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Article originally appeared on the website for
P&I News,
June 2000. This article mentions how Wes Hoekstra, the inventor of the Incredible Machine, was involved decades ago in making machines of incredible speed and resolution. |
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Sublimation as a process True sublimation is a
process where images are transferred using a dye from a printed “transfer” to a
variety of materials by heat. Other types of transfers, using wax or normal
inkjet inks, are sometimes confused with sublimation because they can also be
used to transfer images to some materials using heat. However, true sublimation
is a dying process that works best on synthetic materials. Since sublimation dyes
work on synthetic materials, they will work on synthetic fabrics and hard-goods
that have been coated with a sublimation-receptive coating. They will not dye
ceramic cups or tiles, metal, plastic, or wood that doesn’t have a receptive
coating. What we didn’t know
when we made our initial evaluation, is that there are at least two different
types of coatings for hard goods, soft and hard. Soft-coatings sublimate
quickly, but have little resistance to harsh environments, like dishwashers. If
the coating is washed away, the image goes with it. Hard coatings take more
heat and time to sublimate, but are much more resistant to abrasive
environments. The soft-coated cups we
tested that were inkjet sublimated lasted only 3 months in normal use in a
dishwasher. We later had the opportunity to test hard-coated inkjet sublimated
cups and found no deterioration in the image after more than a year of
dishwasher use.
Sublimation inks are
solids that, when heated, bypass the liquid stage. They go directly from a
solid to a gas. It’s this gas, which dyes the material. To sublimate a
substrate, you first print a transfer. The transfer contains the sublimation
solids. The transfer is then heated, while being pressed against the material to
be dyed. It’s important to realize that sublimation inks are not liquid, they
may be suspended in a liquid to allow them to flow through an inkjet printer,
for example. However, the business part of the ink, is in fact a solid. History of sublimation
When electrostatic
printing became affordable in copying machines and laser printers, it wasn’t
long before toner cartridges containing sublimation solids appeared on the
market. This equipment is normally used to create single color or limited color
transfers. Recent innovations in color copiers and laser printers, have
permitted the creation of full color transfers using this method.
Another method that has
been around for a while, and is quite economical, is printing transfers using
offset presses and special inks. This method lends itself to large full-color
runs and has been successfully competing with screen-printing in the ad
specialty market where full-color images are required.
Within the last few
years, sublimation inks have become available for inkjet printers. Using a
relatively inexpensive printer you can now produce full-color transfers. In
addition, many companies are now producing coated hard-good products for
sublimation. This is where the greatest promise lies for the personalization
store, and is the area we’ll be exploring. John McDaniel
is the owner of JHM Marketing in Albany, OR, a supplier of engraving software
and services as well as system integration and training. With his wife Judy, he
also owns and operates Moments Remembered, a retail personalized gift shop in
Sisters and Albany, OR. He is a regular columnist for Graphics Pro
magazine and others, focusing on hardware design, software reviews, sublimation,
laser engraving, and sandblasting from a user’s view. He can be reached at
541-967-4271, or email to jhmcdaniel@earthlink.net.
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