I sometimes have my name badges come out with a brown black plugged type. I'm currently trying to do some that have full color backgrounds where the color comes out faded and the white type isn't showing much at all. (using gloss FB)

First I tried my settings the same as I normally do. Then I tried giving them more time, then slightly more heat and it came out slightly better. For some reason I can't get these things to come out the way they should. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

David,

I'm using an Epson 1280 with ArTainium™ UV+ ink.

thank you!

Linda,

More questions:

1) What kind of transfer paper are you using?

2) How old is the ink?

3) Is this "problem child" a new image, or is it one you've had success with in the past?

Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) has a definite window of opportunity, in that, too much time or heat will cause a blurry image.

I'm questioning the age of your ink, because, despite the (sometimes) blurry image, FRP is an excellent dye receptor and will usually render a good black image.

Because of "dot gain" or diffusion, which is a normal occurrence with sublimation, if you're trying to place white (clear) lettering, on a full-color background, use a bold typeface, which after the background encroaches on the lettering, will appear as more of a regular line width.

Using your "eyedropper" tool, "sample" the black part of the image, to see if it's, indeed, black.

With our recent run of 1500 small plates, after it started saying the near new ink cartridge was empty it did something similar.

We had printed out over 1000 with solid very black letters.

I hooked up a different identical printer and the all black text printed about 10 times faster, only a few seconds per page rather than the usual minute or to.

Sounded great at the time and the printed transfer looked black enough.
Actually the finished pressed items didn't look bad, but when placed beside the first ones they did look brownish instead of dark black.

I think the settings got reset to a lower resolution. It was the last of the run and I didn't have time to test it again. In epson it may be listed as something like photo, best photo,draft, text,. If it worked before, sometimes there is a button that says restore defaults.

There is also a dropdown box for choosing the type of paper which will make a difference.

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