How to sublimate phone cases at home

Nowadays, mobile is an essential part of anyone’s life. Mobile phones having personalized cases make them look fantastic and unique. You can also gift sublimate phone cases to your loved one. You can make a personalized phone case with the help of sublimation at home.

If you are already familiar with sublimation then phone case sublimation is nothing just a piece of cake for you. But If you don’t have experience in Sublimation then we’re going to give you details instructions to sublimate the phone case. You just need to have a blank phone case for sublimation to personalize your desired design in addition to other basic things required for sublimation. 

What are requirements to sublimate phone cases?

You need the following six things to sublimate phone cases. We’ll discuss them in detail so don’t about that.

1- Designing Software 

2- Sublimation Printer

3- Sublimation paper

4- Sublimation ink

5- Blanks Phone Case

6- Heatpress

Heat Pess machine to sublimate phone cases

As you know, the Heat Press machine is one of the main parts of Sublimation. That’s why to sublimate phone cases you’ll need a heat press machine along with blank phone cases. Those blank phone cases are made with heat press-friendly substances like Aluminium. Several heat press machines work well with Aluminium but we recommend these heat presses:

Seeutek Heat Press

The heating plate of Seeutak Heat Press uses a Teflon coating heating plate that will protect your Viny from a harness. You need to set your required temperature according to your needs. It’ll stop heating when the required temperature is reached and you’ll hear an alarm when the time is finished.  This heat press is beautifully designed with a double tube which makes the heating process more uniform.

HTVRONT Heat Press

HTVRONT heat press is lightweight, easy to use, and most suitable for t-shirts & to sublimate phone cases. You just need to set your desired time and temperature and apply a little bit of pressure until it makes a sound and you’re done.

The best part is that It’ll automatically stop if you don’t operate it for 15 minutes. This heat press comes with an eccentric display for pressure setting so that you can apply accurate pressure according to design complexity when you sublimate phone cases.

Tinkeal Heat Press

Tinkeal Heat press has a sensitive touch screen design for the adjustment of temperature and time. This heat press comes with high-frequency modern technology that automatically applies pressure once you have applied your desired time and temperature. These heat press machines can sublimate texts, patterns, and shapes to your phone cases, clothes, pillows, and bags.

ColorSub Clamshell Heat Press  

ColorSub Clamshell heat press is Teflon coated with a bad conductor of a heating pad to ensure your safety. Due to the coating of Teflon, It’s harmless to clothes and easy to clean. Moreover, you can apply precise pressure according to the density of material due to the built-in full-range pressure system.

The best part of this machine is that it automatically stops the heating process when the temperature crosses the limit. It’s recommended for personal and commercial use to transfer text and patterns on flat surfaced items like bags, pillows, and ceramic tiles & to sublimate phone cases.

Sublimation papers to sublimate phone cases

Today’s phone cases consist of two main parts and polymer Aluminum is one of them. Due to the presence of Aluminum in phone cases, the sublimation of phone cases is the sublimation of Aluminum. To sublimate the phone case, you’ll need pure nice quality sublimation paper that will work well. Here are the some of recommended sublimation papers from our side.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
9.0
Printers Jack Sublimation Paper
best sublimation Paper
  • 8.5″ x 11″ -inch sheet size
  • works long time without bending or jamming
  • compatible with all inkjet printer with sublimation ink
  • easy to use for T-shirts, ceramic mugs, pillow cases, phone cases
  • 98% transfer rate, NO fracturing, NO fade, fast dry
BEST BUDGET
9.0
MAIKESUB Sublimation Paper
 Top sublimation paper
  • Heat Transfer Paper 8.3×11.7 Inch
  • 100 Sheets for Any Inkjet Printer
  • Prints with Sublimation Ink for DIY Unique Gifts
  • The finished products are beautifully decorated with bright
  • Maximum Print speed & prints vibrant Colours
TOP CHOICE
9.2
Jeezfee Sublimation Paper
Jeezfee Sublimation Paper
  • Best Sublimation paper 8.5″ x 11″ 120 Sheets in 2022
  • stunning 125g Heat Transfer Paper Compatible with Inkjet Printer
  • Sublimation Paper for Light Fabric, T Shirts, Mugs (A4)
  • NO fracturing, NO fade, fast dry
  • Awesome features like High quality thick 125 gsm sublimation paper 120 sheets kit is thicken enough design to keep paper flat, no curls, no fold, no Jam!

Here are some amazing sublimation papers that you can get at minimal cost!

1- MECOLOUR sublimation paper

2- Koala sublimation paper

3-Stratford Brands Sublimation 

4-Hiipoo Sublimation Paper

5-HTVRONT Sublimation Paper

Design software for sublimating a phone case

You can use many software packages to design sublimate phone cases available on market. You have also the option to create your personalized design or you can buy from an online marketplace like Amazon. If you’re in a business of sublimation then you would take photos of your customers to make unique designs.

