Every time I try printing on a shirt size 4xl the picture gets printed sideways. How do you know that the shirt is on the board correctly and STRAIGHT! It seems impossible and everywhere I've looked they don't make special boards for these size shirts...help?
Re: having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts
If this is screen printing I assume you mean crooked and not sideways?
If not, what method of printing are you referring to?
If so, your method of ensuring that larger sizes are straight on the platen is the same with smaller sizes. How do you keep the smaller sizes straight?
Re: having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts
Most of the t-shirt manufacturers will put a crease down the center for alignment. When there is no crease I use the grain of the shirt to help guide me. Your probably using a heat press and if this is the case Hold the shirt up with a hanger use some soapstone and mark where you want the graphic to go. After the print is done the soapstone mark will brush off or just use a little water and it will come right out.
Re: having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts
I teach screen printing at the high school level and you don't know how many 2XL-5XL shirts we have with crooked prints. What sucks is that I never like to buy extras in the large sizes because they are twice as expensive. At one point it was so bad that when we printed big shirts, I would iron down the edges of a shirt laying flat on the table to make noticeable creases down the sides and had students use a ruler to make sure everything was aligned. When I got a new press, it came with much larger pallets (16"x22"). I've noticed more accuracy with printing all sizes much straighter, and more consistently.
Re: having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts
For BIG shirts I line up the top (shoulder) seem with my platen, then measure down from the platen to the sleeve seam. Much easier with a center crease, but works without. The problem is it takes time. I would hate to do a big run for a customer consisting of xxl-4x shirts.
Another thing to keep in mind is that shirts you buy from the store are crooked too. When I did my first couple prints I noticed they were a little crooked, or a half inch off center. I was really pissed because I took my time to center them up and thought they were straight. I pulled a bunch of store bought shirts (mine, wife's, son's) out of the closets and measured them. Some were more than an inch off center, and some were crooked as heck. Most were off center by at least 1/2 inch, and at least a 1/4" tilted.
I don't advocate sloppy printing, but there is level of perfection that you have to decide on. Perfectly straight, and perhaps slow. OR. Perceivably straight.
With some practice my prints are now straighter than what I buy in the stores.
Re: having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts
Shirts are made as fast as you want to print them, so don't assume they ar all perfectly symmetrical. The way I teach shirt loading is:
1. Load the shirt all the way onto the platten so that the shoulder seams hit the edge of the platten closest to the loader.
2. Grab the shoulder seam where it meets the sleeve seam on both sides and evenly pull back until the collar is a nice round semi circle and in the place you want it.
3. With both hands still on the seam junction, feel your distance from the edge of the platten. This is a learned process and takes time to master at 50 dozen per hour. When you load the shirt you do it straight onto the platten. The collar is in the center of the platten so youre close. The seam the mill puts on the center of the shirt can't be trusted. Neither can the label, or the "roundness" of the collar. Experience teaches you how to average all of the factors to manipulate the shirt. Some peolpe use the length of their thumb to tell if both sides are evenly placed from the platten edge, etc. Find what works best for you and stick to it.
For practice you can print the image on your platten, cover it with rows of clear tape, and then when you lay the, hopefully light colored shirt, on the platten, you can see the ghost image from underneath.
having trouble correctly printing on 4xl t-shirts 
