Regardless of what type of garment you’re embellishing, there’s a CAD-cuttable material well suited for the task—many of which are capable of effects screen printing can only envy.
The learning curve for working with CAD-cuttable materials is very gentle, as most of the technology is built into the cutters and materials. Fred’s fellow workers want to surprise him with a celebration for his promotion and let him know they support him as team players in his new supervisory role. One bright colleague suggests they buy team jerseys for the group, each of them imprinted with the employee name on the front and “Team Fred” on the back. The group consists of ten individuals including Fred, and the bright colleague is concerned that he may not be able to get the shirts in time for the surprise party—which is only three days away—without paying a premium for them. He telephones his local shirt printer and learns it can provide exactly what he wants, on time, without onerous rush charges. Fred’s bright friend wonders, “How can the printer produce this job so quickly, and for such a reasonable price?”

A profitable discovery

The answer is that his printer discovered a more cost-effective way than screen printing to print short runs in a hurry, and personalize shirts, caps, and accessories. His printer discovered plotter-cut heat transfers. He also found that he could create affects with plotter-cut materials that screen printing could not reproduce cost effectively, if at all. He could also digitally print some of the available plotter-cut materials with process-color images, enabling him to expand his business and increase profit margins with the reproduction of photographic images, multicolor logos and team names.

Screen printers, sign makers, embroiderers, trophy and awards dealers, sporting-goods stores, commercial printers, digital printers and designers are all finding they can greatly increase their profits through the adoption of plotter-cut heat-transfer graphics. Instead of turning away requests for short-run and customized garment printing, these businesses are meeting their customer needs, expanding their capabilities and increasing their profits. They are also providing new and exciting products they could not have provided before adopting the new technology. Customer demand for personalization and custom short-run print production has steadily increased as the public discovers that printers and decorators have this capability available to them.

Material types

Plotter-cut heat-transfer materials come in many types and colors, offering a broad range of special affects and functions. They include films for athletic names and numbers, flock, safety and decorative-reflective, metallic and textured foils, preprinted patterned and leather-like films, tackle-twillⁱ fabrics, appliqué effects, holographic, glitter and sparkle films. Plotter-cut materials are available in a range of thickness from very thin with minimal handⁱ to bulletproof thick. They are offered with low-temperature adhesives for application on temperature-sensitive surfaces such as nylon jackets, and higher temperature adhesive for decorating cottonⁱ and cotton-polyester T-shirts.

Generally, plotter-cut films consist of a paper or polyester carrier sheet. Most non-printable films and foils place the plotter-cut decorative material on the carrier with a thermo-weldable adhesive atop it. The user selects film to match his plotter’s material feed mechanism. Friction-feed devices do not require specially punched materials while tracker-feed plotters (and printers) require that the media fed through them have punch holes that match their tractor mechanism.

The greatest amount of plotter-cut heat-transfer films sold is the non-printable flexible type. Decorators use them for athletic names and numbers, company and team logos, and general decoration.  These materials vary in quality, consistency, and price. With high-quality films, polyurethane provides a soft hand, stretchability and durability. Less-expensive films are usually vinyl based, have a heavier hand and tend to crack over time and with washing.

Plotter-cut flock heat-transfer materials are growing in popularity in North America, particularly for accessory items. Flock enjoys greater popularity for athletic garment application in Europe, South Africa, and Asia. Novelty films include metallic foils, glitter, sparkle, holographic patterns. Safety and decorative-reflective, 3-D and printed patterns provide affects that screen printing cannot reproduce.

Basic methods

The operator positions the film on the plotter so the knife blade cuts through the adhesive and the film or foil to the carrier, which the blade lightly scores. Knife blades come with a number of blade angles (to the horizontal): a 45-degree blade will cut most transfer materials acceptably, but some thicker or more difficult to cut materials, such as retro-reflective films require 60-degree blades. One should always plot a test cut after loading a roll of material on the plotter.

Over the useful life of a blade, operators will find that they have to increase blade pressure as the plotter blade loses its sharpness. Blades are generally costly, but operators can typically sharpen an undamaged blade once before discarding it.

The designer must set the contour line’s orientation to direct the plotter to cut as a mirror image instead of a right-reading one since it is outline-cut through the bottom of the image. After removing the unwanted material from the carrier sheet (called weeding), the decorator can then transfer the image.

