# First time printing from inkjet and using heat press



## CinergyUK (Nov 16, 2014)

Hi all, this is my first time posting and my very first attempt at t-shirt printing. Unfortunately I am having a problem from the very start.

I have just bought a 40x50 pixmax heat press and a roll of jetpro softstretch as well as 100 Sols imperial white t-shirts. My printer is a large format ipf6300. 
The printing was fine and I really surprised myself with my very first effort at the heat press. A great even transfer.I followed the instructions; 180 degrees heat for 30 seconds.

However on my next 3 attempts I noticed that when I hot peeled a small part of the transfer was not printing well. The first time it left a small rough area which was not as defined as the rest,then it got worse, the next one was much more obvious and part of the transfer just didn't take.
The third was just as bad. I don't want to waste anymore shirts so before trying again I wanted to ask what may be the problem? 
More/less heat? More/less time? More pressure? I may be at the max end of pressure already though.
Any help would be appreciated.

Gerry


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

Have you tried peeling cold? Did you pre-press the shirts to remove any moisture? Are these shirts poly or cotton? What ink are you using? It could be your heat press, no offence meant but Pixmax presses are at the lower quality end, these presses can suffer from uneven heating across the platten(to do with the way the heating element is located) and/or uneven pressure, check the temperature across the platten and ensure it is even and near to the set point.


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## theLeffla (Oct 30, 2014)

If it is peeling uneven, and this is sublimated ink, I would try this. We use high pressure, but before we even put anything down we follow these steps:

1. we put a piece of foam inside the shirt this keeps it from creating the "box" effect

2. we spray the printed paper with a very very very thin layer of tex spray adhesive, this stops it from "ghosting" the image.

3. then Teflon over the paper and press. 

So far we have improved our prints phenomenally.


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## CinergyUK (Nov 16, 2014)

diveuk said:


> Have you tried peeling cold? Did you pre-press the shirts to remove any moisture? Are these shirts poly or cotton? What ink are you using? It could be your heat press, no offence meant but Pixmax presses are at the lower quality end, these presses can suffer from uneven heating across the platten(to do with the way the heating element is located) and/or uneven pressure, check the temperature across the platten and ensure it is even and near to the set point.


firstly thanks for your reply.

I have been peeling hot as I was advised this is best practice. The shirts are 100% cotton, does this have a bearing? 
Yes I gave the shirts a 8 sec burst of full heat before printing. The ink is pigment. 
In fairness to Pixmax I did ask the guy about cold spots as I had done some intensive research of what I could buy within my budget and he did say that the specs of the machines meant that you should not be printing on the extremities of the platen as this is an acknowledged weaknesss of the machines. 
And as it would happen,my very first job is a near a3 size print! 

again appreciate your responce.

Gerry


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## CinergyUK (Nov 16, 2014)

theLeffla said:


> If it is peeling uneven, and this is sublimated ink, I would try this. We use high pressure, but before we even put anything down we follow these steps:
> 
> 1. we put a piece of foam inside the shirt this keeps it from creating the "box" effect
> 
> ...


wow, 3 great pro tips in one post.Thank you. and as soon as I have googled what they mean I will no doubt be adding them to my repertoire 

a question about the teflon sheet. should I be using this every print? I understood it to be a way of protecting pre-printed transfers when applying additional transfers. Have I got this wrong? 

Gerry


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## CinergyUK (Nov 16, 2014)

I forgot to mention, this is not sublimation, it is pigment dye from a large format canon Inkjet printer. IPF6300


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

We use teflon over the transfer to protect the garmemt, some say this is good practice, some will say it's poor practice, we have always done it. To seal the transfer after peeling the backing use teflon over the transfer for a shiny finish or parchment paper for a Matt finish, we only use pillows on polo shirts to avoid the buttons making imprints or across seams.
For your printing problem all I can suggest provideing all is good with your press, paper, etc. is print several smaller designs on a sheet say 6 to 8 cut them out and print them on different parts of a scrap shirt using different heat/pressure settings for each one until you find the best combination.


