For most skateboard manufacturers,the modern way to transfer designs onto skate decks is sublimation heat transfer. Sublimation is the preferred choice for skateboards because the process embeds the design's ink into the wood through the use of heat and a polyester blend coating.

Before heat transferring,you should have some sufficient preparations.

HEAT TRANSFER PRESS

A kind of platen transfer press is suited and widely used for skate deck designs as well as other hard substrates like metal and ceramic tile.

INKJET PRINTER

Transfers that use sublimation inks are typically printed with a dedicated, piezo type ink-jet printer. Not all ink jets will accept sublimation inks,the brand most commonly used to create transfers for skate decks is an Epson,because it accept the use of specialty sublimation inks and tends to reproduce photographs better than most other print heads.

IMAGE SOFTWARE

In terms of image sources, you can opt to buy commercially made ones or create your own. As most skaters are DIY types,I'd suggest that you consider using a computer program like Adobe PhotoShop or CorelDraw to create your transfers.

You'll also need sublimation heat transfer paper, a bottle of polyester sublimation coating, special inks.

PROCESS

1.To create or upload your design by using the computer program.

2.To print your design onto the transfer paper when you are satisfied with it.

3.To apply the polyester sublimation coating and the transfer paper to your skateboard.

4.Finally to place the skate deck into the heat press and use it to embed the design into the board.

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