# Proper Mug Press Pressure Setting



## treadhead

Ok....I'm really struggling with this dye sub stuff trying to get a mug done without that "haze" around the edge of the letters in my font.

I've tried taking a picture but it is hard to capture with a camera.

I am using Chinese mugs from Coastal Business and Textprint XP paper.

My settings are 400 deg F @ 6 min at high pressure (#5 setting on my press).

I've tried dunking the mug, pouring water into it, peeling paper right away, letting it air cool, etc. and I still get this blur / haze around the edge of the letters.

I'm wondering if perhaps my pressure is too high thereby causing the paper to shift ever so slightly when the pressure is relieved. Therefore, regardless of what I do with regards to dunk & peel, the paper as already shifted?

I'm going to try it but would like some feedback from those who do this kinda stuff.

Thanks!

John


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## jberte

i've never used coastal's mugs but just checked their site. they don't advertise their mugs as "certified RN coated" - it makes a difference! there's an article http://dyesubinks.com/ceramic.htmn here - cactus has since been sold to marck and there is another company offering the coating - sublimators 1st choice. i suspect that's more your problem than time/temp/pressure.


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## rrc62

I use the same mugs. I press for 3 minutes at medium/high pressure. Don't pay any attention to the instructions. 6 minutes is way to much time.


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## charles95405

i also use a 3 min press at 400F with med pressure. I dont have a pressure read out..took some time to get pressure right without 'crushing' the mug


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## treadhead

jberte said:


> i've never used coastal's mugs but just checked their site. they don't advertise their mugs as "certified RN coated" - it makes a difference! there's an article Ceramics here - cactus has since been sold to marck and there is another company offering the coating - sublimators 1st choice. i suspect that's more your problem than time/temp/pressure.


Thanks Jan...I'll check into this RN coating....

John


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## treadhead

Ross / Charles...

Thanks for the feedback. I tried reducing the pressure to the low setting and dropped the time down to 3 1/2 minutes last night for one more test before I went home. There did seem to be an improvement. 

I also avoided trying to remove the paper right away as I figured that perhaps I was moving the paper a bit trying to do that. I put it in front of a fan right away and also poured water in another mug right away and both looked about the same.

Do you guys remove the paper right away or let it cool first?

John


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## rrc62

I did a dozen Coastal mugs today with no problem. Medium-Heavy pressure, 3 minutes, 400 degrees. I peel the paper right away. if you don't peel right away, the paper will continue to sublimate with no press pressure. That can cause ghosting. You MUST keep pressure applied during the sublimation process. Just remember to take an edge of the tape and peel fast, like removing a bandaid. 

Try increasing pressure. I have Coastals store brand press. The gauge goes from 1 - 6. I press 11oz mugs on about 7, which is off the scale. 3 - 3.5 minutes should be fine. 3 minutes is plenty though.


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## uncletee

peel paper fast dunk in water, 3min 400degrees great formula.


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## badbird

treadhead said:


> Ok....I'm really struggling with this dye sub stuff trying to get a mug done without that "haze" around the edge of the letters in my font.
> 
> I've tried taking a picture but it is hard to capture with a camera.
> 
> I am using Chinese mugs from Coastal Business and Textprint XP paper.
> 
> My settings are 400 deg F @ 6 min at high pressure (#5 setting on my press).
> 
> I've tried dunking the mug, pouring water into it, peeling paper right away, letting it air cool, etc. and I still get this blur / haze around the edge of the letters.
> 
> I'm wondering if perhaps my pressure is too high thereby causing the paper to shift ever so slightly when the pressure is relieved. Therefore, regardless of what I do with regards to dunk & peel, the paper as already shifted?
> 
> I'm going to try it but would like some feedback from those who do this kinda stuff.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> John


We get our mugs here from Joto ... they are cheaper for us because the warehouse for Joto is right across the border in OH (we are in PA).
We are running ours at 240 second at about 360 degrees and having good success with them so far.
We dunk them to cool them down, then peel after the mug is cooled enough to touch.
We only use enough pressue on the mugs to hold them firmly in place in the press ... I notes if the pressure is too high, it will leave paper edge marks or tape edge marks if you use tape or trim the edges of of the paper.
We get our paper from Coastal as well, but I think I am using their brand.


