Printing on fleece?

[Denis Kolar]

I'm getting ready to print the fleece hoodies for the fist time.
They are Dark Navy Hanes Ultimate Cotton 90/10 Blend, printing white ink only.

Could you share some tips and tricks for printing on fleece. I know that the offcontact should be higher, a bit more tack spray (no waterbase pallet adhesive) and tight screens.
Anything else?

Thanks

[Frog]

I go a little coarser (lower) in my mesh count than with less cushy and smoother T's.

[rmonks]

I don't know what type press or flash you have , but on my Javelin auto which has the flashback you got to make sure the draw strings are low, as it will burn them if it is too close. to the elements.

[Denis Kolar]

Manual Antec legend press and Antec Auto flash (16x16)

[alan802]

It takes more effort to clear the ink from the screen.  That doesn't necessarily mean more squeegee pressure but that's what most of us do because we aren't going to change all the other variables we need to to print effortlessly on fleece.  High tension screens, lower/right mesh count, sufficient stencil thickness and the right ink can make all the difference, but if all else fails or you don't have the other variables nailed down, you'll have to print with more pressure and more off contact.

[RICK STEFANICK]

Dennis, first off you picked a good quality hoodie and they are smooth and print nice.I flood usually when i print fleece as it really helps with clearing the image. also a firm sharp squeegie is necessary. also fleece tends to flash quicker as they hold the heat. be careful. an obviously get them flat in the dryer.. its  really important to get that first white to lay down super smooth. I always double stroke  without flooding the second..

[mk162]

I am working on some experiments around here.  it will be perfect for fleece like this...

discharge or plasticharge in the first screen, no flash and then a highlight plastisol white to finish it.  it eliminates the flashing of a fleece and controls the shrinkage.

otherwise, everybody else here nailed it.

[JBLUE]

Run them through the dryer or pre flash them first so you get them to shrink up a bit before printing. Since you are using a manual raise up your flash a bit and turn it down. If you try it with the same setting you use for a T it will flash before you start to pull the squeegee.

[mooseman]

make sure you have them securely stuck to the platens especially if you are printing a large design.

make sure you renew the "stickum" on the platens, don't get lazy or the garment will move on the lower end of the print stroke.

make sure you have on extra clearance between the garment & your flash

make sure the hood ot the strings do not get hung up on your flash unit when you rotate the press...oops no more registration with just a slight tug.

make sure you raise up your dryer so the hooded part, It will stick up,  doesn't get close to the element or worse yet touch the element

pre flash the garments if you can to shrink them and then recheck the tack down before you print.

On thicker garments we sometimes feel it necessary to dry print the garment. That is tape off a scren completely, add some lubrication we use a silicone spray and print stroke the garment once or twice to get it slammed down and flat.

do not flash the garment while printing on another garment. save the flash process until you have all prints down then falsh one at a time. reason is these will heat up fast & deep, you will burn way sooner than a tee shirt and if you linger on a print stroke whil you have another under the flash you may find you stayed there too long ...shrink, burn, smoke or other bad things.

other than that pretty much a walk in the park.
mooseman

[Shawn (EIP)]

make sure you have them securely stuck to the platens especially if you are printing a large design.

make sure you renew the "stickum" on the platens, don't get lazy or the garment will move on the lower end of the print stroke.

make sure you have on extra clearance between the garment & your flash

make sure the hood ot the strings do not get hung up on your flash unit when you rotate the press...oops no more registration with just a slight tug.

make sure you raise up your dryer so the hooded part, It will stick up,  doesn't get close to the element or worse yet touch the element

pre flash the garments if you can to shrink them and then recheck the tack down before you print.

On thicker garments we sometimes feel it necessary to dry print the garment. That is tape off a scren completely, add some lubrication we use a silicone spray and print stroke the garment once or twice to get it slammed down and flat.

do not flash the garment while printing on another garment. save the flash process until you have all prints down then falsh one at a time. reason is these will heat up fast & deep, you will burn way sooner than a tee shirt and if you linger on a print stroke whil you have another under the flash you may find you stayed there too long ...shrink, burn, smoke or other bad things.

other than that pretty much a walk in the park.
mooseman

Great tips!

Make sure to adjust your gates on your dryer (both ends).  A snagged hoodie in the dryer with mutiple hoodies piling up and burning isnt much fun.

Keep an eye out on your drop off bin (shirt catcher) at the end of the dryer, doesnt take to many to overfill the bin.

Adust your temp and belt speed. Easy to forget if your printing t-shirts in that same run. 

I made it a habit to grab the hoodie before it falls into the bin incase the print sticks. Time consuming but better than replacing expensive apparel.

Double check with the customer for back image placment, some like to see the print with hood down others want it higher up like a t-shirt print.

Still to this day I'm a bit nervous when printing hoodies,  take your time and dont rush!

[Denis Kolar]

WOW, thanks a bunch.... and I thought that I knew something
Keep em coming if there is anything else to ad.

[JayzTeez]

yeah i always catch mine as well, it seems like the ink is a tad to hot when it drops in the catch bin and sometimes sticks to the other ink.  my dryer i can adjust the speed of the belt but not the temp.  its a real short belt so i don't want to run them to fast.

[Shawn (EIP)]

yeah i always catch mine as well, it seems like the ink is a tad to hot when it drops in the catch bin and sometimes sticks to the other ink.  my dryer i can adjust the speed of the belt but not the temp.  its a real short belt so i don't want to run them to fast.

Sticking a fan over the exit helps too just don't point the fan into the chamber.

 

[RICK STEFANICK]

DENNIS,You can probably get away with a stock white plasticharge or straight up waterbase white discharge, double stroke and no highlite white. the problem is the 10% poly blend may give you inconsistant results..just sayin

[ebscreen]

I've had great results with discharge on the PrintPro. Better than any other fleece.