educate me on printing plastisol transfers

[Shanarchy]

I have a customer who I do a lot of printing for who now is requiring us printing the size tags. This is a major PITA. The tags and color will not change, so I would like to print out a bunch of sheets and just cut out and heat press on the appropriate sizes when we print their orders.

So...I have no idea how this works. I believe I need to order transfer sheets, then you print them with plastisol like you would a shirt, then put a powder on them?

Would you be printing them mirrored (backwards)?
There seems to be different types of transfer sheets, which do I want to use?
Are there different types of powder?
What is the difference between hot peel and cold peel?
Will these look, feel, and last like a direct print?
Are my assumptions even close?


Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

[mk162]

you can order them done already, I got a quote at $.066 each.

[Shanarchy]

you can order them done already, I got a quote at $.066 each.

Whoa! Where at and what is the minimum order?

[Frog]

Ace is one company. http://www.acetransco.com/index.php

We have also had a few discussions here. "Screened transfers" is probably a better search term than "plastisol transfers"

[Inkworks]

For tags you can probably print them 10-20up. so it can be very cost effective to print them in-house.

Yes you mirror the art for the film.

normal/Fine powder should work, particularly if the art has fine lines.

Hot peel/cold peel are just that, the temperature you peel the paper off at. They used to have hot-split which left ~1/2 the ink on the paper when you peeled it off, but you don't see too much of that anymore.

The look is not the same, you tend to have a much flatter, smoother look/feel to them, more like a decal. The durability should be similar to a print, but, i.m.o. it's not quite as durable as a direct print. Back 15-20 years ago they really didn't last as long as a properly cured print, but now they are getting closer.

[Shanarchy]

Thanks Frog! I'll check them out and also do a search on "screened transfers to see what I can find.

Thanks Inkworks! Great info! Any preference between hot and cold peel for a newbie?

[Frog]

The look is not the same, you tend to have a much flatter, smoother look/feel to them, more like a decal. The durability should be similar to a print, but, i.m.o. it's not quite as durable as a direct print. Back 15-20 years ago they really didn't last as long as a properly cured print, but now they are getting closer.

It appears that that big boys like Fruit, and Hanes definitely don't seem to produce or care that their tags don't last as long as our decoration.

On the other hand, name drops and similar prints, on both lights and darks that I have done don't seem to share that characteristic.

[easyscore]

I use the transfer paper and adhesive from Performance Screen Supply.
I use the transfers for hats, labels and anything that is a PITA to print on difficult items.

-Image has to be mirrored

-Give yourself at least 1/2" - 3/4" apart for cutting purposes

-Mesh ranges 110 - 230. Want to have some ink on the transfer to have the powder something to adhere to.

-I drop the temp and up the speed on my dryer. You don't want to completely cure the ink. If my transfer paper tints brown I back off on the temp in the dryer.

-The performance transfers can be peeled hot or cold. I prefer to peel them hot.

-You'll probably have to test your eat press settings but I use a Geo-Knight. Depending on the garment Temp (320 - 365) / Time (6 - 10 seconds). If the garment color shows through back off a bit on the temp or time.

-The transfer doesn't have a heavy hand to it.

-Make sure to store them in a container. They have a decent shelf life but I usually don't go overboard printing too many extras. It's too easy to knock them out when I need them.

-They are pretty durable. I've seen a couple of transfer designs I've done that are over 8 years old and haven't cracked or washed off.



Also use companies like F&M Expressions, Versatrans and Wildside for multi color tansfers. I do a ton of booty shorts for a customer and I'm not interested printing 3 color logos on them at all!

Good luck and definitely worth adding it to your print arsenal.

[Binkspot]

You can try Stahls also, I think they did a roll of them for us. I know FM did some for us. We also print sublimation labels and heat press them in. 

They are so cheap to buy it doesn't pay to make them yourself IMO.

[ZooCity]

We do a crap ton of them this way.   I costed out having them printed out of hosue and it's way cheaper to do it in house, especially with 13x19 sheets on the Cameo at 350/hr.  It ain't bad on the manual, right on the shirt platens with very light adhesive either.

We have two buckets of "recycled" ink that we throw our plastisol scraps into, mix in the adhesive crystals, a little stretch base and 99% of our tags are printed with either the "light" or "dark" recycled mix so ink cost is about zero.   Only catch with doing this is that your ink properties will be weird given the hodge podge of ink types in there.  Probably best to start with high opacity, medium to thick bodied ink until you get the hang of it.

Printing on paper requires sharp blades and controlled fill and print strokes or you'll be wiping down the bottom the that screen all day.

The adhesive, mixed into the ink, holds finer detail fairly well but a clear coat will help hold the really tiny stuff together. 

A vac table makes life a lot better.

We cold peel ours and use the thickest, best paper we can find, which is T-105 right now. 

I bill this by charging for a transfer print run relative to how many transfers they expect to use in a year (they keep well, in ziplocs and a reasonably stable climate for about a year and often longer) and then $0.50 per pc to apply.  When they run out, time for a new run.

We use a hotronix cap press to put 'em on. In the 10-12 s it takes to press you can have the next one up QC'd.  (most private labeling is for retail and QC seems to go hand in hand).

Union has an excellent white paper that covers the rest of the details.
http://www.unionink.com/articles/transfer.html

I'm going to time/cost this out v. direct printing them soon just to see.  The big advantage I see with transfers is, aside from printing the transfers themselves, you are applying off press and not holding up the schedule.   A cap heat press, doubles as, you know a cap press, and take up a lot less space than a screen press does.  It's also very easy to teach someone how to apply them.

Hit me up with any questions you have.