A nasty sublimation ink stain occupying the platen of a heat-press is enough to drive any printer out of his mind. As annoying as the stain looks, you can not just scrub the ink stain off with cleaning soaps and wipes.
Do not fret, as nasty as it looks, the damage of a sublimation ink stain is not irreversible. Even though an ink stain on a heat press is quite stubborn, there is still a simple remedy that you can try to get the sublimation ink off.
If done properly, this method does give a successful result in lifting the sublimation ink stain from your heat press. Instead of keeping you waiting with the stained platens of your heat-press, let’s start discussing how you can get the sublimation ink off.
How To Get Sublimation Ink Off Heat Press
With the following steps, you will be able to get rid of the stubborn sublimation ink spot from your heat press.
Items Required
The best method of cleaning a sublimation ink stain off a heat press is to first start by gathering all the items that you require on your workstation. First, you will need a clean cloth or towel, a degreaser spray, a rubber spatula, and a sheet of parchment paper.
Procedure
Step 1
Now that you have all of your equipment lined up on your table, it is time for you to get to work. Make sure that the heat press is turned off. A technical point to keep in mind here is that the heat press should be turned off, but it should not be cold. If you start removing the sublimation ink mark right after the incident took place, the heat press would still be slightly warm, and that is the perfect temperature that we want to work with.
Step 2
Take the degreaser spray and spritz some onto the platen, at the sublimation ink spot. Make sure that you spray directly at the ink spot. After spraying, start wiping it off with the help of the rubber spatula. If you do not have a rubber spatula, you can make one by wrapping a soft cloth over any wooden spatula or spoon. However, in the case of a makeshift spatula, you need to make sure that you do not apply too much force. Exerting force may result in the platen of your heat press getting damaged. Keep spraying the degreaser, and then wipe it off with the spatula.
Step 3
After that, you need to spray some degreaser again, and this time, wipe it off with a towel. Make sure that you are using a soft towel. Repeat this process 3 to 4 times, till you are sure that you have removed all the ink.
Step 4
After you have cleaned all the degreaser with the towel, then turn the heat press on. Take the sheet of parchment paper and place it between the two platens of the heat press. Push the top platen down with force, and lock the heat press. Hold the top platen down for a couple of seconds, and then push it back up again. This shows whether the degreaser removed all of the sublimation ink from the heat press or not.
If you see ink on the parchment paper, then you need to wipe the platen again with the degreaser and towel. Keep repeating the process till you get rid of all the sublimation ink that was occupying your heat press. If you do not see any ink stain on the parchment paper, then you have successfully removed all of the sublimation ink from the heat press.
Conclusion
No matter how careful you are, there will always be moments when you accidentally get some sublimation ink on your heat-press. Instead of losing your cool, take a deep breath as I have shared a simple method in the article above that will help you get the ink off.
I’m Henry Collins and living my happy life. I’m a professional businessman and I own and run 6 Heat Pressing Services stores where I provide my clients with custom Designs on hats, mugs, T-Shirts and a lot more using Heat Press Machine. Been using a heat press for the last 4 years and people love my work. As I’ve got enough information on Heat Press I decided to make a blog on it and share my knowledge with the world. I hope, the world will appreciate it.