STARTING UP WITH HEAT TRANSFER FACT SHEET •T-SHIRTS •JERSEYS •MOUSEPADS •BAGS • AND MORE! Thinking about starting your own heat transfer business? Taking your first step can be a little scary, so let us help guide you along the way to creating professional t-shirts, mousepads, bags, and more! The possibilities are endless. We have a couple of tips to help you... quick guide 1. Print your image using your inkjet printer on the heat transfer paper. 2. Trim image if desired and position on fabric. 3. Press at the transfer paper’s time & temperature. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: Printer The printer is the first piece of equipment your first decision should be about. Your first choice is to select either a laser or an inkjet printer. There are many brands out there, but we recommend inkjet printers such as Epsons for heat transfer printing. Here we will weigh the pros and cons. Laser printers are more cost effective and better for a large run of prints. A con however, is that not all laser papers will work in all laser printers. Laser printers run hot...sometimes too hot for laser transfer papers. If too hot, they will release in the printer and jam. If you decide to purchase a laser printer, call the manufacturer and check how it gets. If the fusing unit gets hotter than 360 degrees F, the printer may not work. Also, laser transfers need alot of heat and pressure, so they must be transferred using a heat press, not home iron. Inkjet printers are the most popular because you have a larger selection of transfer papers with better hand and color. A con with an inkjet printer though is the higher cost than laser printer output. Next, you should also decide what size you will need to be printing. We carry standard size papers of 8.5”x11”, 11”x17”, and even rolls for the wider format inkjet printers. Most printers will start out printing up to 8.5”x14”, then 11”x17”, then 13”x19”, and then on to rolls. There are wide format printers that will print even larger! Designing Your Image and Choosing Your Software: Choosing your design software is just as important as choosing your printer. You have your printer, but how will you get your design your image and then get it to your printer? A design software. There are plenty of design softwares available for your computer...some cost more than others and some better than others. Our in-house designers use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and CorelDraw. These programs are all advanced design programs and range from $400-$1000. We recommend Adobe Elements for beginners. It is a smaller version of Adobe Photoshop and easy to learn and use. It costs around $80. We also recommened Graphtec’s IDesignR design software that can be purchased on our website. As with all new software, you will have to learn it. You can find thousands of online tutorials, read books, take classes, or just hire a graphic designer to do the job. It’s your choice! Heat Transfer Paper Selecting the right heat transfer paper is the most important part in developing a strong and professional heat transfer business. Now that you have chosen the type of printer you will be using, you have already decided whether to use a laser or inkjet heat transfer paper. The heat transfer paper type and brand is the next step. There are two different categories of papers. There is one for light or white colored fabrics and one for dark or colored fabrics. We suggest using our transfer paper sample pack and testing with all of the papers by printing the same image on each paper, so you can see the differences and decide which paper best suits your needs. All of our papers have their own special characteristics about them such as brighter colors, softer hand, and even some suitable for hand iron application. You can use any of these transfer papers on most tight woven fabrics like t-shirts, sweatshirts, mousepads, fabric coasters, canvas totes, and a lot more! Print & Cut Application - Vinyl Cutter Most heat transfer papers have that dreaded polymer background window around your image. Vinyl cutters are a great tool when you want a clean cut professional transfer. Select heat transfer paper such as Redgrid, JetPro Sofstretch, and all opaque transfer papers can be printed and then cut on a vinyl cutter that has a print & cut feature! They include their own software and the Graphtec models even include video tutorials that will help you easily master the operation of the machine in no time. The included software will let you perform basic commands like creating text, numbers, shapes, and fill colors. Or you can import you arleady designed image that was created in another program. There is a print and cut feature that lets you add registration marks and cut lines to your image. The cutters that have an optical eye will read those registrations marks and cut on those cut lines. You can even use the vinyl cutters with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw with the included software plugins. Once you unpack your cutter, locate the included video and spend some