Hey friends, Dave here with Transfer Express and today, we are covering some troubleshooting
and basic tips to ensure you're getting quality consistent results with your screen
printed and digital heat transfers every single time. now, whether you are a pro
or a beginner there's going to be something that we're going to cover today that could help you
and your t-shirt business get the best results with your heat press so are you ready to press
it like it's hot? i am, let's get to it! if you are new to transfer express we are
the world's largest supplier of custom screen printed and digital heat transfers heat presses
free customizable designs wholesale apparel and expert advice to help grow your t-shirt business
if you haven't already subscribe we're kicking out new videos like this one every single week
when we're talking about heat transfers there's always three elements at play time temperature and
pressure and all three of those we can set right here on our press now we're going to be using our
goof proof screen printed plastisol transfers here today so we could check out the instruction sheet
that came with our order for all of the correct settings here we have instructions for 100 cotton
or poly blends and also 100 polyester since our garment we're using today is going to be a cotton
dominant heather blend uh we're going to opt for the settings on the left side of the sheet here
so 365 degrees four to six seconds for time and a medium to firm pressure or a six to eight on a
hotronix press now back here at our press setting our temperature is super easy all we're going to
do is click the middle button to enter the menu where we are set our temperature and adjust
using the buttons on either side if you don't have a hotronix press we recommend bumping the
temperature by at least 10 degrees now next we're going to use the menu button again to set our time
now this hotronix auto open clamshell press that we're using today does have a dual stage timer
so there's one more timer menu before we exit out of all of the menus now it's worth mentioning on
almost all heat presses if you don't exit the menu the heating element will not heat up and
if it has any auto features like the auto open on this press right here that it's not going to work
just like the magnetic auto open feature here on this press now it's not going to lock down
when our menu here is active but once we turn it off, it locks right down now without the correct
temperature and time our inks are not going to cure correctly leading to the transfer peeling up
or cracking if the inks are cooked just a little too much that's also known as over curing now once
we have our temperature and time set it's time to set our pressure so without any garments on the
press we could close the press and see what our digital readout looks like here on the display
one thing i do love about the hotronix autoclam infusion presses is that digital pressure readout
it really simplifies setup and takes a lot of the guesswork out of setting up your press
but if your press doesn't have a pressure reading that is a-ok now you could take small pieces of
paper about the size of a dollar bill and place them at each corner of the press half on and half
off the platen now if you could pull them out easily your pressure is too light you should be
locked in there pretty good now with a little movement for a medium to firm pressure now you
could always adjust your pressure using the knob at the top of the press with too little pressure
the transfer may not apply or fail when washed with too high of pressure you may squish the inks
leading to excess ink spreading making small text illegible enclosing in small negative spaces now
i personally like to preheat the lower platen when i first start printing each day i'll run the press
through a few cycles or at least 15 to 30 seconds of contact with the upper platen to get everything
warmed up now we're going to load our garment on the press and there are several ways that you
could do this it's mostly personal preference now i like threading the garment onto the press which
is opening up our shirt like a pillow case over a pillow and aligning that right on there now of
course you could also just lay right on over top just like this or if you don't want to be so far
underneath the heating element you could always turn it around and be able to print
upside down as well now regardless of how you are loading the shirt on the press ensure you have all
collars and seams all off of the printing area without that good firm even pressure
a transfer may appear to apply fine but it may start to deteriorate prematurely when laundered so
it's best to slide those obstructions off of the printing area now there may be some cases where
you can't avoid any obstructions and that's when you could use a smaller platen if your press has
the capabilities for interchangeable platens or you could use a print perfect pad or a mouse pad
to raise the printing area you will need a flat firm surface for these transfers so unfortunately
things like heat printing pillows will be too soft and can affect the proper application
next we're going to pre-press our garment now in this step we're removing any moisture and wrinkles
in the fabric itself the moisture is what we are most worried about t-shirts soak up a lot
of moisture just out of the air like a sponge and then when heat pressed they release that moisture
as steam which is going up and this could be very bad if the moisture in the garment is evaporating
while we're trying to push inks down now that's going to lead to some bubbling or wrinkling
in the inks or transfers that are not completely adhered to the fibers of the shirt now another
thing to check during your pre-press is how much the pressure has shifted with the garment now on
the press you can see we have increased the pressure readout by one by adding the garment
we were at seven now we're adding now we're ready to place the transfer on the shirt now
before pressing for the first time i like to double check all of the elements and details
look like they should now this way if i'm unsure of a detail or something looks off
i could press the design on a test garment instead of possibly ruining an expensive
garment for my order now this one does look perfect to me so we could go straight down
onto the garment now with our screen printed transfers we'll always provide you with at least
one extra transfer for reference or testing now one common issue we see is prints being too low
the dreaded belly print of course you could use one of these cool placement rulers to help
out with your placement or you could always eyeball it using your fingers now we've got an
awesome placement and positioning video that we'll link right here and down in the description below
now once we're all set with the placement this one being a tall graphic we're going to keep
our design no more than an inch down from the bottom of collar and now it's time to press
now because our instruction sheet told us to peel hot we're going to peel the
transfer carrier away immediately in a nice smooth and even motion you'll notice that the
inks appear to sit down into the fibers of the garment and it's not sitting like
a sticker on top of the fabric this is a sign of a perfectly applied heat transfer
now it's important to note that we didn't use any cover sheets or teflon covers for our application
here today placing anything between the transfer and that heating element is going to block the
heat for screen printed transfers you need to ensure the correct temperature is reaching those
inks now some cold peel transfers do require a cover sheet but they will be included with your
order and the instructions will say to use that cover sheet during application this is mainly
with transfers with plastic carriers that can have that static buildup and may cause
the transfer to peel early when the press opens now if your transfer is not applying correctly
with the instructions that came with your order or following the steps that we did here today
it's time to check the heat on your heat press now you could use an ir thermometer just like
this one to check the surface temperature of your heating element i always recommend
going to each corner looking at each corner and the bottom and then also right in the middle as
well and these ir temp guns are great but with the non-stick coating on the heating element
up here there's a wide margin of error with the ir reflection so you could get a general idea for
the temperature so it may be up to 20 degrees off in either direction we really love the affordable
heat press test strips that measure the heat of your press when the pressure is actually
applied we'll link those right here in this video and down in the description below if you wanted
to pick some of those up they're also included in our heat press application kit that is where
you'll also find uh this awesome handy transfer express placement ruler now if you don't have test
strips or a temperature gun and your transfer is failing in say like one spot or area you could try
rotating the garment on the press to try another area of the press to press that transfer so if we
were having issues up here and now our issues move down here there's probably a cold spot in this
area of the press the free samples you received when signing up for an account are great for this
and if you ever need more all you have to do is ask we'll link them right up here as well and in
the description below now if those other transfers are having issues too it's most likely your press
time to double check the temperature and pressure again now if the other test transfer applies fine
you should contact us immediately submitting a resolution in the resolution center of your
dealer dashboard connects you to the experts that can look up the specifics of your order
and offer tailored solutions for your specific project we are dedicated to the
success of your t-shirt business so we're going to do everything in our power to make it right
now do you have any troubleshooting tips of your own maybe some techniques you use for perfect heat
printing results have an idea for a topic you'd like us to cover in an upcoming video just let
us know down in the comment section below we love hearing from you guys now be sure you subscribe to
stay up to date on all of the heat printing tips tricks and advice that we're dropping every single
week here on the transfer express youtube channel but until next time i'm dave happy pressing
you