1: Pre-Press Your Garment Before You Apply Your Design
This is a fundamental tip that a lot of people aren’t aware of. Before heat pressing your transfer onto the garment, press the fabric for a few seconds by lowering the platen on the heat transfer press which will remove any excess moisture or wrinkles from the garment, and ensure that moisture and shrinkage aren’t an issue. The amount of time required would vary depending on the garment, but for 100% cotton t-shirt would tend to be around 5-10 seconds, and poly-cotton polo shirts and hoodies would be 10-15 seconds.
2: Ensure Even and Accurate Pressure On Your Heat Transfer Press
The correct pressure you need in your heat press would be dependent on the specific heat transfer – When the lower platen is locked into place, a low-pressure this would require minimum effort, and is easily achievable with one hand.
For medium-pressure, a certain amount of resistance would be felt, although you should still be able to lock it down with one hand.
For high-pressure, most operators would still be able to lock off the press with one hand, but more downward pressure would be required – Under no circumstances would you have to use both hands and excessive force the press to lock off, as this would be beyond the definition of firm pressure and would likely result in damage to the heat press and the heat transfer.
3: Ensure Even and Accurate Temperature On Your Heat Press
Ensuring that your heat press is running at the correct temperature is a must for any business that wants to ensure a high-quality finish to their printed garments. An infrared thermometer heat gun could be used to check that your heat press gives a true temperature and that there are no cold spots on your heat press platen.
4: Closely Follow The Application Instructions Provided For Your Heat Transfer
You should ALWAYS heat apply your heat transfer at the temperature, time and pressure given in the application instructions from your supplier.
Every transfer type has their own best application instructions which will have been thoroughly tested by your supplier so that you are advised the recommended and optimal heat transfer press instructions to use to apply the designs. However, due to the wide range of fabrics now available, the precise settings may vary, and thorough testing is recommended to obtain the best bond to the fabric.
Further to the above, if the instructions mention cold-peeling the backer once the transfer has been fused, we’d always recommend removing the garment from the heat press and allowing it to completely cool before removing the backer.
Providing you have sufficient workspace, you can always position and apply the transfer to the next garment whilst you’re waiting for it to cool.
5: Ensure That The Heat Transfer Is Straight On The Garment.
A simple tip is to fold the garment in half along the centre of the garment and apply a small amount of pressure for 1-2 seconds. This will put a small crease in the garment to show you were the centre of the garment is, which will greatly increase the likelihood of a straight application.
We also recommend the Hotronix Laser Alignment Tool which has four lasers which can be set to any area of any heat press to ensure that the heat transfer is applied in the same precise area every time.
6: Stop Your Heat Transfer Lifting When You Raise The Upper Platen.
With a Heat Transfer design, paper separation can occur when static builds up on the upper platen of the heat press, which can result in the paper carrier lifting when the upper platen is raised – By covering the design with a non-stick cover sheet or release paper, this will alleviate the problem.
7: Press again if HTV Edges Are Lifting.
In addition, for an HTV-based design, if the vinyl backer has been peeled from a design slightly too hot, or if there wasn’t quite enough pressure used during application, the edges of a design may not be completely bonded to the fabric, simply press the vinyl again for necessary time.
the great thing about HTV is that it can reapplied again and again, if you not happy the application the first time.