Hey Guys,
I’m completely new to this. I’m looking into printing personalized stuff for selling over the net. I’m thinking of printing mostly clothing like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and stuff like that. I’m just wondering what the difference is between digital and screened transfers so I can research the equipment necessary for each process to see which process is viable for me with my very limited budget. Thanks guys! Randy.
Randy,
The main difference between the two is the method used to place the ink on the transfer paper. The method for each is in the name i.e. for “screened” transfers, the ink is “screen” printed onto the transfer paper and for “digital” transfer, the ink is printed onto the transfer paper using a “digital” printer.
In terms of equipment, basically, with screened transfers you would use what you already use for printing garments i.e. a printing press, mesh, plastisol ink, dryer/curing unit and so on. Except that instead of printing the garments directly, you would print on the transfer paper instead. With digital transfers, a printer, like the Epson Stylus 3000 inkjet printer is used to print the design on the transfer paper.
Both process requires a heat press to finally transfer the ink from the transfer paper to the garment. For doing transfers only, it’s less messy and much cheaper to start with digital transfers.
Also, there are two types of screened transfers: Hot-peel and cold-peel. With cold-peel, you can use general purpose plastisol ink, but with hot-peel use plastisol ink made specifically for it.