Transfers - Screen Print????

[BadAss]

Hey guys.
I have had trouble lately getting small jobs done(t-shirts & work dickies). Mostly I have a lot of companies I deal with that are small. They want small orders of shirts for employees and friends, usually around 12 - 24 pieces. The person who does our screen printing has just become unreliable on small orders. I think we will be picking up a summa dc4 sx in the next couple of months. My question is, I need to be able to get these smaller jobs done but don't know which way to go. I looked at DTG but due to the fact how little use it will get and the maintnence to keep it from being a hassle is probably too much. Should I go with trying the transfer material for the summa and purchase a quality heat press or ??? What are your guys suggestions on which way would to go? Thanx guys in advance. I ask since I know many of you do several types of this work and I think you could give quality advice. Mykel

 

[Poconopete]

Get a heat press & transfers from transferfreedom.com

 

[stickygraphics12]

If your guy has become unreliable, isn't there anyone else in your area you could go talk to about doing them? I do a little of both in my shop. Anything under 12 pieces I do a heat transfer and let them know it will be more expensive. I also charge a setup fee just like I would for a screen to prepare everything. If you don't have anyone else you can go to then I definitely suggest getting a heat press! Having both options has worked out great for me in case my guy is too busy to get the stuff done. Also I don't know what lead time you tell them but I tell everyone 2 weeks and then when it's done in a week they are all excited that the job is done early.

 

[BadAss]

We have a lot of printers out here, but most don't want to give a wholesale price on small orders and a few (that are actually friends) are not reliable. Usually they are too high to remember what I needed. I know sounds funny, but true. For a quality job I just find it hard to rely on someone else. I have ended up looking bad and that just kills me. 99% of my work is friends and friends of friends. So that screw up on a small order of shirts bites my a$$ when they look to get the next job done.

 

[Mosh]

Transfers printed with sol printers are not good. Like a big piece of rubber on a shirt. There are 1,000's of small screen shops out there looking for work, do that. Much higher quality!

 

[D&Tgraphics]

We can handle your small jobs. We have a 12 piece minimum. Plus, we're reliable.

 

[WDP]

Dtg all day baby!

 

[joeutut]

DTG sounds great but aren't you limited to white or very light colors? just asking

 

[signage]

Some DTG printer will print on dark shirts!

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

DTG sounds great but aren't you limited to white or very light colors? just asking

yes and no...it depends on the brand and type....i have a kiosk II that prints white ink and therefore can print any color shirt....

 

[Fivestar]

Single colored designs would be heatpress vinyl with no problems. Multi-color designs that are not layered I would do with heatpress vinyl also. All others and I would go with plastisol transfers.

 

[kage]

Have you tried imageclip? It is a self weeding paper that has no polymer window..only good for lights and not good for photography type art, It is made by Conde Systems and apparantly they will have imageclip for darks coming out real soon. Check their website.
Jetpro SoftStretch is another good paper for lights..also from Conde.
As for dark tees..thats tough because of the thick vinyl feel, There is a popular paper for darks..tho' I cant remeber the name.
If you can handle all the repetitive noob questions..t-shirt forums is a good place to talk t-shirts

p.s some of these only work with laser printers. I only use thes dark opaques for hats and other nontshirt substrates.

Here is a thread http://www.t-shirtforums.com/inkjet-heat-transfer-paper/t100456.html