Troubleshooting
Faded sublimation
A pale sublimation print is usually the blank, the time, or the heat. It is rarely bad luck. These are the causes the manufacturer guides actually name.
- The fabric is not polyester enough. Xpres say sublimation needs light-coloured polyester or a polymer coating, and will not work on cotton or dark garments. There is no white ink, so a navy shirt cannot show a pastel. A poly-cotton blend only dyes in the polyester fibres, so it looks speckled or washed out.
- The time belongs to a different blank. Sawgrass polyester fabric is 45 seconds. Their ceramic mug is 150–300 seconds. Their slate is 420 seconds. A slate pressed for a minute looks faded and the press was “right” for a photo panel. Use the hard blank table and the mug range.
- The two polyester charts were mixed. Sawgrass is 205°C for 45 seconds. Xpres is 190°C for 60–70 seconds. 190°C for 45 seconds is neither instruction. Pick one pair and test.
- The paper was the wrong way up, or not sublimation paper. The coated face carries the ink. A mirrored design on ordinary paper will not sublimate, however long you press it.
- The blank was not coated. Mugs, metal and MDF from a general shop are often bare. The Sawgrass rows assume sublimation blanks. A pale, dusty image on “aluminium” is usually missing polymer.
- Moisture diluted the dye. Pre-press the shirt. Heat Press Nation describe moisture flashing to steam and pushing dye about, which fades and blurs at the same time. Keep paper sealed.
- The platen is cooler than the dial. If every blank from a known-good batch is pale, measure or compare the press instead of adding a minute forever. Sawgrass say a calibrated press is part of getting their chart to work.
Colour management matters too. Sawgrass put it in the same sentence as the chart: suitable substrates, a calibrated press, smart colour management, testing and practice. A printer driver on “plain paper” will look weak even when the press is perfect. That is a printer setting, and it is outside a heat-press number.
When the image is strong but doubled, switch to ghosting. When the shirt is brown at the edges, switch to scorch.
Common questions
The paper looks brighter than the shirt. Is the press too cool?
Check the paper the other way round first. Xpres say the ink often looks duller on the paper and brighter after it is heated. Judge a pressed test, not the printout. If the pressed shirt is still pale, then look at time, temperature and fibre.
Can I sublimate darker by pressing twice?
A second press can move dye that is still in the paper, which is also how you ghost an image. If the first press was far too short, a careful second press on a taped sheet can add colour. If the blank is cotton, a second press adds nothing.