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Tom Cullen
09-09-2008, 10:51 AM
Hi all,
I've just started heat pressing ceramic tiles and have a question I hope someone can answer. I think things are going fairly well, I have set up the ICC profile as instructed for the Epson 1400 and print thru Corel 12 ( ICC set up also to print from within Corel ) . The problem I am having is this .... when I print up the transfer, the colors match just fine and the image is crisp and clear but when I press a tile the image becomes some what fuzzy , I would even say blurred? I have a DK 16x20 swing away, and press for 5 mins @ 400F. getting the pressure right was also a bit tricky , I wasted a bunch of tiles because I could detect little fractures on the polymer surface after pressing but think I have now resolved that? Am I expecting way too much in picture clarity after heat pressing? The difference is notable to me compared to the image I started with.

Thanks
Tom

Mike Null
09-10-2008, 6:49 AM
Tom

just a shot in the dark as I have never pressed tiles but it sounds like your transfer is not making good contact or is moving.

You might try putting a piece of the green foam (get it at the fabric store) on top of the transfer then increasing the press time until you're sure you've reached 400 degrees or whatever the paper mfr says you should use.

Heat presses are not known for their accuracy. You may also want to buy an infra red thermometer from Harbor Freight. The point and shoot kind. They were on sale last week for 39 bucks.