Black and white photo

[Keith Outten]

I think I have mentioned before that the large heat press I have is very old. It's a 24" by 30" press and it heats up very slow which I expect had been to my benefit when dye-sublimating Corian. Most of the time I place my Corian substrate in the press cold and then turn on the press. This provides a very slow rise in temperature which saturates the Corian material over a period of probably 45 minutes. I still experience some minor cupping when I remove the piece from the press but I always prepare a flat surface with a top cover material and plenty of clamps for large projects before I start the process. Small jobs are normally clamped between two pieces of whatever is handy with C clamps at the corners. I also have been known to leave the blank in the press and turn it off allowing it to cool down much slower which also uses the press to keep it perfectly flat. The paper will stick to the Corian surface big time this way but I found a way to deal with that problem, basically saturating the paper with solid surface polish and use a plastic spatula to remove the bulk of the paper. I use an ROC sander with a white 3M Scotchbrite pad to finish the surface.

Steve, I'm using the Sawgrass Powerdriver. It came with my Ricoh printer so it is all I have but i admit that so far I am not impressed. I'm not familiar with the new setup yet though, can't find the time lately to use it as much as I would like to.

I have an opportunity to purchase a new best press and dye-sub printer for the sign shop at CNU coming up. If I decide to purchase from Conde I will get the opportunity to use their driver.

I have a home project scheduled for today but I plan to get my Corian blanks and prints ready tonight so I can run them tomorrow. I will be using both half inch and quarter inch thick Corian so I will have some information on the thin stuff to share as well.
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[Larry Bratton]

Keith
Would you still leave the 1/4" in for 20 minutes or less since it's thinner

[Scott Shepherd]

Keith, I think you'll find the Conde way of doing things superior to the power driver. You don't have to buy from them to use their stuff. You just have to be a customer with an account, I think, to access their downloads. They are a great company and always willing to help get things set up.

Our primary dye subbing requires matching pantone colors. Trying to do that with the power driver was all but impossible. The swatch set that they have is so limited, I'd have to sell my dye sub setup and get out of the business, because I'd look like an idiot to my customers. David got me all set up and I can come very close to pantone colors now with his method, and all my full color stuff looks great with the Conde way. I'd stop using dye sub if I had to go back to the power driver way.

[Larry Bratton]

Keith, I think you'll find the Conde way of doing things superior to the power driver. You don't have to buy from them to use their stuff. You just have to be a customer with an account, I think, to access their downloads. They are a great company and always willing to help get things set up.

Our primary dye subbing requires matching pantone colors. Trying to do that with the power driver was all but impossible. The swatch set that they have is so limited, I'd have to sell my dye sub setup and get out of the business, because I'd look like an idiot to my customers. David got me all set up and I can come very close to pantone colors now with his method, and all my full color stuff looks great with the Conde way. I'd stop using dye sub if I had to go back to the power driver way.

That's coz David Gross is a professional printer guy and he knows what he is doing. He will not let customers set up their own drivers and profiles, he did mine personally, and I am eternally grateful. That's probably out of self defense, it saves them a lot of time troubleshooting new installations, where people have installed them and just simply don't know how. I consider myself to be pretty computer savvy, but no way could I have set this thing up the way he did it. It works like a top too. Exactly what my future with Ricoh printers and Sawgrass inks is going to be remains to be seen, but I will remain loyal to Conde as far as I can.

[Larry Bratton]

Ken & Keith- thank you for the advice. I'll see how I come out with the 1/4"