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FADED COLOURS
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hI I AM NEW TO THE SUBLIMATION BUSINESS AND I AM HAVING A FEW PROBLEMS.
I AM USING AN EPSON D88 PRINTER WITH A JETSTREAM CIS WITH ROTECH DIGITAL SUBLIMATION INK.
I AM ALSO USING SIGNAL 120 GRAM TRANSFER PAPER.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT WHEN I TRY TO HEAT PRESS MY IMAGES OR TEXT ONTO ANY MATERIAL INCLUDING 100% POLYESTER THE IMAGES ARE VERY LIGHT AND FADED. I HAVE BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT PRESSURES, TEMP AND TIME TO NO AVAIL !!! I AM NOT SURE WHAT I AM DOING WRONG MOST OF THE INK IS STILL LEFT ON THE PAPER AND IT DOES NOT PEAL OFF LIKE I HAVE SEEN IN SOME DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS, I IS NOT STUCK AT ALL
IF I DECIDED TO USE A DIFFERENT INK WOULD I HAVE TO CHANGE MY CIS SUYSTEM AS WELL ?PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!
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7 Replies
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Hi Adam,
I don’t know the paper you are using, is that one that has been sold for dye sub use ? This may sound daft but it is worth checking you are printing onto the right side of it.
What temperatures have you used ? what pressure and what length press ? Did you heat up the press before you began ? What press are you using ?
A lot of people have some problems when they first start out – it’s a learning curve. One of the things that I did to minimise waste etc was to print a number of images onto the paper and then cut each into seperate bits to print. I then cut a t-shirt into pieces too and used those to practice pressing on.
It saved on the shirts and the paper – and because I had approached it in this way I didn’t get tooooooo irritated if it didn’t work, because I wasn’t wasting lots of material.
I would probably find the cheapest roll of polyester I could in a local store and buy a meter or so of it purely to practice on.
Firstly though, if you can let us know the make of your press, age, and all of the settings you are using it will help us to spot if there is something obvious that is easily altered. If a second hand press is used are you sure that it is reaching the correct temperature ?
For the dyes to work it is necessary for them to be pressed at about 170 degrees celsius, much lower than that and the chemical reaction won’t occur properly. That has just made me think of something else – check how your temp is being measured, F or C ? are you using the correct temp for the reading ?
Saph
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THANKS FOR THE REPLY I AM USING A SENKO WL-12G PRESS I PRESUME IT IS IN CELCIUS. I HAVE TRIED TEMPS FROM 180 TO 220 AND BOTH SIDES OF THE PAPER, AND AT TIMES RANGEING FROM 10 SECONDS TO OVER A MINUTE, I HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH SCORCHING. SHOULD THE PRINT BE WET TO TOUCH STRAIGHT OFF THE PRINTER COS IT IS DRY. THE PAPER I AM USING STATES THAT IT IS FOR DYE SUBLIMATION PRINTING, MOST OF MY PRESSES HAVE BEEN AT FULL PRESSURE.
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I’ve never heard of the press either 😕
I would be inclined to establish what temperature setting you have the press on because at those temps you have stated you should be getting a decent image transferred.
Yes the ink can be dry, you can do a good run of prints and then press them over a few hours without any problems.
The thing that is throwing the dampener on the temp settings is that you are mentioning scorching as well. For fabrics you shouldn’t be pressing over a minute – again this may sound odd, but if you press too long you actually remove some of the image you are placing down and end up with a faded result.
Rotech inks are fine by the way – they are licensed inks for use in the dye sub area.
Is the press new or second hand ?
I would check the temp settings make sure it is in C – reduce your pressure to a medium at least, do test presses at 15 seconds and then 5 second intervals upwards if necessary.
Where did you get the press and the paper ?
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GOT ALL THE EQUIPMENT OFF EBAY THE PRESS IS LIKE NEW AND SO IS THE PRINTER AND INK SYSTEM I HAVE READ IN SOME OTHER POSTS ABOUT LETTING THE INK AND PRINTER STAND FOR A BIT I HAVE ONLY BOUGHT IT TODAY AND HAVE BEEN MESSING WITH IT SINCE THIS AFTERNOON COULD THIS BE MY PROBLEM ? I HAVE ALSO NOTICED THAT NOW MY PRINTS ARE COMING OFF THE PRINTER A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COLOR THAN ON SCREEN. I AN ALSO NOTICING SO WHITE GHOSTING APPEARING ON THE PRINTS I HAVE JUST TRIED ON AT 180 FOR 30 SECONDS WITH MEDIUM PRESSURE
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Adam I would try to find out whether it is in C or F first of all. Unfortunately there are often problems with items bought from eBay and very little back up if any 🙁 Try and speak to the person you bought it from tomorrow if you can and explain the problems. It does sound as though it is temperature related.
The colour variation will probably be down to whether or not the colour profile has been installed correctly and is fully associated with the printer. Go to start – Control Panel – Printer & faxes – find your printer and right click on it – Properties – Colour settings tab. At the bottom of that page it will say profile associated with the printer, if it isn’t the Rotech one you will need to manually select it by clicking on the manual button, add and then selecting it from the next box that opens up. Before closing down those pages make sure you have ticked the use as default option box. ( I’m saying all that, I presume he did give you a colour profile with the inks ? if not I think you can download them from the internet ).
I will try to think of other problems, it’s late and I am possibly missing something. Hopefully someone else will pop up with the answer in the morning. Good luck with it – it is superb when you get it going properly, so don’t give up !
Saph
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Oh, and yes, it might be worth leaving the printer and inks to settle for the rest of the night too. Ghosting can occur if the wrong side of the paper is used or the wrong type of paper – but if this was bought for this purpose – –
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP I WILL KEEP TRYING !!
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