Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
There are folks here that sell plastisol (screen printed transfers) as "indirect screen printing".
There are good plastisols and bad plastisols, as well as good quality screen printing and bad quality screen printing. Good plasitsol and good screen printing are on par with each other - according to the standards folks have written about on the forum.
I second Joe's opinion on opinions. Good luck to ya! Kelly
I would say they are very comparable but there is a small difference in feel. A direct screen can have more of a rough, almost gritty feel where a screen printed transfer is more of a smooth, softer feel. Again, not a huge difference and most people who are not in the business would probably not be able to tell the difference.
I assume that runs of 10-20 shirts can be done using plotter cut thermal transfers. Using a screen printed transfer, how large of an order would be appropriate to process before switching to having then screen printed directly?
Rick<><
I've done a couple cold peel jobs and the transfer is a little more rubbery. Other than that the customers have been very happy with the results using hot split and cold peel transfers.
Using a screen printed transfer, how large of an order would be appropriate to process before switching to having then screen printed directly?
Rick<><
Some people do large orders with plastisol transfers. If I remember correctly, Lou/badalou did a school order of 700 tees with plastisol... hang on... here's a link to the thread:
I think which process to use really goes to the individual. Lou posts his figures for job cost and profit in the post... so you can get a real life scenerio to review...
Justed finished an order of 3000 totebags using plastisol transfers from Transfer express and they were great.Just want to say out of the 3000 bags we did i think only 2 transfers didnt go on good and that could have been operator error.When i first emailed them for info they got back to me in 5 mins and i had the transfers in my hand within 6 days and im in Canada.
Justed finished an order of 3000 totebags using plastisol transfers from Transfer express and they were great.Just want to say out of the 3000 bags we did i think only 2 transfers didnt go on good and that could have been operator error.When i first emailed them for info they got back to me in 5 mins and i had the transfers in my hand within 6 days and im in Canada.
I can't imagine how long it would have taken to press 3000 bags, even if you didn't line up each one to make sure it was on straight. With a qty of 3000, wouldn't it be more cost effective to send them to a screen printer that would use an automatic press to print them? When I say automatic, I mean hit a foot pedal and the screen comes down and applies the ink. Taking into account the wear and tear on the press, electricity and your time. Pressing 3000 totes would take me away from working on too many other projects within my business.
well with 2 presses going at lets say roughly 200 bags an hour between both presses it took about 15 hours.So at 3$ a bag and a cost of $1.20 to make thats roughly $360 an hour between the two presses.Not to bad for a couple days work.
Thanks for all the help. You guys are great. I love this website. Seems like so many people are willing to help each other. I got my press for $1.00 that's how I got into this. I have a part time sign business and I had the opportunity to get the press at an auction at my workplace. The press is actually a drug sealer which is almost identical to a shirt press. It is 16 x 20 1000 watts, clamshell design, goes to 400 degrees and is almost new. My company bought it to try it out on a project and it didn't pan out. It sat around for 8 years and I had my eye on it when we auctioned it. Nobody wanted it! I have a nice 24" plotter/cutter and I cut teeny tiny graphics for models all the time, so t shirts are a snap for me as far as layout and weeding. Now it's time to make some money. Because I don't have to live on the income that it generates, I can look for work when I need it and I can take it easy if I need to do other things.
Thank you all,
Rick<><
Screen Printed Transfer Vs Screen Printer 
Re: Screen Printed Transfer Vs Screen Printer 
It happens to be a fact.
Good luck to ya! Kelly 