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## plan b

Hi, try pressing your immage that you are having problems with on another hard substrate like a tile or somthing like that,, something tells me that its a print problem, I have done stuff on very cheap mugs with no problems, this just doesn't sound like a substrate problem.


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## MYDAMIT

treadhead said:


> Ross / Charles...
> 
> Thanks for the feedback. I tried reducing the pressure to the low setting and dropped the time down to 3 1/2 minutes last night for one more test before I went home. There did seem to be an improvement.
> 
> I also avoided trying to remove the paper right away as I figured that perhaps I was moving the paper a bit trying to do that. I put it in front of a fan right away and also poured water in another mug right away and both looked about the same.
> 
> Do you guys remove the paper right away or let it cool first?
> 
> John


I use the same process 3min 365F. heavy pressure. the important is tape the transfer paper very well thats will avoid ghost effect. i used sublimation from asia, What ink are you using...does anyone also uses ink form china?


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## VinnyYak

rrc62 said:


> I use the same mugs. I press for 3 minutes at medium/high pressure. Don't pay any attention to the instructions. 6 minutes is way to much time.


I agree 100%. I also use TexPrint XP for my mugs. When I got my first TexPrint printed instructions I didn't believe what they said. 400 F for 6 minutes. I knew right away 6 minutes is way too long. I press for only 3 minutes.


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## VinnyYak

uncletee said:


> peel paper fast dunk in water, 3min 400degrees great formula.


Some dunk in water right away. Some pour water into the mug. They both work for me too. But I've found a third way. I put wet towel inside the mug. Then I can use one end of the towel to hold the mug and peel the paper. Then I dunk it too. And by the way I use a pair of twissors to peel the heat tape and paper. Works for me.


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## francesca

Hi,
i'm doing mugs at 180C for 3 mins at medium/high pressure and i'm getting an effect like the ink is slightly bleeding over the straight edges. It's as if the printer is putting on too much ink as the lines look like that on the sublimation paper before it goes onto the mug. The ink even bleeds through onto the other side of the paper.

This might be what is happening with John. I'm thinking either the paper is poor quality or the printer is putting too much ink on it? Can anyone help please?

Thanks, Fran.


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## francesca

Oh and also our colours look about 20% darker than they should be even though we did install the ICC printer profile. Could this also show that the printer is putting on too much ink?
Thanks, Fran.


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## VinnyYak

I've experienced having straight edge lines on my mugs but I don't know if yours is caused by the same thing. 
1. Mine was caused by the template guide lines in Corel draw. I delete the guide lines just before printing. If I forget to delete or send the guide lines to the back of the image, I make sure that when I trim the paper that there's no guide line remaining on the paper. Sometimes it's hard to see with the naked eye.
2. I'm using C88+ printer. After removing the paper after a printer jam, there's ink smear on that part of the printer. And that smear of ink gets transferred to my paper and usually the back edge. Sometimes I never notice it until it's on the mug. So I make sure to trim that part of the paper. Even only by 1/16th or 1/32nd of an inch will do. It hardly affects the overall length.


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## francesca

Thanks,

sorry i didn't specify; i use Adobe Illustrator not corel draw. It's not that the ink is smearing it's that the ink seems blobby and as if there's too much ink where the dark parts of the image are. I have been chopping off the edges to make the edges straight and clear but inside the image the lines don't look as defined where the colouring is darker. The final image doesn't look exactly like the image on the computer as the colours look slightly different.

I hope you can understand what i'm trying to say because i know i don't really explain it that well!

Thanks, Fran.


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## jberte

good morning fran! what printer settings are you using? it _does _sound like you're getting some oversaturation. i'm printing from a 3000 and am completely unfamiliar with the smaller epsons, but i use a regular paper setting and normal print - i'm assuming the others must have something similar. the 'best' or 'photo' settings (on mine) will lay down waaaay to much ink!


