Locating front graphic

[asdprints]

I know this is a question that has been asked before, but I can't find it doing a search, sorry for the repeat. Is there a "standard mesaurement and procedure for locating chest prints. How do you guys do it in your shop?

Thanks,
Steve

[Homer]

we use 3 fingers down from the neck collar, give or take a finger if it's a larger / smaller shirt. . .

[Inkworks]

I take an educated guess, print a Large, try it on and take a look and go from there. Usually get within 1/2" of where it should be. We're pretty fussy about position and adjust 1/2" per size up to XL, after XL People don't get taller, just wider 

[jason-23]

Here is something thats a little better than fingers because we all know jay has fat digits..

[jason-23]

this brings up a question...can we or should i say TSB have like a spot for forms so people can just place any form into to share? Its not file sharing per-say...

[Frog]

We can look into that, but like art files, all forms would have to be owned by the poster, and not just passed along from a licensed source.

[sweetts]

Mid sleeve top of the design and middle is where collar and shoulder come together.  We use lasers To line it up

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[mooseman]

we gut wrench on placement on every job, it never seems to be clear where to drop the ink on any given garment.

On left chest designs our starting standard is 2.5 inches down and 4.5 inches offset from shirt center to center of design. We set every l/c logo on press at this setting so we ALWAYS know where the logo will drop then load the shirt accordingly to hit our targets charted below.

Example on adult small target is 4 off x 2 down so shirt is loaded 1/2 inch off center on pallet and 1/2 in down from the pallet top.
 
Looking at the chart that was posted I start questioning my standard all over again .

The offset there shows 2.9 inches to the center of the design...... so if the left chest logo is 3 inches wide and set at 2.9 inches the inner edge of the design then would be 1.4 inches from the shirt center line? 

to solve some of our heartburn on this issue we set the film on the shirt move it around some , then some more and measure the location.
We keep a sheet with every order that records the placement so we can be consistantly right or wrong on re-orders.
Here is what we think works ano a typical left chest logo measuring 3.5 inches wide  X 3.5 inches tall.

WE START WITH THE POSITIVE LOCATED ON SHIRT AS SHOWN BELOW AND MODIFY BASED ON EYE vs.  ACTUAL LOGO SIZE
ADULT SMALL  4 OFF  X   2.0 DOWN
ADULT MEDIUM 4 OFF  X 2.5 DOWN
ADULT LARGE  4.5 OFF X 3 DOWN
ADULT XL        4.5 OFF X 3.5 DOWN
ADULT 2XL      5 OFF X  4 DOWN
ADULT 3XL      5.5 OFF X 4 DOWN
ADULT 4XL      6 OFF  X  4.5 DOWN
ADULT 5XL      6.5 OFF  X 4.5 DOWN   

we were educated that IN EMBROIDERY the logo should be located on the off set centerline where the collar intersects the shoulder, from that point a line straight down defines the centerline of the logo.

I have talked to some screen printers who tell me that they use a business card length (typically 3.5 inches) to place the down distance from collar to top of a design.
At the end of it all I think this all shakes out to be as clear as mud and as definitive as how far is up?

I would really  like to hear from more folks on this topic

mooseman

[jason-23]

I'm not sayi g that my chart is written in stone. It was given to me a long time from either Andy or Preston but I cannot remember who. But  I stick to the chart pretty close, it keeps it consistent and I don't have to guess if I have a reprint of the same order. Sometimes you have to adjust because of the image itself is calling for it. For instance if the image has text in the center and it's a front print.

[mooseman]

Jason,......yea buddie, i hear ya, my point is not to take a shot at the chart but to highlite the the ongoing chase to the second holy grail in printing universal placament, the first being the great white hope ink .

I see stuff printed all over the left chest and I am constantly second guessing my self......water for my horses, whisky for my men and a standard for me PLEASE
mooseman

[Frog]

Here's the guide that I put out there.
Amazingly, for the left chest(pocket), when I compared it to the neck seam, shoulder seam type placement method, it was within 1/4 inch!

[Gilligan]

So when screen printing do you guys actually adjust the placement?  If so, how do you accomplish this?

[Frog]

Up and down by 1/4" marks on my board. Sideways by moving the screen on single colors, and shifting the shirt on multi color.

You really have to move it. Let's be real and realize that the same position won't look anywhere near the same on a small, as on an XXL, my typical every day range.

I may fudge between two close sizes, but not more of a jump than that.

[Inkworks]

Marks on the platens, or if you do it enough, just by eye:

front and back prints:


Left Chests:

[ZooCity]

Up and down by 1/4" marks on my board. Sideways by moving the screen on single colors, and shifting the shirt on multi color.

You really have to move it. Let's be real and realize that the same position won't look anywhere near the same on a small, as on an XXL, my typical every day range.

I may fudge between two close sizes, but not more of a jump than that.

Same here.  A great help is to have mirrors to try it on yourself, I wear a size small so have always started with smalls on the run and a quarter inch bump every size or two after that.  We also have a seamstress' female  mannequin.  Using film positives is nice too on non standard prints.

Moving taller designs up toward the collar is critical. 

A rep came in the other day with a very affordable, ceiling mounted, laser positioning system that would be a big help for consistency as well as allowing some wrap around capabilities for clever printers.

Don't overlook placement, it separates excellent print shops from merely satisfactory ones and a good short from a great one.  At the same time, don't stress it too much once you have a good baseline in place.