After placing the garment—or other material prone to absorb moisture—on the heat press, pressing the item for one or two seconds can help eliminate excess moisture that could interfere with the transfer’s adhesion. Place the transfer with the carrier sheet on top and the adhesive layer in contact with the item to be imprinted. The carrier sheet will serve as a protective layer between the heat source and the surface receiving the transfer.

When you combine plotter-printable material with the technology of a cutter-printer, there’s no end to the creativity you can provide your customers.
But don’t stop with garments. Plotter-cut transfer materials are available for a wide array of other substrates, all of which are logical add-ons to a promotional-apparel program.

A clear polyester carrier works better for image positioning than a paper carrier. Once targeted, some operators will use alignment tape to prevent the transfer from moving. Positioning a Teflon or craft-paper sheet over the transfer can also help to hold the transfer in place.

Different transfer materials will require different temperature, pressure and dwell settings. Following transfer-material supplier directions is critical for repeatable success. Some plotter-cut transfer films do not employ a heat-activated adhesive with which to attach to substrates. A few will use the thermoplastic nature of the film itself to weld to fabrics. This type of bond often lacks the durability that heat-activated adhesives provide. These products generally cost less but should not be expected to last as long as products with heat-activate adhesive.

Matching media, ink and printer

Most printable films have an adhesive layer immediately atop the carrier and the printable film atop that. Images printed on them and their contour-cut lines are right reading. The operator must choose the type of film recommended for his type of printer. As with non-printable films, tracker feed printers and plotters will require media that is punched to match the device.

Suppliers provide films for solvent and eco-solvent inkjets, aqueous-based inkjets, and thermal transfer printers. A true solvent printer produces images with the greatest durability, highest gloss, and broadest color gamut. Aqueous inkjet prints require a surface coating on the transfer material that encapsulates the image and protects it from the rigors of machine washing.

The best of the current transfer materials for aqueous inkjet printing pales in comparison to other inkjet and thermal transfer output. After selecting the media to match the printer type, users will have to choose a color profile to match media, ink and printer. Some suppliers offer color profiles that match their medias to the various printer types and brand combinations. A match profile will often spell the difference between a successful print and one with too little or too much ink. Designers and operators should double-check to insure that cut lines surround the print images before starting the printing process.

Some clear printable materials place the film immediately over the carrier sheet with a clear adhesive atop it onto which one prints. In this way, the clear film protects the print from abrasion and exposure to wear. Images printed on these materials and their contour-cut lines are mirror images.

About plotter-cutters

Roland’s VersaCamm and Soljet III integrated eco-solvent inkjet print-and-knife-cut perform both functions on the same device. Mimaki offers in-line solvent or eco-solvent printing and knife plotting with two devices that are linked together. It also offers a broad line of flatbed and roll-to-roll plotters. Its plotters use an optical laser registration system to match prints with contour cutting. Mutoh also offers inkjet-solvent, eco-solvent and bio-solvent printers, along with its Ultima plotter-cutting system with optical laser registration detection. Ioline offers two flatbed systems, one for cutting twill, appliqué and plotter-cut transfer materials and a system for cutting both twill and heavier-weightⁱ materials such as leather and soft PVC. It also offers a roll-to-roll 24-inch-wide plotter with optical registration locator. Other plotter manufacturers that can cut plotter-cut materials include Graphtec, MGE’s I-cut on Konigsberg flatbed plotters, and Zund with its flatbed cutting systems.

In addition to inkjet, Gerber’s Edge, Matan’s Spark and Spring3 with in-line dye cutting, Summa’s DC series, and GCC’s Nautilus line of thermal-transfer printers offer print-and-cut solutions for plotter cut transfer materials. While thermal transfer offers excellent resistance to UV-fading, it lacks the long-term durability of true solvent-inkjet printing.

Plotter-cut heat-transfer films enable cost-effective decoration of short print runs, and personalization of garments and other items. They open a world of attention-grabbing dazzle, sparkle and color that analogue printers can only envy. They add affects to the designer’s tool kit that will excite and enliven any fashion statement. Plotter-cut printable transfer films opened the world of process color, permitting effective digital printing of both dark- and light-colored garments and accessories. The washfastness of solvent-printed heat-transfer films surpasses that of direct screen printed T-shirt decoration. Plotter-cut films offer an effective way to satisfy customers with durability, digital images, opacity to cover darks and even the flexibility to stretch with elastic fabrics.