eprcvinyls

Anyone here use a Hix Hobby Lite Swing Away Heat Press Machine - 9" x 12"

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15 minutes ago, Primal Decals said:

Not yet, I  i got in Feb 2017  but hadn't used it maybe for a month or so i think  ,At the time i was still real busy with my photography and decals. But ive done probably 40 pressings on it and probably about $1500 so far. And thats after costs were paid for material used etc.

wow - here I could never get near $37.50 per garment after supplies - you are in a great area

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7 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

wow - here I could never get near $37.50 per garment after supplies - you are in a great area

Well whats weird is with every job i do. I always get a very nice tip so thats included in that amount ive made...   The biggest tip i have received for doing 2 sweaters at $20 each was $ 50 cause i dont charge a design fee, Most shops here charge $85 For a setup fee and $35 for more than 1 preview and adjustment made.   But on the average Tips are a huge with me for some reason ,I guess because im quick on turn around.  I average anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks tip every order.Same with my decals. 15-20 for tips and more usually  lol. And there is more screen Printers here than anyone doing Htv. . I get a lot of businesses.

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21 minutes ago, Primal Decals said:

Well whats weird is with every job i do. I always get a very nice tip so thats included in that amount ive made...   The biggest tip i have received for doing 2 sweaters at $20 each was $ 50 cause i dont charge a design fee, Most shops here charge $85 For a setup fee and $35 for more than 1 preview and adjustment made.   But on the average Tips are a huge with me for some reason ,I guess because im quick on turn around.  I average anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks tip every order.Same with my decals. 15-20 for tips and more usually  lol. And there is more screen Printers here than anyone doing Htv. . I get a lot of businesses.

wow

 

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I love tips more than the original payment they owe.It shows that im am appreciated and my work is liked by others. Even have had a couple shops compliment on my work or how i installed something how i do. .Well im off to bed. Big day tomorrow . Photoshoots this week.. Have a great nigh Dakotagrafx and everyone.

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10 hours ago, eprcvinyls said:

Guess im just nervous on being able to line up whatever it is and getting it straight and in the right spot on the shirt... i don't think this press swings out of the way its got a bolt that moves up and down with the handle. dads had it for at least 10 years so its a older one.

Don't worry so much about crooked/straight alignment...I mostly eyeball it too...

:wacko: Once you see YOUR shirt "hanging" on someone you will wonder why you were so careful!

Every body is different and has different bulges and bumps....the shirts will conform to what they are covering.

Centering is probably more important......

AND if you are making multiples they should all be approximately in the same position.

:) Just my 2 cents............Sue2

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One trick I use is to fold the shirt in half, lengthwise and press for 2 seconds. This will give you a center line on the shirt. Fold the HTV, non sticky side, in half. Cut a small notch at the top and bottom at the crease and you'll have the center points on your HTV. Line up the HTV center points with the center line on the shirt and press.

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13 hours ago, Primal Decals said:

Well whats weird is with every job i do. I always get a very nice tip so thats included in that amount ive made...   The biggest tip i have received for doing 2 sweaters at $20 each was $ 50 cause i dont charge a design fee, Most shops here charge $85 For a setup fee and $35 for more than 1 preview and adjustment made.   But on the average Tips are a huge with me for some reason ,I guess because im quick on turn around.  I average anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks tip every order.Same with my decals. 15-20 for tips and more usually  lol. And there is more screen Printers here than anyone doing Htv. . I get a lot of businesses.

WOW that is insane... I guess that is how you can roll living in Cali... Out here most are retired folks in the town i live in, but i do live within 25 miles of a few other surrounding towns that have people with more money and still work daily. That is why im not sure about this stuff making the $. I keep seeing more and more Decal people pop up on facebook the past 2 weeks but i have a feeling most of those are small 12 inch machine operators. cause its just small 6-8 inch decals Ive not seen anything big out of them. Just found out about 2 local shops, again they deal in small 12x12 or 12x14 material only Oracal 651 or lower.

 

6 hours ago, Sue2 said:

Don't worry so much about crooked/straight alignment...I mostly eyeball it too...

:wacko: Once you see YOUR shirt "hanging" on someone you will wonder why you were so careful!

