[rtarh2o]

Long time member and read the threads often but rarely post.
I do approximately 3,000 shirts per year with image clip,mainly image clip light but I am getting more into Koncert T's and Image clip dark.
Obviously I love image clip papers but I,like others, have noticed some cracking, not bad enough on image clip light to be a concern but Koncert t's and Image clip dark it bothered me.
I always print on the cheapest Gildan 100% cotton shirts but recently I have started doing more 100%poly performance shirts and some tri-blends.
What I have noticed is that the 100% poly shirts and even tri-blends have no cracking when stretched, even with image clip dark and koncert t's.
I started wondering if maybe the polymers from the transfer somehow bond with the polyester in the shirts?
I am doing a job now with koncert t's on orange shirts and this time ordered 50/50 shirts to see how they worked.
I have finished about 50 shirts and so far the results are very good, you can pull on the shirt quite a bit and the image stretches with the shirt, seems very flexible even with a 50/50 shirt!
Has anyone else noticed this?
If so this is an easy solution!
Rusty

 

[into the T]

interesting info

what printer are you using?

 

[rtarh2o]

I use an Oki C610, about to upgrade to white toner but this has served me well for a couple years.
The results were better with the 50/50 but not as good as the tri-blend and 100% poly.
Will keep playing with it
Rusty

 

[Lnfortun]

I use an Oki C610, about to upgrade to white toner but this has served me well for a couple years.
The results were better with the 50/50 but not as good as the tri-blend and 100% poly.
Will keep playing with it
Rusty

Try tight knit like Fruit of the loom HD. Also keep the shirt stretched when applying the transfer. That way the area between the knit ribs are exposed to the polymer and fill that gap when the shirt is relaxed.

Gildan has loser knit than the FOL HD. Hanes Beefy-T has tighter knit but not as tight as FOL HD.

I keep the shirt stretched is I lower the upper platen without locking it on the shirt so that the weight of the upper platen keeps the shirt from springing back when I stretch the shirt. I pull the sides as hard as I can to stretch the shirt then lock it in for 5 seconds to remove the moisture, wrinkle and keep the shirt from springing back when I open the press to press the transfer. BTW I have a swing away press. Can't be done with clamshell unless you have a third hand.

 

[mrneko]

@rtarh2o

Very interested in knowing at what temperature you are pressing the tri-blend t-shirts? Obviously it's much lower than usual but do image clip papers transfer well under lower temperature? Didn't think the tri-blends could withstand the high temperature at which image clip are normally pressed.

 

[rtarh2o]

Sorry so long to reply, have been busy!
As for the temperatures used for tri-blends
To date I have done maybe 3-400 tri-blend shirts over the past few months, I don't back off much on temperature, maybe 325-330 and haven't had any problems with the shirts at all and the transfers seem to have a bit more elasticity and less cracking on the tri-blends
I have actually started doing even cotton shirts at lower temperatures, probably just psychological but I think it makes the transfer a bit softer.
Rusty

 

[mrneko]

@rtarh2o

Thanks for the info! Can I know which t-shirt you are using? Interesting that you don't get scorch marks pressing tri-blend at 330F. Also, are you using medium or heavy pressure?

 

[rtarh2o]

I use Bella Canvas and some Next Level Tri-Blends without any scorching, I have gone as high as 350 without any problems.
I have an older manual press but i would say medium pressure.
Rusty

 

[asipo123]

hey rusty just seen your post about upgrading to a white toner printer and you have the oki610 theres a guy
that make white toner cartridges for the oki 610 he says they work great and thats what he uses. steve