# 60/40 cotton poly blend temperatures.



## nicoledean (Sep 5, 2017)

Hello,

We are very new to this whole business and have dove in headfirst. I am not sure if the temp needed to press our printed image is based on the ink we use, the paper or the material itself. We are trying to figure out what temp to use and for how long on a 60/40 cotton poly blend material. We are just trying to get a sample to see how it will come out. I know it will fade as the ink wont stick to the cotton. For various reasons we need to do the sample on that material. I printed on a sawgrass virtuoso sg400 printer. I am not sure on the paper as it is the paper that came with the printer. Any advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance
Lloyd and Angie


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

you need sublimation paper for a sublimation printer (sawgrass),
pressed onto a 100% polyester shirt

i'm not sure what regular paper will do,
my guess is a smoldery/firey? mess (as sublimation requires high temp and high press times)

where you bought the printer, did they not sell papers for it?


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## nicoledean (Sep 5, 2017)

oh we are using sublimation paper it came with 100 sheets. I just meant I wasnt sure on what brand exactly it is or if there are different types of paper for the sublimation process. Sorry if I wasnt very clear. It has been a long long night.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Your time and temperature settings is usually dictated by your ink supplier. You should press your sample at that setting first. Depending on shirt color, the high heat of sublimation will have an impact on the shirt itself. I've had white 60/40's scorch and other colors change color tone permanently due to the high heat.

For this reason, we press those shirts at 350 for 60 seconds. Some colors, like red and royal we stay away from entirely due to permanent shirt color tone changes in the shape of your platen.


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## nicoledean (Sep 5, 2017)

Thanks this was very helpful!


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

yep, agreeing with joe, the blend shirts are below average in terms of colour reproduction and ease of pressing. it's good advice to chop up a spare shirt and press small pieces at a time to make adjustments to temp etc. and you don't need to print loads of sheets, just cut one up into small pieces, something like a pic of a brick wall (so your test bits all look the same ish) would do it for testing and chop it up into 15? pieces.
we are at 195c for poly shirts for 70 seconds but 185c for 75 with blends, we rarely use blends due to the under-performing durability these days, and to me I can see the colour shift of the white where it is starting to over cook.


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## trasmi (Jun 13, 2006)

Joe,

What t-shirt blanks are you using for the 60/40 Blend?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

trasmi said:


> Joe,
> 
> What t-shirt blanks are you using for the 60/40 Blend?



Hmm, good question. This was almost a year ago. I couldn't say for sure.


Are you looking for a high poly content shirt? I've got some 65/35 and 70/30's I can recommend.


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## trasmi (Jun 13, 2006)

Great,

Would love to hear them. Any recommendations for a 95/5 Cotton/Spandex T-Shirt?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

trasmi said:


> Great,
> 
> Would love to hear them. Any recommendations for a 95/5 Cotton/Spandex T-Shirt?


 I remember now the 60/40 cotton/poly shirt I used last year. It was a Next Level.


You are looking for a 95/5 cotton or polyester? Cotton won't sublimate. Sanmar has a 95/5 poly thats subs exceptionally well. It's a jersey knit so it feels just like cotton.


Tultex at TSCapparel has a line of 65/35s poly/cotton that sub pretty well. Obviously there will be 35% fade so you get a weathered look.

Sanmar has a 70/30 poly/cotton raglan that subs pretty nicely.


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