So this is our 1 st post in a series of dealing with Pizza Wheel marks in sublimation printing 

Pizza wheels are small dotted lines which can appear after printing, after pressing or both and are caused by the paper feed rollers at the front inside the printer 

This is a typical plastic feed roller

they are always located at the front and inside the printer - You also have metal feed rollers inside but generally speaking these don't cause any issues

The plastic feed rollers should not be be confused with ones that maybe seen outside when standing in front of the printer like below

Things that can attribute to these wheels marks and how you solve them are 

1 Printer settings - 

2 Image type and density 

3 Moisture

4 Paper type vs steps 1-3 above

Sublimation ICC profiles are created by scanning the media after sublimation for more accurate colours 

Why would you create an ICC profile from an item sublimated on polyester then use that profile when pressing on a different media type ?

A wider range of tones and closer match to the original colours is achieved by using an ICC profile created around the media type you are pressing  - custom icc profiles are better if you are trying to colour match a specific design.

ask yourself these questions

1:  If you have an icc profile what was it created from ?

2: Are you using it on the same or similar media type ?

3: Are you getting the best results you can from your current setup and supplies ?

Here are some examples of some images that have been sublimated onto products and then scanned into an image file

The source ICC profile was made on metal then we used this profile on other media types and then compared to an icc profile made around the specific media type.

The images do show what we expected - but please bear in mind these are sublimated scanned images - looks much better sitting here looking at the physical products.

TEST 1

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from polyester media on ceramic media

TEST 2

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from polyester media on an aluminium sheet

TEST 3

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from polyester on a cork / mdf item

Sublimation ICC profiles are created by scanning the media after sublimation for more accurate colours 

Why would you create and ICC profile from an item sublimated on metals then use that profile when pressing on a different media type ?

A wider range of tones and closer match to the original colours is achieved by using an ICC profile created around the media type you are pressing  - custom icc profiles are better if you are trying to colour match a specific design.

ask yourself these questions

1:  If you have an icc profile what was it created from ?

2: Are you using it on the same or similar media type ?

3: Are you getting the best results you can from your current setup and supplies ?

Here are some examples of some images that have been sublimated onto products and then scanned into an image file

The source ICC profile was made on metal then we used this profile on other media types and then compared to an icc profile made around the specific media type.

The images do show what we expected - but please bear in mind these are sublimated scanned images - looks much better sitting here looking at the physical products.

TEST 1 

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from metal media on ceramic media

On this one we are using a using a metal icc on a ceramic item and the most noticeable differences appear to be blues and blacks  when not utilising an icc made on the media type. 

TEST 2

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from metal media on a Polyester sheet

On this one we are using a using a metal icc on a polyester item and the most noticeable differences appear to be blues and blacks when not utilising an icc made on the media type. - 

TEST 3

For our colour test charts on this one we are using a using an icc profile created from metal on a cork / mdf item

On this one we are using a using a metal icc on a mdf / cork item and interesting very little difference except in the blacks which the cork icc on cork is closer to our original image.