Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Help,
How do I heat press plastisol transfers on to polyester garments without melting the fabric?
I am using transfers from TRANSFER EXPRESS and going onto "sport tech" shirts from San Mar and "top shield wicking" shirts fro Charles River
I am pressing at 350 for 5 seconds and the garments are left with a sheen in the shape of the heat press.
What should I do
Thanks for the reply. My problem is not with the transfer sticking but with the polyester garments "melting". I cant seem to be able to press plastisol transfers onto any of the performance type garments made of polyester. The transfers will adhere allright but the fabric is left with a mark wherever it was in contact with the press. Teflon sheets dont sem to make any difference. How low of temperature can I use and still get the transfer to stick and the ink to cure?
Thanks for the reply. My problem is not with the transfer sticking but with the polyester garments "melting". I cant seem to be able to press plastisol transfers onto any of the performance type garments made of polyester. The transfers will adhere allright but the fabric is left with a mark wherever it was in contact with the press. Teflon sheets dont sem to make any difference. How low of temperature can I use and still get the transfer to stick and the ink to cure?
That's scary because I'm working on a job using the sport-Tek shirts from Port Authority. Front and back. Maybe you should use less pressure.
Please let me know how it goes with the sport tech stuff. I have tried and tried with those garments but I cant seem to find a combination that works. The reps from San Mar say that it is best to just direct print them (screen printing). That is just hard for a small business to do when it comes to individual names and numbers on small runs. The perfromance fabrics from Charles River give me the same problem.
I am not giving up, I know there must be a way.
Please let me know how it goes with the sport tech stuff. I have tried and tried with those garments but I cant seem to find a combination that works. The reps from San Mar say that it is best to just direct print them (screen printing). That is just hard for a small business to do when it comes to individual names and numbers on small runs. The perfromance fabrics from Charles River give me the same problem.
I am not giving up, I know there must be a way.
Maybe contact someone at Port Authority. I don't know. I haven't ordered the transfers yet but the artwork is done. I may have to check with a screen printer to see what kind of price I can get. I already quoted the job so hopefully I would still make money.
Please let me know how it goes with the sport tech stuff. I have tried and tried with those garments but I cant seem to find a combination that works. The reps from San Mar say that it is best to just direct print them (screen printing). That is just hard for a small business to do when it comes to individual names and numbers on small runs. The perfromance fabrics from Charles River give me the same problem.
I am not giving up, I know there must be a way.
Did you have any better luck with this. I'm going to be starting an order using sport-tek shirts but I'm leary of using transfers and may opt to have them direct screen printed. Problem has been finding a screen printer that will do contract work.
I have had no luck with getting any useable information about heat pressing on to any of the many performance fabrics. The transfers that I use are a plastisol ink from Transfer Express. They assure me that they can be pressed onto any polyester fabric ie. Under armour, Nike, Charles river, Sprt Tech etc. The garment manufactures tell me that we cant use plastisol ink on performance/ polyester fabrics. They say to use a polyester based ink. I dont knowwhere to get that and besides it isnt the ink that is giving me problems but it is the press and the tempersture. When ever we try to apply a heat transfer to polyester we are left with "scorch marks in the shape of the press. Using a teflon sheet doesnt help.
The tagless garments have small heat applied tags. How are they doing it. I know that there is an answer somewhere.
Please Help Me.
I just went on to polyesterink.com and read about polyester inks. Now if I decide to have the shirts screenprinted, I need to find someone that has polyester inks. What happened to good ole' fashioned cotton. I do have to say, my wife bought me a golf shirt that is 100% poly and it is really nice. It's comfortable and you can wear it for days and it still looks fresh, no rinkles.
Well, I'm not sure what to tell you. I guess I could find a bunch of 100% items real cheap and try different settings with the press. That wouldn't solve the ink issue. Ace transfer co. said they use a stretchy ink that is used a lot on bathing suits but I don't know if it's polyester ink.
Bradley, I've posted a lot of information about this issue. Do some digging for the gruesome details.
The bottom line is that the fabric you're using is not able to withstand the heat and pressure you're applying.
There are several solutions:
1. Use a different material.
2. Ease up on the pressure.
3. Use different transfers.
I've settled on a combination of 2 & 3. I use a teflon pillow to minimize the edge of the press area. The transfers others have mentioned are called Elastoflex from ACE. It's a heavy cold peel. What makes it work is that they add an adhesive layer to the back of the ink which is capable of setting at a much lower temperature than plain plastisol. The ink is cured so you don't have to worry about hitting 325.
I also re-press the entire shirt to completely get rid of any press lines. It takes approx 3 minutes total to do a two sided shirt (including lining up the transfer). One press per side (8s@300) to attach the transfer, a second (12s@300) to get it into the fabric and a third on the unpressed areas (2-3@300) to even out the heat damage. I've recently purchased a 20x25 press to cut my production time -- XL and XXL require multiple hits on my 16x16 to press out the entire shirt.
I mostly use Zorrel Z500 shirts as I've found the give the best performance for the price. The big wholesalers are all getting into the performance market big-time but I don't have a high opinion of the the fabrics & cuts they're using. It's too heavy and doesn't breathe very well.
As always, experimentation is crucial to getting good results. Don't be lazy, people will notice the press lines and won't come back.
Ace quoted me a price using the Elastoflex ink, however, I'm not sure I want a real heavy, thick design on these shirts. I do contract work so the customer went onto my site and chose the shirt from my catolog. Maybe I'll get a few items and press test them for a while. I'd really like to just find a screenprinter to do them but finding one that does contract work in the area is tough.
Ace quoted me a price using the Elastoflex ink, however, I'm not sure I want a real heavy, thick design on these shirts. I do contract work so the customer went onto my site and chose the shirt from my catolog. Maybe I'll get a few items and press test them for a while. I'd really like to just find a screenprinter to do them but finding one that does contract work in the area is tough.
I would prefer to have a lighter coat of ink, but this has been the best solution I've found so far.
Insta Graphics has a good flex transfer you might want to try.
I've also been very happy with the Spectra Eco Film on perf. fabrics, although it's too stiff for the lightest weaves.
Don't limit yourself to the immediate area. Shipping isn't going to be *that* much and there are a lot of printers out there who are experienced with poly.
Heat pressing plastisol on polyester 
