# Faded Images on mugs and license plates



## dhearn (Aug 22, 2008)

First of all, I am a total newbie to sublimation but I do just about everything else. I just got my new Ricoh e330n printer. I bought it as a package deal at the ISS show here in Atlanta last weekend. For the most part, I have been successful with it. My license plate turned out good and I did a mug and it turned out okay. My compaint is with the colors. When the plate and the mug were done, the colors were just not that bright as I had seen on some of the samples laying around the booth at the show last weekend. So what am I doing wrong. Plate was pressed at 400 degrees for about a minute and the mug was done with a wrap in a convection oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. The images are not blurred or anything like that. The color is just very weak. Anyone have any ideas about what it could be. Maybe the free pack of paper they gave me is crap or something? What type of paper gives the best results?

Thanks in advance!


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

There are many pieces to the dye sublimation puzzle that effects colors. Any one of them off will cause poor results. You should be in direct contact with the vendor you purchased the system from to see what you are doing wrong. They are the ones that know what paper, plates, mugs you have and can assist you based on what you have purchased.


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## dhearn (Aug 22, 2008)

Nevermind! Duh! I read another thread and knew that I needed to print on the shiny side of the paper. So I loaded the paper in my printer, shiny side up. Well guess what? The paper does a flip when going through the printer so it was printing on the dull side. Just did another mug and it's like night and day! Amazing color now! Woohoo!!!


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## locktecsigns (Aug 11, 2015)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*

HELP NEEDED!!
So were experiencing a problem that seems to be quite common, firstly were using powerdriver-v4 printing onto ricoh printer from ps c56 onto bms mugs, heat 190/ for 200 second's, were having no luck with full image mugs they seems to fade completely around the bottom and also along the sides, weve tried many of thing's and gone through around 50 mugs trying almost anything, with our printed mugs being very popular on the market were spending all hours trying to get them right but nothing seems to work, any help would be much appreciated.


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## ProArtShirts (May 3, 2010)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*



locktecsigns said:


> HELP NEEDED!!
> So were experiencing a problem that seems to be quite common, firstly were using powerdriver-v4 printing onto ricoh printer from ps c56 onto bms mugs, heat 190/ for 200 second's, were having no luck with full image mugs they seems to fade completely around the bottom and also along the sides, weve tried many of thing's and gone through around 50 mugs trying almost anything, with our printed mugs being very popular on the market were spending all hours trying to get them right but nothing seems to work, any help would be much appreciated.


 How close are you to the bottom and top of the mugs? Is it too close, is there any taper to the mugs? Most full wraps aren't 100% full, it's limited by mug shape and the mug press you are using. If the fade is only along the edges then I doubt its a time/temp issue although your temp seems a little low.


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## locktecsigns (Aug 11, 2015)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*



ProArtShirts said:


> How close are you to the bottom and top of the mugs? Is it too close, is there any taper to the mugs? Most full wraps aren't 100% full, it's limited by mug shape and the mug press you are using. If the fade is only along the edges then I doubt its a time/temp issue although your temp seems a little low.


Hi Jim thanks for you response the fading is half an inch from the bottom of the mug so im not sure it could be that were printing to close as we always have a 2cm gap from the handle and aroun 1 and a half inches from the top and bottom, its a pneunatic mug press and the maximum heat is 190c so we couldnt change that.


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## locktecsigns (Aug 11, 2015)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*

sorry that should be we leave half a inch from the bottom and top not 1 and a half


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## ProArtShirts (May 3, 2010)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*

Did you just start using this mug press? Your problem sounds like it could be one of two issues. Uneven heating or uneven pressure. Try bumping the time up to 240 seconds.


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## locktecsigns (Aug 11, 2015)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*



ProArtShirts said:


> Did you just start using this mug press? Your problem sounds like it could be one of two issues. Uneven heating or uneven pressure. Try bumping the time up to 240 seconds.


unfortunetly this hasnt worked either.


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## ProArtShirts (May 3, 2010)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*



locktecsigns said:


> unfortunetly this hasnt worked either.


Sorry about your problems.
My best guess is your wrap isn't heating uniformly.


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## tprinters (Aug 28, 2014)

*Re: Faded Images on mugs*



ProArtShirts said:


> Did you just start using this mug press? Your problem sounds like it could be one of two issues. Uneven heating or uneven pressure. Try bumping the time up to 240 seconds.


Yeah, could be the pressure. I would run a piece of heat tape across the wrap where it's fading at before pressing it.


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