Discuss the various aspects of heat pressed vinyl transfers. Popular and new types of vinyl media, suppliers, vinyl cutters /plotters, press times, quality, how to instructions and more can be found in this heat press sub forum.
I Couldnt find anything on the search so heres my question. Will a vinyl trasnfer work on a ballcap, namely a flex fit 98%cotton or 98%polyester or poly blend. I found a nice 8 inch roland cutter online for less than 500 bucks and it would be exactly what I would need, if in fact I can transfer vinyl on the hats I have. Thanks guys.
And just a quick edit, are the STIKA desktop cutters good. Any experience anybody can share with this cutter series would be greatly appreciated. CAMM-1 PRO Vinyl Cutters product link if you dont know what Im talkin about.
Last edited by SketchBox; March 7th, 2008 at 08:48 PM.
Vinyl works out great on hats, I do them all the time,,, as far as the cutter the ones your are looking at are in the hobby class, I would reccomend for a small cutter the Graphtec 5000-40 craft robo pro, if you are tight for funds also look at the US cutter line.
so would you advise against the Roland STIKA line, and if so why, its just they are alot easier to purchase for me, I cand seem to find anywhere easy to purchase any graphtec machines. Also why would you recomend the graphtec over the roland? And it isnt really a price issue I just dont see the point in buying a $2000+ machine if im only going to print hat sized images basically 6" and less. Thanks for any info you can add.
Oh and that gecko on your site is crazy, is that a holographic vinyl?
I use a small hobby cutter myself... the Craft Robo. I do t-shirts, hats, bags, etc.
I can cut a t-shirt design that is 7" high X 10" wide just by rotating the design. While these cutters limit the width of the vinyl, you're not limited on the length.
Would it be better to have a bigger, professional cutter? Sure, if you can justify it with sales.
I bought it to have an option for for one off dark shirts, bags, caps, and small jobs. Once the quantity hits 15 or so, I use plastisol transfers.
I don't mean any disrespect to anybody that has small cutters, and if you cannot find graphtec that readily in your location then buy all means buy what is supported in your area. In the US the graphtec ce5000-40 craft robo pro is $950.00 USD it has servo motors just like the more expensive machines, the electronics are the same as the more expensive models and you can use blades that are common in the market place , no special blades needed and the down pressure of this machine will allow you to cut most any material with no restrictions..... and Michele is dead on as soon as your one of's hit a certain volume you will want to look at alternative methods for your hats. I am not trying to sway your decision one way or another if you feel the stika is the way to go then by all means go with what you feel is right.
suppose I am using it for my own clothing line and would be printing about 5-10 at a time and just redo that as they sell out( im being realist as far as the selling rate of my launch line ). Would this application warrent vinyl? Why do you switch to plast trans after 15? is it a time thing?
when you hit a certain amount at one time the weeding of the vinyl takes time and thats why alternative methods are desirable, but if you are doing a small volume or just letters and sayings then viny is great, the thing about vinyl is that the shirt or hat will wear out before the vinyl will. If you are doing one of a kind originals for people then vinyl is the way to go, if you use plastisol then there are min. that you have to meet. If you want in house options then get a cutter that can contour cut and use inkjet transfers then you have full control over your product, there is a lot to learn about all of this and can be confusing at times a lot of people buy equipment find out its wrong or don't really need it, get frustrated, waste money and eventually end up loosing interest and just sell everything out of frustration, my advise is don't rush in to anything without educating yourself, take your time,, people will always buy shirts and hats,
thanks for the help, I think taking my time on this is the best advise right now as I also need to look at the other things I could do at the same time. Have you used your potter to make stickers and decals before, thats another thing I was gonna outsource but if I can do it myself that would be sweet.
Thats the sweet thing about a cutter it opens up other avenues of income, decals is one just one item you can do and yes I have done many decals,,, signs , banners, decals, frosted films for windows and mirrors just to name a few.
I have a geo knight flat press, and a mighty press cap press, so I can't comment on the specific press you're looking at except to say that I am happy with both.
Here's some food for thought, though. With a combo press, you can only do one thing at a time, AND you have to spend time changing it over from cap to flat.
Embroidered caps is the only item where I have a minimum order (2 dozen). That's because even though I have the quick change cap system, there is still time involved in changing the needle plate, setting the machine for caps, an dragging out the cap attachment. When I'm done with the caps, I have to change it all back again to do flats.
It's the same principle with the heat press. And after all, for all of us TIME IS MONEY!
Thank you for the info Luckly I will be the only one riding my *** for time, I am setting up a apparel design studio so I wont be taking custom orders, just printing my own stock so I think for the money I will save with the combo it will be worth it. Glad you have good things to say about the geo's, that makes me feel more comfortable about the big purchase I am about to make.
I'm usually the only heat press jockey in my shop as well. Sometimes, I have to cap press heating up while I'm doing tees, and vice versa.
I just think about the time it would take to let one press cool down, and then change the system over to do a couple of caps, only to have to change it back tomorrow to do shirts again.
I'm not trying to discourage you in any way. Maybe it's just because I do lots of small orders that I think this way.
Vinyl transfers for hats? 
