i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!! (how to clean your heat press when something sticks)

5031 Views 18 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Twinge, Sep 18, 2006

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · Sep 14, 2006

My little brother (13) told this kid in his church that i make shirts.
So the kid asked me to make one shirt.

I made it for him and gave it to him and charged him next to nothing.

so a few days later he says that the band in his church wants the same thing.. about 6 shirts
no problem.

they he tells me that they made an announcment in the church that he can get shirt made and he asked me to make 65 shirts by friday.

I stopped him in his tracks and let him know that my operation is not that big..i don't have the resources nor the time..

He BEGGED me and told me that people in his church are loocking foward to them..yadda yadda.

I told him I would make him 20 by friday.
So here I am rushing and about 16 shirt in I freakin forget to put teflon on one of the shirts and the tranfer paper is now stuck on my heat press.

stupid me..panics and starts to scrape away at in...I realize that I'm scratching the machine and the transfer is hardly coming off.

now i have a stuck transfer on my press and it now has scratches...
all because this kid told someone..who told someone else......you know how it goes.

I'm tired, frustrated and I have to go to work tomorrow.

I don't know how to get the stupid thing of my press.

I have the platen cleaner called "E-Zee cleaner.

Does anyone know how to get this off?

Thanks,
Ken

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

jkonen

· #2 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Ken,
Not really a bad thing to happen. You just got a 65 shirt order! Take it and run with it. Sorry you forgot the teflon and I'm really not sure how to get it off as I haven't made that mistake yet..........yes I did say yet. I'm sure it will happen soon. Anyways..........good job and start crankin them shirts out.

Solmu

· #3 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Remember that it's not the kid's fault you made a mistake, and that these mistakes are inevitable. Breathing is good

As jkonen said, a 65 shirt order is a 65 shirt order. Even if it doesn't bring in the money, it might bring in other business that does.

There has been some advice posted before in the forums (perhaps searching for something like cleaning teflon platen will help), so in the short term you could give that a try. Check your manual, as some have good cleaning advice. In the midterm no doubt someone will be able to tell you what to do if those avenues fail.

monkeylantern

· #4 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

I hope they're paying regular rates, and not your friends and family rate.

ffokazak

· #5 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Don't do anything your not comfortable with.
A band i did 200 shirts for, went to another printer. They said, " Were getting 200 shirts/ 3 colour / 3 different designs printed for 2.50$ WITH the shirt!"
I said, Wow thats a great deal. Congrats. If something falls thru, let me know.
So a week later, they realized it was a bust, and they asked, " We have the shirts, can you print for us? For 2-300$?"
" Not without seeing the artwork fella, i dont want to take on too much"

I wouldnt do a job unless, it makes me money, It makes my friend happy, or theres a benefit.
Just some advice. Be careful. After all, Time is miney, and if im not making mney, I got a LOT of hobbies i would rather be doing.
If it dont make dallaz, it dont make Cents!

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Thanks guys,
This morning when I woke up. The transfer peeled right off the press.

The only thing I biffed up..was trying to scrape it while it was hot. NOW I know.

I feel much better today..and looking forward to making the shirts.

Ken

queerrep

· #7 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Good to know and good luck with the rest of the order!

matrixdecals

· #8 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Hi Ken,

By the way what Heat Press are you using?
Good luck on your order.

James

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

I'm using a 16x16 "Hot One" heat press.

I think it's made Stahls

here is a pic of it

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badalou

· #10 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Slap! Slap! Get hold of yourself Ken.. 65 shirts is money.. weather it is a dollar profit per shirt or 2 per shirt.. it is your work, your advertising and your marketing.. There is 65 people wearing your product.. transfer stuck to platen.. big deal.. happens all the time.. Were the transfer opaque or hot peel. What did you use to scrape the platen.. Put a piece of white paper down on the press and press it. Some of the transfer will stick to the paper. Change paper and do it again. If there is some left I just use a wet sponge to clean it off.

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

lol..Thanks Lou,
It's just I don't have enough time. I WANT to make the money...8am to 6pm regular job and a 6pm to 10pm girlfriend, and then I need at least 6 hours of sleep to function the next day at work.
It takes me about 10-12 mins to make one nice looking shirt.
Here are my basic steps:
1. pre-heat the shirt
2. start my vinyl cutter with the vinyl for the text.
3. start my printer with the transfer for the logo.
4. weed out the scrap from my vinyl text with a tweezers. (Takes about 3 mins.)
5. cut the logo out with scissors, an exacto knife and a ruler. (Takes about 2-3 minutes.)
6. Press.
7. let everything cool while I pre-heat another shirt.
7.5 press the shirt again with with Teflon. (This step is not necessary but I find that it really buries the vinyl into the fabric and it looks pro and feels smooth when you run your fingers across the letters)
8. have a sip of water (or beer) depending on what night it is.
9. start over again.