time watching it. It will walk you through step-by-step from setting up the cutter to using the software to print and cut application. You will be a pro in as little as a few hours! We recommend not rushing into production...but making some test runs so that you are fully educated on your new machine prior to taking on a job! Heat Press: Think of this machine like a large iron, only hotter and way more powerful. This machine doesn’t print on to your garment, but transfers an image that you have previously printed with your printer. Choosing your heat press is like buying a car. They all do the job, but some have more “bells and whistles”, others have different brand names, and there are different sizes. Heat presses have options like digital features,auto-openings, and even different size platen attachments. We carry top names like Geo Knight, Hix, Hotronix, MAXX, and InstaPress. You must also consider the size. If you purchase a printer that prints 11”x17”, you should make sure you purchase a heat press that is slighly larger like 16”x20.” Cap press are also available for those hard to transfer baseball caps. Learning Your Heat Press: We recommend reading your heat press manual before using. When transferring images to items, you will be required to adjust settings on your heat press such as the pressure, temperature, and time. Your items that you are transferring to will determine these settings. If your press is manual, the pressure is usually controlled by a knob located on the top of your press that can be turned both clockwise and counter-clockwise. Turn it to the right to increase to a heavier pressure. And to the left, to decrease the pressure. You should test the pressure by increasing and decreasing while closing and opening the press. This will help you understand how this features works. The heavier the pressure, the harder it should be to pull down the lever and close. The temperature will either be a setting on the LCD screen or a knob that will sync with the thermostat reading. And the time will also be either set on the LCD screen or on the smaller presses, you will have a separate time that can be used. If you have a more advanced digital press, most of your settings may need to be adjusted on the LCD screen. Refer to your heat press’s manual for instructions on how to control these features. Accessories - These are very effective tools used when during heat transfer application Teflon Cover - 18”x20” teflon sheet used to keep your press platen clean. An opaque heat transfer paper requires the use of a silicone sheet when transferring. This teflon can be used in replace of the silicone sheet for an over and over again use. Telfon Pillows- Transfer Tool - Heat Press Attachments- The T-Square It and Logo It! transfer tools are very functional and easy to use alignment tool used for getting the perfect position transfer on your shirt everytime. Cushions that protect your garment by eliminating the indentation that can sometimes appear from the top platen on a few materials. The pillow gives a lift to the garment so the top platen is not able to clamp down as tight preventing the edges from platen from touching the garment. Interchangeable heat press platens for the Hotronix presses that are ideal for printing sleeves, legs, and youth garments. Various sizes available. If you have any questions or need help choosing your equipment, give us a call at 1-800-562-7760 TIPS Printing Laser Transfers Easily: Cracking: If your laser transfer paper is jamming in your printer, try slowing it down by Cracking can be caused because the transfer hasn’t settled into the fabric changing the paper mode to either “transparency” or “label” mode. And always feed so when the fabric weave is pulled apart, the transfer can pull apart. To through the multi-purpose tray with the shorter side of the paper feeding first. prevent this, stretch the transfer immediately after pressing while still tacky. *If you are using a “cold peel” transfer paper, for less cracking we suggest For a softer hand: changing to a “hot peel.” Give the transfer a few stretchs immediately after pressing while still tacky. Bleeding: If your transfers are bleeding after the wash, this may be because there was too much ink put down during the print. Transfer papers can not absorb the amount of ink that most photo printers put down. So the excess ink stays sitting on top the transfer causing it to run when it comes in contact with water. Try printing on a lower quality mode like “text/graphics” and on “plain paper” settings. You also should make sure that the transfers are being wash carefully with cold water, inside out, no heavy detergents, and no fabric softeners or bleach. Transfer won’t transfer completely: Check your transfer paper’s instructions for settings such as time, temperature, and pressure. You may need to use heavier pressure during pressing. *If you think your heat press is not heating up correctly, contact your heat press’s manufacturer. Time, Temp, and Pressure: Remember heat transfer papers love time, temp, and pressure!