This is the sublimation time and temperature chart our production team uses for Photo USA blanks, covering 20 blank types from ceramic mugs to photo slates. These are settings for ORCA-coated blanks, not figures collected from around the internet. Temperatures fall into three bands, from 350°F to 400°F, and what changes most between products is time, pressure and method. Press one unit from every new case before running the order.

How to Read This Chart

Short answer: If you only remember one thing, most sublimation blanks press between 370°F and 400°F. Start around 370°F for mugs and other drinkware and around 400°F for flat blanks in a flat press, then use the chart below for the time on each product.

Pick the row for your blank, set the temperature, and start at the low end of the time range. Thick, dense blanks take longer. Thin, conductive blanks take less.

The dye does not care what it is printed on. Sublimation ink turns to gas in a narrow band of heat every time. What changes from product to product is how long the object underneath takes to reach that heat and hold it.

That is why a metal board finishes in about a minute and a photo slate needs several. There is very little to heat in a thin sheet of aluminum. There is a great deal to heat in a piece of rock.

Four notes before the table.

Real temperature, not controller temperature. For ceramic and glass mugs, metallic mugs and water bottles, the setting is the real temperature at the surface of the item. Controllers drift and heating elements lose heat to the room, so the number on the display is not necessarily the number at the mug. If results are inconsistent across a batch, check the element with a surface thermometer before adjusting anything else.

Where you see "up to", start shorter. Nine blanks in this chart now press at 400°F. Their times come from settings built for a lower temperature, so treat the listed time as the upper limit. Begin below it, check the print, and add time only if the colors come out light.

Mirror the image, with three exceptions. Almost every blank is printed mirrored. Sublimation glass frames, glass cutting boards and sublimation crystal are printed without mirroring, because the image is viewed through the glass from the other side.

Pressure is not one setting. Medium for most things, high for metal boards, and deliberately light for aluminum and stainless steel water bottles. A thin walled bottle under heavy pressure deforms, and the deformation shows up in the print as a band of uneven color.

The Full Sublimation Time and Temperature Chart

Short answer: 20 blank types. Nine at 400°F, seven at 365 to 390°F, and four at 350°F.

Settings apply to ORCA-coated Photo USA blanks and are based on the 2026 Photo USA catalog, updated by our production team. All temperatures and times in this chart are recommended starting settings, not fixed rules.

Drinkware: Mugs, Bottles, Bowls and Shot Glasses

Short answer: Ceramic mugs and water bottles at 365 to 390°F for 120 to 180 seconds. Bowls and shot glasses at the same temperature for 17 minutes in an oven or heater.

Drinkware is where most shops start and where most of the expensive mistakes happen, because a curved surface gives you more ways to go wrong than a flat one.

Ceramic and glass mugs run at 185 to 200°C, which is 365 to 390°F, for 120 to 180 seconds. If your mug press has a single setting, 370°F is a reliable place to begin. The range exists because an 11 oz mug and a 20 oz jumbo are not the same amount of ceramic. Start at the lower end for standard sizes and work up. This is a real temperature, which matters more on mug presses than anywhere else, since the element wraps the mug and loses heat to the room continuously. If you are still deciding which sizes to carry, our wholesale coffee mug guide covers case quantities and pricing.

Metallic mugs stay at 180°C / 350°F for 120 to 150 seconds. Metal conducts heat faster than ceramic, which is why the time range is a little shorter.

Water bottles are the one place the chart tells you to back off the pressure. Aluminum and stainless walls are thin, and a bottle squeezed out of round in the press stays out of round. A design more than 10 cm taller than the heater needs a silicone wrap rather than a straight press, and the plastic cover comes off first. Stainless bottles printed with a wrap in an oven use a separate setting, 190°C / 390°F for 420 seconds. Bottle sizes and case counts are in our water bottle guide.

Pet bowls and shot glasses both press at 365 to 390°F for 1020 seconds, which is 17 minutes. That is the longest cycle in the range and it changes the economics of the product: you are not pressing these one at a time between other jobs, you are batching them. For shot glasses, keep thermal tape away from the gold rim. The glassware size guide lists capacities for every shot glass we carry.

