Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Quick one for the experts here (of which there seem to be many...fantastic!)...here is my question:
- I have black t-shirts and white t-shirts (that's all).
- Am looking to ONLY tranfer text onto these shirts...i.e...player names for sports league
- For white shirts, I'd like black text and for black shirt, I'd like white test
- Given the above parameters, I obviously realise I need a heat press, do I need a vinyl cutter? Can this be done without? Would work with simple printer and tranfer sheets?
- I'm looking to do this a cheap as possible (I own a Toronto sports league) but still look decent.
I'm very new to this but want to cut out middlemen on my venture (my wife will actually be the one helping out on the t-shirt printing). My needs are simply - text only on shirts - and simply need some guidance and advise as to what you might set yourself up with.
I would purchase a cutter and cut the lettering, I like to use Thermoflex. You can buy individual letters precut from places like Stahls but then you have more expense and time lining them up on each shirt.
Good luck.
One option to keep in mind, is there are companies that offer preprinted plastisol letters/numbers. You order what you need and press them. I'm not sure which one is cheaper, but obviosuly you could do letters on the fly with a cutter. Where as you would have to stock letters ahead of time and line them up as well.
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Last edited by prometheus; February 29th, 2008 at 07:38 AM.
My suggestion is to start out with pre-cut vinyl, and plastisol transfers.
Once you get your feet wet, then you will be better able to decide if you want to add a cutter to cut your own vinyl letters and numbers on the fly.
Transfer Express has a variety of plastisol numbers and letters that are ready to go. Stahls has a variety of vinyl letters and numbers ready to go. With both, you have a choice of just buying letters and numbers to lay out yourself or, you can get them pre-spaced, ready to press.
I think that ultimately, you'll want a cutter for one off's, small jobs, and those jobs where you need a different font than the stock lettering. But, you'll still want those other resources for ordering pre-spaced lettering or numbering for larger jobs (simply for the time you save cutting and weeding).
Experts - Please Help...what works best?! 
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