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## zawblade00 (May 16, 2010)

CinergyUK said:


> Hi all, this is my first time posting and my very first attempt at t-shirt printing. Unfortunately I am having a problem from the very start.
> 
> I have just bought a 40x50 pixmax heat press and a roll of jetpro softstretch as well as 100 Sols imperial white t-shirts. My printer is a large format ipf6300.
> The printing was fine and I really surprised myself with my very first effort at the heat press. A great even transfer.I followed the instructions; 180 degrees heat for 30 seconds.
> ...


Gerry
I use the JetPro Softstretch sheets (11 x 17) and Gildan 100% cotton shirts, I use and Espon printer with inkcarts that are refillable and inks for heat pressing. The ink cartridges that come with the printers will work, these heat press inks are designed for what you are doing, and cost less by refilling than buying individual cartridges. 

Here is what I do:

* Preheat the press to 360 degrees
* Press for 5 seconds to smooth out and remove moisture.
* Place the design on the shirt.
*Cover with a sheet of craft paper. (This mostly to protect the shirt from the upper platen)
* Pressure at 7 (I am using a Hotronik Fusion) this is a scale of 1 to .
*Press the shirt for 20-25 seconds.
*Raise the press and peel hot.9 (tip: grab the sides of the shirt and stretch a little, this will release the transfer on the edges and make it easier to remove while the shirt and transfer are still hot.
Once you have peeled the transfer off completely, lightly stretch the shirt this will help soften the finish.

Forgot to mention, trim as much of the paper away from the outside of the design leaving 1/8 to 1/4 inch around your design, no sense pressing the adhesive all over the shirt.

So to me it looks like you need more heat (360) a little less dwell time (20-25 seconds) and pressure medium 7 on a scale of 1-9. 

Nothing else, wait 24 hours and wash. Hope this helps.


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## theLeffla (Oct 30, 2014)

zawblade00 said:


> Gerry
> I use the JetPro Softstretch sheets (11 x 17) and Gildan 100% cotton shirts, I use and Espon printer with inkcarts that are refillable and inks for heat pressing. The ink cartridges that come with the printers will work, these heat press inks are designed for what you are doing, and cost less by refilling than buying individual cartridges.
> 
> Here is what I do:
> ...


I was not aware you could heat press cotton for transfer?


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## zawblade00 (May 16, 2010)

You are referring to plastisol transfers not inkjet transfers you can not alter the finish of the ink and you do not need to set the ink again it just came out from under the heat. Set the ink sounds like you are talking about DTG printing where it is printed and then the ink is set with heat.


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## zawblade00 (May 16, 2010)

theLeffla said:


> I was not aware you could heat press cotton for transfer?


Plastisol Transfers, Inkjet transfers and DTG all will print on cotton shirts. If you do sublimation then you must use polyester shirts.


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

zawblade00 said:


> You are referring to plastisol transfers not inkjet transfers you can not alter the finish of the ink and you do not need to set the ink again it just came out from under the heat. Set the ink sounds like you are talking about DTG printing where it is printed and then the ink is set with heat.


Not true, you can alter the look of inkjet transfers by re-pressing for a few seconds with a coversheet, it also helps with the durability of the transfers.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

You said 180 degrees, and since you're in UK I assume this is Celsius, but that's not hot enough. 180C is 356F and the instructions say 375F is the correct setting (I set mine at about 385F because if you do one shirt after another the temperature goes down quite a bit.)

And it's true for all heat presses that you can't use the entire surface of the heating element from edge to edge. I'd use at least 1-2" in from all 4 edges.

And if you wait too long to peel, it may be difficult and tear the paper. If this happens, press it again for a few seconds and then peel it. I like to press and wait about 5 seconds, then peel.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

theLeffla said:


> I was not aware you could heat press cotton for transfer?


For sublimation you can't, but he's doing regular inkjet transfers.


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