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## francesca

Thanks, i'll try and see what settings i can change and have a mess about with it.


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## joe_turgeon

Thanks to all in this forum. I just purchased a Phoenix mug press and looking forward to putting it to use. With this information, I hope to keep the waste down, as well as learn the intricacies of doing mugs correctly. It sounds like there's a variance in temps that work. But times seem to fall into 3-3 1/2 minutes. I ordered sublimation mugs from BestBlanks today & hope they work out. I'll find out soon


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## mn shutterbug

Good luck, Joe. It sounds like the time will be dependent on the type of press you have.


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## bluporcelain

I need some advice.. Actually.. heck I need some HELP..

Using C88+ Espon Printer.. Scanning with Epson NX300, in most cases

I originally thought the image was fine on the monitor.. Then noticed that it seems to be unclear almost pixelated .. I am not sure why it is doing this unless I am scanning at to high a dpi. 

Second problem. Print looks fine when it comes out of the printer, but getting a green cast to the image and just not clear.. We have had some be cloudy at the top of the mug. Overall just not nice crisp prints. 

Would someone please be so kind as to advise proper paper, color and other necessary adjustment settings using the Espon.. I am so confused now I don't know if it is the prints or the the transferring process where we are having a problem. One is good the next stinks. *(same image)..

Setting the mug at 160 seconds @ 400 degrees using mug press. 
Software is Adobe photoshop
I would sincerely appreciate any assistance that is given we are burning up mugs, paper and inks and not getting to far.


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## intothis1

I'm having the same problem getting photos onto mugs. Color is too red even if I turn it way down, and black/white photos come out blue. I can't figure it out, and I've wasted a dozen mugs trying to fix it.


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## intothis1

intothis1 said:


> I'm having the same problem getting photos onto mugs. Color is too red even if I turn it way down, and black/white photos come out blue. I can't figure it out, and I've wasted a dozen mugs trying to fix it.


 
Oh and I'm using 350degrees for 4 min. Maybe too long?


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## mn shutterbug

That depends on what brand mug press you have.


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## racewayphoto

jberte said:


> i've never used coastal's mugs but just checked their site. they don't advertise their mugs as "certified RN coated" - it makes a difference! there's an article http://dyesubinks.com/ceramic.htmn here - cactus has since been sold to marck and there is another company offering the coating - sublimators 1st choice. i suspect that's more your problem than time/temp/pressure.


Are you saying the mugs sold at cactusmugs.com with the 'cactus coating' are a good choice or not so good?


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## uncletee

you need to use 400 degrees , time 4 minutes, we use a c-88 best photo plain paper setting. for the redish hue, in photo shop layer and either take out some red. or in main layer hue/set under sat move to negative will take out some red. faces are hard to get right. good luck uncletee


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## jimgeddes

What did you finally decide?


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## iainlondon

Hi Guys I also need some help,I use a Epson 1100 Workforce for printing and a Geo Knight k3 for pressing.Overall the print quality is pretty good approx 3-3.5 Mins at 400f.My problem Is that I get a slight "HAZING" after taking Mug out of the press what is the cause of this?.Im not sure of the paper I,m using except I bought It from Best blanks,could It be that to save pennies I,m not fully wrapping the paper around the whole of the mug,I,m just applying the paper to the mug where I want a print DO I NEED TO WRAP PAPER AROUND ALL THE MUG and would this stop this "Bleed-Hazing" from occuring.


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## MYDAMIT

try to increase pressure to lessen the hazing effect, search also on the forum on hazing on mug i know i read some thing like these but i forgot the link.


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## mn shutterbug

Yes, wrapping the paper around the transfer may solve your problem. I make suer the wrap paper extends beyond the transfer paper on all sides. One time I didn't and I got the ghost or bleed.