Every body is different and has different bulges and bumps....the shirts will conform to what they are covering.

Centering is probably more important......

AND if you are making multiples they should all be approximately in the same position.

:) Just my 2 cents............Sue2

Thank you for the advice and I get what your saying.

4 hours ago, arty-rc said:

One trick I use is to fold the shirt in half, lengthwise and press for 2 seconds. This will give you a center line on the shirt. Fold the HTV, non sticky side, in half. Cut a small notch at the top and bottom at the crease and you'll have the center points on your HTV. Line up the HTV center points with the center line on the shirt and press.

Thanks for the tip. I will have to try that. I guess if i can make a lil off some decals and stickers i will put that money towards a 15x15 Press a lil bigger and one that swings maybe be easier to work with.

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I concur with the advice above as far as the center crease and overall placement. A lot of new shirts will have a slight crease down the middle from the factory, I call this a build crease and they use it during the sew stages of the build on their end. Not all is still visible but most of the time you can see at least a hint of one. If not I either find the edges if they have side seams or on tee's that have no side seams I do exactly like arty and fold a quick one in for myself. If you don't use a center seam you are likely going to get a crooked design. Once the seam is established you can use one of those alignment tools like Dakota showed to align square from the middle. 

There are typical rules of thumb for graphics but you always want to check them out before blindly trusting them because they don't work in every instance. V necks will mess with things for instance. On a regular tee shirt and most generally speaking a front graphic whether a left chest (LC) or a center full width will be around 3" down from the lower part of the collar to the top of the graphic of to the top of the main level of text. Some occasions it looks better to raise it or lower it a little to suit the design. If in doubt I usually get my wife or one of the kids to put a shirt on and we do a test placement measurement to go by. Typical offset for LC work is usually around 4" over from center to the center of the design but I slide that around for different sizes of shirts. The Old school rule is that the center of the design should line up pretty close to the point that the collar meets the shoulder. This is usually correct except for really open scoop necks. On the back typically 4" down from the collar to the top and often lower if a hoodie so it doesn't get covered up. I use 2,3,4 fingers or whole hand many times in a sort of a quick layout that speeds up production. I upgraded to a really sweet press a few years back and also bought a $300 laser alignment set-up made by Hotronix that has taken me to another level of production speed and precision in matching large groups of shirts and especially uniforms that have to all look exactly the same. Not necessary but helpful if you ever get to the point you are doing a lot of volume I highly recommend it. 

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Thanks for the advice, I did figure out the heat press does swing out.. I guess i just forgot it been at least 8 yrs since seen dad use it.

 

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On 2/5/2018 at 7:00 AM, arty-rc said:

One trick I use is to fold the shirt in half, lengthwise and press for 2 seconds. This will give you a center line on the shirt. Fold the HTV, non sticky side, in half. Cut a small notch at the top and bottom at the crease and you'll have the center points on your HTV. Line up the HTV center points with the center line on the shirt and press.

You could add triangles centered at the top and bottom of the design and cut them out when you're ready to press.

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3 hours ago, signyouup said:

You could add triangles centered at the top and bottom of the design and cut them out when you're ready to press.

The carrier is see through. You can just fold the plastic backwards so it's not sticking to itself and crease the design in the middle to match the crease in the shirt. Left Chest you will have to come up with a workflow to measure over. 

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12 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

The carrier is see through. You can just fold the plastic backwards so it's not sticking to itself and crease the design in the middle to match the crease in the shirt. Left Chest you will have to come up with a workflow to measure over. 

Seen a lady do that in a video yesterday. Been watching a ton of youtube videos

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Time to jump in and get some experience...make your family some fun t-shirts!

Sue2

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Even make your own  "company" shirts

Sue2

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3 hours ago, Sue2 said:

Time to jump in and get some experience...make your family some fun t-shirts!

Sue2

 

3 hours ago, Sue2 said:

Even make your own  "company" shirts

Sue2

Plan to soon as i get my refund and get to buy everything. i did order some Vinyl its on the way. i want to build a stand to hold it. so gives something else to do till i get my cutter. i do keep designing stuff everyday will have plenty to cut when i do get it.

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haven't checked out this post in a day or 2.  

