# Heat transfer on Mesh hat material



## DigitalInkArts (Jul 20, 2011)

I pressed some hats a while back and have had a hard time with it. The first set were cotton. They came out fine, But still had a slight marking on them as you could see where the press was applied. The second set of hats were of mesh material. 

The problem was much worse. The heat burned the mesh and scared the hat worse than the cotton hats. Leaves a shiny surface where the heat harmed the material. I have to leave the press down for 15 seconds to apply the lettering. Any less and they werent sticking, On either hat material. 350 degrees.

Is there a trick to not burning and leaving marks on the hats?


----------



## Rikky383 (Aug 14, 2008)

Yes... turn down the heat on the hat press. Try setting it at 350 and press the hat for 15 seconds.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Are you talking about plastisol transfers?...The ones I get from FM Expressions (athletic formula) press at 325 for 7 seconds and work fine on most caps....


----------



## Rikky383 (Aug 14, 2008)

Oh true... guess the type of transfer is a key piece of info. I use inkjet transfer paper, and it took me a few tries to figure out the correct settings. I melted a few caps, then realized I was looking at Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. HA! But at 350 F, I do at least know for certain that the foam will not melt. At 250 Celsius, you're gonna have some problems! 

It also depends on the brand of hat too. I noticed the thin cotton layer that covers the foam on Otto hats can withstand the heat slightly better than the Nissun caps. Also, put some parchment/teflon paper over the foam, so the hot metal never comes in direct contact with the foam.


----------



## Rikky383 (Aug 14, 2008)

And sorry, I just now realized that in my first reply, I totally recommended that you do EXACTLY what you said you were already doing! DOH!


----------

