Cleaning the heat press / stopping colours running.

[Fletcher]

Hi all,
The only thing I struggle with colours mixing, For example: Say I press vinyl onto a t-shirt. Then I do some sublimation onto a hi-vis vest (I use a Teflon sheet on top) I Then go back to doing vinyl on say a t-shirt. I find that the colour of hi-vis yellow and on the odd occasion outlines transfer on top the top also.
Why is this and how do I stop it? Its Annoying.

Thanks Fletch

[Fletcher]

Just like this.

[pw66]

The dye in the Hi viz turns to vapour at about 160 degrees, which is the temp that most garment vinyl is applied at. Use a lower temp vinyl, or take some other precautions. Use a paper cover sheet over the hivis - the teflon sheet is permeable so the vapour can build up on the heat platen. Make sure the paper covers the entire platen. Leave hivis pressing to the end of the day and clean the press down with isopropyl Alcohol afterward. Use a paper cover sheet when printing t-shirts after printing hivis.
It would be good if you could justify having a second heatpress just for Hivis.

Beware - the issue can also occur with brightly dyed sports/football tops.

[Fletcher]

Hi, thanks for your reply,
At present I just press onto some old messed up tops till the colour fades then switch the press off and let it cool give it a quick clean and away I go again. Just gets a bit annoying. I may just get a 2nd big press. Unless anyone else has any ideas.

[logobear]

you need to cover with something ....
paper plain, cheap but single use.
baking / silicon paper, more money but multi use.
teflon sheets great for ages - beware some sold as oven liners, - as some do carry the image. lakeland used to be great, now their thicker teflon sheet carries the image.

[Fletcher]

Hi Logobear,
Looking at my Teflon sheet it appears to hold the logo after use and I think that may be half my problem.
Thanks

[Chris-P-Midlands]

Hi Guys, reading this with interest as I came on to the forum today to seek similar advice. I have experienced the high vis problem, and now am aware of the pitfalls and how to combat them. My enquiry to day was to do with black marks on sublimated tee shirts, and maybe pw66 and / or logobear could shed any light here too?

My question was going to be, what is the best thing to clean a heat plate /platen with? as I see that there are several black marks & dots on mine that need cleaning off. I have always wiped it with a general household surface cleaning spray, but wondered if there was an industry standard cleaner that I can use? I see that

isopropyl Alcohol

was mentioned, so is that a good product for regular cleaning of the heat plate?

Also, I can get a nice clean print (sub) on the 1st tee of a run (small runs usually, 3-6 garments) The marks, dots seem to appear. Are the unwanted sub dye marks more likely to be coming from the plate, or the Teflon sheet? I have tried using both Teflon sheet and white paper, and have had it happen either way.

Any help / advice would be very gratefully received.

Thanks,

Chris P.

[pw66]

Try getting a teflon sheet and a roll of heat tape and wraping your platen with it. The stainning could be a mark from beneath, not above.

Check that there are no marks around the image on the original paper.

Any dust or grease can get permenantly 'welded' to a garment, so make sure the entire area around the press is clean and dust free.

[Chris-P-Midlands]

Thanks pw66. Thinking about it, my heat press did come with a teflon sheet fitted to the heat platen, I removed it to clean it as I saw somewhere that they are washable. I didnt refit it to the platen, but as it covers the whole heat plate, I use it over any work, between the job anbd the platen, so it kinda does the same job. Howver, when i use it the next time, I cant be sure that ive not flipped it over, hense transfering marks. I do try my best to keep the area clean of dust, grease etc. and always check the original paper for marks before pressing. Its probabaly something really simple, but its really frustrating, and wastefu. Any tips on cleaning soluitions for the heat platten ? tia/ CP

[logobear]

you could try cranking the press upto max and pressing a number of sheets of clean white paper repeatedly to get anything impregnated out of the platten (both sides)