I also have always been tipped on doing shirts. a guy came in wanting to change a misspelled name on a jersey he ordered offline  I had to remove an I and replace it with an R . was asking @Primal Decals advice on how much to charge since I had never tried to remove vinyl before. I think we came up with charging 10-15 ,  when the cust came in to pik up I told him 15 because it was a pita getting that letter off, he paid me 30. that was my 1st tip and so far everyone has tipped something on all orders. I have started making some shirts for the store, so no tips on those. lol

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3 hours ago, cardudenc said:

haven't checked out this post in a day or 2.  

I also have always been tipped on doing shirts. a guy came in wanting to change a misspelled name on a jersey he ordered offline  I had to remove an I and replace it with an R . was asking @Primal Decals advice on how much to charge since I had never tried to remove vinyl before. I think we came up with charging 10-15 ,  when the cust came in to pik up I told him 15 because it was a pita getting that letter off, he paid me 30. that was my 1st tip and so far everyone has tipped something on all orders. I have started making some shirts for the store, so no tips on those. lol

Oh wow very nice. Im sure you do in bulk ? Im not sure I would ever be making shirts for anyone in bulk sure it be a shirt or two for this person or that person, maybe im wrong.

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27 minutes ago, eprcvinyls said:

Oh wow very nice. Im sure you do in bulk ? Im not sure I would ever be making shirts for anyone in bulk sure it be a shirt or two for this person or that person, maybe im wrong.

You will probably be surprised. It will start out something like this: You build your friend a cool shirt for free just because you can and he's your pal. He wears it and his aunt see's it and gets a laugh and asks where he got it or he tells her anyway. A week later she is planning a large family reunion and needs 40 tee shirts. She calls your pal who gives her your name and number and pretty soon you're building 40 shirts. They have their reunion and all goes well. The aunt then goes to Wednesday night bingo wearing her reunion shirt and word spreads. # new clients within another 3 weeks one of which is the bingo hall owner who wants some for a big hoopla they have planned. Soon you are spending all your time building shirts and you realize your need better equipment. $Cha-Ching$ Word of mouth is the absolute best sales tactic there ever was or ever will be. My first year I gave a way a LOT of product. I'm taking hundreds of dollars worth. A lot of it was vinyl on vehicles and trailers because I didn't feel I was knowledgeable enough to charge for it so I offered it to friends and family who had businesses and such and they in tern were my test ground and also advertising. I still give out quite a few free tee's and hats. Every time I send a free embroidered hat to a client my wife accuses me of being a crack dealer because they get the hat and have to have more. Ha ha!

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3 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

You will probably be surprised. It will start out something like this: You build your friend a cool shirt for free just because you can and he's your pal. He wears it and his aunt see's it and gets a laugh and asks where he got it or he tells her anyway. A week later she is planning a large family reunion and needs 40 tee shirts. She calls your pal who gives her your name and number and pretty soon you're building 40 shirts. They have their reunion and all goes well. The aunt then goes to Wednesday night bingo wearing her reunion shirt and word spreads. # new clients within another 3 weeks one of which is the bingo hall owner who wants some for a big hoopla they have planned. Soon you are spending all your time building shirts and you realize your need better equipment. $Cha-Ching$ Word of mouth is the absolute best sales tactic there ever was or ever will be. My first year I gave a way a LOT of product. I'm taking hundreds of dollars worth. A lot of it was vinyl on vehicles and trailers because I didn't feel I was knowledgeable enough to charge for it so I offered it to friends and family who had businesses and such and they in tern were my test ground and also advertising. I still give out quite a few free tee's and hats. Every time I send a free embroidered hat to a client my wife accuses me of being a crack dealer because they get the hat and have to have more. Ha ha!

Yeah I could see how that could happen.. kinda funny you said Reunion, were already planing my wife's mothers side of the family reunion I told her well this yr i can do a banner for it and maybe some other things.

