# Please help, cracking on shirts, waiting customers



## nitai (Dec 15, 2005)

Hi everyone,
I received great help on my other questions, and I really appreciate it!
I have a big problem now though, with cracking / chipping / fading on my shirts. I use an epson r320, with the bulkflo magic inks, magic/transjet II paper, on hanes 5280 plain white blanks. I print them at photo quality, on plain paper settings. After testing piece after piece of transfers, on cut up bits of shirts folded in half, I came up with the following settings that seemed to work best for my transfers. I press at medium pressure, at 360f, for 10 seconds, and then peel right after. After washing all the bits of cut cloth, it seemed to be working good, so I thought I was set. I then sold a few shirts, and got more orders. Then yesterday, I stuck two finished shirts I made for myself in the laundry, and to my complete shock, the black ink was very cracked and about a 3rd of it had chipped off. The other colors were also faded, more then they should have been. I need to figure out what is not working asap, so I don't have unhappy customers on my heels.
My heat press is a bit old, so if the heat guage wasn't totally accurate, could it make this dramatic of a differance? Or maybe, what I'm considering to be medium pressure really is light pressure, and that could be the problem? Or maybe I should be pressing longer?
Does anyone have some suggestions on what to try next, or troubleshooting tips? Has anyone else experianced this problem? I have read of others having cracking problems, but always with generic papers or inks, or stretchy shirts.
Any help, would be very very greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much,
Nitai


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## nitai (Dec 15, 2005)

I think I have the problem solved, for anyone else who might have this problem. It appears that my heat press, requires allot of force in order to deliver high enough pressure. Cindy from personalizedsupplies.com (where I purchased my ink and paper) helped me out, thanks so much Cindy!


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

Did Cindy tell you to do the dollar bill pressure test?
Just curious.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

What's the dollar bill pressure test?


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## triplebtees (Jun 3, 2005)

nitai, like cindy said, it was the same for me, more pressure. Also i prepress the shirt for 8-10 seconds(i live in south florida so i prepress a little longer than most people, that to has really helped), and press the transfer for about 15 sec/360-365 degrees. I have all of Cindys supplies and have had great success.


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

Rodney said:


> What's the dollar bill pressure test?


It's to test for even pressure from the press.

I've read that a good test for even pressure is to 
"put a dollar bill at all 4 corners on top of the pad, close the top panel and try to pull out dollar bill"...from All American Screen Print Supply


"Q: How do I check for proper pressure on my heat press?
A: When using a manual heat press, adjust the pressure so that you use a maximum pressure that you feel comfortable with. It is better to apply too much pressure than not enough. Remember also that when changing garment styles or brands you may have to readjust pressure on manual machines due to the variance in garment thickness.

To check your machine for even/proper pressure around the edges, place a dollar bill half-way in the machine at different locations around the press and apply pressure. You should not be able to pull the bill from the machine if proper/even pressure is being applied by the machine." ...from Barber and Company


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## nitai (Dec 15, 2005)

She actually just reccomended to add more pressure. She said that flaking is due to not having enough pressure 90% of the time. That dollar bill test seems like a good idea, so I'll try that later also. Everything is working again though, and now the shirts look good before and after the wash  .


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## dlzzzs (Feb 1, 2006)

Hi , I am new to the board, and just saw your post. 
I too had this problem, I did have to adjust my settings. but the real problem for me was the actual shirts. I was using the hug fit type t shirts, and when the wearing moves, and stretches, with normal body movements in the stretchy t shirt, this is where the problem lies.... so now I will only do heat transfer on 100% cotton that does not stretch, and I add a tag with important washing instructions. 
just thought I would let you know my problems with cracking etc....


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

welcome to the T-Shirt Forums dlzzzs!


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## Maxiem06 (Apr 4, 2008)

nitai said:


> Hi everyone,
> I received great help on my other questions, and I really appreciate it!
> I have a big problem now though, with cracking / chipping / fading on my shirts. I use an epson r320, with the bulkflo magic inks, magic/transjet II paper, on hanes 5280 plain white blanks. I print them at photo quality, on plain paper settings. After testing piece after piece of transfers, on cut up bits of shirts folded in half, I came up with the following settings that seemed to work best for my transfers. I press at medium pressure, at 360f, for 10 seconds, and then peel right after. After washing all the bits of cut cloth, it seemed to be working good, so I thought I was set. I then sold a few shirts, and got more orders. Then yesterday, I stuck two finished shirts I made for myself in the laundry, and to my complete shock, the black ink was very cracked and about a 3rd of it had chipped off. The other colors were also faded, more then they should have been. I need to figure out what is not working asap, so I don't have unhappy customers on my heels.
> My heat press is a bit old, so if the heat guage wasn't totally accurate, could it make this dramatic of a differance? Or maybe, what I'm considering to be medium pressure really is light pressure, and that could be the problem? Or maybe I should be pressing longer?
> ...



hello,
I suggested that you can change your printing strategy. we have a direct printing strategy of the shirt, so maybe i cant help you. just page me at [email protected].


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