Hilton Imaging Solutions, Inc.

Times, Temperatures & Metals

A sublimated piece of metal which hasn't been "fully cooked" will have splotches, small areas of white or light-colored blobs. An "overcooked" sublimated plate will be dark and have filled-in characters. A "correctly exposed" image is absolutely stunning.

Sublimation begins to occur at around 325 degrees F. Dyes are turned into gasses and they enter the heated polyester surface of the metal or other substrate. Gasses are released fasted with increased temperature, so a correct exposure will require more time at 325 than at 350 or 400.

For example, a correct exposure might be 40 seconds at 350 degrees F, but you could obtain the same correct exposure at 15 seconds at 400 degrees F. The difference is the correct 15 second exposure will have splotches at 14 seconds and start to get dark at 16 seconds. But the 40 second exposure will look pretty much the same at 39 or 43 seconds. So a long run of the same image will probably turn out better at lower temperatures, if humans are involved.

Generally, for SubToners for the HP 4500 on metals we recommend 350 F for 40 seconds. However, metals do vary quite a bit in terms of sensitivity. We use a sublimation stock from Main Trophy for our samples and testing.

DynaSub is quite different. It has an extremely sensitive coating. For gold, silver, and white Dynasub we recommend 400 F for 10 seconds. Long pressing times with lower temperatures don't work well with DynaSub.

Also, for white DynaSub, it may be necessary to change the black (K) calibration to -3 on the printer to prevent an overly dark image.

In general, the sensitivity of a coating shows up most in the absorption of black (K) sublimation gasses. Some metals will require a printer calibration of (K) -2 or -3.

These times and temperatures are offered as starting points only since equipment varies. Try a sample at the suggested time/temperature, and if it has splotches add a few seconds and try again.