# Pros and Cons: Adding a Heat Press to my Small Screen Print Clothing Line Business



## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

The SITUATION: 

I have a small niche t-shirt line which I sell via a web site. I screen print a collection of about a dozen designs on my hand-made one-color press in my small 10x12 basement workshop. My average print run is about 12-15 shirts at a time. I use water-based ink exclusively and usually let the shirts dry overnight before curing with a heat gun. My designs range in size from from 10"x3" to 12"x15". I don't have room for a conveyor dryer or a multicolor press, even a flash dryer might be pushing it.

I can devote about 2 hours every early morning to printing, order fulfillment, marketing, etc. before getting the kids moving and heading off to my day job. This usually means I have to work as quietly as possible. 

Generally, I'm moving about 50 shirts/month. I'm not interested in custom production printing at all - just selling my own stuff and making a little extra $$$. 

The QUESTION:

I am considering purchasing a starter light duty 15x15 heat press for two main purposes...

1) Expanding to multi color designs by ordering custom plastisol transfers

2) Heat curing my water-based screen printed shirts


Given my time and workspace constraints and the light needs of my small business, what do you think about getting a heat press? Any thoughts on what size, type, brand, price range, machine I should be looking at?


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## rawbhaze (Jan 29, 2011)

The two pieces of equipment that pay for themselves the fastest are heat presses and vinyl cutters. A heat press is a no brainer but I would not get carried away given your volume. A 15x15 or 16x20 Suni would work wonders for you at this time.

Here is a link to a rack and pick press: http://www.knight-mfg.com/rack_and_pick_presses It takes up very, very little room and allows multiple screens (as many as you want though each alignment is more difficult that the previous) with micro registration. It's major downfall is the time in labor. With your low production this may not be an issue for you. Normally you would want to buy equipment that you can grow into but with a small area and the low cost to buy this (or similar) press or build your own make this an option that would pay for itself as well.

Depending on the layout of your work area you may want to consider a line press as well.


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## LaTonya (Sep 1, 2008)

The heat press is a great idea, you need to get it.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Sounds like a great idea to me......

Do you have a website with your designs?


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

royster13 said:


> Sounds like a great idea to me......
> 
> Do you have a website with your designs?


Yes, but in the interest of not self-promoting on the forums, I'm sending you a PM with the link.


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## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

TheDave said:


> Yes, but in the interest of not self-promoting on the forums, I'm sending you a PM with the link.


you can't have a link to website in your signature?


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

tee09 said:


> you can't have a link to website in your signature?


Let's just say that I'm here in the forums to learn, not inform my potential customers just *how much* I still have to learn.


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## BroJames (Jul 8, 2008)

TheDave said:


> The SITUATION:
> 
> I have a small niche t-shirt line which I sell via a web site. I screen print a collection of about a dozen designs on my hand-made one-color press in my small 10x12 basement workshop.  My average print run is about 12-15 shirts at a time. I use water-based ink exclusively and usually let the shirts dry overnight before curing with a heat gun. My designs range in size from from 10"x3" to 12"x15".  I don't have room for a conveyor dryer or a multicolor press, even a flash dryer might be pushing it.
> 
> ...


My printing volume per run is about the same to higher and I sell more shirts per month (in my shop). Other than that, sounds very much like me.

I've been wanting to buy a heat press but I am not keen on regular transfer papers. Slow sales pushed back my plans although I had designs subbed out. Laser transfers seems getting somewhere but plastisol transfers here are practically non-existent. Some companies do import them though. Sublimation also interest me but in a tropical country I am not sure on the wisdom of selling polyester shirts. Our printed polyester+lycra shirts sold nicely for a while but is now slow moving.

Vinyl cutting also has my interest but I hate the texture. I hate most things shiny except maybe rhinestones.

The reason I am straying a little bit is to say that I do think we share some similarities(or dilemma of sorts). I'd go for the sunie and consider a higher priced press later. But I will not limit myself to plastisol transfers. I'll consider making my own designs either using either sublimated or laser transfers and even vinyl.


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## grooveegrl (Nov 2, 2010)

I print with wb ink in my spare room on a 4/1 silver press and I bought a 15x15 Sunie. It was cheap and works fine for my needs.


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## BroJames (Jul 8, 2008)

a number of people here are starting to use heat presses for curing waterbased inks.


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## SBP (Jul 17, 2011)

I would recomend a heat press. I'm in a similar situation as you with my business being a sideline business and hoping it grows into something much more. Buying quality equipment to speed up the process is a worthwhile investment and it will pay you back in saved labor and addiitonal business opprotunities. I use mine to add heat transfer numbers to shirts I printed. I have a Heatronix and have been very happy with it. Good Luck.


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

So I got the Sunie "Professional Digital 15x15 Flat Heat Press", regular $299, on sale now for $249 with free shipping.

I ordered it on Sunday night and it arrived Friday morning via FedEx Ground. The package arrived in good shape, no damage. The unit was pretty well packaged for shipping.

