Transfer printing help

[inkman996]

About a year ago I decided to try printing plastisol transfers. Mainly for things like two ply mesh shorts etc. All one color. Now we are printing sleeve and pant leg transfers nearly daily. More and more we are getting orders for sleeves and pant legs that are just impossible to get on a sleeve pallette on the press (youth long sleeves, womens long sleeves, youth sweat pants, etc.) I am sure we all here know the pain.

My problem is when we print transfers we have no way to hold the paper down other than spray tack, I have tried double sided tape with no joy, so we use spray and it sucks for two reasons, one is I hate spray tack period, and more importantly the tack transfers to the back of the transfer paper which then gets coated in the release powder which then sticks to the heat press when applying.

How do others tackle this issue? Maybe using an auto is just the wrong way to do this? Obviously vacuum tables is out of the question, and we do not have the space to add a dedicated machine. Manual press is an option but prefer not to if at all possible.

[Frog]

Vacuum platens for an automatic are not necessarily out of the question, as they are available from, at the least, M&R.
https://www.mrprint.com/equipment/surevac-vacuum-pallet-system

[ebscreen]

For single colors mix your xfer powder into the ink before printing. Hit the sweet spot on adhesive just like
textiles in that it sticks but doesn't want to live there forever. You'll likely still get some amount on the back
which means having to use the teflon sheet on the heat press.

[inkman996]

For single colors mix your xfer powder into the ink before printing. Hit the sweet spot on adhesive just like
textiles in that it sticks but doesn't want to live there forever. You'll likely still get some amount on the back
which means having to use the teflon sheet on the heat press.

Mix the powder directly into the ink itself?

[ebscreen]

Correct. Saw it mentioned deep in a TDS somewhere, Union I think.
Works for us, but leads to a new shelf section.

[Frog]

From Union :

Hot-melt adhesive powders act as a very adhesive glue when heated and can allow you to apply transfers in situations where otherwise they would not adhere. There are several methods for adding them to transfers, depending on the type of transfer and the type of powder. Finely ground adhesive powders can be mixed with the ink before printing, generally 10-15% powder by weight. This is the usual method with puff transfers and for transfers which will be foiled.

More often the adhesive powder is applied to the surface of the transfer after printing. There are several ways for doing this. The most common is to fill a box large enough to hold a transfer with adhesive powder an inch or so deep. After printing the transfer, pass the paper through the box, scooping it under the powder in such a manner that the entire printed surface of the transfer is covered with the adhesive powder. Shake the excess powder back into the box as you lift the transfer out, then gel the transfer. You can also fill a large salt shaker with adhesive powder and shake it onto the transfer, coating the ink thoroughly. Remember to shake the excess powder off the transfer back into a box for re-use before passing the transfer through the dryer.

[ebscreen]

There it is.

I should mention that we speed the dryer up quite a bit with this method.

[Maxie]

I do exactly what Frog mentioned.
I built a vacuum table, wooden base covered with a sheet of PVC with small holes drilled into it.
I connect this to a vacuum.
Very easy to do.
I am planning on building another one that can fit onto a manual printer.

[Frog]

I do exactly what Frog mentioned.
I built a vacuum table, wooden base covered with a sheet of PVC with small holes drilled into it.
I connect this to a vacuum.
Very easy to do.
I am planning on building another one that can fit onto a manual printer.

[ericheartsu]

From Union :

Hot-melt adhesive powders act as a very adhesive glue when heated and can allow you to apply transfers in situations where otherwise they would not adhere. There are several methods for adding them to transfers, depending on the type of transfer and the type of powder. Finely ground adhesive powders can be mixed with the ink before printing, generally 10-15% powder by weight. This is the usual method with puff transfers and for transfers which will be foiled.

More often the adhesive powder is applied to the surface of the transfer after printing. There are several ways for doing this. The most common is to fill a box large enough to hold a transfer with adhesive powder an inch or so deep. After printing the transfer, pass the paper through the box, scooping it under the powder in such a manner that the entire printed surface of the transfer is covered with the adhesive powder. Shake the excess powder back into the box as you lift the transfer out, then gel the transfer. You can also fill a large salt shaker with adhesive powder and shake it onto the transfer, coating the ink thoroughly. Remember to shake the excess powder off the transfer back into a box for re-use before passing the transfer through the dryer.

This method does work, BUT it will put a shelf life on your ink, as it will become tacky, and eventually to puddy like to print and flood correctly.

Action Engineering also makes a ton of vacuum pallets.

[Frog]

From Union :

Hot-melt adhesive powders act as a very adhesive glue when heated and can allow you to apply transfers in situations where otherwise they would not adhere. There are several methods for adding them to transfers, depending on the type of transfer and the type of powder. Finely ground adhesive powders can be mixed with the ink before printing, generally 10-15% powder by weight. This is the usual method with puff transfers and for transfers which will be foiled.

More often the adhesive powder is applied to the surface of the transfer after printing. There are several ways for doing this. The most common is to fill a box large enough to hold a transfer with adhesive powder an inch or so deep. After printing the transfer, pass the paper through the box, scooping it under the powder in such a manner that the entire printed surface of the transfer is covered with the adhesive powder. Shake the excess powder back into the box as you lift the transfer out, then gel the transfer. You can also fill a large salt shaker with adhesive powder and shake it onto the transfer, coating the ink thoroughly. Remember to shake the excess powder off the transfer back into a box for re-use before passing the transfer through the dryer.

This method does work, BUT it will put a shelf life on your ink, as it will become tacky, and eventually to puddy like to print and flood correctly.

Action Engineering also makes a ton of vacuum pallets.

As Union states, "More often the adhesive powder is applied to the surface of the transfer after printing.". The addition to inks is usually reserved for puff or foil use. The OP was looking for possible solutions to the problem of the adhesive powder also stcking to the back of the paper due to platen stickum transfer. So, to avoid the trade-off of the negative effects of direct addition to the ink, this is the problem he needs to solve. Other than a vacuum board, a solution could be as simple as developing a style that rather than passing the entire paper through the powder, merely sprinkling it on the surface. Ideally, simply using a tack, or application technique that doesn't transfer.

[Bearded Lady]

I just use a large platen on a manual press with regular old platen tape and water based Tex Tac "print board" adhesive by chromaline. As long as it isn't freshly applied the paper holds down just enough. I own a manual and an auto vacuum press for printing flatstock BUT I never use them for heat transfers since they're not anywhere near my textile dryer and I wouldn't want the fine powder in my flatstock zone.