What to charge for cut and weed only-thermoflex

[Border]

Just cut a small, intricate design in the eco film and it weeded really great, at least as good or better than the thermoflex. It was white material and seemed real easy to see the cut lines.

[slammedxonair]

I just got a chance to try out my samples and thought it was very easy to weed and cut great. It also looks great applied to the hoodie I put it on.

[ShawnLVESP]

how is the hand on the eco film compared to thermoflex?

[Bill43mx]

I just received my eco-film sample. We had just run a relatively large job using thermoflex plus, which has been our standard material. The job was customizing 75 screen printed shirts (Newell Graphics...Awesome job!) by adding the person's last name across the back like an athletic jersey. I had a few extra shirts and the sample roll of the eco-film plus the weeding of the thermoflex was fresh in my mind so I figured it was test time. Here how I feel the 2 materials compare head to head.

Cutting: I used the same pressure and speed on the eco-film as we use on the thermoflex. They both cut very cleanly.

Weeding: I give the edge to the eco-film for 2 reasons. One, I've always struggled to see the cut lines in thermoflex and they were much more visible in the eco-film. Second, I believe the eco-film adhesive is just a tiny bit less aggressive. I don't think it's "not sticky enough" that small detail would be a problem. It's just enough of a difference that you don't have to struggle with weeding large areas.

Application: When we do a project like this one we like to have one person aligning the lettering outside of the heat press and another person running the press. Of course that means the transfer material has to stay in place on the shirt when you move it from the setup area to the press. Both materials have enough stickiness on the clear backing material to allow this. The extra stickiness of the thermoflex is an advantage here but I didn't have any problem with the eco-film.

Pressing time and temperature: Thermoflex recommends 20 seconds @ 345-350 degrees then a repress with teflon of 10 sec.
Eco-film recommends 10-15 seconds @ 302 degrees and does not mention a repress. They do, however, recommend a 4 sec. prepress. Because we are setting the shirt up outside the press it is impractical for us to prepress. We also cover the shirt and transfer with a teflon sheet even on the initial press. Because of this I ran maximum time on the initial press(15 sec) and then peeled warm and did a 5 second teflon only repress with the eco-film.

Overall in this area I give the edge to the eco-film. Shorter press times slightly increase production but more importantly shorter press times at lower temperature can be a big benefit when dealing with polyester that has been dye sublimation printed.

Final result: Both materials have comparable feel to them and while it's definately a vinyl feel it's difficult, if not impossible, to feel the edge of a letter. This could possibly vary from batch to batch but doing a side by side comparison with my materials here the eco-film seems to be just a tad brighter white than the thermoflex.

I know from experience that the durability of the Thermoflex plus is outstanding. I have a shirt that I wear regularly that is over 4 years old and the thermoflex is still hanging in there. Only time will tell if the eco-film is as durable. I'm planning on doing a side by side test on a shirt with the 2 materials and then giving them my version of a torture test. The shirt gets washed and then tossed in the dryer. When it comes out of the dryer it goes right back into the washing machine to wait for the next load of wash. After a few weeks that shirt will have been washed and dried with every concievable temperature combination. I'll let you know if I can see any difference at that point.

cost: Give the edge to the eco-film. It's not much cheaper but every little bit helps!

At this point all I need to do is verify that the eco-film will hold up like the thermoflex plus. Thanks to Mike for sending us the sample. I tried some of the material Imprintables was selling a couple of years ago and hated it. At that time I decided to stay with the thermoflex plus. This time I think we'll be switching!

[Techman]

I too obtained a nice sample.
I would echo the above experience. However, I did not reset the temp between the two. I just ran it like always and did not notice any difference. I guess I got away with it.

Price is about the same as a local supplier. However, add on shipping and the eco is slightly more.
Its a Good product. I would like to try a bigger run and then compare the endurance over time.

[Mike_Koval]

Glad to hear the postive remarks for the SPECTRA Eco-Film. Just wanted to add that the Eco-Film is a one step application. There is no need for an additional press. It won't hurt it if you did one or if you didn't.

For doing a two color application, apply the base layer for 1 second, peel backing, then for the second layer you can press for 15 seconds. this will permanently seal both layers.

[KForceOH]

Not exactly sure what we use but we get everything from Imprintables haha. It is a stretchy material we print/cut then put a nice clear tape over it, 10 seconds@300 and done hot peel the tape. Thanks imprintables whatever we get haha. The only crappy thing is sharp corners always peel up when we weed. We just tape em up anyways then take an exacto and fix them before pressing.

[dirtdog]

thanks for the samples mike!i agree with everyone else.no problem weeding,suggested temps were perfect from the very first press.no teflon.the test of time,and shipping would be the only decisions i would have to make.if i was going to pick up supplies,the thermoflex would be cheaper.very nice product!