Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
To me, retail garments will almost always look and perform better than transfers, but that's just me.
Only thing I can tell you is trial and error. It's an absolute fool-proof method for learning.
i have to figure this out this week, if nothing works out, them i'm selling the press. i have a release event in May and have to have my products done by april so i can get the website update/fixed/ promo/flyers/etc...
i have 4-6 different type of shirts/styles/composition
so far i've tried 360/12-16 transfer didnt stick well and still scortches.
i have the pressure set to when it closes i have to put a little bit of force to lock it.... maybe i have it it too tight. but if i loosen it, i dont think i will get enough pressure to push the transfer into the shirt.
its not the peeling... its the high heat thats marking the thinner 4oz shirts i'm using.
i tried 380 at 5sec then peeled then 3 sec with a teflon sheet over it and it came out great on 1 shirt. but the others it didnt. i like the teflon over the top after the peel since it helps give the graphic a mini texture and doesnt feel sooo plasticey.
these are dark shirts and heathered shirts......
b
edit: the next stupid question i have is that i have a teflon cover sheet with the clothing type wrap arounds. i put this on the bottom platen and then i have a loose teflon sheet that i put between the graphic and heating element. was the teflon cover supposed to wrap around the heat element and not the bottom (i think so...doh')..... would make sense i guess....hmmm.....i had it there before but moved it since it didnt really fit right...
its not the peeling... its the high heat thats marking the thinner 4oz shirts i'm using.
i tried 380 at 5sec then peeled then 3 sec with a teflon sheet over it and it came out great on 1 shirt. but the others it didnt. i like the teflon over the top after the peel since it helps give the graphic a mini texture and doesnt feel sooo plasticey.
these are dark shirts and heathered shirts......
b
Okay another thing that it can be is that some plastisol transfers are made for dark garments and some for lights. Make sure you have the correct ones, and if you do have the right ones im starting to think you got a bad batch, i had that happen to me a few times with plastisol transfers. That's all i can think of right now, i mean you have a brand new proffesional press and im assuming your plastisol transfers came with specific instructions on heat, time, and pressure which you probably already tried with bad results. I would get a hold of them right away and let them know of what's going on. Sorry i couldn't be of much help.
you helped amb. ..... i'm just new to this and trying to figure it out... always good to have another set of eyes/ears to review things... and i made an edit to the above post too before you posted
B it does sound like that is just a bottom platen cover and not intended for the top platen, especially with the cloth corner straps, it sounds like you have it the proper place on the bottom. Did you try pressing with the paper cover sheets you got? I remember you saying you also got a few with your heat press, did you try them? Sometimes that will work better when the Teflon doesn't work as well.
As long as your covering your transfer, you dont really need anything covering your top platen, as that is enough protection.
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i got some brown kraft looking sheets also. not sure how much they would help since i think the shirts might be tooo thin to take the heat needed for the transfer to fully adhere
I never used a teflon sheet to press plastisol transfers..... the only thing that was on my press was the bottom pad, and on top of the bottom pad layed my shirt pressed at 380-390f and 7-9 secs and peeled like butter. The only time i used a teflon sheet or a piece of printer paper was for the X-IT transfers from pro-world (a bad batch) with some coming out good and some not.
B, what I usually do it put the transfer onto the shirt, then surround the transfer with pieces of peeled paper from previous transfers. I clean them with acetone to get all the ink off them....
I find it minimizes the scorch marks on the rest of the shirt. I bought my plastisol transfers from Ace Transfer and they sold me a rubberish pad to use on the second press. I bought 2 of them, I can send you one to try if you want, just return it in a week or two...
been testin...not so good.... 
