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Hi all, looking to get into doing my own heat pressed shirts. I was on vacation in Gatlinburg TN and went to a shop that sold shirts. My daughter wanted a shirt but they didn't have one in her size so the guy heat presses the design she wanted onto a shirt and everyone was happy.
I have a web forum with a ecommerce store to sell shirts etc. I get my shirts screen printed currently and was thinking of getting into heat pressing my own shirts. Reason is that I would like to offer more than one slogan on the shirts, but with that comes a big inventory of each slogan and all the different sizes that are needed for each slogan and that I don't want. (I don't do a lot of volume) With heat pressing I could order a bunch of blank shirts and print as needed.
Here's my questions:
1. I own Summa cutter and can do the vinyl heat press way, but is that as durable as printing the design on transfer paper? I'd probably like to do the print on transfer paper so I could have more color options. (full color stuff)
2. Will a heat press shirt last as long as a screen printed one?
I don't do that much volume and from looking at some of the websites it looks as though it will cost me more per shirt than screen printing would (if I had my own screen printing rig). I currently get my shirts done for $6.00 each but it's hard to try to keep a bunch in stock and there's always someone who orders a size I'm out of. By heat pressing I could print what I need.
Looking for advice on going the right route on this and I know there's folks on here that are doing it now.
[ September 03, 2012, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: Tony Broussard ]
-------------------- Tony Broussard Graphic Details Digital Media Loreauville, LA Posts: 395 | From: Loreauville, LA | Registered: Jul 1999
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My Shrine Go Kart unit has VersaCamm prints done... print on the film, run it through the cutter, weed, tape, and apply.
We have had these shirts for three years and have been washed 40-50 times and have held up great.
The transfer paper transfers suck in my opinion. They look cheap, feel cheap, and the durability is not great.
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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I have used my "Black Max" heat press, made by Stahls, for about 13 or 14 years. I have some of the Stahls plotter-cut transfer material but rarely ever use it. I create my vector files, email them to a transfer company like Mountain Graphics, ProPrint, or Sunbelt Lettering, they make the trasnsfers, send then to me and I print the shirts. I don't have to worry with weeding a bunch of lettering and detail and the tranfers they print are soft without a stiff "plastic" feel to them; especially the hot/split peel ones. I get my shirts from Virginia T's.
[ September 04, 2012, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7403 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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The other thing to consider is heat presses. We have a really old 14" Hix press, but it's a goodie. There are plenty of cheap chinese ones about these days. I've heard that you get what you pay for though, and many of the cheaper ones are junk- perhaps it's a similar comparison with laminators & plotters- like the Creation P-cut/Puma etc versus Mimaki/Roland...
A slightly bigger press, like a 16" one would be handy at times for us, but you need to consider the overall area of the design you're planning on transferring, when you size up your heat press platen.
Some like the cheap ones, and some hate them-it depends on your scale of operation & your priorities, I suppose.
[ September 04, 2012, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Ian Stewart-Koster ]
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I agree with Ian- I still have and use a smaller Hix that I bought USED in 1985... I also have a larger one, can't remember the brand, but I do like the larger area...
Go ahead and spend a few more dollars on a good one and they will last a long time...
I mainly screenprint, but from time to time I will screenprint onto transfer paper, gang up designs or words, and heat apply them later... I have bought some from Transfer Express and a few others- they are always top notch transfers- much more consistant than the ones I make;)
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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