1. When ordering custom transfers one should always include a work order. Many mistakes and problems are totally avoided when it is written down. The transfer buyer should always work the design out with their customer; completing an order form and going as far as having the customer sign it, approving a sketch and all pertinent details. Ace provides a work order form that asks all the necessary info. Work order form
On this work order the buyer needs to list their name, company name, and phone number. Billing and shipping addresses are nice too. You would not believe the amount of art we receive with no name, phone number, not even a return address on the envelope.
Other pertinent information includes when you need the design by (yesterday or last week are not options) the size of the design, the number of colors the transfer is to be (and yes if you want white then white is a color unless you are printing white shirts), what those colors are, the color and fabric content of the garment you are printing, total quantity needed and number of sheets if design is to be ganged and a brief description. If you use a catalog number, please include that. Don’t just call it Belgian horse and then have 20 jobs called Belgian horse. We confuse easily.
Please send a work order if you are creating your own artwork and sending it on disk or thru email. The advantages of doing your own artwork is that often the manufacturer will offer you a substantial discount because they do not have to have their expensive artist expending a large amount of their time. Another plus is you can show finished art to customers and they can approve it on your time.
2. When creating one's artwork, ELECTRONIC MEDIA the buyer should check with their transfer manufacturer to see if they accept PC or Macintosh format. Ace accepts both. You also want to check to see what programs they can accept. Generally any screen printer would like to have vectorized artwork that is color separated and usually an eps format will work. Having said that not all eps or vectorized files will work. jpg, tiff, bitmaps not considered camera ready.
Most common problem is people forget to convert their text to curves or outlines or paths(different programs call it different things). It’s important to do that so the computer sees the text as artwork, not text. It eliminates text conflicts and makes the text come thru the way it should. How to convert text
Another big mistake people make when creating artwork is using lines that are too fine or little bitty dots. If text is small the small serifs usually will not print. Remember you have to have enough ink going down to transfer. If the lines are not thick enough there just will not be enough ink.
Sometimes a customer will use 2 or 3 different colors when they only want 1 color, example a customer sent a job with 3 different shades of spot red. So when it separated there were 3 red films. Please make sure you use only one spot color for each color you want. Many times if a customer getting 4 colors or less they just use 100% cyan, 100% magenta, 100% yellow, 100% black and say the cyan is royal, and the magenta is red and the yellow is white. Often customers use yellow or black to indicate white. Or they send it with a color background.
Make sure you attach your file if you are sending it thru email and remember to include the work order we discussed or at least enough info we can get a hold of you. Don’t be offended if your customer service rep asks for a completed work order. It might mean the difference between an expedited smoothly running order and one that gets stuck and has problems because it unclear.
3. Once you have sent your file, please be patient, but be available. There is a process artwork must go thru to be turned into transfers. It has to be downloaded or sent to art dept to be evaluated by an artist.
Then, at Ace at least, it is given to your customer service rep and csr will try to contact you to go over it. Please then be available or call us back when you are available. Each job should be discussed thoroughly so the purchaser and manufacturer understand each other fully.
Please do not make changes to your order once you have placed it. Because most custom manufacturers turn their jobs very quickly (never quick enough) it is usually impossible to change something. It adds to the confusion and will definitely slow your job down if not create a mistake.
You must plan on shipping time or extra shipping charges if you want it faster than ground.
4. Transfers have a shelf life of 2-3 years at least. Longer if they are stored properly. When your transfers arrive, they will generally be in a plastic bag. Most first time customers rip open that bag and throw it away. Bad move, because generally on the outside of the bag will be information on applying the transfers reorder information. It is also an excellent bag to store your transfers in. So don’t rip the bag up. Open it carefully and use it to store your extra transfers in.
5. The next step that so many people want to skip is preheating. Preheat your transfer machines bottom palette by turning your machine on and letting it come up to temperature. Then clamp your empty machine shut and wait at least 30 seconds. Do this 3 times to pre heat the bottom palette. In most heat machines the top platen is the only heated part. Keep your eye on the temperature gauge. I’ve seen the bottom palette draw as much as 20 degrees from heat machine. That large of a temperature drop will cause your transfer to not transfer properly. That’s why you need to preheat bottom so that temp will not drop drastically.
You will also want to preheat your garment. After preheating the bottom platen, put your shirt in your machine and clamp it shut. This prepares the shirt for the transfer. It preheats the shirts, removes moisture, and presses the area for the transfer. Inspect the shirt and remove any pill balls or threads. You should have already inspected the shirt for defects. Then depending on the process you will want to position and apply your transfer.
We suggest that you preheat each garment, but you only need to preheat bottom palette when first starting or if you stop printing say to answer the phone. The process of printing shirts should keep your palette hot.
6. Most transfer manufacturers have developed their own process so application instructions and troubleshooting tips are very individualized. You will want to check with your manufacturer for instructions and if you have problems.
That said there are a few things you can look for. Applying transfers is a balancing act of time, temperature and pressure. At Ace, some of the processes have a wide window meaning these factors can vary greatly and some of the processes have a narrow window meaning these factors must be pretty precise for a good result.
There are no absolutes to applying transfers. Different machines register differently, thinner materials will generally require lower heat and shorter dwell times while thicker material will require higher heat and longer dwell times. If your shirt is dark we recommend a longer preheat time that if it is white. You need to adjust your pressure between printing tees and sweats. I think sometimes the temperature in your shop and your weather conditions even affect how you should apply your transfers. There is definitely a little skill that comes with trial and error.
7. We recommend you always pretest on an old or previously ruined shirt. Most transfer manufacturers will supply an abundance of sample transfers in the process you are using all you need do is ask for them. Pelon is so so for testing because it is thinner and a different material than tees it may require slightly different temp or dwell time that a tee.
8. In general if your transfer looks like it is tearing or parts of it are not transferring, that is a good indication that you do not have enough heat or are not dwelling long enough. The ink is not turning to liquid and transferring
9. If your shirt is bleeding thru the transfer you are probably too hot or dwelling too long. You could also have too much pressure.
If you experience any problems applying your transfers call your transfer manufacturer immediately. They should be able to talk you thru any problems that you have. Never ruin more than one shirt. If the transfer does not transfer, make adjustments and reapply somewhere else on the same ruined shirt. Please remember when you have a problem that it is just a t-shirt. Be open to your manufacturers suggestions. They have had a lot of experience and printed thousands of jobs. More than likely it is something you are doing, not a mistake on their part. We are all human and a little nice goes a long way.
10. Remember to store your extra transfers properly. Put them back in their plastic bags and store them in a cool, dry place. Remember heat and moisture can affect the longevity of your transfers. Keeping your instructions and reorder information will make it easy to remember how to apply your transfers and reorder when they are gone.