Not a day goes by when you don’t see printed designs; they can be on T shirts, ball caps and backpacks as well as coffee mugs and plates. Most of the fabric items that have some sort of printed design on them have been made using a heat transfer machine, hard items can also be made in this manner or done with silk screening. These machines are inexpensive to buy; many young entrepreneurs have set up shop at the beaches printing wild and wonderful T shirts.
Heat transfers for T shirts use standard ink that is identical to that in any ink jet printer and a short burst of heat. If the finished product is going to be subjected to some harsh environment, there are special dyes that can be used. An example of this would be a promotional banner which will be hung outdoors for an extended period of time. The common machines used for heat transfer are the platen type and the rotary type; there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
The platen type is the kind used for printing heat transfers for T shirts; the platen is available in a variety of sizes. In a sense, a platen heat transfer machine looks just like a book, you open it, place the T shirt inside, place the transfer on the shirt or other flat fabric item and close it. The top is held tightly in position and heat is applied for a period of time.
A rotary machine consists of two large rollers. The design and the object to be printed on are fed through the rollers which apply heat and pressure. Both the platen type and roller drum type use pneumatics to reduce the amount of pressure that the operator has to apply.
The designs, and there are millions of them, are printed on a special transfer paper. If the transfer is put on an item which is not porous, then once the design is in place, a further sealant is applied. In the case of porous items such as clothing, the ink dye permeates the fiber; this is called a sublimation transfer. For people who have made a business out of applying heat transfers, the designs can be purchased in bulk from wholesalers or created individually on a printer.
Custom made heat transfers for T shirts are available from Gulfside Heat Transfers. Ordering is as simple as selecting the sheet size and the colors, leave the rest to Gulfside.What is a heat transfer machine? Visit us online for more details visit website
