Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I've been a member here for some time, but finally got to the point where I couldn't find a definitive answer for my problems. SO....I'm making my first post, please be gentle.
Anyhow... I'm getting ready to do a bunch of tees for my son's football team. They will be done 2-sided using Laser Heat Transfer paper.
I've done plenty of one-sided shirts, but this is my first 2-sided job.
What should I keep in mind while attempting this?
Do I need to have something in between the front and back of the shirts to keep the images from melting or sticking together? If so, what do you suggest?
Stick it inbetween the shirt and while I 'm thinking about it; Put one under the shirt as well. That way any contact the previous work makes will be to a non-stick surface. OK?
Bill, are you using opaque transfers or light transfers? Not really a big problem doing multiple prints on light problems. It's the opaque that you have to be really careful with.
Thanks, that makes more sense. I really appreciate it!
I'm doing light color transfers for now. If it goes well, I'm likely going to be doing the dark/opaque colors next.
If all goes well, I'll soon have the $$$ to upgrade to a silk screen setup for single color prints. That's what I'm working towards. I like the heat press, but would much prefer screen printing.
i print lights but haven't done it with a laser printer yet so don't know if its any diff, however i start with the back print 1st but do not peel paper off turn place front on press and hot peel turn straight away and peel off back , i find htis works very well . On fixing it i use a teflon paper on my bottom pad place t-shirt on it place another on top of T-shirt and press again for 6/7 secs hope it helps =)
The transfers I use are hot peel, and I'm not sure if leaving that back image on while pressing the front would be the best way to go or not. I will likely have to give it a try on a practice shirt to see what happens.
This is the first order I've gotten for any quantity of shirts, could be over 100 at this point, I'll have the final tally tomorrow night. I don't want to scrap out too many shirts for practice purposes though, as I priced this fairly low. It's for my son's football team and I didn't want to profit too heavily from OUR team. When the other teams see what we have, they'll hopefully want them too, and THAT's when I'll make a profit.
I tried a shirt this afternoon. Here's what went on:
I pressed the FRONT image of the shirt, 8x10" in size and just black graphics and text.
I allowed the shirt to cool after peeling the transfer, did some other things and came back after it was down to room temp.
I do not have the teflon sheets YET, so I improvised. I layed white copier paper on the platen and set up the shirt for the back side press.
I pressed for 20 seconds, per the instructions on my transfer paper and then hot-peeled that transfer.
The only thing I found negative was that the front image stuck a little to my paper on the platen. I imagine with the teflon sheet UNDER it, it wouldn't have stuck, but it does tell me that the front image will re-melt while pressing.
If I had another shirt on hand (keep in mind, I have NO inventory yet, as I am just starting out) I would have put something, maybe paperboard in between the front/back of the shirt to see if I experienced the remelt as well.
I DO intend to order the teflon sheets this week, just waiting on my orders to finalize and place all orders at once. I hate having to order 1 thing, then tomorrow order another, etc. So, I will report back with the teflon sheet results should anyone else be interested.
BUT...what do you think of using cardboard/paperboard in between the front and back of the shirt when pressing the second side using Laser transfers? I have to press at 400 degrees for 20 seconds using the coastal business techni print transfer paper.
Thanks again everyone! I'm learning alot hanging around this forum.
Would also like to ask if there is a COLD peel for laser printers? I use a Konica-Minolta Magicolor 2300W for my transfers now, and the only paper I've found for it is the Coastal Business Techni Print, HOT peel.
I don't mind doing the hot peel, but I could speed up production a bit with a cold peel. (I have 4 kids, they can be put to work too).
carbord will mark your t-shirt after a bit as i tried that and got lines if u have a spare T try my way as the back transfer paper keeps hot so easy to peel straight after the front 1 as long as u r fast =)
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