Issues with foil

[jvieira]

Hey guys,
It's been a while since I last posted. We are in a bit of a pickle around here as we're having trouble with using foil. Such a simple thing and yet it's becoming an issue for us.

We are using Printop Foil Adhesive and the shirt comes out like this. We tried using reducer and it seems to help a bit, just not enough.

We're doing:
- P/F/P - placing the shirt on the heat press with the foil - pressing for 15seconds at 320º

[blue moon]

try pressing harder, it might help with the corners. . . Also, after you press, bundle up a shirt and rub the foil down (while it's still hot). If you are still having issues, make sure the foil is not bad, do you have any other colors you can test?

pierre

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Try this. This is literally the only thing that works consistantly for us:

110 mesh, thick stencil. Stroke 2-3 times. Flash
Make sure your print is smooth, if not more issues occur.

Don't send it down the oven. Just flash dry. Then heat press. 8-10 pressure.

Let is completely cool then peal.

[Colin]

Try all the above... But it could also be that batch of foil.  Are you seeing any other issues?

I personally like to heat press foil hotter and for ~15 seconds.  My temps are around 350.  Very few issues compared to lower temps and faster times.

I do this with both plastisol and foil adhesives.

[ffokazak]

Use Virus foil adhesive...

Its waterbased and it holds as fine of detail as I have ever witnessed with foil.

Didn't matter which foil we used, it all sticks.

Plus it is soft hand ( For foil) and we just print, then press and peel. eliminates a step of curing in the oven.

[ZooCity]

Use Virus foil adhesive...

Its waterbased and it holds as fine of detail as I have ever witnessed with foil.

Didn't matter which foil we used, it all sticks.

Plus it is soft hand ( For foil) and we just print, then press and peel. eliminates a step of curing in the oven.

eh?  You don't cure the adhesive before pressing?

To the o.p.- I learned recently that it's all about getting the surface your foil is adhering too absolutely smooth with no voids.  We've achieved this with the Virus/Amagic wb product and also plastisol it kinda comes down to personal preference and the specific garment.

[ffokazak]

Well we do on press foil... So its cured through the dryer.

We just did a run on the heat press without pre curing, and wash tests are great!

[jvieira]

Thank you everyone for the help.

Unfortunately we're still having the same issues, no matter what we try.

We used as much pressure as we could in the heat press.
We tried using a roller on press and removing then
We tried different temperatures and times

It cannot be human error at this point. It's either the glue or the foil. We spoke to our supplier and they're sending a different batch of glue. I'm also buying some different foil next week from a different supplier and making more tests.

This is frustrating. It seems to be the easiest technique in the world but doesn't seem to be working

[Maxie]

Think how boring life would be if everything worked all the time.

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

We did just get a Roll of foil from AMAGIC that was totally different than the foil that had been working for us. It totally sucked compared to the old foil....so it is a possibility.