Printing Transfers

Question from a customer:  I had a question about transfers. I print a lot on the road for my band, as we travel quite a bit. Its becoming cumbersome with the flash dryer, screens, and inks, not to mention the chance of ink getting on stuff in the hotel rooms.  I was interested in transfers. All of the designs we have are 1 color (white) on black shirts. Is it possible to effectively pre print a bunch of these transfers and with the use of a heat press, just make up the shirts as needed? I haven’t seen a whole lot of solid white single prints on black shirts that were transfers, and wondered if they look decent.
What kind of paper/inks would you recommend?

Answer:  Yes you can do that.  Like anything new, you need to learn what works for you.  Here are some suggestions.

1.  Since you are going on black shirts, and you want the ink to be a solid, bright white, use capillary film and a highly pigmented ink.  If using 100% cotton shirts, then PADM-1030 using minimally 110 mesh in a Newman frame stretched very tight and minimally 50 micron capillary film.

2. You have a choice of "hot split" or "cold peel" transfers.  Hot split would look and feel like a direct print.  A cold peel would feel rubbery like a decal applied to the shirt.  The paper for hot split is less expensive.  That is Soft Trans 60 lb which currently sells @ $50.40 for 1000 sheets each 12.5" x 12.5".  If you want larger, you are getting into a lot more money.

3. Paper is thin.  Thinner than shirts.  So ink flash cures faster.  You need to turn the conveyor dryer temp. down and belt speed up.  It will take trial and error to get the combination that works for you.  You definitely want to avoid full curing the ink.  You want the ink gelled just enough so you can pick the ink off the paper with your finger, but the ink is not sticky AFTER IT COOLS OFF.  Then you can stack transfers.  Once you take the paper out of the conveyor, the ink is still hot and still cooking.  So you need to get the paper out before the ink reaches the state described above.  Shops that do not know this end up using adhesives on top of the ink.  That is extra work, extra expense, and a mess to deal with.  So you want to spend time getting the heat and speed combination just right, and then write that down for future reference.

4. Transfers are printed upside down.  I have a note on my Screen Registration Guide to remind me to flip my positive over.

Any questions, let me know.  Helping you is what we like to do.  Sincerely, Roger Jennings