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## iainlondon

Ive just this minute tryed a mug albeit with a very simple black & green design and Its turned out "perfect" maybe my problem first of all was trying to CRAM to much printing on the actuall paper and therefore maybe not leaving enough WHITE/BLANK Paper around the transfer so that the PRINT didnt have any breathing space????,Im going to try something with more colours and see how that turns out,THANKS


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## pebbles

hi ,just got myself a mug press,can anyone tell me how to make the template on the computer for me?


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## mn shutterbug

I cut my transfer paper 3 5/8" X 8 1/2" and print one at a time. Using either Photoshop or Corel Draw, I make my page size 3.625 X 8.5 and that is the template.


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## sharlynn

peel paper fast dunk in water =


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## mgparrish

sharlynn said:


> peel paper fast dunk in water =


Suggest only warm water for the dunk. If you use cold water the mug can crack.


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## sharlynn

peel paper fast dunk in water =crack
crack. I just peel then put in front of a large fan. Never had a problem since.
240 seconds at 190 degrees C cheers Ed


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## iainlondon

_I Press at 360 Degrees for 3 Minutes,I have a "Scalpel Thingy" I bought from a local Art suppliers that gets the tape up off the Mug so makes for easy removal of The paper I then put mug into a bucket of Warmish water, funnily enough If I think that the water is cooling I will leave up to 3/4 mugs in said bucket to bring temperature back up...._


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## SpreadshirtFOM

If I told you our process , I don't think you'd believe me, and I may get fired for revealing what I got it dialed down to and how good the results are. But I can say that wrapping is crucial, not with regular paper, temp is crucial, and in a press a 30 second bake and about 2 and half minute total time is all you need. This may also be working with our printer rig and inks which I can't reveal. But there are ways to create vivid images and in a very short amount of time per product. Keep experimenting, that's all I do!


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## funkym

Hi I am fairly new to this but got very good results straight up using Sawgrass Artanium UV+ inks in an EPSON Artisan 1430, Beaver TexPrint XP and a Chinese Mug press at medium to high pressure. I followed the TexPrint instructions of 400F for 360 Secs and the prints are coming out nice and sharp and the paper hardly has any ink left on it. If I am right the TexPrint is meant to have a 95% ink release. What my question is to anyone who might know the answer is this. If you press a mug at 400F for 180secs and another at 240 secs and another at 360secs and then compare the colour saturation of the 3 mugs and the inks left on the sublimation paper, are you all telling that there will be no difference between the colours of the mug pressed for 180secs and the mug pressed for 360secs? Because 360secs is a long time to press a mug. This will slow down production time considerably compared to if you were only pressing them for 180secs. Also in regards to the correct colour. At the end of the text how do you tell which is the most accurate in relation to colour. I would be interested to hear from those of you using the Beaver TexPrint and Artanium inks to get a definate answer on this. I will also do a test tonight based on teh above and post the photos and results hear later. Paul


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## WindoraBug

funkym said:


> Hi I am fairly new to this but got very good results straight up using Sawgrass Artanium UV+ inks in an EPSON Artisan 1430, Beaver TexPrint XP and a Chinese Mug press at medium to high pressure. I followed the TexPrint instructions of 400F for 360 Secs and the prints are coming out nice and sharp and the paper hardly has any ink left on it. If I am right the TexPrint is meant to have a 95% ink release. What my question is to anyone who might know the answer is this. If you press a mug at 400F for 180secs and another at 240 secs and another at 360secs and then compare the colour saturation of the 3 mugs and the inks left on the sublimation paper, are you all telling that there will be no difference between the colours of the mug pressed for 180secs and the mug pressed for 360secs? Because 360secs is a long time to press a mug. This will slow down production time considerably compared to if you were only pressing them for 180secs. Also in regards to the correct colour. At the end of the text how do you tell which is the most accurate in relation to colour. I would be interested to hear from those of you using the Beaver TexPrint and Artanium inks to get a definate answer on this. I will also do a test tonight based on teh above and post the photos and results hear later. Paul



I have done extensive time and temp variation testing. I can tell you i've tested at lower temps with longer times, and it was decent. Then went to higher temps and lower times, and the quality increased. Then tried high temp, high times and had intermediate problems such as paper burn, scorching, paper lines. I literally sat with a stopwatch, a bunch of bad product I saved up, and dialed in the best quality and time. I do about 30-45 seconds bake time, and the total time per each press runs about 2-3 minutes. For me at least , the longer time combined with high temp yielded no better result. 

