[tahereh]

So I bought my own heat press from ebay:

T SHIRT HEAT PRESS. TRANSFER. SUBLIMATION PRINTING on eBay (end time 19-Aug-10 18:22:55 BST)


and I bough 'MDP flex' from here:

Mulberry Design + Print | Sign Vinyl - Application Tape - Sign Making Accessories


I've used a plotter and plotted our my flex. I first tried 150 degrees for 12secs and the flex just wasnt sticking. Then I tried 300 degrees for 10 seconds and the backing plastic melted and stuck to the heat press and it got all messy. I tried 180 degrees for 30 seconds and the felex had just creased slightly and nothing was stuck to the t-shirt, almost like the flex material and t-shirt material just didnt want to bond. I tried other t-shirt material but none worked.

I have not idea what I'm doing wrong, I can only imagine that MD Flex is the problem?

Thanks for your help.

 

[JBuchanan]

Here are the instructions for required times on different substrates. None are for 300 degrees. Hope this helps!

[media]http://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/datasheets/garmentfilmsettings.pdf[/media]

 

[tahereh]

Hi yes I have seen that. If you read my post above I have said that I tried 150 degrees for 12 seconds first but it didn't work.

 

[Fidel]

To avoid any problems with things sticking to the platen, use parchment paper (the usual baking paper you may have in your kitchen). I use it all the time, it's a good fail-safe incase anything goes wrong and you don't have to clean the platen, just throw the paper in the trash.

The only thing I can think of, since you didn't say, are you peeling cold? Take the pressed shirt off the press and let it cool for a half minute, wave it in the air.
Some flex foils are peel-hot, they can be peeled right away (careful, it's really hot) but the product description of your foils says cold-peel, so you have to let it cool and then carefully peel. The clear backing of cold peel foils is a little harder to remove.

The setting on your press should be 150°C for 12 seconds.

On some projects, I press only for 1-2 seconds so that I can add more layers. Even those two seconds are enough for the foil to stick enough for the backing to be removed.

 

[proworlded]

It is possible that your heating element temperature is incorrect or that the pressure needs to be adjusted.

 

[Nick Horvath]

Are you saying you heat applied using 150 C and 300 C?

If so, 300 C is way too hot. If at 150 C (its recommended temp) it is not sticking, then I would purchase a heat seal test kit (sold by vendors on this forum) and at least rule out that something is wrong with your heat press.

 

[retro_lad]

Hi,

I bought the exact same press, from the exact same seller. The press is a cheap build and has uneven heat distribution. I bought an IR thermometer to verify this. So make sure you are placing the Flex under the hotter parts of the plate.
I use the mdp hotflex which requires 160 at 15 seconds. I found i had problems sticking down edges of my vinyl transfers. So i increased the temp to 175 and pressed for 20+ seconds. Then peeled off the backing and pressed again (with parchment paper) for another 10 seconds. This seemed to do the trick -although I've yet to wash test.

 

[miktoxic]

the vinyl i use calls for a temp of 302 for 12 secs. i always go a few degrees hotter and a few seconds longer with i high pressure no need to protect it from the platen because it has the carrier sheet. what kind of vinyl doesn't have a carrier?

and for buying a cheap press............you gotta learn this when you're young. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

 

[vadan]

We started gone 6 months back. Looked for weeks on end on eBay, spent almost 6 weeks on the forum reading posts and by the end of it had decided. Keep well clear of eBay china press. Moral of the story, do your research, because something is cheap it's not good, cheap in price is cheap in quality!!! This forum is a printers unicorn use it.

We use all MDP vinyls never a problem. Might seem a silly question, when the vinyl stuck to the platen did you double check the rig aide of the vinyl was cut?

I can say we went few a fair dew sheets getting which side to cut right.

160 for 10-15 secs, medium pressure, depending on garment thickness works for us.

Use a cover sheet like release paper, if u use thicker like silicone increase ur temp a bit. Peel cold, unless it's hotflex.


When u peel is very important, carefully note it, if in doubt ask the vendor or get on he forum and search.

My advice, get some thermo strips and test ur presses temp variations likely it's got blank spots.

 

[vadan]

I just checked the MDP vinyl. I suspect this is their economy range vinyl. If I'm thinking it's the same you have then this has no carrier. Is the vinyl backing plastic or paper?

If it's paper, it's crap, we got some accidentally, binned it.

U have to cut your design in positive, vinyl side up, then weed the excess leaving you design on the paper backing, then mask and press. The mask protects the vinyl during press. If it is that don't bother using it. Get the hotflex if your just practicing.

 

[miktoxic]

160 for 10-15 secs, medium pressure, depending on garment thickness works for us.

being from europe, you mean 160 celsius, right? being from europe you should specify that, otherwise it confuses people.
i've never seen vinyl for tshirts with a paper backing that you cut positive and then have to mask. it sounds like sign vinyl. i'm thinking that the OP doesn't know what he's buying and bought some sign vinyl thinking it would work on garments. the vinyl for tshirts comes with a plastic backing.

 

[vadan]

Yes in UK, should have clarified. The vinyl I mentioned is garment vinyl, it's very cheap in price and quality as we learnt, it has no carrier trust me.

 

[miktoxic]

Yes in UK, should have clarified. The vinyl I mentioned is garment vinyl, it's very cheap in price and quality as we learnt, it has no carrier trust me.

yeah, i just checked it out via the link the OP provided. it's weird because the website says it comes with an adhesive backing "for perfect alignment while pressing" which leads me to believe it's gotta be the same plastic adhesive backing that we get on our garment vinyl over here.

i think the OP's major mistake is that he went cheap.

 

[MDP]

So I bought my own heat press from ebay:

T SHIRT HEAT PRESS. TRANSFER. SUBLIMATION PRINTING on eBay (end time 19-Aug-10 18:22:55 BST)


and I bough 'MDP flex' from here:

Mulberry Design + Print | Sign Vinyl - Application Tape - Sign Making Accessories


I've used a plotter and plotted our my flex. I first tried 150 degrees for 12secs and the flex just wasnt sticking. Then I tried 300 degrees for 10 seconds and the backing plastic melted and stuck to the heat press and it got all messy. I tried 180 degrees for 30 seconds and the felex had just creased slightly and nothing was stuck to the t-shirt, almost like the flex material and t-shirt material just didnt want to bond. I tried other t-shirt material but none worked.

I have not idea what I'm doing wrong, I can only imagine that MD Flex is the problem?

Thanks for your help.

MDP Flex is our economy range of garment vinyl. You need to press it at 150 degrees celcius for 15 seconds and it is a cold peel so just let it cool off a bit before peeling back the carrier liner. (if you want a hot peel carrier, Hotflex is a hot peel).

We find a few customers encounter problems when their thermostat control on their heat press reports incorrect temperatures. If the above setting do not work you may have a problem with your thermostat. If the MDP flex wont stick first time don't try and keep on pressing the graphic as if it is 'overcooked' initially the glue on the back will be burnt off and it will then never press.

To test it properly I would cut a whole series of small squares, just a few mm square and press these at a combination of different temps / different durations.

Graham Jones