Equipment Complaint

[binki]

We do a lot of vinyl on t's. If the design is complicated to weed then we screen print. If you properly prepare the shirt by preheating to remove the moisture the vinyl will stick forever. The only problems we encounter is on ribbed material or when someone wants to wear a shirt too small for their body. Mostly womens shirts.

For T's and Jersey Knit polos, we don't like emb. The material is just to thin. We prefer higher end polos, fleece and wovens. Hats are a nice money maker as well.

When ever we have a T job we like to offer hats and hoodies. The profit margin is the same on the hoodies but the $ volume is much higher and the jobs are more profitable. After all, you can sell 100 T's for $500 or 100 hoodies for $2000 for the same amount of work.

 

[Locals Find!]

If your looking to print garments there are plenty of contract only screenprint businesses in the marketplace. You can sub out the work for less than the cost of equipment and time.

I usually can sub out 1 color 2 location prints on 4 dozen shirts for less than $2.50 a shirt w/ screen charges. Buy the shirts direct from Alpha, Broder Bros. etc.. and your offering custom shirts for half the learning curve would cost. Most contractors will let you drop ship the shirts to them or even pick them up for you depending on your location. If you need help let me know. I will be glad to share my experience with you.

 

[1leonchen]

try coastal business supplies and get the 3g paper your purchase is not a total waste. i used the 3g paper for one off shirts. not the best wash ability in the world but its not bad it feels like a decal and it is a pain to contour cut and remove from the backing sheet.but for 10 t shirt it not bad. i have personally seen wash test performed buy yours truly. i bleach all my t shirts using both transfer paper for white darks dtg and screen printing nothing beets screen printing.

 

[1leonchen]

Screening Printing - Creating screens pressed up against cloth to place paint onto shirts one color per screen. Pros: cost effective, high quality, professional, durability. Cons: each color requires a separate screen, messy, need to print many shirts at once with the same design to be feasible.

Heat Press/INKJET/LASER Transfers - Print transparent inks using a computer onto a special piece of paper. Use heat to adhere the ink and paper onto the cloth. Pros: easy to print multi colors and complex designs, does not require different colors to be applied separately, great for small orders, easily customize different shirts. Cons: heavy feel of transfer, the cloth is the brightest part of the design: works well on white shirts, but doesn't work on dark shirts, cracks, fades away easily.

Heat Press/Plastisol Transfers -



Vinyl Cutters - Use a machine to cut out designs on special solid color sheets of vinyl. Use heat to adhere cut vinyl to adhere vinyl to paper. Pros: high quality, durability, easily customize different shirts, great for small orders. Cons: have to separate and cut out each color independently, doesn't work well for designs with complex patterns or designs that show a lot of background of the shirt inside the design.

Direct to Garment - Print inks directly onto cloth. Pros: reduces steps, patterns doesn't have heavy feel like screen printing, great for small orders, easily customize different shirts. Cons: the cloth is the brightest part of the design: works well on white shirts. There is more of a challenge to the DTG operator to get dark prints to come out correctly, but it can be done.

Dye Sublimation - Dye sub is great for full color designs on white or light colored garments. It has no feel to the design but is a little trickier to master than inkjet heat transfers. Also, it tends to be a bit more expensive. You can also use this process on non textile products such as mugs, mousepads, tile, puzzles, coasters, key chains, etc. Dye sub is used only on man made fabrics like polyester (with various results on blends and pre-treated fabrics). You cannot print on 100% cotton t-shirts with dye sub.

 

[Farmboy]

Screening Printing - Creating screens pressed up against cloth to place paint onto shirts one color per screen.

Ugh...Ink, not paint. Sorry...that drives me crazy. LOL

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Heat Press/INKJET/LASER Transfers - Print transparent inks using a computer onto a special piece of paper. Use heat to adhere the ink and paper onto the cloth. Pros: easy to print multi colors and complex designs, does not require different colors to be applied separately, great for small orders, easily customize different shirts. Cons: heavy feel of transfer, the cloth is the brightest part of the design: works well on white shirts, but doesn't work on dark shirts, cracks, fades away easily.

That really depends on what transfer paper you use. You will get different results with different papers and I haven't had the issues that you are describing on shirts with regard to happening "easily"(this, of course, is a relative term and subject to each person's definition of it).

Really it all boils down to what transfer paper you use. I found a pretty good one that has a "soft hand" and I've gotten 80 washes out of the couple of shirts that I've done for myself so far.

Now the color issue is the one that I will agree with, but I did a set of light blues for a SoCal truck group that really turned out well. Like I said, it all depends on what you use as an input into the production.

I personally like Dye Sub myself.

 

[DRamm76]

In regards to the company telling you that you should have "done your homework", I feel that's a bit of BS. That's a HUGE issue that I see on a day to day basis. There are so many dealers out there, and on these sites that DON'T provide their customers with the proper information and all they care about is getting an order.

I def think there is always a need to do your share of the research but it's also a HUGE responsibility of the dealer to guide you in the right direction. Why would you not want to take the time to go over things in detail with your customer to make sure you are getting them the right piece of equipment for their needs? I'll always counter my customer's question of "How much for this machine" with "What are you looking to do with it?"

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'll always counter my customer's question of "How much for this machine" with "What are you looking to do with it?"

Be careful with that. There are some people that will go "that's not what I asked". There is a fine line, some people it's damned if you do, damned if you don't kinda thing.

There was another debate that I had in another forum(totally unrelated subject matter, but along the same lines as you bring up) and the guy wanted to know X. And we were bringing Y, which really makes X a horrible thing. Boy he didn't like that at all. He asked for X and he only want an answer to X, he didn't care about the other stuff.

Some people are like that. Some people really don't want the full picture, they want only what they want to hear.

 

[Mosh]

Just another MORON thinking they can get in the shirt printing business with a heat press and printer. We screen shirts, have for 21 years. We have over $50K in equipment to do it. The prints we put out are REAL prints not IRON ON CRAP!!!!!!!

 

[jiarby]

You bought a crappy $300 inkjet printer with clog prone printheads... then added a bulk ink system so you can print paper transfers that you heat press onto shirts?

And you are disappointed that it does not print as well as a $20k DTG?

Dude.... you got exactly what you paid for, but if you are unhappy you should try and unload the whole rig on craigslist to some Soccer Mom PTA lady with a cricut that wants to expand her business.

THEN, with the money you can go into screen printing.... and buy a Yudu! LOL! See you here 3 months later bitching about how it sucks compared to a M&R.

 

[jimdeashby]

Hey Mike, I would be interested in seeing those. We just recently purchased a VersaCamm 640 and have been thinking about that. How does it hold up in the wash?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'm surprised with all those animosity towards heat transfer. I got my start doing that and I actually still offer that as well.

I'm sure it'll disgust some of y'all to find out that I actually used a $90 printer and a 9x12 hobby press to do my heat transfers. Now I have since expanded what I can do, but still heat transfer has a special place for me, because that's where I got my start.

I don't know if y'all got burned on bad polymers in the paper or what, but I have had quite a lot of success with heat transfers and I don't think that they are nearly as bad as what it seems like people in this thread are giving the impression that they are.