Plastisol Transfers WITHOUT Adhesive Powder?

[mimosatexas]

I tried mixing in the powder a while back.  I forget which was the finest, but I bought and tested 4 or 5 different brands.  One was definitely finer than the others.  That said, it didn't seem to do anything.  I mixed it in a bunch of ratios, to the point where it was laughable, and it had no effect. 

[ebscreen]

I wonder what transfer powder is?

[ZooCity]

I wonder what transfer powder is?

I think it's just a hot melt glue, crystallized/ground down.  Maybe heat activated polyurethane?

[mimosatexas]

So I decided to just say freak it, didn't apply powder, didn't insert anything between layers, and pressed with my standard settings....and it works flawlessly.  ugh

The transfers don't stick to anything through the holes in the mesh for whatever reason, no issues with adhesion on the top layer of the mesh, etc.

[TCT]

We use to use the powder, which makes things pretty full proof. But after a incident where I got the powder mixed up with my Columbian marching powder, I realized I need to get serious. Made a switch to transfer ink from Excalibur, 900 or 950 series. Stuff is great! Bet we've done close to 2,000 transfers with it, that is all we use our electric dryer for. Temp set at 185 belt speed at 20, Workhorse dryer.

If anyone wants, I can use a temp gun tomorrow(provided I remember or am reminded) and see what the paper actually reads in the dryer.

With the Excalibur ink the transfer printing area is MUCH cleaner, and my nose candy is not mistaken anymore.



- Cocaine jokes, were just that, jokes, I'm fine guys...

[Doug B]

 Some 40 years ago (yes, that is a "4") when I printed hundredsof thousands of transfers,
there was no such thing as powder. All in the mesh, dryer temp, heat press temp, pressure
etc. Now I wonder why in the hell did I stay in this profession (he thinks aloud).

[bulldog]

I'm late to the party here but this has been on my mind a lot also.

I print my transfers (white ink on dark) 50/50 shirts and have only really found one ink that transfers well with bleed resistance (WM Plastics 9008) and I add hot split additive to it at 10%.

It prints great and transfers great but if I don't use the powder then after a few washes the transfer starts to degrade (even more so on 100% cotton, oddly enough) - I'm using 110 mesh coated 2/1 round.

I gel at 199 degrees through the dryer and the transfers come out just gelled at my temp/speed. (sometimes they would even smear a little if I ran a full belt of them and touched them so I know it has to be right on the edge of the gel range)

I press for 6 seconds @ 366 (which is within range of ink specs) at medium-heavy pressure on my Hix (about a 7)

Now I'm starting to wonder if I've been doing something wrong because here and there small details still crack after a few washes.

So...has anyone thoroughly wash tested (with dryer) without using the powder? Anyone see something glaring that I might be doing wrong? Or suggestions?

I would LOVE to get away from powder, as it is messy as hell and I could crank out transfers 10x as fast without it...but need something that will hold up.

On a side note, I've talked to Ray at Polyone about this and he pretty much told me I needed to keep using powder or print the last down clear. So I'm even more confused.

[Gilligan]

Hey Bulldog, Onestroke has a transfer system perfect for bleed stuff.  We have it it's pretty slick.

You fully cure the transfer then press at 275 (I'm pretty sure that's it), and cold peel.

Basically you are only melting the adhesive powder and then it has to cool.

Won't bleed for sure!