Plastisol transfers, how long will they last?

[Gilligan]

We are gonna probably start printing our own number stock.  But this also only makes sense if we can print enough to offset the setup/cost.

How long will they stay good for in a box?

[mimosatexas]

I printed some 6 color tight registration transfers with standard plastisol over 2 years ago.  They still work perfectly.

[Gilligan]

Should I dust, or should I mix the adhesion powder/crystals into the ink?

[mimosatexas]

Never had good luck mixing it in, especially for detailed high mesh stuff. For one color stuff i dust just because it makes it fool proof. For multicolor you have to use either a white or clear top layer and dust or make sure the ink never gets above 200 degrees and use higher mesh counts.

[royster13]

They last a long time......But with so many colours, styles & sizes it may be more effort than it is worth to print your own....I know you are a printer and you want to print everything, so feel free to ignore me....But sure as heck, no matter how much stock you have, your clients will want something you do not have and you will end up ordering it anyway....

[Gilligan]

We CAD cut the custom stuff when it's requested.

We will mainly do standard white and black numbers.  This job will probably be navy but we will just do another ink change for that and get them done.

We don't really cater nor have a huge desire to cater to the sports market.  We typically do kick ball teams and such from time to time or the mom/dad shirts with their kids number on them.

[Gilligan]

Oh and if I'm gonna order a set of black and white numbers for $99 each + shipping (I think) from Transfer Express then I might as well run my own.  Two screens should be able to yield the same distribution of numbers, so that's $24 in screens and then whatever in paper, ink and crystals.  I can't see us having more than a quarter of the cost of two sets of numbers and we will likely print 4x the numbers.

[bulldog]

I've had some transfers printed for me before that went bad after almost exactly a year.

[mimosatexas]

How exactly did they go bad?

[royster13]

F&M Expressions has smaller packs....So you can get an 8" kit for 45.35 each....
http://www.fmexpressions.com/numberalls/

[Gilligan]

How exactly did they go bad?

They had a one year warranty, we all know your sh!t breaks right after the warranty is up!

[royster13]

As a test, I just pressed a transfer that is over 10 years old....Worked just fine.......The problem is that it is not an "exact science"....Different batches of transfers will have a different shelf life....

[Gilligan]

Any tricks to storing them?

[Frog]

I've also had good luck with some pretty old transfers, (usually stored in zip lock bags.)
What I don't like is seeing what looks like an oil stain on the paper, indicating to me that some of the ink's plasticizer has probably leached out, and perhaps is not as supple.

[mimosatexas]

I've noticed that on a few white transfers in the past.  Any idea why that happens exactly or any papers that would prevent it?