Heat press help

[john6512]

Can you be a little more specific ?

All the best

John

[J. Hulme]

Hi, sorry would help a bit wouldn’t it 😉

When I press T’s I get a huge square press impression where the top clamps down (compressed square into the t shirt)
is this too much pressure?
The press came with two mats on it, instructions are totally useless, do you press on top of both mats or between them both

also I get small blue flecks all over where the shirt has been heated up
and If I’m not happy with them, my customer won’t be.

cheers

[Simon Clayton]

The square mark is just were it has been heated..
A bit like you only ironing part of your shirt, you will be able to see the difference.
The blue specks sound like the press is dirty, make sure its properly clean.

Maybe somone else on the site can help more..like Lorraine.

Cheer
Simon

[J. Hulme]

Hi Simon, thanks for your time

Is this acceptable to have a huge square though or will it drop out?
Is there a way of reducing this as it looks awful.

The press is brand spanking new – out of the box this week, what do you clean the heating platen with, the two rubber? sheets do these go both below the item or below and above ?

Cheers

[-steve]

Hi,

The square mark you are getting is normal. If you press the rest of the shirt it won’t stand out so much.

As for the 2 rubber mats- 1 should be on the top platen of the press and the other on the bottom.

The blue marks you are getting could be fibres from a previous garment or, maybe the residue of a transfer gone wrong??

Pressure and temp on heatpresses is very much trial and error- i’m sure with a few practises on old tee’s you’ll get the jist of it!!

Cheers
Steve

[Lorraine Buchan]

Few questions to see if we can investigate more:

You say the press is new out of the box, what make is it and where did you get it?

Is the press blue by any chance?

These rubber sheets you talk off what are they like tickness and colour – infact any chance of a picture of these and the press??

In the mean time clean your platen with a soft cloth and soapy water, make sure the platen is cooled.

Get your self a teflon sheet, these are quite expensive around £15-20, but worth every penny (tip – pop to asda, tesco etc.. have a look where they sell tin foil and cling film. You should be able to pick up a teflon sheet for around £2.99) Put the teflon sheet on top of the transfer paper this protects the platen from any stray toner. You can then wipe the toner off the teflon with a clean cloth.

As the other guys say the indent is natural, you will get this even worse if you do fleeces. Also be aware of colour changes, as this happens too especially on red, but don’t worry just let it cool down.

[J. Hulme]

Hi Lorraine, thanks for your help.

George knight digital combo.
http://www.heatpress.com/dc.html

I’ve bought new through the sole importer a few miles away
the silicon mat is green approx 5mm and the black mat on the bottom is approx 10mm
the t’s are xpres sublimation ready ones.
Heating to 400 F for 25 secs
Should I try with the green mat between the heat platen and the T ?

Cheers

[Sue]

Hi,
I’ll introduce myself properly later in the appropiate forum but with regards to your problem with the blue speckling on the shirt.

I had similar problems using Tshirts brought from Xpres, and have the
following solution.
The blue specks on the T-shirts can be eliminated by
going over the area to be printed with a lint roller before pressing. The shirts have shown up in the UK over the last few months despite it being a known problem in the US where they originate. ( Hanes Soft-link)

There’s an article at the following link that explains it alot better and in more detail than I possibly could. http://www.sublimationchannel.com/Articles/Article10.htm
The most relevant part is:

It’s true, beginning a couple of months ago, the relatively new Hanes Soft L’ink shirts began producing little blue specks for no apparent reason. Sublimators who witnessed this phenomena called their distributors, who in turn, called Hanes. At first, the answer seemed obvious – “operator error”.

It sure seemed logical that the only way little blue specks could possibly ever get onto a printed shirt was because, somehow, the imprinter put them there – especially since the only place they showed up was where the shirt was placed in the heat press. It would only seem logical that the culprit was a dirty heat platen or something left on the Teflon sheet from a previous job.

But no, it was beginning to show up all over the country, and there was no way so many experienced sublimators could be making the same exact mistake. What could it be? It was truly a mystery that even the Hardy Boys would have had trouble solving.

Solve it they did, however. After some weeks of testing, questioning, searching (and a little praying, I expect), they found the most unlikely of answers. Somewhere, somehow, there is an airborne contaminant that attaches itself to the polyester fibers in the shirt. Although it is completely invisible (and harmless) until heated, it just lays there, waiting like a patient crocodile, for some unsuspecting sublimator to put the shirt in a heat press.

When that happens, voila, blue dots! Like to know what the contaminant was? Well, you know those fuzzy chenille sweaters that are so popular? According to Hanes, they have been BANNED from the manufacturing facility! This just reinforces the common-sense practice of keeping all textile inventory in plastic bags, boxes, or at least covered to prevent anything floating in the air from getting on the products.

Hanes assures me, the contaminant does not pose a health risk of any kind. They are invisible and harmless and would otherwise go forever unnoticed – except for the fact the sublimation process calls for heating the shirt to 400oF. When that occurs, the little buggers turn blue!

The specks only show up in the area that is exposed to heat and will not wash out, nor can they be removed in any other way once the shirt has been pressed. The problem can easily be avoided altogether by rolling a lint remover over the shirt before pressing ……….

Take Care Sue

[Lorraine Buchan]

Interesting read sue, looks like thats your problem outline.

With respect to the mats, the black one sounds like the normal slicon mat that is stuck to the bottom platen of all heat presses.

The green one sounds like what i know as the soft mat, this is used for transfer printing hard objects and for transfer papers that require a steady heat for a long period of time. Best to check what this is for with your supplier though.

[red dragon]

Hi Outline,

The green mat is like Lorraine says used when pressing hard substrates, i.e. tiles, plaques etc.
It does not need to be used for t-shirts. But use some form of blow out paper between the lower platen and between the transfer and upper platen, minimises contamination when transferring.

I use some old A3 paper (got to tatty to be of any use otherwise)

Would also recommend purchasing a couple of teflon sheets approx £7-10(available from various suppliers).

[J. Hulme]

Hi,
Many thanks to all, you’ve been very helpful. 😛

I have bought a lint roller and will try to see if it cures the blue spots appearing. Should I send the box of Ts back if it doesn’t?

cheers

[J. Hulme]

And back they go —–>

[J. Hulme]

And then replaced with another box !

And back they go too ——> (:)

[Moss Whelan]

Hi,

I’ve just finished a batch of tshirts and I’m experiencing a similar problem as outline received – when pressed the Xpres Tshirts are left with blue and also red specks – just wondering if anyone else has experienced this recently and also if the lint roller tip works…

thanks,
Moss.

[Kevin Flowers]

Hi
can’t comment on specks but i use Teflon sheets form Xpress to protect shirts stops them going shiny and it repels most things that want to stick to it etc

Kev

[Liam Caulfield]

I use greaseproof paper, the stuff used for lining cake tins. I like cakes.

[Paul Rollason]

cake mmmmmmmmm 🙂

[CTS]

I have had the same problem (blue specs) on express sub shirts
and found that droping the tempreture down fixed it
the blue is something in the shirts i think…
maplins sell a lazzer typ heat gun that you point at anything get an instant temp reading from 101c – 550c
i have tested my heat presses & found the display temps are lower than the plate temps and have lowerd the temps …hey presto no blue dots
so when i do sub shirts i know that i am pressing @ 200c for 25 seconds