# Anyone printed on Felt pool Table fabric?



## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Has anyone come across this?
Oe of my promoter friends wants me to print onto "Felt" for a pool table.

I think it might melt under the heat... is felt natural fibre?

If so, I wouldnt need to heat it ALL teh way, as it will never be washed, and I have no worries of it washing out.

Let me know if you have any experience!

CheerS!


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## Squirts (Feb 17, 2006)

ffokazak said:


> Has anyone come across this?
> Oe of my promoter friends wants me to print onto "Felt" for a pool table.
> 
> I think it might melt under the heat... is felt natural fibre?
> ...


 I haven't printed on felt but I was in the amusement business for many years..and covered alot of pooltables.... the felt comes in different weights and can be very pourious... My real concern is would be how distorted the print may become when it is stretched during the covering process... this could possibly also lead to alot of cracking.... The cloth used on commercial tables is a backed cloth and cuts down dramatically on the pouriousness and the stretching and possibly could be printed with few problems....however
Like you said its not gonna be washed so whats the chances of printing the cloth after its been installed? Possibly a portable screen and a heat gun? 
I would ask him to cut me some samples of the cloth he wants to use to run some test prints on.... They buy it in 500 and 1000 ft rolls and it always ends up with a scrap at the end that can't really be used.... he souldnt have any problem supplying you with a sample... If you can't get any...PM me I think I have some scraps around here somewhere that i could experiment with...


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

ffokazak said:


> I think it might melt under the heat... is felt natural fibre?


Felt is usually made out of wool, which is a natural fiber. I'm not sure if that applies to pool table felt as well.


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

It is always best to test new materials. If you can try sampling a small cut of the material, print and cure as you normally would a shirt. Adjust your temp and belt speed from the test. You may just need to speed upt he belt and run the material/print through a couple of times.


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Wow guys, thanks for all teh help!

Everything you says makes sense to me. 
i would prefer to print it in the hall when its on the table. Heat gun, or even Flash , carefully applied would dry it enough as it wouldnt ever flake off. 

What teh heck do you charge to do "On site" screen printing!

I dont even know where to start.......

but thanks tons!

Andrew


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## Squirts (Feb 17, 2006)

ffokazak said:


> Wow guys, thanks for all teh help!
> 
> What teh heck do you charge to do "On site" screen printing!
> 
> ...


 Charge enough that you'd still want to go do it even if you had a toothache, your back hurt, your wife just told you she wants a divorce and you may have to walk there because your car wont start....LOL 

Obviously I have no idea either.... But it wouldn't be cheap.... let us know how it turns out....


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

ffokazak said:


> I think it might melt under the heat... is felt natural fibre?


Felt isn't a fibre, it's a fabric type. Man made fibres don't felt (or felt extremely poorly at best) so it is generally natural (there may be exceptions to that, but none I know of). Wool is the most common felted fibre.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

ffokazak said:


> i would prefer to print it in the hall when its on the table. Heat gun, or even Flash , carefully applied would dry it enough as it wouldnt ever flake off.


If you used waterbased ink you could skip a lot of that equipment. Either print it, let it dry, and don't even worry about curing it (since it won't be washed), or run an iron over it to help it along a bit. Either way, easier. Plus the ink will have a lower profile on the table, which should 1) Have less affect on play, 2) Wear better.

I'd probably use weights on the corners of the screen to help stop movement. It should be very easy to print... the hardest part will be getting the screen out of there again with no mess.


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

Andrew,

Maybe you can buy a piece of felt from the craft store and test it out before you try it on the pool table? Just a thought.


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Its white on black, so Waterbased is out of the question. 

I need to use plastisol. Im going to use a 156 mesh to eliminate the thick covereage. 

Well see what happens......


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