cooled.

I'm not saying this will be a solution for you but it's maybe worth a try since you've already lost so many mugs.

I haven't tried this before, I'll give it a go and see if it helps with the blurring once I've cracked the faded areas at the top! Thank you

[UK Printed Mugs]

Yes we have and we ditched them last week from our product range. We use to get brilliant results at 200c and 190s but the last batch we bought are all rubbish. I do not know what has changed but to us they are not correctly coated and so dropped them.