# Spots of ink on my fabric when heat pressing sublimation



## Ryan2420 (Dec 12, 2014)

Hello, So I have an order of 10 jerseys due on Sunday morning. I'm having an issue, every time I heat press and Polyester Drifit I get ink spots all over the shirt. The image transferred looks amazing but the ink residue is destroying my jerseys. Please give me advice of how to resolve this issue.
I'm using Cobra Ink and Using Colorado Drifits
I'm using butcher paper instead of Teflon
Pressing at 400 degrees for 60 seconds
printing on bright side. Light/Medium Pressure.
Please see attached Pic.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Ryan2420 said:


> Hello, So I have an order of 10 jerseys due on Sunday morning. I'm having an issue, every time I heat press and Polyester Drifit I get ink spots all over the shirt. The image transferred looks amazing but the ink residue is destroying my jerseys. Please give me advice of how to resolve this issue.
> I'm using Cobra Ink and Using Colorado Drifits
> I'm using butcher paper instead of Teflon
> Pressing at 400 degrees for 60 seconds
> ...



It could be as simple as a head clean if you haven't tried that but usually means there is gunk under your print head.

You didn't mention your printer model but for Epson refer to the video here ...

It shows a complete clean-up, however if your image is otherwise OK and your nozzle check indicates clear or a head clean can clear them don't do any fluid injection into the head. Just do the part that cleans the wiper, capping station, and under the print head.

I presume you have printed OK before ... but having the wrong settings in the Epson driver can cause you these kind of issues, so double check those.

All printers eventually need this kind of cleaning like in the video, so it should be part of a preventative maintenance routine.

The video is for a 1430 most models would be similar. If not then you need to google around or call Richard as he is a printer expert. I think Cobra has a video also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUysQFDH6u0


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## Ryan2420 (Dec 12, 2014)

Hello. Thanks for the reply.I'm using an Epson w7110. I purchased the printer about a month ago and this might be my 40th print.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Ryan2420 said:


> Hello. Thanks for the reply.I'm using an Epson w7110. I purchased the printer about a month ago and this might be my 40th print.


 Should be too early to clean the capping station and under the print head.

You did a regular head clean?

Also, just for grins and giggles have your tried feeding the paper from the rear? Might indicate if the paper path has some stuff being picked up in the paper travel.

What are your Epson driver settings?

Are your cartridges or CIS primed correctly?


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## JIMMY34 (Jan 20, 2010)

It might not be your printer...I'm having similar issues with BAW shirts, every so often I get one of their shirts and the same thing is happening...it looks like little blueish specs out of no where...happened to a friend in same business as mine so it could actually be something in the fibers of the shirts...


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

I cannot tell from your photo...are you getting little blue squiggly lines as mentioned in the previous post? If so, that is due to lint on on your fabric. Take a lint roller and roll over the entire portion of the shirt that will be under the heat press. That should eliminate the issue. You will need to do this for each and every shirt. There is nothing that will remove the blue lines after the fact.

If they are not the blue squiggly invaders, then it is most likely in your graphic. Are you printing a bitmap (jpg, tiff, png or psd)? Any area that is not absolute white (RGB 0,0,0) will result in some ink being printed. Take a close look at your graphic...use the eyedropper tool to see exactly what color is in the graphic at the problem area.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

Ryan2420 said:


> Hello, So I have an order of 10 jerseys due on Sunday morning. I'm having an issue, every time I heat press and Polyester Drifit I get ink spots all over the shirt. The image transferred looks amazing but the ink residue is destroying my jerseys. Please give me advice of how to resolve this issue.
> I'm using Cobra Ink and Using Colorado Drifits
> I'm using butcher paper instead of Teflon
> Pressing at 400 degrees for 60 seconds
> ...


 Looking again this probably is lint as Ron mentioned. 

Those are there all along they just don't become easily visible until you heat pressed.


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## JIMMY34 (Jan 20, 2010)

mgparrish said:


> Looking again this probably is lint as Ron mentioned.
> 
> Those are there all along they just don't become easily visible until you heat pressed.


This was the problem with the BAW shirts, BUT, even after using the lint roller it seems as if they were embedded in the actual fabric of the shirt...

It happened a few times with me and I know it wasn't from my paper or my artwork...I started looking real close at the shirts before printing and did notice another shirt had them but it was so faint it could easily have been missed...

It's a paper/ink problem if it happens to all your shirts, it's a lint/fabric issue if it happens here and there with certain manufacturers fabric...

My $.02 anyway...


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

JIMMY34 said:


> This was the problem with the BAW shirts, BUT, even after using the lint roller it seems as if they were embedded in the actual fabric of the shirt...
> 
> It happened a few times with me and I know it wasn't from my paper or my artwork...I started looking real close at the shirts before printing and did notice another shirt had them but it was so faint it could easily have been missed...
> 
> ...


 That would be a bummer if it's embedded in the shirt. I guess if the lint roller trick don't work I would be asking the source for a refund.

I always lint roller everything. one can even get debris from the local environment. Especially mine.


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