Heat Things up with Sefa Heat Presses

Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. Kittens and puppies. Some things just go together. Now, you can add Sefa and ChromaLuxe to that list of dynamic duos.

Sefa worked closely with the ChromaLuxe manufacturers to create the perfect heat presses for their high-end aluminum panels. The pneumatic system allows heat and pressure to disperse evenly during the sublimation process, which reduces ghosting and other challenges customers have experienced with other heat presses.

LexJet offers three presses to meet your dye-sublimation needs:

SLIDE 1285 – The SLIDE 1285 is a large-format, air-operated, manual-drawer press. The SLIDE 1285’s two independent heating areas make It suitable for sublimation on large-format textiles and large-format rigid substrates.

Applications: Sublimation to rigid substrates, textile sublimation, flex, and the SLIDE 1285 was created in a special partnership to work specifically with ChromaLuxe Aluminum panels.

SUBLI 1510+ – The SUBLI 1510+ is a large-format pneumatic press with two motorized drawer plates dedicated to textile and rigid substrate sublimation.

Applications: Sublimation to rigid substrates, textile sublimation, flex, and the SUBLI 1510+ was created in a special partnership to work specifically with ChromaLuxe Aluminum panels.

SUBLIMAXI 2513 – The SUBLIMAXI 2513 is our largest press model. It is suitable for large-format textile prints and large-format rigid substrates.

Applications: Sublimation to rigid substrates, textile sublimation, flex, and the SUBLIMAXI 2513 was created in a special partnership to work specifically with ChromaLuxe Aluminum panels.

Visit our Dye-sub library to see our complete line-up of dye-sub printers, inks, and accessories.

For more information on the new line of Sefa heat presses, contact a LexJet specialist at 800-453-9538 or visit our dedicated resource page.

10 Customer Print Projects that Inspired in 2019

From floor-to-ceiling murals to thought-proving graphics for a children’s art center, LexJet customers printed some awesome – and awe-inspiring – images in 2019. Here are a few examples of what our creative and innovative customers designed throughout the year:

University Brings Football History to Life with Extreme AquaVinyl When it was time for the University at Buffalo to celebrate 100 years of football history, Kris Miller turned to LexJet for help designing the 35-foot by 10-foot mural that was the centerpiece graphic. “I’m not a professional installer, so whatever I use has to be easy to work with and install,” Miller says. READ MORE

Mixing Up the Painting Process with Canvas & Coating Combining oil painting and wide-format printing, San Francisco photo retoucher Leonard Gordon has his Surrealist-style artwork printed on Sunset by Fredrix Canvas, then protected with Sunset Satin Coating. Then he added additional texture with oil paints. “That’s what’s giving the painting depth. It’s all about bringing out the color of the print itself,” he says. READ MORE

GeoJango Maps: Bringing the World (of Maps) to Everybody Debbie Dennison at GeoJango Maps is excited to share her passion for maps with the world. Using HP Everyday Instant-dry Satin Photo Paper on their HP printers, Dennison and the team did a tremendous amount of research before deciding which products to use. “We’ve done a lot of testing with different inks, printing methods, and materials, and we’ve found the right ones. The customers are thrilled with the results,” says Dennison. READ MORE

New Exhibit Takes Flight with Floor-to-Ceiling Murals Inspired by an over-sized book by James Audubon, Nel Fetherling at the Field Museum in Chicago wanted to “go big” for an exhibition showcasing Audubon’s 19th-century work. Fetherling and her team printed six 14-foot x 75-inch wall murals as well as one for the entryway using LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric. “The colors were so brilliant,” Fetherling says. “Our designer was skeptical, but after we printed it, she said the colors were almost better than the actual illustrations.” READ MORE

What They’re Saying: HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP – ‘It Really Shines’ Husband and wife team Rick and Connie Rhind Robey, of SpeedPro Imaging in Silver Spring, Md., had the opportunity to use HP Optimal Gloss Air GRP and HP Gloss Polymeric Overlaminate on storage spaces of downtown Kensington, Md., businesses. “I loved the high-quality look of the images,” Connie says. “It’s important that the final piece looks great and the artist loves it. It really shines in the high-end market place.” READ MORE

