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What you should know before buying a heat transfer press: Heating up the market.
By Larry Welty
Article from Stitches Magazine
During the past few years it has been no secret that transfers have been coming on strong. New digital technologies and inks, combined with falling costs for color copiers, are producing spectacular results for many textile printers. If you are considering joining the ranks of direct screenprinters who are already using transfers, there are several things to consider before purchasing a transfer press.
Certainly the most obvious question would be, what market do you have for the goods you would produce with your transfer press? I spoke with Cliff Hix, the owner of First Edition in Pittsburg, Kan. His company specializes in producing custom transfers. He broke the market down for me into three easy pieces: events, sporting goods and direct printers.
The event market It seems that every community, no matter how small, has a number of seasonal events: summer softball leagues, art fairs, the local stock car track, you name it. Are you currently seeing business from these events?
One way to get that business is to take to the road yourself. Arrange for a space with the event sponsors and arrive with custom transfers you've made for the event as well as a collection of generic transfers you've purchased that relate to the sport or activity at hand.
Hix pointed out that if you set up your press and display your shirts and transfer collection in a trailer that opens on one side to form an awning and your counter, you could be open for business in less than 30 minutes. I might add from my own experience at these outdoor events that a 110-volt circuit is a lot easier to come by than a 220 - keep that in mind when making the decision on your press.
Sporting goods Hix mentioned that the first place people often turn to when looking for lettering, numbering or namedrops is their local sporting goods store. For a fraction of the investment you have made in your direct printing equipment and supplies, that sporting goods dealer can purchase a transfer press, some lettering and number kits and not only begin to supply this service, but start offering a selection of commercial sports-related transfers, as well.
While this may be great news for the owner of the sporting goods store, what good is it to you? Think synergy. Ask the owners of your local sporting goods stores who performs this work for them now. Are they sending it out? Doing it in-house?
Once you have the equipment and the easily learned skills, you can let each of these stores know that you can take care of this work for them locally - and with a quicker turnaround. Plus, you have the ability to help with those rush orders they may not have been able to handle before.
Direct printers Here Hix and I spoke at length about a variety of circumstances that can make a transfer press profitable for a screen shop of any size. He described the sort of situation we have all faced at one time or another: Four or five bright-eyed youngsters show up at the shop and let you know they have just won the regional finals in tennis and are going to the state tournament. It is Thursday and the tournament starts Saturday. Four shirts, multicolor and a rush job to boot.
Watch those kids turn pale when you let them know what it would cost for you to accomplish that if the shirts had to be screenprinted. You can also watch them leave your shop - or you can satisfy their need and make some money, create good will and start a new generation of repeat customers. You pull out a couple of generic tennis transfers, show them some lettering to use for their school name and slogan, and it's time to write up an order.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have a client with a 500-piece order, but the artwork is in more colors than you have printheads for. Of course, you could job it out and make a little something, but why not take home the real money yourself?
Show the client the nice, soft hand on a sample shirt made from a full-color transfer. Let your customer know you would like to use this same process on his order, and expect an enthusiastic response and another order to write up. Send the artwork for the project to a transfer printer/manufacturer, order the shirts and schedule the job. You just turned a low-profit or no-profit situation into a win-win situation for you and your customer, simply because you own a transfer press.
Clamshell, swing-arm or shuttle
Once you've decided on your market, it's time to look at the machine models and their capabilities. I talked with Aaron Knight of Geo Knight & Co., whose Brockton, Mass.-based firm has been manufacturing heat presses for the past four decades. Knight pointed out that one of the first things to consider is how large a print area you need. Platen sizes can range from 15" x 15" to 16" x 20".
Second on Knight's list of considerations is the choice between a clamshell and swing-away style press. The clamshell design is the most common type of heat press we see. The top platen opens just like a clamshell with the wide opening at the front and narrowing sharply to the back of the platens.
The swing-away design moves the upper platen up and to the left or right, getting the platen out of the operator's way. One obvious advantage of the swing-away design is that it gives the operator more room to work with the substrate. Knight pointed out the most important difference in the two designs: Clamshell designs are fine if you are only going to print shirts. If you intend to print a thicker garment or other substrate, the clamshell design may cause alignment problems.
Here is how that happens
By its very design, the clamshell comes down hard on the back of a substrate first. With a thicker substrate, that pinching at the back combined with the delay for the rest of the platen to come into full contact and closure may cause the substrate to shift position. The swing-away design comes down evenly over the entire surface of the substrate and eliminates this problem.
I asked Knight about the advantage of air-powered presses and what size market would lead a printer to purchase such a press. He pointed out that a tabletop air press provides no gain in production speed, but it does reduce physical strain on the operator. The press closes at the push of a button. Imagine your operator is the former star center for the girls' basketball team whose height and strength give her the leverage and ease to clamp down that press for hours. Then imagine the same task being performed by a 5' tall, 100-pound former gymnast. So you might consider not only the type of transfer work being performed with the press, but also who will be performing the work.
If you anticipate a high volume of transfer work, you can combine the fatigue-reducing advantage of air power with a shuttle press. A shuttle press has a two-stage configuration where the operator can unload one table while the other table is clamped and applying the transfer.
Price points
Why is there a wide range in transfer press prices? I talked to Ben Robinson, who is the director of operations at Stahls' Hotronix, St. Clair Shores, Mich. He suggests that when selecting a transfer press you concentrate on the three elements that control the quality of the work you produce: temperature, time and pressure. He said that these elements are controlled better via the use of digital controls and the durability built into the press. So match your needs with the engineering that has gone into the press as you make your decision. If you only anticipate occasional use, a lower-end press may just be the right choice.
Whatever heat press or presses you choose to buy, expect the average daily temperature in the shop to rise. If anyone complains, tell them it is not the temperature that is rising, it's your profits. There is still a lot more for us to think about when we consider beginning to work with a heat press. After all, I've focused on shirts, but consider just this partial list of substrates we can also apply transfers to:
- Caps
- Ceramic plates
- Ceramic tiles
- Mugs
- Mousepads
- Paper memo cubes
- Tote bags
- Plaques
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Lettering
- Coated sheet metals
Caps
Caps would be the next logical item for a garment decorator to consider, so let's talk cap presses. The old days of the high crown, one-size-fits-all golf cap are long gone. That means you will need a cap press with interchangeable platens so you will be able to accommodate a variety of cap sizes and styles.
When looking at cap presses, keep two things in mind. First, the often-optional Teflon attachment is not an option - you'll find you need it. Second, if you are not going to spring for an additional set of platens when you first buy your cap press, do make sure your press model has that option.
One of the optional platens often offered for a cap press is a flat platen. If you ever consider printing on tiles or other flat goods, this platen could perform that work for you and keep your standard press free for other work.
Mugs In the list of potential substrates are mugs. Before you shake your head and say, "I'm not looking to get into the promotional products business," I understand, but mug presses are affordable and compact. And if you are making room on a bench for a standard heat press and a cap press, you will have room for a mug press, as well.
Now consider your sample area. If you have displayed tees and plackets with matching hats, imagine a customer's reaction to seeing a pyramid of mugs matching the shirts and hats. You may not end up with an order for some mugs, but you have created a further impression of your shop's expertise, and you have already put the customer in a mood to do business with you.