Dec. 30, 2024
We&#;ve tried to answer the frequently asked questions by the users who plan to get into the world of sublimation printing or those who have just entered the sector. Here&#;s everything you&#;re curious about&#;
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As Canapa Paper Technologies, we&#;ve offered solutions to hundreds of customers&#; transfer paper needs in sublimation printing sector so far and we&#;ve supported our customers to solve any printing problems they encounter. We have had users who both have just started up sublimation printing business and taken the leap into the market. Everyone was asking lots of questions as follows: &#;How can I get into this business? What are the potential costs? What sort of applications can I design? I&#;ve launched printing process but how will I reduce the costs? How can I choose the right ink or paper? I want to add a new printer to my production line but how can I choose the correct sublimation printer? So, we&#;ve listed the most common questions asked by our clients and wanted to provide solutions to users who have just entered the industry. Here&#;s the everything you wonder about sublimation printing&#;
1. What do I need to start a sublimation business? What is the average cost of printing with sublimation ink?
First, you need to identify what sort of production you will be engaged in. Will you print on garment fabrics or will you cut and sew? Will you manufacture sportswear or home textile outputs? Is there any space allocated for printer and heat press? Have you estimated the potential costs except than capital expenditures and materials to be used? The answers to these questions will play a key role in deciding your preferences.
Before you invest in printer and heat press at the first stage, consider your production volume. You must decide the size and capacity of the printer depending on your daily or monthly production volume and workflow. If you will include cutting and sewing process into your production, you need to make additional investment in your machine. When you buy an equipment, you need to calculate the return of investment. In case of any possible technical problem that your printer may experience, you should take a number of factors into consideration like maintenance service and supply of replacement parts and you need to spend your time not only for researching opportunities your printer offer but also for supplier/manufacturer company.
Afterward, you might continue estimating the costs for ink consumption, transfer paper and the amount of fabric to be used. Apart from the capital expenditure, you need to calculate additional daily costs when you start the sublimation business. Alongside general operating expenses, keep in mind that there will be always such expenses as salaries of printer operators, electricity, air conditioning, and heating.
Lastly, another key component is your printer software. It will not only help bring your designs into life but also helps you manage the whole printing and manufacturing process. Robust software and true color management will make your job easier, providing the highest productivity at a reduced cost as well as saving your time.
2. Does the sublimation printing reduce the quality of the product?
The biggest advantage of sublimation printing is its permanent feature. It also offers wide color gamut. Sublimation printing allows the ink to permenate the surface of the item being printed and correspondingly the ink does not adhere on the surface of the fabric. Thus, images on fabric won&#;t crack, fade or peel. The colors will stay vibrant even after multiple washings.
3. Are polyester fabrics unhealthy? How can I manage to sell products made by sublimation printing?
As it is known, you can only sublimate on polyester fabrics (at least 60% polyester). Many people still think polyesters are useless and unhealthy. However, there has been remarkable progress in polyester fabrics. Today&#;s polyester fabrics are more elastic, have better moisture-wicking and anti-microbial features. To overcome common prejudice, contact with your customers and present your printing samples one-to-one and ask them to try these samples. Secondly, share a wide range of sublimation designs and decoration techniques with your customers. What is important is to analyze your customers&#; needs. Talk to your customers and allow them to explore infinite opportunities that sublimation offers for any design they wish to create.
4. Can we sublimate on dark fabrics?
Unfortunately no. Printing dye sublimation inks onto darker fabrics is still an issue. You cannot sublimate on dark fabrics because these materials are already colored. If you want to sublimate on any colorful fabric other than black, you can use a darker ink-like black and make your printing visible.
5. How can I choose the right transfer paper?
The right transfer paper is unconditionally a necessity and it helps you reduce both ink consumption and production costs. The right transfer paper you should be chosen depends on the type of application, printer, and ink that you will use as well as transfer rate of paper, drying time, transfer productivity and coating chemistry. Depending on your application type and printing modes, coating features of the paper and grammage of the paper will vary. If you use high-density sublimation ink, you can prefer thicker transfer papers, whereas you can go for thinner papers for high-speed printing needs. The type of printer becomes significant when you choose the paper. Your transfer paper must be designed in a way that perfectly works with the printer brand and model. Similarly, your transfer paper must harmonize with the ink because it is one of the most key factors in terms of print production.
When choosing the right transfer paper, get information about the technical features of the paper. A high-quality transfer paper provides higher transfer productivity, fast ink absorption, and drying. The coating formulation of your transfer paper is another vital issue. A fine coating formulation is the most significant part of a transfer paper production and it is the core of the business for many manufacturing companies. A transfer paper with the high-quality coating will help you reduce ink consumption and costs, yielding high-quality dye transfer.
6. What is the difference between Tacky Transfer Paper and Non-Tacky Transfer Paper?
There are two types of paper in the market now: the Non-tacky Transfer Papers and Tacky Transfer Papers. You can use regular coated transfer paper for standard fabrics. But make sure that you use tacky transfer paper for more elastic fabrics like sportswear products. During the heat transfer process, the paper will firmly adhere to the fabric and it will prevent the paper from moving and yields high-quality prints.
Drying speed of a sublimation paper depends on its coating surface. The amount of the coating on the surface of the base paper and its content has an impact on drying time. A high-quality tacky transfer paper should feature fast drying speed and high ink transfer with reliable productivity. So, choose the right tacky transfer papers according to your printing requirements. When you prefer a tacky paper, be careful about the humidity level of fabric, paper and printing/heat-press environment.