C’est Magnifique! Turning Antique French Postcards into Wall Art Photographer David Humphreys was tasked with turning old French postcards into 5-foot by 8-foot canvas murals for off-campus housing at Louisiana State University. Knowing he would need a 60-inch wide printer to accommodate the width of the images. Humphreys bought a Canon PRO-6000 and he’s pleased with the results. “The printer is incredible. It’s user-friendly and did a beautiful job,” he says. “Now I’m doing a lot of larger images for other people because of the 60-inch capability.” READ MORE

Artist Jonathon Romain Creates a Colorful World for Children Jonathon Romain and his wife purchased an old school in Peoria, Ill., to build the Romain Arts & Culture Community Center where they hosted their first summer program where kids could talk about issues that affect them and then create murals to present to the local school superintendent. “Each one of the children received a smaller framed copy of images to take home to their family and friends,” he says. READ MORE

Sunset Photo Metallic Paper Beats Aluminum for Gallery Exhibit Hollywood director Blair Hayes wanted to create a new exhibit called Light of Future Past, from his movie-site images. He originally set out to print them on brushed aluminum for a sleek, modern look, but the bright gallery lights bounced off the aluminum and muddied the colors. Turning to Chris Glassman at Casual Graphics for suggestions, they settled on Sunset Photo Metallic Paper. “They stated to me that if it weren’t for Casual Graphics, the show would not have happened due to the lighting issues,” says Glassman. “I must state that if it wasn’t for the LexJet media, I wouldn’t have been able to provide a cost-effective alternative solution to aluminum prints.” READ MORE

Bringing Children’s Books to Life with Wall Decals John Etienne of Wall Adventure, offers activity books with matching fabric wall decals that are ideal for children’s spaces. He prints the decals on LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric on his Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-Series PRO-4000S. “My customers love the products. The colors on the fabric are bright. The combination of printer and fabric is working well,” he says. READ MORE

Real Color Design Partners with EPSON for Marvel-ous Results Alex Costa, of Real Color Design in Torrance, Calif., works closely with Marvel, WB, DC Comics and other studios. With a customer base like that, there is no margin for error. To meet the demands of qualifying as an authorized print resource, Costa and his team work with a fleet of EPSON printers. “We’ve been with Epson since the beginning,” he says. “Currently, we use the SureColor F6200 (dye-sub), SureColor S80600 (solvent) and SureColor P10000 (aqueous)”. READ MORE

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the LexJet blog? Email us your projects and you could be featured in 2020!

The LexJet Experience: Bringing Applications to Life

The LexJet Experience was a success! Our open-house showcased equipment, RIP software and media applications for local customers. Representatives were on hand from Canon, EPSON and HP as well as GRAPHTEC, SignComp framing systems, Onyx and ImagePrint.

Set up on the third floor of the Sarasota, Fla. headquarters, the trade show-style event allowed LexJet customers the opportunity to discuss current technology, best practices and innovative applications with the vendors of their choice.

Vince Bejar, LexJet sales representative, had several customers in attendance. “They were excited about the opportunity to visit our office,” he says. “They enjoyed the hospitality and are looking forward to growing with our partnership.”

Timothy Mitchell, the resident expert in all things HP Latex, was available to discuss the best media to use with the latex printers, including his recent review of the new HP Prime Gloss Air GP.

With such an intimate setting, customers spent as much time as they needed with vendors. “I was happy about the way the customers engaged in conversations with everyone,” said HP Partner Business Manager, Frank DeMartino. “They had questions about specific applications for both the latex printers and the Z-series printers, and they wanted to learn more about the vertical trimmer on the Z9+.”

Craig Hellman, Senior Account Manager for Epson, agreed that customers were seeking solutions for unique applications. “There was a lot of interest in dye-sub printing,” Hellman said. “They want to know how to create promotional products, displays, signage and, of course, apparel.”

With Epson’s breadth of products, it wasn’t just the dye-sub applications that piqued their curiosity. “People are very interested in what the SureColor S-Series (solvent) printers can do. They asked about signage and display, but they also want to know about décor printing.”

As the day began winding down, everyone seemed to have the same question: “When are you going to do this again? This was a great learning experience.”

Given the positive feedback we’ve received, we look forward to doing another open house later this year. If you were in attendance, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact your LexJet sales representative at 800-453-9538, leave us a comment here on the blog, or visit our Facebook page.

Tradeshow Trends: How to Standout in a Crowd

There was a time when walking around a tradeshow was quite monotonous, not much creativity in the messaging or use of products from designers. Everyone was using flat graphics printed on paper – laminated for protection and glare-reduction, of course – displayed on a banner stand or two.

