Dye Sub printer

The wood used is english oak veneer. This breed of oak is a common hardwood, high in tannins, and does not move/breathe more than 5% through the year. The piece had very low to none moisture content thanks to being stored in the gently-warm server room. This test was done in the late summer, and the specs used were 190C/35s.

The reason for it being 35 seconds instead of 50 seconds as recommended in the manufacturer recommendations above is due to the smoke risk that was occurring throughout the entire test.

Normally, a wood being high in tannins (such as many tropical hardwoods) causes there to be a higher risk of fire when working it. Putting these high-tannin woods even through woodworking power tools requires caution and time, or else the resins will stick to blades and gum/dull them very very rapidly. The fact that the comparatively low-tannin wood of oak caused that much smoke worries me for dye sub.

My personal recommendation is to consider using a lower heat for longer instead, around 170-180C for 50-60 seconds at an educated guess, as that'll reduce the risk of fire and still cause a solid print. Also open the window.

As expected, colour gets a little muddy due to the base colour of the wood not being white, which is fine. This method would be suitable for placing simple single-colour lined designs onto certain pieces of wood, like box tops; it works as an alternative method to the laser cutter, but I recommend that you do this process after sanding and before applying finish.