# Mouse Pad dye sublimation problems



## schom (Nov 8, 2009)

I am having trouble sublimating a mouse pad. When its color it comes out great but when i do a black one it comes out lighter in some areas and text that is in white has bad ghosting. Any Ideas why I only have this problem with black and white?

Press is a maxi twin shuttle, set at 398 F for 40 seconds.


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## JaeAmera (Dec 25, 2006)

In my opinion, Black is the most stubborn color of the dye-sub color wheel. In saying stubborn, it likes to be dead last to sublimate.

Black with white letters can be tricky.

Two things:

Make sure your transfer isn't moving....use a little spray tac to keep the transfer from moving.

If your transfer is heavily saturated with dye, the excess can cause an overabundance of dye gas during the sublimation process. This excess gas can blur the lines of the white text due to the extra dwell time needed for black to transfer fully.

Assure your transfer isn't moving 1st, if your transfer is 100% secure; print at a lower dpi and increase your dwell time until you get a full transfer. Take notes as you make modifications in dwell time as well as print preferences.

Hold off on the mouse pads!! Practice on some medium weight fabric first. When you get good results on the fabric you should be on your way to getting good results on the mousepads.

Hope this helps,

Jae


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## JYA (Jun 2, 2008)

I find that mouse pads retain heat for a nice period of time after. I use a freezer to cool those suckers down.  Just a thought...


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## oneeyedjack (Mar 7, 2007)

You should for sure get the tac spray.What paper are you using?if you are using a high release paper like jetcol or texprint try just a general use paper as Jae said it could be to saturated.We press for 55-60 secs at 400 degrees on the 1/4 inch thick mousepads and black does take the longest to sublimate.Try some more pressure.Good luck


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## conde tech (Nov 15, 2007)

Increase your pressure.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

We use the following on our Maxi: 395F, 55 seconds, 65 psi.


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## Conde_David (May 29, 2008)

What paper?


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## schom (Nov 8, 2009)

I think I got it figured out. Thanks for the help.


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## oneeyedjack (Mar 7, 2007)

So tell us what the problem was so maybe it well help somebody else out.


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## schom (Nov 8, 2009)

1.Pressure on the press was too high...I have a manual press so instead of messing with adjusting the press, I changed my pad to a thinner one. I found one that works

2.Im in Florida, I need to "cook" or pre press the mouse pad (14"X22") for 60 seconds to get the water out of it. This stopped the ghosting.
3.The dewell time was too long, so I dropped the time till I found the color Im looking for, For black I found 25 seconds works.
4. I rasied the Temp to 400 degrees from 380.

I have done several runs at the same setting and am getting consistent results.


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