In the field of personalized customization and industrial printing, printing bright, high-definition and realistic patterns on various items is a core demand. Amid the prevalence of various 3D printing technologies, how does the vacuum machine from Dongguan Prosub Technology gain favor from customers at home and abroad with its unique processes and excellent results? Today, we will conduct an in-depth analysis from aspects of principle, application scenarios, advantages and more!
What is a Vacuum Machine?
A vacuum machine is a specialized equipment that uses vacuum negative pressure technology to make sublimation film closely adhere to the surface of 3D/curved objects, then heats and sublimes to transfer patterns on the film to the items.
It needs to be used with sublimation film and sublimation blanks. Under heating and vacuum conditions, dyes directly convert from solid to gas state, penetrate and solidify on the object surface, thereby achieving bright, permanent and high-definition printing results.
Note: The vacuum machine can only be used with sublimation film. This is because sublimation film has extensibility and flexibility, while sublimation paper lacks stretchability and is not suitable for this equipment.
Application Fields of Vacuum Machines
field of curved hard blanks
The vacuum machine has an extremely wide range of applications. It solves the long-standing problem of full-color printing on curved and special-shaped objects in the printing industry. Now it is mainly used to process items with complex curved surfaces/3D shapes, such as daily necessities like phone cases, earphone cases, dinner plates, and keycaps.
Types of Vacuum Machines and Applicable Items
1. 1-Slot Vacuum Machine
Sublimation Film size: 240x148mm (A5)
Applicable items: Phone cases, four-piece earphone cases, Apple Tracker, power bank shells, Airmax Cases, sublimation keycaps
Suitable for: Hobbyists, individual sellers or startups with small-batch production needs, enabling precise production with zero threshold.
2. 2-Slot Vacuum Machine
Sublimation Film size: 210x297mm (A4)
Applicable items: Phone cases, four-piece earphone cases, comb shells, power bank shells, Airmax Cases, Apple Tracker, sublimation keycaps
Suitable for: Small studios (custom production) or gift shops (personalized gift processing), an ideal choice for small-batch flexible production.
3. 4-Slot Vacuum Machine
Sublimation Film size: 420x297mm (A3 standard version)
Applicable items: Phone cases, four-piece earphone cases, comb shells, Apple Tracker, power bank shells, Airmax Cases,sublimation keycaps, Macbook Cases
Suitable for: Medium-scale production scenarios, easily meeting the batch production needs of small to medium-sized workshops.
4. 6-Slot Vacuum Machine
Sublimation Film size: 709x320mm
Applicable items: Phone cases, four-piece earphone cases, power bank shells, Airmax Cases, Apple Tracker,sublimation keycaps
Suitable for: Factories with large-scale printing production, capable of flexibly and efficiently producing multiple small items or one complex large item.
5. Keycaps Vacuum Machine
Designed specifically for keyboard brands and DIY enthusiasts. Whether creating serialized products or limited-edition designs, it can match the required quality and efficiency.
Advantages of Sublimation Vacuum Machines
Compared with traditional printing methods,sublimation vacuum machines have the following advantages:
Overcoming curved surface printing challenges: Vacuum technology allows sublimation film to perfectly wrap and adhere to various complex curved/3D items, ensuring seamless extension of patterns from edges to centers, achieving full coverage without dead angles, and making the finished product and pattern integrate naturally.
Realistic and delicate transfer effect: The transfer process can reproduce every detail of the image with meticulous precision, resulting in bright colors and smooth transitions of printed items, ultimately achieving photo-level visual texture.
High efficiency, output and quality: Some models (4-slot, 6-slot) have strong production adaptability. They can complete the transfer of multiple small items at one time or process one large item with a complex curved surface at a time, well balancing the requirements for efficiency and flexibility in commercial production.
Differences Between Vacuum Machines and Flat Heat Press Machines
heat press machines are another common transfer machine. They are essentially different from vacuum machines in working principle and applicable items.
Working Principle
Vacuum machine: Works in a vacuum and high-temperature environment, using molecular penetration to allow dyes to penetrate into the object in gas state to complete printing.
Flat heat press machine: Works in a high-temperature and pressure environment, directly applying physical pressure through two upper and lower flat plates to iron patterns on thermal transfer paper onto the object surface.
Applicable Items
Vacuum machine: Excels at printing 3D items with complex curved surfaces, such as earphone cases, phone cases, dinner plates, keycaps and other 3D curved items.
Flat heat press machine: Suitable for printing flat or nearly flat items, such as canvas bags, puzzles, pillowcases, T-shirts and other items.
Pressure Method
Vacuum machine: Adopts uniform negative pressure, applying pressure evenly from all directions to ensure 100% full-width printing of items.
Flat heat press machine: Adopts vertical physical pressure, and the uniformity of printing depends on the flatness of the plates themselves and the items.
Usage Process of Vacuum Machines
- Edit patterns on a computer and print them onto sublimation film using an Epson printer.
- Place the item into the designated fixture and lay the printed film on top of the item.
- Set the vacuum machine to 130°C for 360 seconds.
- Take out the printed item after the vacuum machine finishes working.
Supported image formats: 300DPI PSD/AI/JPG.
Recommended printer: Epson 4880C inkjet printer.
Advantages of Prosub’s Vacuum Machines
- With 15 years of experience in the vacuum equipment field, we have a mature and complete technical system and a team of experienced experts. All equipment in the company’s product line is independently developed, with complete independent intellectual property rights and core technologies. This not only ensures the excellent performance of products but also provides customers with professional after-sales maintenance in a timely manner.
- Our vacuum machinehas passed CE and FCC international certifications, featuring safety, reliability, stability and compatibility. It ensures stable operation of the equipment even in complex industrial environments, providing solid support for customers’ high-end manufacturing and precision production.
- We offer customized services for vacuum equipment, committed to transforming customers’ demand concepts into reliable exclusive equipment. Our engineering team will conduct 1v1 docking with customers to ensure the precise development of customized equipment and help customers achieve the successful implementation of customized products.
👉Contacts us:https://www.prosub-sublimation.com/contact-us/
