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wormil · May 9th, 2008

Follow up, I talked with Christine at F&M and she explained what was going on with the transfers they sent. I understand the desire to save money but if it hadn't been for their reputation on this board I would probably have passed them up. Instead I sent them my first order today.

Received my packet from Ace today. Very nice, very professional kit almost as nice as the Transfer Express kit. Looking through the pricing is a little daunting, 8 pages of pricing for non-athletic prints, whoa.

QueenDiane · May 9th, 2008

Yo! I don't know why I was sent your thread, but since I did I have learned why I was having problems with the Propaque transfers from Airwaves.
The P.Plus. are a very soft feel softer then silk screen EVEN!!!!
I was having a problem with the release of the transfer leaving too much ink on the paper, and bubbles, etc.
Turns out my new HOTRONIX PRESS I purchased from RPL in NEW JERSEY for gawds sake, already... is 30 degrees hotter than the digital meter so I was FRYING the image and burning it onto the paper leaving little ink on the shirt.
After reducing the dwell time and temp. by 30 degrees, I have a perfect print.
RPL has not addressed my problem as of yet.
Airwaves ROCKS!!!!!!!
I am disappointed in the customer service of RPL supplies.

Queen Diane

jvanwest · July 15th, 2008

Man, that was a great review. This was what I was looking for. An honest review of different transfer companies. I have bookmarked them all and will be doing an evaluation for my own use. It's funny, I had originally ruled out the heat press for shirts but the review of the DAD shirt just kind of blew me away. I look forward to seeing it in person.

Rodney, thanks again for going the extra mile on this review. Kudos!

chrisyjean51 · July 16th, 2008

Can someone tell me what a plastisol transfer is? I am a screen printer only at this point and have been looking into the heat press world and have found that there are screen printed transfers available...this confuses me..why not just screen print the garment? Is this a plastisol transfer?

wormil · July 16th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvanwest


	...DAD shirt just kind of blew me away. I look forward to seeing it in person.

Apparently they send out random samples of whatever they have in the shop, I too was looking forward to the Dad shirt but they didn't have any more available.

wormil · July 16th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisyjean51


	Can someone tell me what a plastisol transfer is?

what is a plastisol (silk screen printed) heat transfer: a definition

There are several reasons for using transfers, they are economical in small-medium size orders, they reduce spoilage (bad prints don't make it to the shirt), transfers are quicker to produce and some people either don't have room for screenprinting equipment or don't want the hassle. Personally I love screenprinting but I don't like running a screenprinting business so I use transfers, larger orders can be subbed out. There are also certain items like hats, hoodies and jackets that are just easier to heat transfer than they are to screenprint. Even when I worked in a screenprinting shop, about 5% of all our orders were printed as transfers then pressed on. Misprint a hoodie and there is $10-15 dollars down the drain. Nylon jackets are worse.

QueenDiane · July 17th, 2008

HI
A PLASTISOL TRANSFER is ink or paint ( whatever they use) on a piece of transfer paper that is applied to the garment with a heat press. Most of them are very stiff not a "soft hand" you get with silk screen prints. However, Airwaves makes something they call propaque plus transefers which are even softer than silk screen and can have the detail of a photograph .
Queen Diane

JustinB · July 17th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by wormil


	Apparently they send out random samples of whatever they have in the shop, I too was looking forward to the Dad shirt but they didn't have any more available.

Those type of transfers are GREAT! I recently did some parent/grandparent shirts for a few of the local baseball teams and did the mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa in the baseball print, and the customers loved them.

I would highly recommend the numberall prints to anybody.

sunnydayz · July 17th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenDiane


	HI A PLASTISOL TRANSFER is ink or paint ( whatever they use) on a piece of transfer paper that is applied to the garment with a heat press. Most of them are very stiff not a "soft hand" you get with silk screen prints. However, Airwaves makes something they call propaque plus transefers which are even softer than silk screen and can have the detail of a photograph . Queen Diane

Plasitol transfers are silk screen prints. The inks are just applied to the transfer paper instead of the garment, but they are the same inks. They work great for someone who wants to only apply as they get orders.

melbyj71 · July 17th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by wormil


	So far I've F&M I had to contact three times asking for samples before they finally mailed them out. The samples did not look as good as the other two companies and were cut crooked with parts of the images cut off. I just tossed them in a pile, didn't even try them. I was very disappointed since their pricing is very good.

Sorry to hear you had issues with F&M - we use them EXCLUSIVELY for all of our plastisol transfers. They always ship on or before their 3 day advertised turn around, and the product has been flawless. We have never had a bad press with one. We have used both their Spot (all the way up to 8 colors) and their freedom product. We don't care for the freedom product, but would use again if the need arose. Mainly we were disappointed in the "feel" of the transfer. It kind of reminded me of the old superman/wonderwoman type transfers from the 70's - kind of slick and rubbery.....But their SPOT product is excellent!!!

Melanie

wormil · July 17th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by melbyj71


	Sorry to hear you had issues with F&M

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and placed several orders with them because of their reputation. Despite having made a horrible first impression, their transfers look great and have arrived on time. I like the fact they don't charge extra for ganged images.

aamon17 · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by wormil


	Thanks for the info. I went ahead and placed several orders with them because of their reputation. Despite having made a horrible first impression, their transfers look great and have arrived on time. I like the fact they don't charge extra for ganged images.

I've used nothing but F&M, especially for their XL 19x12.75 sheets. BUT, unfortunatley, that XL sheet is gone away UNLESS you're getting 512 sheets. And, being a small, home-run shop, 512 sheets (which usually yeilds me 1014 trasfers with ganging) isn't anywere near my radar. i understand that business is business. But, I wish they'd kept that XL sheet available for small quantities.

Their next largest sheet, which is half of the XL, is 12.75x9. Some of jobs require a larger print.

Can anyone recommend a company with XL sheets AND PRICING comparable to F&M's old pricing??? (see attched)

wormil · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by aamon17


	I've used nothing but F&M, especially for their XL 19x12.75 sheets. BUT, unfortunatley, that XL sheet is gone away UNLESS you're getting 512 sheets.

I just placed an order two weeks ago for 64 sheets of XL. I saw they had it blanked out on their website but the new price list they sent me has XL quantities all the way down to 8. Yeah that would be a shame losing the XL sheet. That last order had four different transfers on it. Ace would have charged me an extra $3.20 per sheet for the same thing.

aamon17 · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by wormil


	I just placed an order two weeks ago for 64 sheets of XL. I saw they had it blanked out on their website but the new price list they sent me has XL quantities all the way down to 8. Yeah that would be a shame losing the XL sheet. That last order had four different transfers on it. Ace would have charged me an extra $3.20 per sheet for the same thing.

Yep, you're correct! I just placed my LAST low-quantity 72 XL Sheet order last week. They continued offering that size/rate to EXISTING customers through, you guessed it, tomorrow JULY 31!!! All new pricing on the website kicks in August 1st for everyone.

So, if you need to place a small order on an XL sheet, you better order it by tomorrow. Call your account rep to verify . . .

mikeinbmore · 4 Weeks Ago

That sucks big time

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[PLASTISOL TRANSFERS] - a review of 8 different custom plastisol transfer screen printers - samples followup

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[PLASTISOL TRANSFERS] - a review of 8 different custom plastisol transfer screen printers - samples followup

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