REALLY Need some suggestions for vinyl tshirt problems?

[desertdog10 0]

I've been selling vinyl decals for just over a year now and have had a ball with it.  Been very successful and never a disappointed customer because I use good stuff.  I've had more and more requests for tshirts and a while back bought a heat press off ebay  and I have had really mixed results with it.  I have the infrared temp gauge, I've used all kinds of pressure and time settings but still find that almost all the test shirts I've done, begin to peel after just a couple of washes.  I'm using siser ezweed and gildan heavy cotton shirts from jiffy shirts.  I've tried unwashed and washed shirts.  The small stuff always seems to start pulling away.  I've pressed- re-pressed- no change in results.  Using a teflon sheet.  I've done alot of reading on there and I'm suspicious of the press (chinese) and perhaps colds spots (even thought my thermometer doesn't support that theory) but after numerous tries, It just doesn't seem logical that I haven't been able to get small lettering to stay stuck .

My current dilemia-  I have a chance at a fairly large order that I'm sure I can get (100+) shirts and this is for someone I work with.  I'm really having a hard time pulling the trigger on it because I don't want to produce stuff that she will bring back to me in 2 months. 

Question:  Should I just assume it's the press and get a well know USA machine and assume that's my problem OR is it really not a very good way to do shirts (vinyl)? 

Please- any suggestions very much appreciated. 

-Jeff

[sarconastic 29]

It has to be either a combination of heat or Pressure. I personally would lean towards pressure. On my Chinese press I have to bottom out the springs, and it takes quite a bit to latch the handle. One thing I found after I did a couple and found the right settings was that when properly pressed, you should see some sort of impression in the vinyl of the fabric beneath it (doesn't apply to sweatshirt material). It may be faint. But you literally have to press the crap out of it to get it to bond.

A higher end  press gives you this pressure without having to work as hard to get it.

The other  thing is temp/time, I always set my temp a few degrees above what they recommend. Within 5. Seems to help with the recovery time between shirts. And I use the upper limit of time they recommend. I have done hundreds of shirts on my Chinese press and not had one failure, and I have done some VERY fine detail ion them.

I would sacrifice a test shirt and try the following. take some easyweed and cut some very thin lines on it, like 1/16" or so. cut them into strips and press one line on the shirt, peal then before it cools very much, try to remove that line with your fingers. if you can get it off of there then it's not being pressed hard enough. repeat this with new lines, increasing pressure until you get it to stick correctly.

Good Luck

kevin

[desertdog10 0]

Thanks, Kevin.  That's a great idea.  Hopefully that will tell me something.  As it is, I have the press clamped down to my workbench and it take about all I'm worth to pull the handle up when done- will give this a try and report back.  Thank YOU!