Sublimation results are all subject to products, materials, combinations of them and every person should take in the advice, but test and develope what suits them and their rigs the best. If Van Halen played on Joe Satriani's guitar and amp rig, he will still sound good , but it won't be what is best for him. And vice versa. Think of it that way.


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## funkym

OK I did the tests and got some surprising results. See the attached images with specifications.

Please note that some of my images are a bit out of focus. The 240sec and 180secs mugs turned out very sharp in real life. But the text on the 360sec mug was a bit blurry which was my fault.

Basically each mug was put into the press at 400F, removed at the end of its time and swiftly removed the paper and dunked straight into a bucket of about 117F (60C) hot water then dried.

As you will see from the photos I added the used Beaver TexPrint XP sublimation paper next to each mug so you can see how much ink is left in the paper and compare.

All in all I think that the 240sec and 180sec runs turned out the best. Although difficult to see. You should be able to notice that the 180sec mug is ever so slightly lighter than the 240sec mug. Most people who are not used to looking at color every day would never pick this. (If they are that finicky then I would advise them to get us to make a physical pre-production proof first). 

I think for the sake of saving 1min of press time for each mug I will probably end up sticking with 180secs per mug at 400F. That is a 25% saving on production bake time and energy usage. In this competitive day and age, every dollar counts. 

Labour is the biggest killer in Australia. At about $22.77 USD per/hr for a casual worker on a level 2 miscellaneous award every minute counts. Oh and joy of joy its the end of financial year again so the government will be putting up wages again. They wonder why Australia has such a hard time competing on a global scale. Their answer is to tell us to improve productive. Well I can tell you that productivity improvements will only take you so far in your quest to reduce your overall production costs. Where to then.

Please let me know your thoughts on my press results and don't take to much notice of my incessant ramblings, LOL.

Regards

Paul


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## WindoraBug

Excellent Paul. Your tests came out about the same as mine. As mentioned the higher time you get blurry, lines, etc. I can also say I do not dunk either. Just place items on a shelf to naturally cool. I think you should even try more tests, and reduce time, increase pressure some, IR your mug heat element to make sure its evenly heating at 400F. As mentioned, my bake time when up to temp is merely 30 seconds and I was able to dial it in and get best quality too in the range!


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## funkym

Cheers. Only issue is on the 180sec mug i did notice that the colour was ever so slightly lighter. But barely noticeable. So this now makes me wonder how much more I can reduce the time without making the colour lighter.

I am pretty happy that I can get a very sharp, consistent result at 3mins but I will try one at 2mins and see what happens. I will also show you the difference between the two.

Paul


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## funkym

OK I think I am happy with the result of my printed mugs at 3mins press time. I have heard some of the members on this forum mention that once people learn that you can do promotional mugs that the we should get some interest and orders. In the words of the other member "it kind of just creeps up on you" or something like that. 

We already have quite a few existing clients that we sell promotional goods to so I am hoping that by producing a very high quality product mug that our clients will start to buy some of these branded mugs.

On another note I did recently have a go at baking some mugs in our new 3D sublimation machine with not so good results. I am getting blurry text which could either be that the quick release silicone wraps that came with it are not tight enough or I am baking them for to long or a combination of both. I think I will try to lower the bake time and see what happens. After taking into consideration of how much pressure the mug press puts on the mugs I have a feeling that these new quick release silicone mug wraps may not be all they are cracked up to be.

I am only doing test runs at the moment so I am adding 1 mug open end down into the pre-heated 400F 3D sublimation machine and baking for 12mins. This thing heats from the top and bottom and after 12mins there seems to be a lot more smoke coming out of the oven when I open it. A lot more than the mug press.

The Chinese manual that came with this think says 8min but that hardly left a mark. Any thoughts on heat and timings that I can try?