Best suitable printer to sublimate phone cases

When you have a personalized design according to your needs then you will need a sublimation printer to print it on sublimation paper using sublimation ink. You can’t use a regular printer to sublimate the phone case due to several reasons. There is very clear difference between both of them.

1- First of all we use sublimation ink that is absorbed by the material with the help of a heat press machine. 

2- Secondly, there is a 300 dpi standard resolution setting for a regular printer as compared to a sublimation printer like Sawgrass printer which has a wide range of resolution setting from 600dpi to 4800 dpi.

3- Third difference is that an inkjet(regular) printer can operate specially with a paper size of 8.5 x 11 whereas a sublimation printer like SawGrass can operate with larger sizes of papers like 11”x17”. 

You can also convert a regular printer into a sublimation printer using transformations kits with the help of sublimation ink. Here’s a detailed guideline about converting regular printers into sublimation printers. Read our detailed reviews about sublimation printers and choose the right printer according to a phone case.

Sawgrass Printer

Epson Ecotank printers have tanks to fill ink instead of cartridges. If you fill those tanks with ink like Hiipoo sublimation ink. Congrats! you have a sublimation printer now. Check specifications about Sawgrass Printer here!

Epson Workforce Printer

Epson workforce printer uses innovative technology that’s heat-free and designed for reliability. It has user-friendly interference with seamless scanning. With the help of conversion kits, you can convert the Epson workforce printer into a sublimation printer to sublimate phone cases.

Sublimation friendly phone cases

You can use different varieties of blank phone cases for sublimation. The method to sublimate phone cases is the same for each of them. Here are some recommended sublimation phone cases for you:

1- 12 Pieces Blank Sublimation Phone Case

2- 15 Pieces Sublimation Blank Phone case

3- JUSTRY 10PCS Sublimation Blank Phone case

To learn more about sublimation blanks and how they work check this link here!

How can you make phone case using heat press?

Sublimate phone cases

As we discussed earlier in this post, the phone case blank is divided into two main parts: the first one is the flexible part to protect your phone and the other one is the Aluminum sheet. The Aluminum sheet is sublimation friendly and ready to face sublimation.

Now, you will need to create the personalized design that you want to print on a phone case using design software. The size of your design should be a little bigger than the size of the phone case for best practices.

How to Subimate Phone Cases step by step guide

Follow these steps to sublimate phone cases at home.

1- First of all, use a sublimation printer along with sublimation ink, print out the mirror image of your design.

2- You will need to cut the sublimation paper into a size larger than the size of the phone case.

3- After that, remove the flexible protective coating from the blank sublimation phone case.

4- Now you’re going to do a very important step which is warming up the heat press machine. You have to set the precise temperature according to your phone case recommended by the producer of that phone case. 350 Fahrenheit to 400 Fahrenheit is the standard temperature. 

5- It’s time to cover white sublimation paper with a printed design and secure this process with the heat tape of the printer.

6- Now, adjust the design and blank sandwich taped with heat tape into the heat press. You should use Teflon coating protective layers available on top and bottom.

7- After that, close the heat press machine and set the timer according to the nature of the sublimation phone case recommended by the manufacturer which is almost the same (from 80 to 120 seconds) for all types of phone cases.

8- The real process of sublimating a phone case starts now. The sublimation ink will start sublimating from sublimation paper onto the phone case.

9- Stop the heat press machine and remove the sandwich. Cool it down at room temperature so that you easily handle it, once you have finished to sublimate phone cases at home.

10- Detach the sublimation paper and the awesome design is now printed on an Aluminum sheet. 

11- Now replace the protective film on the back of the phone case with a flexible protective adhesive case.

12- Without using a heat press, by using your fingers press the Aluminum sheet on the adhesive back side of the sublimated phone case.

13- Hurrah! Your sublimated phone is now ready.

Storage Solutions for Sublimation Phone Cases

According to the different sizes of phones, phone cases are available in different formats produced by several manufacturers. You can find phone cases according to your phone size nowadays. While working with different several kinds of blanks, you’ll need to keep the sizes of blanks separated. 

Final Verdict

We have discussed a complete process from “What do you need to sublimate phone cases ?”  to “How can you sublimate a phone case step by step ?”. We have evaluated the materials and gadgets required for the sublimation of the phone case. The mobile phones are everywhere. So, you can also gift your loved one a sublimated phone case as a gift.

Sublimation of phone cases allows for making a personalized phone case that is unique and only belongs to you. You can sublimate phone cases for personal use, for relatives and friends, or for your clients,  If you’re in a business of sublimation.  

Frequently Asked Questions

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post, let us know If you have any questions or recommendations about the sublimation of a phone case by commenting below.

Click here to check How to print on phone cases at home

Spread the love

Leave a Comment