Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
For a while now, I have been trying to start my own tshirt company. The thing that has been holding me back is trying to figure out how I will print the shirts in a timely fashion without having to order a ton of shirts upfront because I don't have a lot of money to invest.
I just recently read about using plastisol transfers instead of direct screen printing. Is this something that can be down on my own, or do I NEED to get the drying conveyor (~$2000?)?
If I can't do that myself without spending all that money on the conveyor, then what is the cheapest I can have a company do them for me? I have seen the post with the list of heat transfer companies on it but all of them seemed to offer either stock designs, or custom designs that THEY make.
If I already have my designs done and ready, where and how much can I expect to pay to get them screened onto heat transfer paper with plastisol?
If I already have my designs done and ready, where and how much can I expect to pay to get them screened onto heat transfer paper with plastisol?
Andrew ~ Cost depends on how many colors in your design and how many transfers you need. Most of the companies that make custom transfers have pricelists on their websites.
Hmm. Well, the whole point of using transfers instead of direct screen printing is to avoid having to spend a bunch of money upfront on shirts. It seems kinda pointless to pay $2 per print when the shirts only cost $2.75 each.
Well you didnt have to pay for the $2000 for the conveyor dryer or the inks, screens, chemicals, press, flash unit, films or exposure unit. You didnt have to pay for screen charges/set up charges for every color in the artwork. You dont have to print 100 shirts of every design you have just to get the cost per unit down to something profitable. It is affordable to test market designs without burning up shirt inventory. There are pros and cons with all printing methods but you did mention something affordable as a starting point. Custom plastisol transfer may just be a good place to figure it all out.
On the other hand...if you are saying that your design in a plastisol transfer runs $2.00 each. Your quote from a screen printer is $2.75 including the shirt then there is no pont really. Go with the screener but make sure you have all the charges covered in that quote. It is a numbers game as mentioned with quanty of cokors and prints.
Hmm. Well, the whole point of using transfers instead of direct screen printing is to avoid having to spend a bunch of money upfront on shirts. It seems kinda pointless to pay $2 per print when the shirts only cost $2.75 each.
the place i go for my custom plastisol transfers lets me put as many designs as i want on the sheet. they have a 12"x18" sheet and i can usually fit at least two designs on that. one job i did with them the design was like a banner and i got four on a sheet.
just looking at there website now here is a quote from it...
"We always encourage you to maximize your sheet space and get the most for your dollar. If your image is small enough, such as a pocket print or cap print, and you can fit more than one per sheet, do it! This is called "Ganging". The example to the left shows how a small design can be laid out on the sheet multiple times. This will significantly reduce your cost per transfer."
venturegraphics.ca
Last edited by darryld; September 28th, 2007 at 09:14 PM.
Reason: missing info
That would be useful to be able to print more than one design on an 18 x 12 board, but most if not all of my shirt designs would take up easily more than half of that space.
When I said $2.75 per shirt, I meant that that is how much the shirts I use cost. I would print them myself, not take them to a screen printer.
Yeah, it does mean I'dhave to do more in advance but I also only need my $15 screens instead of paying $500+ for a heat press. Any possibility of there being places with heat presses that allow you to come in and use them, kind of like a Kinkos for work things?
If I can't do that myself without spending all that money on the conveyor, then what is the cheapest I can have a company do them for me? I have seen the post with the list of heat transfer companies on it but all of them seemed to offer either stock designs, or custom designs that THEY make.
When you say "custom designs that they make you do understand that they will take your artwork and print YOUR design? Motoskin Graphix makes an excellent point about the additional costs. I have analyzed several ways to do t-shirts and it seems heat press with plastisol and or inkjet/laser is the most economical for short run. If your shirts are a success and you can bank on selling them then have a bazillion printed. If you are testing the market with different designs, colors shirts etc then investing in plastisol prints ands and buying the shirts as you need them is the best way to go in my opinion. Should the design appeal to nobody but you and your Mom (they will be proud of almost anything) you can trash the plastisols and not worry about throwing the shirts out as well.
I intend to do heat press and if I hit upon something that works then I will bid it out to screenprinters.
Help! Plastisol Heat Transfers 
