Printing with Heat Press

Pressing shirts with the print or design of your choice should not be difficult. All you need is a decent heat transfer press, a design concept, adequate materials, and the presence of mind to follow a rather simple set of instructions. A heat transfer press, or heat transfer machine, is a tool used in moving a design onto a printable design or object such as a t-shirt, cap, or bag, etc. The three types of heat transfers are the plastisol (plastic resin) transfer, transfer through colour copier, and ink jet transfer paper. The first thing to do is to wash the t-shirt in cold water and dry it with high heat. Prepare your design and be very creative in making it. You can exhaust all your imaginative powers in this stage. Your t-shirt will be your canvas, where you put on what you have in mind. Grab a piece of professional heat transfer paper where you print the design. Print the design in full colour, to get the maximum effect. Once the design on paper is ready, cut it out near the edges of the design.

Heat Press Printing

From here, you are to strictly follow the handling instructions in using the heat press, which normally involves three basic things: setting the temperature, pressure, and time for each shirt to be printed. Decide where you want the design printed on the shirt – on the sleeve, front, back, side, or wherever. Then, place the design ink-side down on the t-shirt as you place the design on top of the Teflon sheet found inside the press. Avoid having the press machine’s rubber stick onto the shirt. Lock the press and observe the timing instructions. You will know when the heat press printing is done because the press will unlock on its own. Determine what you should do next by reading the press instructions. You might be required to either let the shirt and the design cool down before removing the heat transfer paper, or remove the paper while hot before letting the shirt and design cool down. Once you peel off the paper, let the shirt cool and dry for at least 24 hours to ensure the longevity of the print. If you carefully follow the instructions set by the manufacturer of the press, you should encounter no problem with the t-shirt and the print.