Times, audiences and products have changed, which means that tradeshow designers had to keep up with the demands of more sophisticated crowds. According to Statista, tradeshows are still one of the top activities for business-to-business marketing, generating nearly $13 billion in revenue in 2016.

If you’ve attended a tradeshow lately, you may have noticed that companies are building fully functional worlds on their plot of land on the convention floor. The reason for such a dramatic shift in attention-grabbing designs is because more than 80 percent of attendees are directly involved with purchasing decisions, according to Statista’s report.

Access to current print technologies such as latex and dye-sub allows for booth designers to expand their storytelling ideas, given such limited space and narrow window of time to capture the imagination of the attendees and draw them into the booth.

Many LexJet customers are using a variety of products and applications for tradeshows and we’ve included some of their favorites when it comes to producing show-stopping, conversation-inducing booths:

  • ChromaLuxe dye-sub aluminum panels boast beautiful photographic images to create décor or custom table tops where visitors relax and enjoy the artistry of the booth.
  • Graphics produced with latex-compatible EnduraFabTM textiles are lightweight and easy to install. EnduraFabTM Frontlit can be used to create banners or table skirts, or use EnduraFabTM Stretch in an SEG frame as an alternative to acrylic cardholders.
  • For soft, backlit graphics, HP Durable Backlit Fabric is another lightweight solution that creates crisp photographic images using latex technology.
  • The Avery Dennison MPI 2600 Series Wall Films can add texture and life to the temporary walls that dominate the tradeshow floor with graphics printed on eco-solvent or latex printers.

If you are looking for new products to explore, call your LexJet sales specialist at 800-453-9538 today.

New for Dye-Sub: InFuze™ Transfer Papers from LexJet

Transfer paper is a vital element in the dye-sublimation printing process, and any dye-sub printer knows. At LexJet, we’ve developed the InFuze™ line of dye-sub transfer papers with a proprietary microporous ink-receptive coating that handles and performs better than other papers on the market.

The microporous coating is different because when the ink is printed, it sits on top of the paper, rather than soaking into the paper, like other papers that are considered “swellable.” The LexJet InFuze™ line of papers won’t cockle the way others do, and it’s a lay-flat, fast-dry solution that makes transferring easier. The coating also helps to minimize ghosting of the image, even with heavy ink loads.

With the InFuze™ line, we’re offering four transfer papers that provide good imaging and easy release, and cover a wide range of substrate applications to optimize your dye-sub capabilities:

LexJet InFuze™ Multipurpose Dye Sublimation Paper: Ideal for transferring on flexible fabric or rigid substrates, like mugs, promotional items, banners, snowboards and more.

LexJet InFuze™ Textile Dye Sublimation Paper: Suitable for a wide range of flexible polyester fabrics for fast fashion, sportswear, banners, flags and other soft signage.

LexJet InFuze™ Apparel Dye Sublimation Paper: Made with a tacky surface that’s designed to prevent slippage between transfer paper and elastic-type textiles, like moisture-wicking, quick-dry performance sports apparel.

LexJet InFuze™ Rigid Substrate Dye-Sublimation Paper: Approved by ChromaLuxe® as an optimized transfer paper for metal panels used for wall art, table tops, high-end photo art and more.

Give one of our print specialists a call at 800-453-9538 to learn more about the advantages of these new papers. They can also help you discover the possibilities and new business opportunities that dye-sub printing offers. Visit our dye-sub page to learn more about the full dye-sub solution we offer, including printers, inks, transfer papers, ChromaLuxe® panels and heat presses.

Now Available at LexJet: FLEXA SUBLIMAX 170 & 170T Heat Calender for Dye-Sub Printing

We’ve added an integral piece of the dye-sublimation puzzle to our line-up: both the FLEXA Sublimax 170 and 170T (with table) are now available. These heat calenders offer an oil-heated drum design that ensures temperature uniformity for thermic transfer, resulting in high-quality and long-lasting printed fabric.

With three operating modes, the Sublimax 170 is suitable for high production (roll-to-roll), single piece (Sublimax 170T only) and “reactivation and fixing” of sublimated colors already printed directly on fabrics.

Versatile applications include:

  • Curtains and interior decorations such as cushions (high-volume)
  • Sports shirts and garments
  • Promotional items
  • Exhibition stands and shop decorations
  • Fashion, bags, purses
  • Flags

For more details, download this information sheet or watch the video above and call a LexJet representative at 800-453-9538 for personalized assistance.