Full-Color Heat Transfers with DigitalHeat FX

Full Color Heat Transfer Production with DigitalHeat FX

FOR BOUTIQUE AND APPAREL BRANDS

High volume transfer production is normally divided up into

Art Preparation,

Transfer Printing,

and in the case of white toner transfers,

Marrying

as a final step.

Art Preparation

Preparing artwork for white toner transfers is simple as there are no color separations or color quantity limits as in older methods. DigitalHeat FX printing is a 100% digital process very similar to using a standard commercial full color laser printer.

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DigitalHeat FX printing is a 100% digital process very similar to using a standard commercial full color laser printer.

Once the artwork is created it’s recommended that it be imported into the Print Optimizer software to set up for the final print. Inside Print Optimizer is where you may elect to do your final color adjustments, duplicate graphics for gang printing or simply get a visual representation of the graphic before printing. The software has standard settings that improve the feel and reduce white toner consumption as well.

Transfer Printing

The 2-Step DigitalHeat FX process includes first printing on an “A” sheet and then marry to a “B” sheet for adhesion.

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The “A” sheet is a clear acetate that holds the image itself. In the next step that sheet will be “married to the “B” sheet which holds the adhesive.

Print the A sheets is very fast. As you can from the tables on this page, you can print the 8432 sheets at a rate of 118 per hour.

Transfer printing can be accomplished through direct connect with the Windows-based computer or via a network connection.

Many production houses make both the Art Preparation and Transfer Printing part of the Art or Graphics Departments purview.

Marrying Step

Marrying is the process of fusing the A (image) sheet with a B (Polymer/Adhesive) sheet to form the completed Transfer.

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Once this step is complete the transfer is finished and is ready for storage, application or resale.

The marrying step requires a very high-quality heat press with even and adjustable temperature and pressure.

The heat press, and so this part of the transfer making process, is typically done separately from the Art/Graphics area in larger organizations. The heat press operates above 300F and draws significant power so while it can be used in any office environment suitable electrical/power accommodations must be met.

The Marrying Step time will vary according to several factors but is typically 75 Seconds for 11” X 17” transfers and 100 seconds for 13” X 19” transfers.

Production Time

As you can see in the tables below, the differences in the 2 printer’s print speeds and marry times impacts the overall cost per transfer (impacting labor), production capacity and profitability per hour of production time.

These figures are intended as a guideline as a wide variety of factors will impact individual results including; workflow, quantity of heat presses, labor cost per hour, etc.

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You already know how important workflow is to production time. And you know how specific those can be to a building, production room and even shift or crew.

We’ve provide the basic numbers below, arrived at through our experience and estimations, but yours will vary.

DigitalHeat FX 8432 Production ONE Heat Press

DigitalHeat FX 9541 Production ONE Heat Press

Using 2 Heat Presses

The labor cost per sheet of married transfers goes down by 36% when you add another heat press to the operation. A single operator can easily run both heat presses, reducing the labor time and labor cost for marrying transfers by half. That is a 100% increase in transfer production per hour with only a 36% increase in labor cost.

DigitalHeat FX 8432 Production TWO Heat Press