# Coolmax & Thermoflex onto high-performance wicking shirts



## diane143 (Nov 17, 2006)

I have a couple of RaceReady shirts I need to add a few words to. I'll be using Thermoflex Plus.

To those of you that have pressed vinyl onto high-performance wicking shirts, what should I use for temp and time?

I'm guessing I need to cover everything with my teflon sheet?

TIA,

Diane


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

diane143 said:


> I have a couple of RaceReady shirts I need to add a few words to. I'll be using Thermoflex Plus.
> 
> To those of you that have pressed vinyl onto high-performance wicking shirts, what should I use for temp and time?
> 
> ...


Hi Diane,

I have not fully tested TFlex yet on Coolmax. You may need to test yourself.

I have printed plastisol on these types of fabrics, as a general rule they work best at LOW temp. and quick apply time. 2-3 sec. But this depends on the fabric elements too. Perhaps test it out.... yes also a good idea to protect the garment with teflon, it wont hurt.


----------



## diane143 (Nov 17, 2006)

I have a vaporwear shirt I can sacrifice if need be..... I have someone on another list that says she uses tflex plus on polyester with no problems, following tflex plus instructions. <fingers crossed>


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

diane143 said:


> I have a vaporwear shirt I can sacrifice if need be..... I have someone on another list that says she uses tflex plus on polyester with no problems, following tflex plus instructions. <fingers crossed>


yeah, tflex does work on "polyesters/bends" etc. but the polyester types like coolmax may react different to heat.... im always a little scared when working with these types of fabrics too, you never know whats going to happen.....until you try it. The worst for me are Nylons.

also, you need to wash test after.

I think there is a member here "moo spot prints" (jose) that is now testing various inks and materials on these type of fabrics, may be send him a PM.


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

I _*just *_got coolmax samples in the mail today and will testing them in a little bit. From what Gerry (at raceready) has told me, they should do better than some other materials I've tried. Thanks for creating the thread. I'll let you know how it goes shortly! 

You have to bite the bullet and sacrifice a few tees. 

I have pressed Spectra EZ-Weed on some shirts with very good results. The vinyl has stuck well and looks awesome. Unfortunately the fabric gets affected even at the 302 temp for this vinyl.


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

may be for coolmax these type of LOW temp (sort of like nylon type transfers) are the answer. Just may be.  

Welcome to Electrocal/Polymark


----------



## diane143 (Nov 17, 2006)

I did 3 tests: 

Brookline EvapR8 (don't know how old this - came w/my used press - cotton-like)
Vapor Apparel long sleeve (shiny/slippery)
the RaceReady shirts (sort of a waffle weave)

I used Thermoflex Plus and followed the directions - 345 at 20 seconds.

I covered with a Teflon sheet

I will probably not be able to wash test the raceready shirts as DH is taking them to his parents tomorrow. I'll wash the other ones.

The only item of note I have is that the Raceready shirts were already dyesubbed. When I pulled off the teflon sheet on the 2nd one, I pulled up a corner of the shirt which then lay upon the tflex plastic coating. When I separated them, there was a bit of ink color on the plastic. Otherwise the original logo looked ok.

I'm going to add an another logo to the Vapor shirt since it's one I wear when running. May as well get full use out of it LOL

Happy testing everyone!

Diane


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

If the coolmax fabric was able to tolerate 345, I'll be a very happy camper! I got sidetracked yet again and wasn't able to do any testing over the weekend. Hopefully I can get in there tonight.

Diane - which material are the shirts made out of? Coolmax Alta or Coolmax Aries? They sell 2. Aries is the lighter stuff.


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

btw. there are some polyester fabric types that work fine with a heat press at 350F-375F. Of course a quick apply time/sec. helps too.


...thats all i wanted to say.


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

T-BOT said:


> btw. there are some polyester fabric types that work fine with a heat press at 350F-375F. Of course a quick apply time/sec. helps too.


But not all polyesters perform the same!

Which fabrics are you referring to? The thicker Vapor stuff handles the higher temps just fine but I wouldn't consider it a performance fabric.


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

Moo Spot Prints said:


> But not all polyesters perform the same!.


true.
as for the performance fabrics, would my pajamas qualify ? (silk and linen)


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Just what kinds of activities are you performing in you pj's??


----------



## diane143 (Nov 17, 2006)

Moo Spot Prints said:


> Diane - which material are the shirts made out of? Coolmax Alta or Coolmax Aries? They sell 2. Aries is the lighter stuff.


It actually says CooLMax Dupont on it. (with the capitol "L")

Want the entire tag info?


