lets remember back to highschool chem-lab. states of matter, sublimation, osmosis, dark matter, how hot your lab partner was/wasnt, how much you could drink at lunch, Bunsen burner safety.
here at nightmare labs we have been reviewing our old textbooks to try and get the highest quality topsheets for our decks. dye sublimation is the industry standard for printing on plastic products. the process involves printing on transfer paper and then applying massive heat and pressure to SUBLIMATE (solid to gas) the image into the plastic topsheet. the image becomes a permanent part of the plastic, so bash it, scratch it, dent it, the image is still vibrant.
so this process normally involves various specialized, expensive machines to be done professionally. we had the cheaper option to retrofit one of our snowboard presses so that we can use it to sublimate. after a week of fabrication and waiting for parts everything is finally together ready for testing .
steevie rasta came up to summit with his 4runner mounted metal shop to help us finish this project. we ordered bunch of steel and aluminum to press onto thin topsheet materials. 
greg shows off our new bladder system for applying pressure. no air leaks at 40psi. i think he is just compensating for something here, you can be the judge. 
pressure test with all the materials in the press. it is holding great and getting consistent pressure. all the layers in there serve a purpose to make sure that art comes out crisp and clean. 
temperature tests were conducted at the end of the night. we managed to heat up our 3/4in aluminum plate to 350F (oven hot) in just under and hour and a half. no fires, nothing melted, success! next stop is the art department to print out graphics for the r.mccoy promodel. be on the lookout for a sneak peak before it hits the snow.
dirty dozen. heavyshred. nightmare.
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