# 1st dye-sub mouse pads, less than satisfactory, questions on printing transfers



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I printed and pressed my first mouse pads tonight. I am using the epson 1280 with the sawgrass sublijet-iq ink and delivery system. The design in questions is dark purple background with black printing and a logo in the middle, mostly black but some gold and red. 

Here is the problem I ran into. 

I printed two 7 1/2 inch round images on an 11X17 sheet of transfer paper. The second image was much lighter than the first. 

How would I go about diagnosing this problem? Could it be an ink starvation problem? Should I look at anything else? I will be calling sawgrass in the morning but any hints before I make the call would be appreciated.


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

Have you done any tests as far as printing then pressing or are you just going by what you see on your transfer paper? I am guessing by your post you pressed but Maybe not. I assume a brand new system and these are actually your fist two attempts?


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

MotoskinGraphix said:


> Have you done any tests as far as printing then pressing or are you just going by what you see on your transfer paper? I am guessing by your post you pressed but Maybe not. I assume a brand new system and these are actually your fist two attempts?


First print, first press. Yes, the images looked different on the papper and pressed the same difference. They were printed 2-up on 11x17 paper. The first one is pretty good except a little fade toward the end of the print, the second one is faded or washed out.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

If you had a solid patch that went lighter then you probably have a clogged nozzle. Print a nozzle check and clean if necessary. Once you have a perfect nozzle check, try printing again. If there is still a problem, then you will need to find the root cause of your problem. It could be the graphic, software, paper, printer, etc.

Allow yourself plenty of trial and error when you first start out. Sublimation has a bigger learning curve than you would think!


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

cprvh said:


> If you had a solid patch that went lighter then you probably have a clogged nozzle. Print a nozzle check and clean if necessary. Once you have a perfect nozzle check, try printing again. If there is still a problem, then you will need to find the root cause of your problem. It could be the graphic, software, paper, printer, etc.
> 
> Allow yourself plenty of trial and error when you first start out. Sublimation has a bigger learning curve than you would think!


Thanks for the info. Sawgrass told me to put the epson ink back in, do a clean and nozzle check and then reinstall the bulk ink system and do a clean and nozzle check so I will be doing that today. 

I also had a problem with the software registration as the printer driver was installed on one computer but the graphic software is on another so I was sharing the printer and printing via that avenue. They gave me a 2nd key and I am in business on that end.


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