7. What kind of role does heat press play for high-quality sublimation printing?
If you&#;ve invested in a high-quality sublimation print, you will need a heat press which helps you run high-volume production simultaneously. A good heat press can work for many years and can continue operating in line with the increased production capacity in your business. Before you add a heat press to your production line, make sure you are well aware of your production requirements.
Heat press plays a vital role by allowing the ink to permeate the fabric appropriately. However, if the heating temperature fluctuates too much or the correct pressure value is not maintained, you can get the low quality or inconsistent results. As a result, the color of some areas seems light, while some areas result in darker colors. To eliminate such problems, you need to invest in a high quality heat press. Otherwise, you will end up with higher costs and waste of time.
8. Do I need daily printer cleaning to eliminate the problem of clogged printhead nozzles?
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It absolutely depends on the requirements of your printer. Some printers automatically make daily cleaning, whereas you sometimes need to start the cleaning process manually. When your printer initiates cleaning automatically, don&#;t forget to leave the printer powered up. If you have to do it manually, you need to either print every day or make your printer&#;s daily maintenance by using additional software. The amount of ink required for circulation in such a maintenance process is very small. So, the best option is to run your printer a few times in a week to avoid clogged heads.
9. How can I avoid moisture issues in sublimation printing?
Moisture can cause negative effects on the sublimation process and yield unwanted results such as color shifting; colors lose accuracy, bleeding of the image, and uneven transfer of solid filled areas of design. When you do not adopt high-quality transfer paper, the sublimation transfer paper curls because of high humidity and scratches the print heads and damages the heads. To minimize the effects of moisture, the first thing you need to do is to keep the printing room and storing space at the stable moisture. Make sure that you store your transfer paper in a dry place. 50-60% of indoor humidity will be ideal for sublimation printing.
If your transfer paper has excess moisture, you may encounter unwanted problems during pressing. To avoid it, it is important to prevent the paper from moisture absorption. A number of methods can be applied. First, you can leave the printed paper in the heat press room or nearby area so that the moisture will evaporate. Additionally, you can opt to press garment to remove the excess moisture caused by printing.
10. How can I save the sublimation ink?
The first thing is to run your printer regularly and don&#;t turn off your printer. It is necessary for terms of providing regular ink circulation in print heads. If your printer automatically activates the cleaning process, turn your machine on and run it a few times in a week. A small amount of ink will be enough to do this process.
When you do not use the right transfer paper, the paper will absorb a huge amount of ink than required and a large amount of the ink will stay on the paper without transferring. So, using high quality coated paper is crucial for efficient ink consumption. Thus, the paper absorbs the ink at the optimal level and ink will be transferred to the fabric at the highest rate possible.
Many set up programs of sublimation software ensure high quality at optimum ink consumption. But, you can reduce ink consumption with the ink-saving mode. If the result of the print satisfies you, go ahead. If you want to have the highest print quality, change your software&#;s settings.
Sublimation decoration of T-shirts, jerseys and other apparel takes 10 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. The equipment and products are always changing, so whether you have been sublimating for 20 years or two days, there are always new lessons to learn.
As a sublimation specialist, my job is to make those lessons easier for decorators. I am lucky to be part of a team that, through years of trial and error, has accumulated a bag of tricks for successful sublimation. Here are 10 tips passed down to me &#; and now to you &#; to help you better perform this process.
To ensure a long printer life span, leave it on at all times. It is a common misconception that this will waste more ink when, in fact, the opposite is true. Leaving the printer on will allow it to perform short maintenance cycles to keep ink flowing and prevent clogged print heads. If you shut the printer down every night, it will do a more extensive, thorough cleaning the next time you turn it on, using a larger amount of ink.
A printer&#;s sublimation inks have a shelf life. Leaving them in the printer too long will cause issues such as color shifting, head clogs and banding. Many people agree that you can print past the &#;use-by&#; date without any issues, but a good rule of thumb is to use the cartridges within six months of installing them. It is not recommended to print past six months of the use-by date. Marking the cartridges with the date on which you installed them is a good way to keep track of their life span.
If properly maintained, a quality heat press can last 10 or more years. Look for an industrial-grade press that recovers quickly between pressings and also has a digital display so you can see temperatures rise and fall. Investing in a digital pyrometer, a device that reads the heat of your press, can ensure the accuracy of its temperature reading.
Certain substrates require additional accessories or a specific press type for successful sublimation. Consult with your distributor about product instructions and specs to ensure you have the required equipment.
When sublimating, always have extra pieces, especially when working with a new product. Mistakes will be made, whether human or mechanical errors, that will affect your production process. Therefore, it&#;s always good to have backups.
You can use some common household items to successfully sublimate. Paper towels without a textured pattern or print can be placed underneath hard substrates to help evenly distribute pressure and catch any ink blowout. Substituting butcher paper &#; also known as end-roll paper &#; for Teflon sheets will keep double-sided items, such as apparel, clean during production.
Use a lint roller on apparel to remove any stray fibers remaining from the production process that can cause permanent blue dots on the finished product. Finally, lighter fluid can be used to remove fingerprints and adhesive residue from hard substrates, resulting in a clean finish.
Use heat tape on hard substrates and repositionable spray on apparel. However, the latter comes in handy on double-sided, hard substrates when sublimating both sides simultaneously.
For some, the hardest part of sublimation is using design software, so take time to learn these programs. Just knowing the basic navigation tools can save you time and headaches. Start small and build on your skill set.
Check with your distributor for available resources such as how-to videos, webinars, product templates and specs, design software tutorials and technical support.
There is no special formula for pricing sublimated goods. Start by figuring out your production costs. Always remember that a personalized item&#;s value depends on what it&#;s worth to the customer. &#;
Colin VanLint joined JDS Industries in fall , and currently works as a sublimation specialist. This article was updated on April 18, .
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