Ceramic toner is produced in a 'Standard CMYK' set or a 'Red Set' in which the magenta toner is replaced with a selenium red toner.  Also available is a standard unleaded toner set and an inglaze red toner set which is suitable for firing at higher 'glost' temperatures. 

STANDARD CERAMIC TONER - The standard set of ceramic toner can be fired to around 860°C and should give a glossy finish on bone china. On harder glazes such as those used on porcelain and ceramic tiles this ceramic toner is likely to fire with a satin finish. If a higher gloss is required then a flux can be incorporated into the covercoat but this can leave an outline around the print after firing. The standard ceramic toner colours fire darker than you would see from normal printing and a red colour - achieved by mixing magenta and yellow toners - will also fire quite dark 

RED CERAMIC TONER - In the red ceramic toner set, the magenta colour is replaced with red toner. This allows for printing of brighter red colours which cannot be achieved with the standard ceramic toner set. Using a red ceramic toner can though compromise the other colours and consequently blue and violet colours will not be as good. The red ceramic toner set is only stable to around 800°C.  Beyond this temperature some fading will occur. 

UNLEADED CERAMIC TONER - If an unleaded ceramic toner is required for use on tableware then a lead free toner set is available for this purpose. This can also be fired higher to give a glossy finish on bone china.

INGLAZE CERAMIC TONERS - Typically digitally printed ceramic transfers are used for firing 'onglaze': This means that the transfers are fused on to the ware at around 800 to 860°C. At this temperature the glaze will remain hard and the colours are fused to the surface, hence the term onglaze. Inglaze ceramic toners use high temperature stable colours which can be fired at glaze temperatures. This allows the image to 'sink' into the glaze to give finish which is not only high gloss but also much more durable.

FotoCeramic is one of a number of suppliers of digital ceramic systems for printing custom ceramic transfers or decals using a laser printer and special ceramic toners.

The ceramic digital printing system uses a standard colour laser digital printer. Printers such as the Ricoh SP C440 and the larger Ricoh SP C840 printer can be used for this purpose.  Used machines such as the Ricoh SP C430, Ricoh SP820, Ricoh SP 830, and Riccoh MP C2500 are also suitable for conversion.

To be suitable for digital ceramic printing the laser printer must be toner based and use a two component technology.
This means that it must have a separate developer unit containing the toner and a carrier.

To convert the digital printer for printing custom ceramic transfers we recommend that you begin by replacing the original toner in the toner bottles with ceramic toner.  Videos showing the process are available on our Youtube channel.  For a new machine you should not switch on the machine with the original toner bottles in place as this will fill the hoppers and supply tubes with the original toner.

If you are converting a used machine then the original toner needs to be flushed through by using the forced toner supply option in service mode.  After filling the toner bottles with ceramic toner then disable the toner end detect in service mode.

After installing the ceramic toner in the toner bottles (and implementing the forced toner supply for a used machine) the next stage is to replace the developer in  the colour developer units.  The original developer should be replaced with a ceramic developer containing a mix of ceramic toner and the metal carrier. The developer units can be easily removed from the printer. They are then taken apart to separate the photosensitive drum (PCU) from the developer unit. The developer unit is opened and the original developer is removed. Usually a toner vacuum cleaner is used here to remove the last remnants of the original developer. The new ceramic developer containing ceramic toner is added to the unit, which can then be reassembled and put back in the printer. Each developer unit should be removed in turn and the carrier replaced with a new carrier containing ceramic toner. FotoCeramic supplies ceramic developers in which the carrier and ceramic toner have been mixed in the correct proportions specifically for each model digital printer.  After replacing each developer unit then the unit needs to be reinitialized from the service mode.  The printer should then be calibrated for the ceramic toners which have been installed.

The decal paper is best used from the bypass tray using a 'thick 3' or 'thick 4' paper setting.  Ceramic toners are more difficult to fuse than the original toner set and using the thick paper setting will slow down the process and allow more time for the fusing to take place.  We recommend the use of a thin decal paper to further aid the fusing such as Unical 155.

On our FotoCeramic YouTube channel, there is a collection of tutorial videos on a variety of different maintenance methods for specific printers. As the collection grows you may see your specific printer be featured however If your printer is not featured you're welcome to contact us via any channel on the site.