Sweatshirts?

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madmanyoni
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Sweatshirts?

Post by madmanyoni »

My yearbook class asked me to print the yearbook jackets for the students. I print a lot of t shirts but are sweatshirts any more difficult? I know that the sweat shirts are thicker and not the same feel as a shirt, what do i need to do different to print sweatshirts?
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ROADSIDE
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Re: Sweatshirts?

Post by ROADSIDE »

nothing different at all.
Just some minor adjustments to the print run.
Adjust the pallet off-contact and if you are flashing... DONT OVER FLASH because the sweats turn color.
also use a pallet adhesive designed for fleece

Most specific questions get more specific answers... ;)
.... I can give you my opinion but I can't tell you if it's right or not.
broham23
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Re: Sweatshirts?

Post by broham23 »

Hey there. I print tons of sweatshirts all the time. They can really be a dog and can cause a lot of trouble if you're not careful. The main thing is to make your board, or platen, as sticky as you can get it. Sweats obviously won't stick as well as t shirts, and they will move easily or shrink if flashed too long. If you're using sparay adhesive, us a lot.

But If I were you, and if time allows it, buy another kind of adhesive and take the following approach:

Look for a product called Tekmar Tekbond water based pallet adhesive, or something similar (justy google it and you'll see what I mean). This is far superior to spray adhesive for a couple reasons. It looks just like white elmer's glue and has the same consistency. Using a scraper of some kind, splatter some of that onto your platen and spread a thin, even layer and flash it dry. It'll be so sticky nothing will move on you, I promise. The beauty of this adhesive is that after you print a few sweats or hoodies, you use a spray bottle to wet the platen (get it really wet) and then use a sturdy plastic scrubber (preferably with a handle attached--like something you might scrub out a bathtub with or clean a grill) to scrub off the build up of sweatshirt fuzz that accumulates which will prevent the sweats from sticking. Once it's scrubbed clean, dry the platen and repeat, 3 or 4 shirts per cycle. This way you don't have a lung full of spray adhesive, and everything around you won't be sticky.

That said, however, if spray adhesive is all you've got, it'll still work, just make sure your boards are always super sticky! Sticky them up after each sweatshirt is removed.

As far as print technique goes, I have one major tip. Sweatshirt material, being thicker and more, I don't know, porous, they are more difficult to print. The trouble is clearing all the ink from the screen into the fabric. You really need to push hard to get it in there and have good coverage. Use a lower mesh count than you'd use for tshirts. I'd go with a 110 unless your design is super detailed. This makes it easier to clear the ink through the screen and into the fabric.

If you do happen to run into to trouble with not getting good coverage or saturation, try this: instead of the traditional printing method where you pull the ink toward you from the far side of the screen, try gathering a bead of ink with your squeegee, lift it and plop it down in the screen at the top of the image in the screen closest to you, and then PUSH the ink out away from you. This way you can get your weight into it over the squeegee and really imprint the hell out of those sweatshirts. If you have any more questions, let me know. Like I said before I print sweatshirts and hoodies and jackets all the time and have been using the methods I outlined above for years. Good luck!
annachinn
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Re: Sweatshirts?

Post by annachinn »

i always buy my customize printed sweatshirts from https://www.ustradeent.com/adult-heavy- ... -1371.html
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