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don't sell yourself short. of course u will have to get it out there of what items you offer, but like everyone said u will be surprised how it works and takes off. again I'm a newbie, didn't start trying to sell decals until summer of 16, and just started doing htv.  I have a small rack of stickers in our shop, it is a high end consignment store, clothes and furniture. so I don't have decals all over. I have my enclosed trailer lettered, " custom Vinyl"  my first commercial lettering job, a guy walked after his wife had shopped in our store, he asked if I could letter a truck, well did 1, a few days later he came in said he bought another, so did it, then he asked if I would do his store ft.  shirts... I had a buddy call on a fri around 4pm saying he needed a shirt for his new concrete business for a meeting with Fema on mon. so it was too late to get anyone I knew to do it and get it shipped to me, I ordered the only press I could get in, amazon had me 1 del on sun. that was my 2nd shirt, I did 1 for our store for practice then did his, well he meets for the meeting on the job site, so other contractors were there bidding for other jobs, guy asked how did his shirts, that dude came wanted 36 shirts and his new enclosed trailer lettered. so my buddy got that very 1st shirt for free. lol. now I have done door magnets, yard signs ,36 shirts and 2 panties and finishing up 2 trailers for my buddy with the concrete biz . my last order of 12 I did for a cust of a local bar, he gave to the employees and owner there for Christmas. 1 of my cust. saw me doing and ordered 2 for her. I wrote all that to hopefully show u how easily it takes off, in between all that is a couple commercial vehicles lettered and a few business signs and store fts.  

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3 hours ago, cardudenc said:

don't sell yourself short. of course u will have to get it out there of what items you offer, but like everyone said u will be surprised how it works and takes off. again I'm a newbie, didn't start trying to sell decals until summer of 16, and just started doing htv.  I have a small rack of stickers in our shop, it is a high end consignment store, clothes and furniture. so I don't have decals all over. I have my enclosed trailer lettered, " custom Vinyl"  my first commercial lettering job, a guy walked after his wife had shopped in our store, he asked if I could letter a truck, well did 1, a few days later he came in said he bought another, so did it, then he asked if I would do his store ft.  shirts... I had a buddy call on a fri around 4pm saying he needed a shirt for his new concrete business for a meeting with Fema on mon. so it was too late to get anyone I knew to do it and get it shipped to me, I ordered the only press I could get in, amazon had me 1 del on sun. that was my 2nd shirt, I did 1 for our store for practice then did his, well he meets for the meeting on the job site, so other contractors were there bidding for other jobs, guy asked how did his shirts, that dude came wanted 36 shirts and his new enclosed trailer lettered. so my buddy got that very 1st shirt for free. lol. now I have done door magnets, yard signs ,36 shirts and 2 panties and finishing up 2 trailers for my buddy with the concrete biz . my last order of 12 I did for a cust of a local bar, he gave to the employees and owner there for Christmas. 1 of my cust. saw me doing and ordered 2 for her. I wrote all that to hopefully show u how easily it takes off, in between all that is a couple commercial vehicles lettered and a few business signs and store fts.  

Oh very nice man.. We will see. so far I have one friend who said he like a decal.. hes not told me what he wants yet.

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4 minutes ago, eprcvinyls said:

Oh very nice man.. We will see. so far I have one friend who said he like a decal.. hes not told me what he wants yet.

Once people have an idea of what can be done, and what you can do - you'll get the ball rolling. I still consider myself a hobbyist, but you can be sure when it's craft fair season, kiddie carnival season, birthdays, etc. I get all requests for banners, menu boards, price boards, custom names for party favors, etc. No doubt you can do the same with a heat press and make some money in a short amount of time. If I had the room, I'd have a heat press too! Right now, I rely on Craigslist when I need to outsource t-shirts and stuff. I haven't found a great apparel person yet.

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3 hours ago, haumana said:

Once people have an idea of what can be done, and what you can do - you'll get the ball rolling. I still consider myself a hobbyist, but you can be sure when it's craft fair season, kiddie carnival season, birthdays, etc. I get all requests for banners, menu boards, price boards, custom names for party favors, etc. No doubt you can do the same with a heat press and make some money in a short amount of time. If I had the room, I'd have a heat press too! Right now, I rely on Craigslist when I need to outsource t-shirts and stuff. I haven't found a great apparel person yet.

Thanks, i guess there are all sort of things can be done with Vinyl. maybe I can make some signs for Halloween and Christmas i know ive got few signs im going to make myself

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