Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I just got a job applying a customers company logo and tag line to a 100% polyester table runner. It will be used at trade shows to cover the tables that are at the booths.
Over all image size is 13" high by 28" wide. My press is 15 x 15 which gives me about 14.5 x 14.5 area to work with. Is there a way thay I could use a home iron or similar device to "tack down" the image. I would like to have it laid out in the proper position and then walk to the press for final pressing.
If not any suggestions for keeping the image straight? The company logo will fit on one press and the tag line is multiple words across the bottom. I will have to cut the tag line in half to fit but get worried about keeping it straight.
That's the plan but my concern is keeping the image and text aligned. I thought if I could apply a hot iron for a minimum amount of time it may hold the vinyl in place while I am working on one section.
Last edited by Colorfast; July 24th, 2009 at 08:20 PM.
I did both tape and an iron when I had to do a couple table covers for a school last year.
First I got everything laid out how I needed it on the floor, then put tabs of heat tape as needed to make sure it didn't slide around on me.
Next I put a piece of very smooth plywood (due to the carpeted floor) under the vinyl and hit it with the iron.
I set the iron temp with a laser thermometer since "#6" doesn't really have a temperature equivalent on my iron.
Carefully tacked everything in place with the iron and then my wife and I took it out into the shop and hit it with the heat press a section at a time.
The overall size of the image was about 2' tall by about 4' long. My heat press is only 16"x16". Worked out great and the client was ecstatic about it.
The hardest part about it was getting everything lined up since there wasn't a single corner of those darn things that was actually square to measure from.
I have also done a tablecloth for a client of mine. They wanted their logo and promo info on it. The decorated area was also larger then my press but I used a permanent twill material with an adhesive back. I rolled up the sides of the tablecloth and taped them up to keep it out of the way while pressing. I felt the adhesive was the key part, made it much easier. This is what I used... http://www.twillusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=29_34&products_id=201 Good stuff and metallic, customer loved it. Maybe another option for some…GL and have a good one…!
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I had to do a 10x10 Canopy tent. What I did was layed the canopy on the floor laid out my design and then took measurements to center it. I also measured the space between the bottom of the canopy and the bottom of the graphics and when I went to heat press I did in in sections. I started on left side with my starting mesurments and made sure that the bottom text was allways the correct distance from the bottom..My graphic was 9'L x 1' H..came out even..
Another way is to lay your material down place your graphic where you want it and use pins to hold it in place bring it to your press and remove the pins as you press...
Any chance you have a photo of the finished canopy that you could share? That sounds awesome!
Thanks,
Gene
Quote:
Originally Posted by vipgraphx
I had to do a 10x10 Canopy tent. What I did was layed the canopy on the floor laid out my design and then took measurements to center it. I also measured the space between the bottom of the canopy and the bottom of the graphics and when I went to heat press I did in in sections. I started on left side with my starting mesurments and made sure that the bottom text was allways the correct distance from the bottom..My graphic was 9'L x 1' H..came out even..
Another way is to lay your material down place your graphic where you want it and use pins to hold it in place bring it to your press and remove the pins as you press...
I had to do a 10x10 Canopy tent. What I did was layed the canopy on the floor laid out my design and then took measurements to center it. I also measured the space between the bottom of the canopy and the bottom of the graphics and when I went to heat press I did in in sections. I started on left side with my starting mesurments and made sure that the bottom text was allways the correct distance from the bottom..My graphic was 9'L x 1' H..came out even..
Another way is to lay your material down place your graphic where you want it and use pins to hold it in place bring it to your press and remove the pins as you press...
Good luck
This like like a tough job! I would like to see a photo as well if you have one.
Thanks to all for the great advice. I'll try to remember to get a picture if I don't screw it up
I dont have pictures of the one I did for a client. I use to take pictures of every job and after a while I just stoped taking pictures sorry....but, I just took a picture of the one I made for me a while back. This canopy was a bigger it is a 12x12 canopy tent the VIP GraphX is about 5'L X 8"H and the lettering and phone # is about 3'L X 10"H.
Not the best pictures but I wanted to show you folks.
I dont have pictures of the one I did for a client. I use to take pictures of every job and after a while I just stoped taking pictures sorry....but, I just took a picture of the one I made for me a while back. This canopy was a bigger it is a 12x12 canopy tent the VIP GraphX is about 5'L X 8"H and the lettering and phone # is about 3'L X 10"H.
Not the best pictures but I wanted to show you folks.
Thanks to everybody for the tips I got the job done. I used chalk to draw the lines where the graphics were going. The iron worked great o tack it down enough to hold it place so zI could move it to the heat press. The final image size was 13" high x 28" wide. It is a 2 color (gold and white) logo with white and gold text.
It took more time than I expected but thats because I was very careful and measured eveything twice. I will charge more next time. FOr a 2 color like this I will charge $100.00. I did thisone for $75.00.
Heat Press Vinyl - Over sized job 
