Hey friends, Dave here with transfer express, and today, we are talking all about the different
techniques for loading a heat press. Now, there's a couple ways you could get your
garments on the heat press- so we're going to break down some heat press capabilities,
most importantly the threadability, and then we're going to explore the pros and cons of threading or
dressing your garment on the lower platen versus just laying straight over top. so,
what do you say? let's learn something today! if you are new to transfer express we are
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now first up you may be asking what does threading mean well threading is essentially dressing the
lower platen like it's a mannequin or like opening the shirt like a pillow case and putting it on a
pillow in this case the pillow would be the lower platen there are some advantages and
disadvantages to this technique but we're going to dive into that in just a minute next let's chat
heat presses there are three basic types when it comes to the lower platen style there's threadable
semi-threadable and non-threadable if they don't mention anything about threadability
in the product description as a capability of the press odds are it's not threadable our clam right
here out of the box is not a threadable press that is until it's coupled with the caddy stand
like we have right here or the counter caddy stand which doesn't have the full legs and it's meant
to sit on a table or a counter then we are able to unlock the full capabilities allowing us to
thread the garment like we have on our heat press now some heat presses like this a to z swing away
press are labeled as semi-threadable which means the garment could go under the lower platen but
not all the way you can see where it's actually connected to the base right in the middle of the
platen so you could get a shirt about halfway onto it for most shirts you're going to be able to load
the t-shirt on the platen fine but for smaller sizes you may see some stretching of the garment
when you're trying to have it fit nice and flat to this lower platen and so that stretching is
not something that you're going to want to see as it can skew or warp your prints when you're
actually printing other heat presses like the hotronix fusion heat press is fully threadable
out of the box thanks in part to its gooseneck arm on the base that holds the lower platen and
its innovative base design if you are shopping for a heat press to start your apparel printing
adventure or if you're just looking to upgrade a threadable platen is definitely a feature to look
for i personally love the fully threadable presses as with my traditional screen printing background
the threadable lower platens are very familiar to how you load t-shirts on a traditional screen
printing press of course with a threadable press you always have the option to thread
or just place the garment over top a luxury not available on those non-threadable presses you're
locked into just laying over top but before we move on one thing to consider for fully threadable
heat presses is a quick slip pad protector these inexpensive accessories make loading t-shirts a
breeze and not only does it protect this foam rubber here on the lower platen from ink and wear
but it also allows the t-shirts to easily slide on and off reducing the grip of these rubber pads
and extending the life span of this lower platen now that we have covered the heat
press capabilities let's take a look at some pros and cons to each one of these methods
so first up let's look at the layers of fabric that we're dealing with when threading onto the
lower platen we are only dealing with one layer of fabric making it super easy to eliminate
any wrinkles but when we're laying the garment over the platen we have two layers of fabric
to worry about and any wrinkles in that bottom layer can impact the quality of your print and
may affect the pressure of your press too now this is less noticeable on larger garments but
smaller garments may require a little extra time and finesse to ensure both layers are wrinkle free
for the optimal press now this is also super important when printing the backs of any other
garments with seams or obstructions like zippers or buttons just on t-shirts you can see that the
collar is lower on the front than on the back and if you're trying to print an upper back location
we're going to need to move the collar out of the way of our print location possibly introducing
more wrinkles in other locations of the shirt now when threading the collar in the front is
below the platen giving us a nice smooth surface from edge to edge now one downside to threading
the platen is the shirt will always be upside down as it is facing you as the vast majority
of heat presses can only be loaded from the front but with just a couple presses you're going to get
used to having the shirt and the print upside down but i'll admit it is slightly disorienting when
you're first trying to figure out which way is up and which way is down and then using a transfer
like our goof proof screen printed transfers that are mirrored on the carrier sheet so it's upside
down and reversed but i promise you're going to get the hang of it if you just give it a shot
now with laying the shirt over the platen you have the ability to place the shirt however you
like right side up upside down or even sideways if you want and that could be great for reducing
your printing area like if you need to get a hoodie pocket off of the platen for an even
pressing surface now both methods make aligning the shirt straight on the press easy with just
laying over we can ensure that our sides are equal distance from the edges of the platen
and when threading the shirt we'll just check the side seams on our garment or the side
fold line if it's a tubular t-shirt against the platen's edge and ensure that we're equal on both
sides now if you're interested in more print placement and alignment tips we put a full video
together right here detailing all of the methods we used for aligning your prints we'll also link
the video down in the description below the last comparison that we can make for our methods of
loading our press is with jerseys or any mesh product if you're just laying over the press
you have to be cautious when printing these types of garments as the ink from our heat transfers
can seep through the holes of the garment and essentially glue the garment together
not good when the intended use is for someone to actually wear now this is fixed with just a simple
piece of parchment paper craft paper a cover sheet or any other heat resistant insert placed inside
the garment before you print it but when threading on the platen we're introducing the platen between
each layer of fabric on the garment with this non-stick quick slip pad protector we don't even
have to worry about ink sticking to our platen either now of course if one method is working
for you there's no need to change it i encourage everyone to find the way that works best for you
and run with it whatever you're more comfortable with while getting quality prints is going to be
the best way to print t-shirts so let us know down in the comments section below which way
you load your heat press are you team threadable or team layover top of course if you think we
missed anything in the pros and cons in this video let us know down there too and be sure
you're subscribed here to stay up to date on all of the videos that we're dropping every single
week here on the transfer express youtube channel but until next time i'm dave happy pressing