So Friday night after the kids went to bed, I set it up in my workshop and fired it up. I had about 50 shirts that had been air drying over the course of a couple weeks that I needed to heat set (Speedball ink).

Naturally, there was initially a lot of burning smell as it heated up. I set it for 375F and it took about 15 minutes for it reach that. I pressed a couple shirts and didn't get any steam coming off them. I took a kitchen probe thermometer and pressed it - the temperature was no where near 375. So I upped the setting to 435 and pressed some more. I got a lot of steam coming off the shirts. I was pressing them for about 30 seconds or about 10 seconds after the steam stopped. 

A couple shirts felt a little brittle, so I dialed down the setting to 400F and proceeded from there. There was no scorching. I had no idea what the actual temperature was.

In all, I cured about 50 shirts in about 90 minutes. Not bad considering how slow the heat gun was.

I'm going to play around with the temperature as time goes on - figure out exactly what it's heating up to and what's the optimal setting.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my $250 "curing unit". Ha ha. Someday I might try doing some transfers...


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## BroJames (Jul 8, 2008)

I think you should try calling your supplier and let them know about the seemingly inaccurate temperature register


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

agreed, brojames. my main heat press, which only gets fired up a couple of times a week, was made by a place called mid-west lettering, inc.. by the looks of it, it was manufactured approximately 58 minutes after man first stood upright and even it keeps an accurate, steady temperature. 

if you decide to play around with various methods, perhaps a non-contact 'laser thermometer gun' would be a good investment. the laser part is in all actuality just to show you the area being tested. harbor freight has them for $40. it's one of those 'how much do you want to spend?' kind of items. 

we do (or did before the printer went wonky, as is the precarious nature of sublimation printers/ink in general) sublimation and heat transfers on metal plates for plaques and the odd shirt here and there. we've used vinyl frock before and a few vinyl transfers. i want to say my wife sticks to about 400 degrees, but each method takes a different time to do, and the only way she figured it out was to experiment. 

are you using the heat pad? i take it steam is to be expected from using water-based ink?


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 28, 2011)

Is your press blue and a swing over model? I bought one a while back and have been looking for a replacement switch for it, I think the company is out of business.


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

I woke up early this morning and did a small print run of about 20 shirts - one color, speedball water based ink, pretty large design that laid down a lot of ink but not solid.

Normally, I let my shirts dry overnight at minimum (but often a couple days to a week before I can get back to them). But this morning, I did an experiment to try curing them "wet". They probably sat about 15 minutes until I finished the run and cleaned up the screen. They were dry to the touch when I started curing them.

There was a lot more steam coming out this time and my teflon sheet was pretty wet. But they were curing fine.

Then I noticed spots on the back of one the shirts. It was water droplets that had condensed on the sides of the bottom platen. I panicked at first because I had never "cleaned" or "degreased" the heat press when I got it, so I thought it was dirty, greasy water that was getting into the shirt.

I did a quick wash and all is well - it was just water.

However, after that I wiped the sides of the bottom platen with a paper towel after each shirt. It added a little time, but it still beats the crap out of heat gun.


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

Flash Gordon said:


> Is your press blue and a swing over model? I bought one a while back and have been looking for a replacement switch for it, I think the company is out of business.


No, it's this one...


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 28, 2011)

Thank's for replying back, unfortunately for me there was no image on the link you posted.


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## TheDave (Jul 8, 2011)

Flash Gordon said:


> Thank's for replying back, unfortunately for me there was no image on the link you posted.




www.sunie.com

Browse the Heat Transfer Machines category and select...

Professional Digital 15"x15" Flat Heat Press (Free Shipping)


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 28, 2011)

ryan barker said:


> agreed, brojames. my main heat press, which only gets fired up a couple of times a week, was made by a place called mid-west lettering, inc.. by the looks of it, it was manufactured approximately 58 minutes after man first stood upright and even it keeps an accurate, steady temperature.?


Do you know where i could find a replacement on/off temp switch for a press made by mid-west?


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

not off the top of my head, flash, sorry. i have another press with a bad thermostat. i'm not worried about because i would imagine these things are pretty simple machines, really. when i get around to fixing it, i'll ask some electronic guys if they have any ideas. if not, i'll haul it to the appliance fix-it-shop i use and i'm sure they'll figure it out cheap. it'll have to be cheap, too, because these things just aren't worth a lot, the problem is just finding them for sale. they're probably simple enough just to fix ourselves with radio shack parts ~ it may not look pretty but it should be functional, lol. the digital ones, that's a different beast.


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## Flash Gordon (Mar 28, 2011)

Thank's! I tried fixing it myself and was a little surprised when i opened up the thermostat switch and found what resembled Point's like the one's that would be found in a car distributer. I was hoping to find a OEM replacement if they can still be found.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

good luck locating one, flash. i'd like to know if you do come across one. maybe i can buy the thermostat from ya, lol.


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