Guide
Gang sheets
A gang sheet is several designs on one piece of film, so you are not buying a whole sheet for a single name. You cut them apart, then press them one at a time.
You are paying for the sheet size, not for a promise about every design. Leave space between pictures when you order, enough to cut a margin. Scissors are enough. A blade that scores the adhesive at the edge of the ink gives you a line that cracks later.
The press is the same as any other transfer of that type. Cold-peel cotton is still 150–160°C for 10–15 seconds unless your supplier printed a different row. Look up the fabric and the peel, then believe the slip in the parcel if it disagrees.
Offcuts and spare names should be stored flat. The storing page is short on purpose. Heat and damp are what ruin a pile of cut transfers before you ever reach the press.
How to do it
- Read the peel before you start. Every design on that sheet is the same film. If the sheet is cold peel, every design is cold peel. Do not mix instructions between two suppliers' offcuts.
- Cut with a margin. Leave a few millimetres of blank film around the design. Cut through the print and you have a raw edge that lifts.
- Keep the pieces flat. Do not fold a cut transfer through the picture. Stack them so the films do not stick face to face if the room is warm.
- Press one design. Use the fabric row for that sheet. A gang sheet does not get a different temperature because several designs were printed together.
- Press again, then move on. Peel as the sheet says and do the second press before you start the next shirt, so you do not forget which ones are finished.
Common questions
Does a small design need less time than a large one on the same sheet?
No. Time follows the film and the fabric, not the size of the picture. A tiny name and a large chest print from the same sheet use the same press. What changes is placement, and keeping seams out of the platen.
Can I press two small designs in one close of the press?
Only if both sit flat, both are the same film, and the platen covers them evenly. A design hanging off the edge of the platen is only half pressed. One at a time is the reliable way.
Sources
- Xpres, how to DTF — powder cure, pre-press, 150–160°C for 10–15 seconds, cold peel, second press