Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Do most of you print your own (custom designs) transfers or use a 3rd party to print them? Just trying to see what's the best use of time/resources and money.
It depends a lot on what you're doing...if you're just doing a single shirt, or just a few of each design, it's going to be faster and more cost-effective to inkjet print your own...if you're doing large quantities and going for a more professional looks, you probably want to have plastisol transfers made, or I've seen a few companies that will do nice quality laser printed transfers at a pretty decent price...
You need to be careful. even though I agree with Bill somewhat but if you are doing a few and your printing them yourself for your customers they need to understand the results of using such methods. Their could be fading and the longevity of the product could be in question. The end result could be loss of a customer. You should try different methods such as plastisol and vinyl. The new paper for lights Jet pro sofstretch seems to be holding up as a transfer you print yoursef.
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Well from my limited knowledge on the topic (thanks to this site), plastisol transfers seem to require a lot of equipment to make, correctly at least....especially something with lots of color or details. If you do use a 3rd party do you have a reccommendations on companys to look at?
On the other hand, can you get inkjet transfers to look and feel almost as good as plastisol?
Thanks
Oh, and another thing....some of the designs we are working on are very color intensive (on has 11 colors in it with alot of gradient for shading and such). Would it cost too much to have a 3rd party print custom plastisol transfers? I mean most places I've looked are only talking about 3 or 4 colors for a plastisol transfer.
thanks again
Last edited by Omnipotent; November 20th, 2007 at 05:11 AM.
On the other hand, can you get inkjet transfers to look and feel almost as good as plastisol?
But Plastisol is more durable and will look better longer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Omnipotent
Oh, and another thing....some of the designs we are working on are very color intensive (on has 11 colors in it with alot of gradient for shading and such). Would it cost too much to have a 3rd party print custom plastisol transfers? I mean most places I've looked are only talking about 3 or 4 colors for a plastisol transfer.
I make my own plastisol transfers. Anything more than 3 colors and I would offer ImageClip laser transfers. If the customer insisted on screen printing, I'd pass on the job. I might price it out using a subcontractor, but I couldn't be competitive on price unless I did it all in-house.
Well from my limited knowledge on the topic (thanks to this site), plastisol transfers seem to require a lot of equipment to make, correctly at least....especially something with lots of color or details. If you do use a 3rd party do you have a reccommendations on companys to look at?
On the other hand, can you get inkjet transfers to look and feel almost as good as plastisol?
Thanks
Oh, and another thing....some of the designs we are working on are very color intensive (on has 11 colors in it with alot of gradient for shading and such). Would it cost too much to have a 3rd party print custom plastisol transfers? I mean most places I've looked are only talking about 3 or 4 colors for a plastisol transfer.
thanks again
You are not making the transfers. They are made for you. If you were making the transfers then you would not have to because you would have the equipment to do the printing directly to the shirt.
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Sorry I did not answer all of your questin. Ace tranfer and First edition are the 2 companies I use.
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You are not making the transfers. They are made for you. If you were making the transfers then you would not have to because you would have the equipment to do the printing directly to the shirt.
I get a nicer finished product by using transfers, which is why I make my own instead of direct printing.
I get a nicer finished product by using transfers, which is why I make my own instead of direct printing.
Ahhhh.. See I don't do direct screenprinting and I would guess this is something thart works for you. That is a great tip. But if you don't have the equipment then seek outside source.
__________________ 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
Transfer Question 