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

diane143 said:


> It actually says CooLMax Dupont on it.


sorry to cut in here, yes, the Thats the real CoolMax.  

Diane, what temperature worked for you ?


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

diane143 said:


> It actually says CooLMax Dupont on it. (with the capitol "L")
> 
> Want the entire tag info?


Let me rephrase that. Which model of shirt are you pressing onto? 

There are several weights of Coolmax.


----------



## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

Moo Spot Prints said:


> But not all polyesters perform the same!
> 
> Which fabrics are you referring to? The thicker Vapor stuff handles the higher temps just fine but I wouldn't consider it a performance fabric.


 
Hi Jose,

May I ask why you wouldn't consider Vapor Basic T a performance fabric?
As far as I am aware, the Intera yarn used in Vapor Apparel does provide all the qualities of a performance fabric. 

Am I wrong? Could you please give some more feedback on your experiments with Vapor? I have a lot of happy clients so far using both Micro and Basic T's for a variety of sporting activities and my marketing campaign is built on performance qualities - is there something I am missing? 

I must admit, tri-athletes prefer Micro Performance, but bushwalkers go for "thicker" Basic Vapor T.


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

It's my personal opinion. There's nothing wrong with their basic tees. I wear them sometimes and they do keep you drier than cotton. However, there's much, much better stuff out there. I am targetting runners so you'll have to keep that in mind. 

I've spent gobs of money trying out all the brands and materials that I run across trying to find something that's both comfortable and keeps me dry when *I* run. Of the non-name brand manufacturers (nike/adidas/nb/etc), my favorite thus far has to be the Zorrel Syntrel fabric. It feels substantial (weight wise) and wicks very, very well. I'm trying out new stuff all the time and I'm sure somebody will come up with something better. I did not care for the vapor performance fabric as it tended to stick to my skin and didn't evaporate sweat fast enough. 

Hands down (for me) asics makes the best fitting, performing stuff out there for running. For hiking my old Mountain Hardwear synthetic tee is still going strong 3 years later. To my knowledge they don't sell to the secondary market.


----------



## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Diane -

I spent the last few nights testing the coolmax material, both the Alta and Aries weights. I found that it is also very sensitive to heat and pressure, although not quite as bad as the Syntrel fabric from Zorrel. 

I pressed strips of fabric on my press with minimal pressure and arranged them so that half was heated and half was not so as to see the effects. I started at 385 and worked my way down to 285 stopping every 15 degrees and pressing for 15 seconds. The cooking was very noticeable at the higer temperatures. At around 330 it decreased somewhat but was still visible all the way down to 290. The fabric maintained its elasticity at all pressings. I played with the pressure a bit and found that the less pressure the better.

I achieved good sublimation results at around 340 degrees/40s light pressure with the sawgrass inks and some high release paper. The first stuff I tried did not work well at all. Paper edges were very noticeable and do NOT stretch or iron out! I'll have to come up with a solution to this. It's not pretty.

I have teflon pillows on order and will see if they get rid of the hard heat line that is visible at the platen edges. I think that by softening this line I can get some halfway decent presses out of this fabric.

The EZ-Weed vinyl worked well -- 14 secs at 302 degrees, light pressure.

If I can get some transfers printed up using an ink that can cure at this temp I should be good to go.

I will try and post some pictures next week. I'm out of town starting tomorrow.


----------



## JohnniZ (May 4, 2011)

what about screen printing? or should we only heat seal on performance fabrics such as zorrel performance tees? I am working up a quote and they asked specifically for Zorrel running shirts


----------



## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

JohnniZ said:


> what about screen printing? or should we only heat seal on performance fabrics such as zorrel performance tees? I am working up a quote and they asked specifically for Zorrel running shirts


You sure can screen print performance fabrics, but the reason dye-sublimation if often printing method of choice is that the print gets dyed into the fabric and doesn't impair fabric's breathibility.


----------



## JohnniZ (May 4, 2011)

ok. thanks for the info. so the next question I have is who would like to help me out. Basically need a quick turn around. would love to use zorrel brand long sleeve tee if possible. right now I think it's just a one color print on the front, and a one color on the back. I have a heat press so I could order transfers and put them on myself or have them done for me. can someone please contact me asap. should have a design by Monday, and would need to print by the 29th, and receive by Sept. 1.

this is for a cross country team of approx. 45 boys. but it's an optional purchase so might only have about 25. and if I can get sublimation transfers I can order extras for any last minute orders. 

so if you sell zorrel and can give me a good deal, or if you provide sublimation transfers contact me!!!!! thanks!


----------