Anyways..it was opaque transfers.

I scraped it with a metal ruler....I know..I know...but it was the closest object I could find in about 2 seconds.

stupid Kenny..stupid Kenny..

hahah...I'm better now

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hammered

· #12 · Sep 14, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

OK Ken this isnt as bad as you think. As far as the tranfer being stuck to the planen. Since its stuck already you can try this. Reheat the press and use something along the lines of a stiff plastic spatula of autobody bondo spreader. Both items are cheap and wont scratch your press any farther. Ive never used the cleaner but try some after the press cools (unless it calls for a hot to warm cleaning) And make yourself a reminder to use your teflon sheet and place it near the handle. Worked for me after a near miss with a plastisol transfer. And just remember that even if the inkjet transfer did mark the upper planen, you still have your cover sheet to protect later work. Hope all goes well.

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 15, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Yes thanks hammered.

I got it off. It seems that these particular transfers come off pretty easy when the platen it cold.

It came right off.

starprince

· #14 · Sep 15, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

I ken, as a women I think it is very sweet that you want to put away a chunk of time for your girlfriend, but take some of your profit and buy her a nice gift and I am sure she will not mind her time being shortened every now and then.

Twinge

· #15 · Sep 15, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Ken Styles said:
It takes me about 10-12 mins to make one nice looking shirt.
Here are my basic steps:
1. pre-heat the shirt
2. start my vinyl cutter with the vinyl for the text.
3. start my printer with the transfer for the logo.
4. weed out the scrap from my vinyl text with a tweezers. (Takes about 3 mins.)
5. cut the logo out with scissors, an exacto knife and a ruler. (Takes about 2-3 minutes.)
6. Press.
7. let everything cool while I pre-heat another shirt.
7.5 press the shirt again with with Teflon. (This step is not necessary but I find that it really buries the vinyl into the fabric and it looks pro and feels smooth when you run your fingers across the letters)
8. have a sip of water (or beer) depending on what night it is.
9. start over again.

That's a lot of time per shirt. First I'd suggest doing one thing at a time (when doing multiple shirts) - print all of your transfers at once, then cut them all at once, etc. This should save you some time.

It also seems a little odd (though certainly not unheard of) to use opaque paper alongside vinyl. You'll probably end up with a product down the road with text that looks great, but a logo that is cracking or peeling (as opque transfers are generally of poorer quality). It is one of the only low-run options for many-colored prints on darker shirts though, of course.

Finally, I would suggest pre-heating the shirt right before you actually press it, instead of 5-10 minutes beforehand. Can't say I've exhaustinvely tried it both ways personally, but I've been told that the actual 'heat' portion of the pre-heat is important too (and not just the removal of moisture + smoothing shirt).

MotoskinGraphix

· #16 · Sep 15, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Try using and exacto blade for weeding instead of those tweezers. Cut all the vinyl at once and print all the transfers at once...production goes much faster when everything is ready and you just press. I was at an event and the first thing I did was press a plastisol transfer upside down and it stuck to the upper platon. Yep...I know what panick is...funny thing is I just turned off the press and cleaned it off with a wet towel...came right off...thank you teflon coating. Burned my fingers a bit cause I was freakin but I thought my whole event was gonna be shot with that mistake.

How did the order end up?

Ken Styles

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 16, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

^ I hear you about pressing the designs right after I pre-heat it

the only problem is with these transfers that I'm using - if the shirt is hot..there is NO room for mistakes. As soon as the transfer touches a hot (or warm) shirt..it starts to stick and does starts to fold and stick to iteself..then I have to end up throwing it out.
Does not give me the option of adjusting the tranfer so it is straight once it is on a hot shirt.
I basically have ONE shot to get it right...if not..I have to toss the transfer

lawaughn

· #18 · Sep 17, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

I'm a chick and it's nice to hear that you spend that much time with your gurl but I'm a business person also. Cut the chick back and make some money or get her done quicker.

Twinge

· #19 · Sep 18, 2006

Re: i'm sooooo PISSED OFF RIGNT NOW!!!

Ken Styles said:
the only problem is with these transfers that I'm using - if the shirt is hot..there is NO room for mistakes. As soon as the transfer touches a hot (or warm) shirt..it starts to stick and does starts to fold and stick to iteself..then I have to end up throwing it out.
Does not give me the option of adjusting the tranfer so it is straight once it is on a hot shirt.
I basically have ONE shot to get it right...if not..I have to toss the transfer

Aha, gotcha. I don't personally like opaque transfers and haven't used them much, so I didn't know about this idiosyncrasy. Definitely have to have time to tweak it up and down a bit to get the placement right.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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