Cheers

Paul

Zen Promotional Printed Mugs Australia


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## bratdawg

12 minutes is probably not enough time. Wraps in an oven is generally 15 to 18 minutes for one mug. It may vary with the 3D but I think time should be higher.

Steve

Sent from my DROIDX using T-Shirt Forums


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## funkym

The 3D Sublimation machines are quite small and heats up real quick from the top and bottom. I finally worked out that 12:30secs is optimal for this machine for a single mug. 12:00mins is not enough and 13 is too long. Not sure how it would go with 12 mugs though. I am assuming you will have to bump up the time by maybe 1 - 3 minutes. 

Cheers Paul

Zen Promotional, Printed Mugs Australia


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## WindoraBug

So you tried using mug wraps in a 3d vacuum print machine? That sounds like one too many steps if I read that correct. I also agree that you need at least 15+ minutes when baking @ 400F with a wrap. But I tested a good deal on this process, and unless your pumping out hundreds of mugs daily, I don't see baking as a good option. It is inconsistent quality compared to a good press, and your investing soo much money in wraps, and a longer production time. If on a large scale the process could be fruitful , but on a low or mid scale your not saving money IMHO.


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## funkym

Already worked that out and are looking at a 5 in 1 mug press to do 5 mugs at a time.

Mug presses make a better print than the wraps and are faster. Just going to use the 3D Sublimation machine for doing the full wrap mobile phone covers and iPad covers. 

Had a go at it today and have got it nailed after about 4 iPhone 5 covers. They turn out real nice. Anyway won't talk any more about that as this is not the post to do it in. This is about mugs.

Paul

Zen Promotional Australia, Promotional Products Made Easy


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## WindoraBug

funkym said:


> Already worked that out and are looking at a 5 in 1 mug press to do 5 mugs at a time.
> 
> Mug presses make a better print than the wraps and are faster. Just going to use the 3D Sublimation machine for doing the full wrap mobile phone covers and iPad covers.
> 
> Had a go at it today and have got it nailed after about 4 iPhone 5 covers. They turn out real nice. Anyway won't talk any more about that as this is not the post to do it in. This is about mugs.
> 
> Paul
> 
> Zen Promotional Australia, Promotional Products Made Easy



Doing the same, just got email that our 5 mug press will be here in a week or so! We are ready!


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## mydirtylaundry

Anyone every had the problem of small dots/specs that look to be ink on there mugs after pressing? The weird thing is they are appearing were there is no ink? Any suggestions.


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## isabel123

Hi,
I have a EPSON WF-7015 for sublimation printing. Can I have the ICC Profile for this printer? Any one can help me please.
Thanks
Isabel


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## ChefScott

That would be something that you would have to get from the company you bought your ink from.


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## BMG205

Where can I get some artwork done and some modified? Also, I need to find someone to print them out using the sublimaition process. I have my own mug press.


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## bratdawg

BMG205 said:


> Where can I get some artwork done and some modified? Also, I need to find someone to print them out using the sublimaition process. I have my own mug press.


There are a variety of sites where you can get stock images and artwork, and for transfers you can use mytransfersource.com. 

Steve


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## BMG205

Where can I get stock images and artwork for my mugs?


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## bratdawg

BMG205 said:


> Where can I get stock images and artwork for my mugs?


You can Google it and find a plethora of sites such as Shutterstock, Istockphoto, ClipArt etc that sell images. Just be sure to check the licensing to be sure you can use it for print on demand as all do not allow it, or require the proper license to be purchased.

Steve


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## BMG205

The company has to specialize in sublimation ink.


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## mgparrish

BMG205 said:


> The company has to specialize in sublimation ink.


The company I buy from has ICC profiles for sublimation and they also sell a lot of regular dye and pigments inks too.


Specialization is not strict requirement, they just need to sell sub inks with profiles.


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## rayconn

I have the Joto 2 in 1 mug press. model E-HP-JMP-21. Cant get it to work.How do you set the time the mug is cooking? I have a feeling instructions may be wrong.


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