Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
This is my first post to the forum...
I am having a problem with scorch marks on my shirts. I have checked the temp. and pressure on my mighty press and everything in ok. I would like to know if parchment will help illeviate this problem? I have tried using a teflon sheet but it alters the pressing time and it seems to cause my transfers not to stick properly.
What temp. and dwell are you pressing at and what type shirts are you using?
I did 2 seperate kind of decals. Jet Pro heat tranfers @ 350 for 15 sec on FOL 100 % cotton White and the others were Thermo Flex decals@ 350 for 20 sec. on FOL 100 % Cotton Black. The white shirt had yellowing and the black shirt looked lighter in color when I did not use anything. When I used the teflon sheet the decals did not adhear to the garment very well but I did not have any scorching at the same time & temp. I just wanted to know if parchment would be useful to keep scorching from occuring and to be able press at the recommended time & temp.
To be honest, I'm quite surprised that you are seeing ANY scorching at those temps. Jet Pro SofStretch is supposed to be pressed at 375 for 25 seconds, ordinarily...
I also own a Mighty Press, and have pressed mousepads using Alpha Supply Double Green paper, which are pressed at 390 for 30 seconds, and haven't scorched a thing yet. OK, that's a lie -- I did scorch a few tote bags, but that's because I pressed them REPEATEDLY at high temps (in an attempt to get a stock transfer to stick, and knowing that I was scorching it -- just doing a little testing.. LOL).
Anyway, my theory is that your problem is the shirt -- not the press, paper, temp or pressing time. Some shirts, unless they're made for this industry, have sizing on them which will scorch when pressed. This is also true for tote bags -- there are many on the market, but there are just a few that can be used for heat transfers because of this.
I suggest you change the brand of your shirt, perhaps to a Gildan t-shirt which is the choice of most on the Forum and see what happens. If that still scorches, then you'll know that maybe it IS that your press is running a little hot... It's cheaper to find out by the process of elimination by substituting one brand shirt for another, rather than buy a laser thermometer or worse, a new press!
Thanks for the info. Your probably right that its the shirts. I normally get gildan, but I thought I would try another brand for this project. I dont think I will buy FOL again. They were on sale at one of the big t-shirt vendors, know I know why. Questionable quality and the sizes seem to run small.
Yes...very suprised of scorching at those temps and dwell times. I have used FOL, Gilden, Jerzees and Hanes with no problems. We are using Anvil now for the last year. Remember to clean the press platon before every run. Keep us posted.
scorch marks on shirts 
Re: scorch marks on shirts 
