Pre-coating for sublimation transfers onto ceramic

A. Hi, folks. According to coating consultant Carl Izzo, Nov. 2005, in Products Finishing magazine: two-component polyester coatings are suggested. For small jobs, polyester casting and coating resins are available from craft stores. For larger projects, mix the components and use a conventional spray gun (using it up quickly and cleaning the equipment because of the short shelf life) or use a two-head spray gun. I have no personal experience in this though.

We apologize but we had to delete some helpful replies ( huh? why?). When one reader suggested a source, other manufacturers felt that they needed to add not just their "us too", but their "we're better than the other guys". Sorry but we can't encourage a ridiculous race to the bottom spamfest by suggesting vendors and sources.

Regards,

A. The answer is simple and it will solve all your coating problems. Go to your local automotive paint supplier and buy the best white primer and matching clearcoat and that is all you need. Let it dry for 24 hours or bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees and you are ready to sublimate on any surface, porous or non-porous.

Thanks Wilfredo!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Mix acetone [affil link on Ebay & Amazon] (maximum 10%) with Polyester resin and apply onto Ceramic mug/tile. Dry naturally and then bake at 200 °C.

A. Automotive clearcoat will resist water and sun, but I'm not sure if your sublimation ink will resist the sun.

Nothing lasts forever, and paint is only paint. If a few people walked on it in socks it would probably be okay, but in a high traffic area it will probably scratch and wear away quickly.
Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Hi Andreanne. Maybe someone else will give you justification to do this, but my opinion, quoted from other threads on this site is:

Regards,

A. Hi Jim. I do neither sublimation coating nor auto painting so I'd only be guessing -- but I'd bet that almost any employee of any body repair shop can answer :-)

Regards,

A. Hi Tania. I know this is confusing to people but there are both single-component and two-component resin coating systems.

An example of a single component coating is typical latex or oil-based house paint or wall paint. The solvent evaporates or dries; everything that is needed is contained in the single-can of paint except possibly a 'thinner' like acetone.

An example of a two-component resin is your typical "epoxy" glue where two tubes of stuff are mixed together. The one tube might be called the base or sometimes "part A", and the other tube might be called hardener, or catalyst, or sometimes "part B". Without the hardener or catalyst the base will remain a syrupy glop that never dries -- because the hardening depends upon a chemical reaction between the two parts, not simple evaporation.

I think the answer to your question is that the "acetone plus polyester" recipe is for a single component resin; it's not suggesting that you can use acetone in place of the catalyst hardener in a two-component claearcoat. I suspect that if you tried that it would remain a syrupy glop whether air-dried or baked.

Regards,

A. Hi Samuel. More words please! I don't know (and don't think anybody else does either) whether you are looking for a coating service who will coat your tiles for you, or a commercial precoat liquid you can buy and apply yourself, or a formula to experiment to try to make your own precoats, or instructions on how to prep the ceramic and do the process, or what. Thanks.

Regards,

A. Hi Sue. I don't know what 'cheat sublimating' is, or if that was a typo for 'cheap' or something else. You can certainly paint wood and boards with high temperature paint -- not necessarily 'radiator paint', but maybe 'engine paint'.

Getting good adhesion onto ceramic tile is not easy because the surface is very deliberately designed to be glass-like with no absorption and no tooth. I'd suggest starting with studying this thread, then maybe googling 'painting ceramic tile' to get some hints on necessary sanding and primers; there are a lot of good instructions and videos.

If you have had 'really good' results sublimating onto tile except for the background color showing through, please take the time to tell Joneth what he's doing wrong. Each previous question left unanswered is one more thing distracting/delaying each reader's focus from helping you with your problem :-)

Luck & Regards,