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MACHINERY
Step 1
designs using the heat press in another part of below the table to hold these supplies.
your premises. In all likelihood, you’re already For a one or two person work area, consider
doing other types of heat transfer work, so there’s arranging your equipment and supplies in a “U”
no need to move the heat press into your cutter shape. At the base of the “U” is the cutter, with a
area. 2m table to the right, and the computer on the far
By the way, if you’re just now purchasing a heat left-hand side of that table, next to the cutter.
press, consider at least a 40x50cm press so that The rest of the table is used for weeding and
you’re able to handle a larger variety of sizes. masking. Your configuration may be different
Also, consider an air-assisted swing-away type depending upon your particular needs, but the
model, a versatile piece of equipment that allows goal is to keep everyone working with no waiting,
for custom platens, to handle odd shapes such as and a minimum amount of wasted energy in
bag’s gloves and hats. between tasks.
Other equipment and supplies you’ll need include Employees shouldn’t have to walk anywhere to
Step 2
the media itself (the material that you will be reach their weeding tools or to find masking
cutting) as well as squeegees, masking material, material, for instance; it should be all within arm’s
weeding tools and scissors. Consider bin storage reach.
Tips to maximize efficiency especially smaller ones – you might find that its
Of course, getting the most out of your equipment actually easier to weed after you’ve done the
means more than just putting it in the right place: masking rather than beforehand, That’s because
It’s also about using it intelligently. For example, much of the weeding will happen as a result of
when the design is at the unit being cut (or print the masking itself, leaving you with less actual
and cut, as the case may be), the most efficient weeding to do manually. Any time you’re doing a
thing for you to do is to busy yourself elsewhere, new order, try this reverse method first; if it
with another task, such as weeding and masking doesn’t work, go back to the conventional
designs you’ve cut previously, rather than sequence of weeding first, then masking.
watching the unit and waiting for it to finish.
Step 3
Other tips for increasing productivity include: 6. Gang up on them – Printers/Cutters typically
use white media so there’s no need to change out
1. Be specific – Make sure every job has an material for specific colours. However, you will
order sheet with all necessary information need to change it based on the type of fabric
including due date; file name; image size and you’re decorating. For example, you’ll use one
location; type of garment and so on. type of material for polyester and another type for
Nylon. For maximum efficiency, group jobs that
2. Chunk it up - Break up runs on roll stock into use the same type of material so you’re not
manageable chunks. For instance, if you have a constantly changing it out on the cutter. Likewise,
uniform order for 200 pieces, you might send only gang up smaller jobs so you’re cutting numerous
50 at a time to the cutter. This allows you to designs at once, not just one or two. Be careful,
check quality on the run midway instead of at the though, as you don’t want to inadvertently put
end, and you can busy yourself with weeding and the wrong design on the wrong substrate – a
masking while the next batch is at the cutter. relatively easy mistake to make when you’re
batching together designs from different orders.
Step 4
3. Keep it manageable – Depending upon your
production volume, the length of your design 7. Think BIG – For large runs, you may want to
groupings on the cut material will vary depending use a cold laminate, a piece of equipment familiar
on the designs and jobs themselves; you should to those in the sign industry. This unit puts an
avoid sending designs through your system that extra protective clear layer on top of the film. For
total more than a metre of material at once. decorating purposes, you would weed the designs
Keeping segments of material at this length will then run them through the laminator with the
prevent them from getting so long that they mask on top. This route is faster for large runs
become difficult to physically handle. You can than using a squeegee, and it can provide better,
always “tell” the cutter to cut pieces more even coverage, thanks to consistent
automatically so that you don’t have to do it by pressure.
hand using scissors. The pieces will then either
drop onto the floor or into a catch basket Whether you’re equipped with a printer/cutter, a
(desirable, depending upon your situation and simple cutter, or multiple standard heat presses,
housekeeping). like most aspects of your business, creating the
Step 5 ideal system for workflow is often a matter of
4. Weed smart – Whether or not you should trial and error, so try these suggestions and see
weed designs one-at-a-time or in groups depends what works best for you. With just a little
upon the designs themselves. If you’re doing large experimentation and some careful evaluation, you
ones, you’ll probably want to weed one-at-a-time can create a workflow that gets the most
instead of fighting with a large piece if material efficiency and profitability out of your equipment
with multiple designs. If you’re doing say 24 tiny of choice.
ones, you could weed them all at once. You
should develop a feel for the right approach in • About this Article: This is one of a series of
this instance, knowing what’s manageable and occasional articles issued to help those active in
what’s too cumbersome. the garment decoration and embellishment
industry by Target Transfers. For more details visit
5. Weed different – For some designs – www.TargetTransfers.com
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk March 2010 | 67 |
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