Heh, their still having these issues, eh? Here's the problem with the material...
The solvent ink breaks down the backing paper and you end up with the backing paper shredding and most of it sticking to the backside of the transfer. Its usually more prominent where there's heavier ink laid down. Heat from your printer/cutter does not make it any better or worse, I've done it with no heat and max heat, there's zero difference in how the transfer peels off of the backing paper. Masks don't matter either, as I've tried clear, paper and Siser's own brand, they all still really well to the backing paper where you've contour-cut your design and weeded away the material. Even the depth of cutting doesn't matter, as I had an 11" round transfer to do and it weeded just fine, the edges peeled up nicely, but as I got to the center of the decal it started getting stuck to the backing paper.
The only (and I mean ONLY!!!) way to salvage your transfers is to let them dry for 3 to 10 days. I had well over 50 transfers that would not come off the backing paper for the first 3 days, but a week later they almost fell off with no problem!
I was so desperate to get these to work (of course this always happens on a weekend when my supplier is closed!), I tried using alcohol to remove the backing paper shreds from the transfer-that didn't work. I tried water, soapy water, even orange peel, nothing took it off. Amazing enough though, the pile of damaged transfers were easily removed from the damaged backing paper just a week or so later! Just used a weeding tool to get an edge started and it peeled right off in one piece!
I found that the 24" rolls were much worse than the 15" rolls, and I tried working with Siser on this issue last summer, I got every excuse they could come up with, of course none of their own fault! They finally, after a bit of badgering by my local sign supply warehouse and me, credited us the cost of the 24" roll. I then bought 2 15" rolls and had much less of a problem. There were no differences in the way I printed the transfers on my XC-540 machine (always with genuine Roland ink, perhaps that's the problem?), both the 24" file and the 15" file were identical except for spacing between the logos printed.
I mentioned to the lady I talked to that maybe they should try using the clear acetate backing for this material that they use for the easyweed material, guess that fell on deaf ears. I don't know if that would prevent the transfer from outgassing, which is definitely the issue here, but as it stands now, waiting a week to do transfers is really not a fix to the problem.
Hope y'all have better luck with their materials now. Its a great product and transfers well with a long life, but their backing paper sucks horribly! I've discontinued doing any more colored transfers this way until I see some positive responses on this issue.
Chris
