[Riderz Ready]

We have never really had ghosting issues until recently and I think we have a combination of doing alot more light colored jerseys and the fabric seems to be "shrinking" more during pressing. Currently on certain jerseys we are pre-pressing fabric which we really do not have time for and kills production. Does tacky paper resolve ghosting without pre-pressing?

 

[eagleact]

Tacky paper certainly helps.
We still pre press for 3-5 seconds if the print is not perfectly crisp.

Most of the time we do not pre press.

Good luck
Brent

 

[Riderz Ready]

Tacky paper certainly helps.
We still pre press for 3-5 seconds if the print is not perfectly crisp.

Most of the time we do not pre press.

Good luck
Brent

Does the tacky paper reduce in any way the quality of print? 95% of the time we print on bulk fabric, typically from Vapor. We need to eliminate the need to prepress - if tacky paper completely resolves the issue then we will switch. If we still have to pre press to any degree it would be pointless.

Thx for your input!

 

[skdave]

We use it from Beaver all the time on Vapor bulk.
You will like the results.
www.ifyouagree.com

 

[JYA]

We have never really had ghosting issues until recently and I think we have a combination of doing alot more light colored jerseys and the fabric seems to be "shrinking" more during pressing. Currently on certain jerseys we are pre-pressing fabric which we really do not have time for and kills production. Does tacky paper resolve ghosting without pre-pressing?

Mark, I have found that all polyester at 385-400 degrees has some shrinkage in it. In my experience, even the stuff that is a sublimation specific polyester and says it is "pre-shrunk" shrinks 3% or so. Therefore, I am still "pre-pressing" or "pre-shrinking" the polyester, no matter what it says!

I have had great success with the tacky paper, HOWEVER, the paper will lose its tackiness if it is too hot or too humid in your printing area and/or shop. I had this problem last summer and had a fantastic conversation with my supplier, as well as the Beaver Paper rep about it.

The solution? I bought this in order to keep better tabs on what the temp and humidity are in BOTH my printing and transferring areas. This summer, I experimented with changing my hours in order to accommodate the crazy weather I've had here. I moved transferring to the morning (630am - noon) and use the afternoon for printing and outside sales. I'm able to keep my shop at no more than 78 degrees with 40-60% humidity, which I found the paper performs really nicely at. In the print room, I print at 70-75 degrees with 40-53% humidity. Beaver's optimum air temperatures for both the printing and transferring areas is 70 degrees with 50% humidity.

I've found a HUGE improvement in the look of my prints, no ghosting, crisp images, and most of all, the paper STICKS to the fabric!

Hope this helps!

 

[Riderz Ready]

Mark, I have found that all polyester at 385-400 degrees has some shrinkage in it. In my experience, even the stuff that is a sublimation specific polyester and says it is "pre-shrunk" shrinks 3% or so. Therefore, I am still "pre-pressing" or "pre-shrinking" the polyester, no matter what it says!

I have had great success with the tacky paper, HOWEVER, the paper will lose its tackiness if it is too hot or too humid in your printing area and/or shop. I had this problem last summer and had a fantastic conversation with my supplier, as well as the Beaver Paper rep about it.

The solution? I bought this in order to keep better tabs on what the temp and humidity are in BOTH my printing and transferring areas. This summer, I experimented with changing my hours in order to accommodate the crazy weather I've had here. I moved transferring to the morning (630am - noon) and use the afternoon for printing and outside sales. I'm able to keep my shop at no more than 78 degrees with 40-60% humidity, which I found the paper performs really nicely at. In the print room, I print at 70-75 degrees with 40-53% humidity. Beaver's optimum air temperatures for both the printing and transferring areas is 70 degrees with 50% humidity.

I've found a HUGE improvement in the look of my prints, no ghosting, crisp images, and most of all, the paper STICKS to the fabric!

Hope this helps!

Many thanks - I need to call Beaver. I am in AZ - we do not have humidty which has always been a plus. It was suggested to us to keep the printing room at 40-50% humidty to reduce clogs in the printer but since we dumped artainium ink we have not had a clog in months and have boxed up the humidifier. We store our paper in the office so we hopefully would not have issues. Appreciate the input!

 

[eagleact]

I guess I am changing the subject...
But a few questions for those using bulf fabric.

Are you able to find vendors to cut and sew for you?
What press are you using? I am considering a AIT 40 x 60 air press. What do you think?
Also is vapor reasonably price for bulk fabric?
I would Fisher or a similar vendor would be more economical

Thanks.

Brent

 

[Riderz Ready]

I guess I am changing the subject...
But a few questions for those using bulf fabric.

Are you able to find vendors to cut and sew for you?
What press are you using? I am considering a AIT 40 x 60 air press. What do you think?
Also is vapor reasonably price for bulk fabric?
I would Fisher or a similar vendor would be more economical

Thanks.

Brent

In our experience Vapor has the best pricing and customer service. We deal with Jackson and he is top notch. For speciality fabrics Pacific Coast Fabrics is a good choice.

We use a GeoKnight Maxipress and it is pretty bullet proof and great technical support. There are very few things to go wrong with a press and we keep spare circuit boards on hand but not needed to use them.

Now for the wild card - seamstresses. We contract out all seamstress work. Thankfully we have had the same group of ladies doing our work for sometime now. One of the best places to find a seamstress is Craigs List. Be prepared to get a slew of responses. The issues is less then 5% of those are qualified. You need to find seamstresses that have industrial sewing machines. A little home serger will not cut it. This is where you can set yourself apart from the competition. I have seen pictures posted on numerous forums showing off cut and sew work that is incredibly poorly done. The number one place to look for quality is the collar. A professional seamstress can create a collar just like you get off the rack at a store while others less qualified you will see gathering. Not only do you need a professional seamstress you need one that works with poly/lycra materials. Once you have that you still need one that is used to working in a production environement - meaning they have to be good but they also have to be fast - real fast.

Cut and sew is incredible fun and although 95%+ what we do is in the sporting industry there is nothing you can not create - mostly for fun.

 

[D.Evo.]

Mark, we have started using tacky paper very recently for a couple of projects and I'm very happy with the results. We don't pre-shrink and don't have ghosting issues with tacky paper - at least with Vapor micro, Vapor basic, Lycra and fabrics we use for footy jumpers. Next week I'll be pressing Vapor touchline fabric and usualy it shrinks a little - I'm looking forward to see how much difference tacky paper will make and will report the results.

 

[JYA]

I guess I am changing the subject...
But a few questions for those using bulf fabric.

Are you able to find vendors to cut and sew for you?
What press are you using? I am considering a AIT 40 x 60 air press. What do you think?
Also is vapor reasonably price for bulk fabric?
I would Fisher or a similar vendor would be more economical

Thanks.

Brent

Brent, I think it also depends on what area you are in. I am in Southern California and DryFit type material is $1-1.25/yard in Downtown LA, double knit is $1.75-2/yard, so, in my case, am I buying something local for so much per yard, or, paying $3-3.50/yard PLUS SHIPPING to bring it in. Sure I have my time and gas invested in the 60 mile round trip, but, I mix my trips in with seeing my clients in that area so it all balances itself out.

There are several vendors out there for material. You've obviously found Fisher, Mark uses Pacific Coast and Vapor, there's Abeerdeen, Aurora as well... You just need to find a material you like and hopefully you get some good service along with it.