Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Hello all,
i just bought a new 15"x15" from ebay (Please don't ask me about brand, there isn't any) but when i tested it on a T-SHIRT using about 250 degree for 6 seconds it left some discoloring on the fabric. The top metal part of it coated with black, is this what's causing the discoloring along with the heat?
what can i do to avoid this from happening? does anybody else have the same problem?
You could try cleaning the top platen with a damp cloth to remove residue. Also try using a teflon sheet on top of the shirt when pressing. If you don't have teflon, try using kraft paper.
The top plate coated black means it may have a teflon coating which is good. The discoloring may because it need a real good cleaning. As Maxine indicated use a parchment paper between the cloth and the your plate. 200 degrees is low for anything. get the temp up. If you can't then you are going to have problems. Most of what I do is 350 to 400. Place some white paper on the pad and press at at least 350 after you clean it and see if anything comes off on the paper.
__________________ There is a center to everything.. I found mine at.. www.heatpressessentials.com Tools to get the job done! www.tbiz101.com (New)Heat Transfer Education
This could also be the heat discoloring the shirt instead of some residue. This happens mostly with reddish colored shirts, and you'll have a nice big heat press rectangle discoloration after pressing. This usually isn't a problem, though - it tends to go away once the shirt cools down.
You know Twinge is right. when ever I do a colored shirt like red the color changes but it ionly for a few minutes until the shirt cools down. I press th4e whole shirt just to make it even.
__________________ There is a center to everything.. I found mine at.. www.heatpressessentials.com Tools to get the job done! www.tbiz101.com (New)Heat Transfer Education
Is the shirt a hand dyed shirt or a standard shirt like Gildan or Hanes. Because we had experience with shirts that were dyed after the fact... (ie white to a new color, or tye dyes) and this sorta thing will happen. What type of shirt is it?
We see this on both our cotton and 50/50 tees. If we are in a hurry, we mist the shirt with distilled water and the color changes back to "normal" almost immediately. It appears to be more of a moisture thing than a temperature thing. When it is humid, it will do this on its own. In the drier summer, we have to mist to get it to look good.
NOW MY PROBLEM. We sometimes do teamwear using 100% polyester fabrics. Some of it is high quality stuff from Puma and Nike. When we do plastisol transfers at 365 to 370 degrees for 6 to 15 seconds, we get discolored shirts and it does not go away. We have misted the shirts and left them overnight to equilibrate. You still see the heat press rectangle prominately. We don't want to lower the temperature below 150 degrees, but the color change is not acceptable to our customers. Any idea what is causing this and how we can minimize it?
Any idea what is causing this and how we can minimize it?
Jim
This is probably the "polyester shine" that often happens in sublimation. 100% polyester is very susceptible to it, especially thinner fabrics. Some polyester just can't take the heat. I don't know of any way around it.
This happened to me just recently on a 100% polyester sports shirt I tried to put a logo on using vinyl. It left the square shine to it.
Heat press discoloring T-shirt! 
