Images_Digital_Edition_March_2020

www.images-magazine.com 28 images MARCH 2020 TIPS & TECHNIQUES Grant Cooke, product manager at Xpres, answers the key questions surrounding sublimation printing and advises on how to get started have been updated to allow the thicker sublimation gel ink to flow through them. There is a wide range of sublimation printers available, from A4 desktop units up to wide- and grand-format machines, which have a print width of up to 5m, with many configurations in between, such as A3, 24”, 44” and 64”. The wider format printers have a greater choice of ink configurations depending on the main substrates being printed; however, entry-level desktop printers allow for printing onto all substrates with commercially viable quality too and are a great choice to start with. You’ll only really need the larger printers if the scale of your business warrants this kind of investment. Make sure you speak to an expert before purchasing any printer to ensure the machine will meet your specific needs. Next, you need a heat press to transfer the inks from the paper onto the substrate. These can be flat-bed presses, like those used for garment printing (eg heat transfer vinyl and laser) or cylindrical presses for bottles, mugs, etc. The flat-bed heat presses should ideally be swing-style presses, as these give the most reliable pressure on all areas of the press. A clam press would also be sufficient, although there tends to be greater pressure at the back near the hinge than at the front. Potentially, this could lead to noticeable colour gradient shifts on blocks of colour. A pneumatic press will deliver the most consistent pressure, as the pressure can be set the same and is not reliant on ‘feel’. S ublimation is a printing procedure for transferring full-colour graphics or photographs onto a wide selection of products. These products need to be either made from polyester or feature a polyester coating. The inks are then set into the product, almost like a tattoo. A sublimation print cannot be felt on the surface of the material you’re printing on. Sublimation printing utilises specific water-based dye inks and a release paper that, under heat, transfers the image from the paper onto a polyester textile or sublimation specific substrate. The process takes the ink from a liquid when printed, to a solid on the paper, to a gas under heat, and then to a solid again when infused into the printable substrate or fabric. The benefits of using sublimation for printing include the relatively low initial investment costs involved, the huge range of printables available for this type of printing, its suitability for more intricate designs and the simplicity of the process. What equipment is required? A sublimation-specific printer is required for the process. Depending on the size of product you want to produce, a sublimation small-format set-up should be sufficient. A common misconception is that the desktop printers are the same as home office printers; in actual fact, the printers’ ink lines and internals Grant Cooke Industry experts provide insight and guidance in all areas of digital garment and textile printing Digital helpdesk Sublimation-ready garments by Vanilla at Xpres