Attempted my first foil application...what am I doing wrong?

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

I attempted my first foil job last night and the foil would not adhere to the image. I did not use foil adhesive in the image. It was my understadning based on some previous questions I had posted here that I can just foil over the plastisol, which is what I did. the plastisol is Gold Metallic...and i cured the shirt with my flash when I printed it. The next day I attempted to apply the foil using a heat press...I got the press up to 375 degrees..laid the gold foil over the area of image (gold facing up) I wanted it, and the protective sheet over the whole image...pressed it for 10 seconds...released the press and immediately pulled the foil off and all that happened was the plastisol stuck to the foil...so what can I be doing wrong?

I had ZERO foil adhesion..all I seemed to do was un-cure the plastisol and it stuck to the underside of the foil when i pulled the foil off.

[GKitson]

Foil upside down....wrong side up.....

~Kitson

[CastleKing]

The foil needs to cool off before peeling. You also need to peel it slowly and consistently.

[CastleKing]

Another side note, certain brands of foil work better than others. We only use Crown foils as they have performed the best for us.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

Foil upside down....wrong side up.....

~Kitson

I tried both sides....exact same process....exact same result.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

The foil needs to cool off before peeling. You also need to peel it slowly and consistently.

I did not let it cool off ..i spoke to the guy that mentors me..i am using his press..he said I had to peel it off right after i lift the press......and I did not peel slow..but to be honest, slow or fast, I think it wouldnt have made a difference..absolutely no foil stuck..not even in some spots..I could literally wip the foil off and use it again.

Maybe it cant stick to gold metallic plastisol??? I have no idea.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

Another side note, certain brands of foil work better than others. We only use Crown foils as they have performed the best for us.

Crown is what I am using per the responses I got when I asked the forum what brand should I use.

[Homer]

first, I wouldn't use a metallic ink for an adhesive, just a color close to the foil color. 80 OR 60 mesh, we have done 110 with 2 strokes pfp in a pinch. 350 temp for 20ish seconds I believe?...and like Castle said, it has to be cold -  not even room temp. We take the print off the press and hold it up to a glass window, wall, whatever is closest to that press....I would look at your mesh/adhesive first.

[kingscreen]

Possible issues:
Poor adhesion properties of metallic ink.
Over cured plastisol/adhesive.
Not enough plastisol/adhesive.
Heat Press is too hot.
Not pressed long enough.
Peeled off when too hot.

Things to try:
Lay down plastisol/adhesive using no higher than 155. We typically put it down with a 110.
Flash only or run down belt at lower temperature/faster speed. We do not fully cure adhesive prior to foil application.
Heat press at 350F for 30 seconds. Peel off once cool.

Foil Printing Process on T-Shirts

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

Possible issues:
Poor adhesion properties of metallic ink.
Over cured plastisol/adhesive.
Not enough plastisol/adhesive.
Heat Press is too hot.
Not pressed long enough.
Peeled off when too hot.

Things to try:
Lay down plastisol/adhesive using no higher than 155. We typically put it down with a 110.
Flash only or run down belt at lower temperature/faster speed. We do not fully cure adhesive prior to foil application.
Heat press at 350F for 30 seconds. Peel off once cool.

Foil Printing Process on T-Shirts

sweet!!..was that plastiol you laid on the shirt? it looked silver-ish.

[kingscreen]

We use Wilfex HD Clear as foil adhesive. It's used straight in this old video but we sometimes tint it with plastisol to help conceal pits etc.

[ebscreen]

HD here as well, though we've used just about any thick bodied plastisol with great results.
I wouldn't use metallic though. We've gone up to 180 mesh before (accents), but like to stay
as low as possible.

RE the over/curing thing, we frequently run discharge and HD for foil. I don't know of a way
to activate discharge without curing plastisol, so when they come out of the dryer, the plastisol
is certainly fully cured, but still takes foil great. Just our experience.

Pressure time and temp on the heat press will play a huge part in success. 350 for 30 like King said
is where I'd start. Go hot and heavy and long until you start smushing out detail and then back
off the heat or time until you got it.

We use a "heat eraser", a shirt wadded up, to rub the foil area down after. Cools the shirt down and
maybe helps with any voids.

[dirkdiggler]

For gold foil, I use gold plastisol NOT a metallic.  I print shirts and run them through the dryer to cure ink.  Later follow normal procedure on heat press, BUT probably need to double your time on heat press, better results if you let if cool before peeling.  I have done99999999999999999999999999999999 of these with great results.  btw, crown here also.