Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Heres another question maybe someone has come across. I find it a little difficult to position the transfer properly on the t-shirt at times. Is there any tools, or utensils that is available to assist in positioning the transfer perfectly on the t-shirt??? Any websites that sell this type of tool?? As of right now im using rulers and something like a protractor.
Almost all tees have a center line ironed on them. I usually place transfer down and then bring collar over top of transfer and get it real close almost all the time. It takes time but it becomes a skill for this biz.
__________________ 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
Good tip Lou. Unfortunately for me, the Hanes Beefy-Ts I order don't come with an ironed line down the center.
I've had to resort to using a ruler. I position the transfer as close to the center as I can. Then I measure from both sides of the shirt and from the collar with the ruler. The first transfer took a while since I was paranoid about it not being level.
I'm thinking I may make a template our of cardboard...
You can always press a center line into the shirt yourself as part of your pre-press.
I've started doing that and it works great.
I could but in order to do that I would once again have to find the perfect center and in order to do that I would have to measure and such. If I'm going to be measuring anyway I may as well position my transfer and measure, not measure for the center and then measure a second time for the transfer.
Why can't you just fold it in half?? it seems a lot easier to me.
__________________ 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
When I started out (1987) all shirts had centerlines but nowadays, there are some brands without so here's what I do.
Usually the tag on the shirt is in the center. When I shake out the shirt to remove any wrinkles, I then lay it down onto the press with the label centered on the arm on the heat press. I do lay the shirt so the collar in the fron is not on the heat press and this generally brings me dead center.
If your transfers are not cut or when you do cut them and they are in a straight line and even, I use the top actual edge of the heat transfer paper to align it to the center of the shirt, using the arm on the heat press as an 'eyeball guide'.
Not sure where the center of the transfer is? just measure where the center of the transfer is after it's printed onto the paper. Fold...very slightly, the top edge about a 1/4" to show you where the actual center of the image is. Fold it enough so you can see some sort of fold or so you know where the center is.
If the printed image is even with the top edge of the transfer sheet, use the top edge of the transfer sheet to help keep your image from being crooked.
If you folded the t-shirt in half, lengthwise, would that give you a line down the center without measuring, or would that still be off?
That may work for some people but that's not precise enough for me. I want to give my customer's the best I can. So I'd rather not eyeball it or go by a folded line in a shirt.
I guess there are a few different techniques that I can try. Does anyone know if there is anything that I can buy that will help with positioning. Say for example I needed to do letters or numbers, im sure there must be something out there for that?
Common sense folks...or maybe it's just me used to being precise because of quilting (humor here and those that quilt will understand)
Okay...do not TRUST the center crease. I would say 98% of the time it is correct.
What I do is I press my shirt top and bottom because I do not like wrinkly shirt.
For center transfer, do your pre-pressing.
Next, pickup shirt and sorta fold (you're really just picking up) in half matching top and bottom shoulder seams. If image is full front then match bottom sides.
Then place shirt back down just FINGER PRESS a small area for your center crease. If you can't take the heat...then use a Speedball Brayer or a clean old t-shirt. That's your center mark. Because you have lifted the garment up and have let it hang (so to speak) and matched seams...it will be close to perfectly centered.
CENTERING TRANSFER...
Easy, bend in half and pinch top and bottom to mark center. You are centering the image...not the transfer paper.
If it's text...you can memorize the letter that is the center.
MEASURING...
I measure from the bottom collar seam with a Westcott drafting ruler that has a cork bottom. No sliding. Also handy if you need to "lift" a corner of
a transfer. Make sure you place your ruler always on same side (I place right of the center line). Now your ruler acts as a "t-square" if you use the lines on the ruler.
TOOL SUGGESTED
Embroidery Buddy ruler. I plan on getting one because I'm getting into pocket position designs.
The bulk of my press is plastisol, ganged on a sheet to save money. I always use a cleaver style board cutter to seperate them. Most important thing is to make sure your transfer is centered and cut out strait.
Take a shirt from the stack that is your size and tape a transfer to the back/front. Put on the tee. How does it look in the mirror? Adjust till you are happy with location.
Take off tee and dress the press. Fold a piece of paper into thirds so it reaches from the collar seam to the top of the transfer. use this piece as a
guage/square to press.
I add 3/8" for sizes over and subtract 3/8" for sizes under my XL mirror fit.
Label the piece of paper with pertinate job info and drop into a folder with the rest of the job info in case you get future orders
Being a guy, Im a gadget freak. Ive been thinking about this and how to rig something cheap and reliable. Ive been looking at the repostionable clamps used in soldering and Fly tying and a couple green laser pointers. I picked green because its my understanding its the easier of the laser colors to see. As soon as spare time and some liquid funds make themselves avilable, Ill post what Ive come up with.
hey guys, we're all irregulars, including your clients. So if it's a little off, when you wear it all peeps are shapped different anyways.
But if you want the perfect placement according to the specks, make sure the shirts are first quality ( not seconds ), hold them up and do half fold to create a center line as the tube type fabric rolls when they are layed out on the cutting table to cut/make the t-shirts etc...
Then you make a perfect printed sample and make a template for job... use the same grading ratio as the t-shirt pattern s,m,l, etc....
But seriously folks... try it by Eye ! it's really not that complicated after you get rolling with the job. Just relax and focus on a center line, visible or not.
There is a guy that works here that peeps come from all over to watch him print shirts blind folded... LOL serious.!!
I guess it's like what some jazz musician said " if someone has to tell you what Jazz is, you will never know ".
Positioning transfers on t-shirts... 
