Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Hi there.
A problem I have come across whilst printing my first bulk amount of t shirts (30) is that, here on the forum, I read that its a good idea to press your t shirt again for a couple of seconds after you have peeled your transfer (I use transfer paper) to help lock in the ink.
The problem I have with this is that doing so transfers a slight amount of ink from the t shirt onto the press or teflon sheet. Which means it needs cleaning after each shirt otherwise it will leave a slight reprint on the next shirt that I do. This is fine when I am only doing one off's but if I have a lot of orders in a day how can I get round this? Is there something Im doing wrong? Or is the "after-press" needless? What does everyone else do??
Your Confused
Stevo
What type of transfer paper and heat press are you using?
Im using an english transfer paper from paper-zone.co.uk & my press is a secabo Ts 38 (its german).
I was wondering. does everyone put a teflonsheet over their t shirt & transfer when pressing & does everyone do a quick "after press"?
i do neitehr. i only use the sheets with opaque transfer material. and i dont after press. i rarely have any problems. i pre-press the shirts but never have post-pressed them.
We do not use a teflon sheet when ours is only pressed for 12 to 15 seconds but if we have to go higher then we use the teflon sheet. Or if it seems like the transfer if not peeling off correctly then we stop and put it back on and throw the sheet on top. We have never pressed again after peeling unless we are dealing with DuraCotten HT. Badalou has some wonderful video of him transferring, in fact he has several in regards to different types of transfer paper.
__________________ Mystic Never give up on YOUR DREAM!
Last edited by Mystic; June 7th, 2007 at 06:56 AM.
Cheers guys!
Thanks soo much for your advice. I thought the Teflon sheet helped keep the press from yellowing the T shirt
In your debt,
Stevo!
The teflon sheet protects the heat platen from getting ink on it that you would then transfer to your next garment. The ink will not stick to teflon, so you can just wipe off the sheet and re-use it. Good luck.... JB
The teflon sheet protects the heat platen from getting ink on it that you would then transfer to your next garment. The ink will not stick to teflon, so you can just wipe off the sheet and re-use it. Good luck.... JB
So Jb, should I continue to use the teflon sheet & give it a wipe after each shirt?
cheers
Stevo.
For light colored transfer paper, we do not use a teflon sheet and we do not press more than once.
For dark colored transfer paper, we do use a teflon sheet and we do press 2 times. After the first pressing, we gently stretch around where the transfer was placed and re-press. I just have this notion that it'll stick to the shirt better and it's worked so far.
If you wanted to press 2X with the paper you're using and didn't want to spend the time removing any ink, use the 'clear' paper that comes with the transfer paper. You can just throw that away instead of cleaning.
__________________
"It's difficult to heat press straight when you're hungover"
We pre-press once for about 5 seconds to get moisture out out of the shirt and then lay the transfer down and press for the amount of time that is called for that that transfer ( 10-15 seconds etc.. whatever is specified)... We never have pressed again after peeling.. and we've never used any teflon sheet.. if we need to cover part of a transfer because we are adding another one and its near the previous.. we just use parchment paper..
How to press a t shirt 
Re: How to press a t shirt 
