Heat transfer vinyl is cut using a special machine in which a roll of vinyl gets fed back and forth through a cutter. The blade on the cutter slices the vector design out of the vinyl sheet. Once the vinyl has been cut, the printer must weed out the excess vinyl, leaving us a finished design on a transfer sheet.
The best part about transfer vinyl is its flexibility when it comes to heat pressing. Our heat transfer vinyl can be pressed at a wide variety of temperatures between 280 - 380 degrees. The temperature that you press our vinyl at will be dictated by the product being printed more than anything else. Moisture-wicking garments, bags, and other synthetic materials should be pressed at lower temperatures, while t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other common shirts should be pressed at around 375 degrees. The vinyl should be pressed with medium-to-high pressure for around 10-12 seconds.
When peeling the plastic backing off of the shirt, you should wait until the transfer has slightly cooled down, at least 20-30 seconds. If you pull the backing too early, some vinyl might not stick to the product. If this happens, simply stop and wait for the transfer to further cool and peel starting from a different corner of the design.
After the clear backing has been removed, you should press the design using Kraft paper for half of the original amount of time just to make sure that the vinyl is completely cured onto the product and will not come off. Unlike screenprint transfers, a stretch test is not possible to see if the design is cured onto the product or not. The best way to determine if the artwork is cured onto the product is by simply rubbing the edges of the vinyl. If you can feel the edges of the vinyl, and feel you can pick or peel at them, it probably needs to be pressed again with Kraft paper. If the transfer feels like it is flat and secure on the product, then it is cured.
