6 Common Sublimation Printing Problems

& How to Fix Them

If you are a sublimation printing supplier, you may have come across one or more
hurdles, such as the transfers coming out dull, blurry, not vibrant, and so on.
Sublimation printing is the type of printing that requires continuous learning,
experimenting, and knowledge upgrade. It involves many other manufacturing
processes other than the usual printing process.

The more you train in this area, and the more you experience it, the more likely
you will face challenges and eventually overcome them. With the right approach
and understanding, you can quickly eliminate and avoid common sublimation
printing problems. In this guide, we have compiled some of the most frequent
sublimation printing problems, followed by the solutions to fix them. In the later
sections, we have also included the six most common sublimation printing
problems related explicitly to mugs and their solutions. Let’s start with the six
most common sublimation printing problems.

1. Image Ghosting

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Image ghosting looks like the second version of your transfer, slightly by the side
of your image. It seems like a shadow effect of your transfers. Ghosting generally
occurs when the sublimation transfer paper moves even slightly during the
sublimation process. This can happen at the time when you open or close your
heat press.

How to Fix?
We recommend you tape down your hard material substrates to the sublimation
paper. You can use thermal tapes for this purpose. If you’re printing on fabrics,
use adhesive spray to keep the paper intact. But, make sure that you remove the
transfer paper immediately after pressing. For sublimation, avoid using an
auto-open press. The issue with the open press is that generally, they tend to
open too fast. Now, this may cause a shift in the paper if you haven’t taped the
paper well. So, try not to use the auto-open press.

2. Less Vibrant Transfers

This is one of the most general problems faced by sublimation printing suppliers.
The transfers come out less vibrant than expected. There could be a number of

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reasons for this. The sublimation paper has two different sides. The side that you
are supposed to print is typically bright white. The other side is generally
off-white. Make sure you’re printing on the correct side, i.e., the bright white one.
If you are printing with a sawgrass virtuoso SG400, the bright white side will load
face-down in the tray. This could be a sawgrass sg400 color issue too.

What is the Sawgrass SG400 Color Issue?

You need to ensure that you are printing through the custom print drivers. These
custom print drivers have color correction programs built into the print control
system. The color correction happens at the print driver stage. They are generally
easier and less technical to use than an ICC profile.

Sawgrass offers a Print Manager for its printers, making it easier to get great
color output with CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and many
more. So, make sure you use the correct color correction program to avoid this
issue.

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3. Getting Previously Transferred Image on New
blank Transfer
This is also a common issue as sublimation ink has the tendency to bleed onto
the bottom and top platen of your press during heat transfer.

How to Fix it?

You can fix this by preventing the sublimation ink from getting onto your top and
bottom platen. You can use Teflon wrap or Teflon sheets for each platen. Teflon is
completely reusable, and you only have to wipe away the excess ink after each
press. Another alternative is to use silicone-treated sheets. Make sure you
discard these sheets after use.

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4. Banding
Banding is a common problem among all digital inkjet printing systems. Banding
looks like lines of missing ink on the printout. It can happen due to clogged print
head nozzles and streaks of missing ink on the printout. Banding can also occur
if the ink dries inside the print heads.

How to Fix it?

You can prevent Banding simply by maintenance. Banding issues generally occur
if you are not regularly using the printers. If you print regularly, you are unlikely to
face any banding issues. The best way to deal with this is to prevent the ink from
running out dry. You can use the head cleaning function of the printres to prevent
the ink from running dry. Some printers need to do this manually, while in others,
this function is automatic. Lastly, make sure you have plenty of ink in your
machine.

5. Blurry and Faded Images

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Image fading can usually occur because of the excess of external factors such as
time, temperature, pressure, etc. You can prevent it by double-checking the
recommended settings of your sublimation blanks. Double-check the temperature
of the top platen on your press and make sure that it equals the stated
temperature. For this, you can use heat strips.

Image blurring may occur because your substrate received too much
time/temperature in the heat press. The image starts to bleed out because of this
excess. You can simply resolve it by reducing the time and attempting to print
again.

6. Small Dots in the Transfer

Small dots can occur on the output or the finished product due to the presence of
excess moisture. You need to get all the moisture out before you print it.

How to fix it?

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You can fix this issue simply by pre-pressing the substrates to get the moisture
out. Then, let the substrate cool down for some time. After that, place your
transfer on and press like normal.

Checklist to Prevent Sublimation Mug Issues

Sublimation mug issues are very common and faced by almost all the suppliers,
at least the ones performing it for the first time. The most common issues include
the faded, blurry and undesirable outcomes. So, what to do when you start
getting less than desirable results? Here’s a checklist for you:

● Sometimes the sublimation black mug looks brown. This can mean that
you’re over-pressing the mug. This means that the ink is gassing out and
spreading over the area more than it should. Thus, the black color appears
brownish.
● Another common issue is that yellow shading appears on the mug. This
means that you are actually using inkjet ink instead of sublimation ink.
Sublimation ink is essential to sublimate onto mugs.
● If the sublimation black looks green, the issue must be that you’re
under-pressing the mug. Make sure you apply just the right amount of
pressure to sublimate a mug.

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 ● Sometimes when the quality of the image on the mug is poor, check
whether the actual image quality is poor or not. Most of the time this is the
case. We recommend setting a DPI of 300 for sublimation printing.
● Besides that, make sure you’re using the correct time, temperature, and
pressure for the mug press, as discussed in the above sections of this
guide.
So, this was all about sublimation problems, common issues, and how to avoid
them. The mug sublimation process is a tricky one as it requires accuracy and
has a lot of things to take care of. For any other questions related to sublimation
printing, mug sublimation, sublimation print equipment, and so on, you can
check out our information station or directly contact our experts.

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