Flat Hard Substrates: Tiles, Slates, Glass and Metal

Short answer: Most of this group now presses at 400°F. Time runs from under a minute for metal to as long as 10 minutes for stone.

Nothing demonstrates the thermal mass principle better than putting these next to each other.

Three operational details in this group are easy to miss and expensive to rediscover.

Face up or face down. Tiles, ornaments and glass frames press with the printed side facing up. Photo slates press with the image face down. Getting this backwards does not produce a faint print, it produces nothing.

The no-mirror group. Glass frames, glass cutting boards and crystal are printed without mirroring. All three are viewed through the glass, so the image is reversed by the material itself.

Preheating. Crystal is preheated face down for 2 to 3 minutes before the actual press. Glass frames 10 mm thick get a 2 minute face down preheat. Skipping the preheat on thick glass is the usual reason a crystal award comes out with a washed out center and sharp edges.

For case quantities on these, see our photo slate guide and puzzle, tile and frame guide.

Ornaments, Puzzles, Keychains and Small Items

Short answer: All 400°F. Puzzles 45 to 90 seconds, keychains up to 60 seconds, ceramic ornaments 150 to 360 seconds with both sides at once.

Ceramic ornaments press printed side up with both faces done in the same cycle. The range is wide because a 3 inch round and a large doily ornament are very different amounts of ceramic. Start at 150 seconds on the small shapes. Shapes and case counts are in our ornament guide.

Puzzles share one setting across paper, felt, fabric and hardboard. The transfer and the puzzle face must sit tight against each other with no margin. Any air gap shows as a soft or ghosted area, and on a puzzle it shows along the cut lines where the pieces can lift.

PU keychains press in under a minute, and the instruction that matters is to remove the metal ring first. Metal in a flat press is a dent in your platen and a mark on the next twenty pieces.

Plastic mugs and polymer items stay at the lower 350°F for 120 seconds. For plastic mugs, put the printing tool inside the mug before pressing so it holds its shape. For polymer pieces printed on both sides, do one side at a time and protect the other side with thermal paper.

Why Different Blanks Need Different Temperatures

Short answer: The dye gasses in the same narrow band every time. The temperature you set depends on how much heat the blank absorbs and how much the press loses on the way.

The chart falls into three bands.

350°F for metallic mugs, glass frames, plastic mugs and polymer. Plastic and polymer in particular deform if pushed hotter, so keep these at the lower setting.

365 to 390°F for ceramic mugs, plates, water bottles, crystal, pet bowls, shot glasses and oven-printed bottles. Most of these are curved or heated in an oven or heater, which loses heat to the air, so the set point sits higher to keep the surface where the dye needs it.

400°F for flat, dense blanks in a flat press: tiles, slates, ornaments, glass cutting boards, metal boards, MDF, magnets, keychains and puzzles.

Within a band, if a print is faint, do not reach for more heat first. The usual causes in order are: not enough time for that substrate, uneven contact between transfer and surface, or a controller reading higher than the actual element. The chart gives you the first. A pressing pillow or a wrap gives you the second. A surface thermometer gives you the third.

Before You Run a Full Case

Short answer: Press one unit from every new case. Always.

These settings are the right starting point, but they are a starting point. Presses vary between manufacturers and between individual units of the same model. Controllers drift with age. Room temperature affects how fast an element recovers between cycles. A case that sat in a cold warehouse overnight starts colder than one off the shelf.

The cost of testing is one blank. The cost of not testing is a hundred of them, plus the time you already spent printing a hundred transfers. For blanks in the 360 to 1020 second range, where a single cycle ties up the press for six to seventeen minutes, the time cost of a bad batch is worse than the material cost.

Keep a note of what actually worked on your equipment for each product and each case, because the useful chart in the long run is the one with your own numbers on it next to these.

Frequently Asked Questions

To understand what the coating on these blanks actually is and why it takes color so evenly, read the ORCA Coatings guide.

One last note: temperature and time work against each other. A higher temperature needs a shorter press, and a lower temperature needs a longer one. Every heat press runs a little differently, so treat this chart as a starting point and adjust the temperature and time to suit your own machine.