EasyWeed & LaserFlex Heat Transfer Redux

Beyond the Manual
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I ordered some LaserFlex awhile back to make a T-shirt for someone. I had an idea for another shirt but, an optimal color was not really available. Later, I learned about Siser EasyWeed, which is available in a lot more colors. With some of both on-hand, I tried both back-to-back. Both seem to be workable with minor differences. Ironically, the LaserFlex was easier to weed than the EasyWeed. That may have partially been due to where I settled with the settings.

Conveniently, I had an old heat press sitting around in a closet (doesn’t everyone?) to do the transfer.

HeatPress
HeatPress612Ă—816 103 KB

Siser EasyWeed:

Thickness: .004”
Score (film but not backing): 300 speed / 5 power
Cut (film and backing): 300 speed / 15 power
Engrave: 1000 speed / 15 power / 3 passes [1]

Application: 305Âş F, pre-warm shirt a few seconds, 10-15 seconds at medium pressure to transfer, peel hot or cold.

EasyWeedTransfer
EasyWeedTransfer1280Ă—415 95 KB

EvermoreAmbiShirt3
EvermoreAmbiShirt3924Ă—540 81.6 KB

LaserFlex:

Thickness: .008”
Score (film but not backing): 200 speed / 6 power
Cut (film and backing): 300 speed / 30 power
Engrave: 1000 speed / 30 power / 1 pass

Application: 350Âş F, pre-warm shirt a few seconds, 30 seconds at medium pressure to transfer, allow to cool, peel cold.

LaserFlexShirt
LaserFlexShirt786Ă—635 147 KB

In addition to vector cutting and weeding, I was able to engrave for finer details. That might be good for small text, for instance. Neither of the current designs called for that. So, I just have a not-very-photogenic test patch. I used the test to calibrate my heat transfer technique and, get a reminder lesson about hot vs. cold peel. So, the ghosting is entirely the product of that. The nice, crisp edge on the left side is what I would expect. Note the inclusion of the T-shirt cuff stitching for scale.

LFEngrave
LFEngrave707Ă—707 200 KB

[1] Siser EasyWeed settings from @cjbissonnette in this post: Siser Easyweed HTV Engrave Settings

27 Likes
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Great input! Thanks for sharing.

[edit] I will probably try those settings out tonight

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Thanks for sharing your experience. It turns out I don’t have an old heat press in my closet.

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I’m sure many will make use of your settings!

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This is great, thanks. To be clear, your engrave settings are “erasing” the material, leaving the backing… For no-weed production? That was the promise of LaserFlex and I’d be very happy if I could do it with EasyWeed, which I already have.

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Correct. My test patch there was with LaserFlex. Depending on the design, I would probably engrave an area around any detail out to a few millimeters and, weed the rest by hand. That is, I would prefer weeding by hand for any larger open area.

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I have learned that lesson failed to learn that lesson enough times. I now only buy hot-peel.

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Yes, good point. So we can nuke the material right around a shape, and peel away the rest… Looking forward to trying this! Very cool.

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Awesome tips! I bought a heat press set months ago and haven’t had time to play with settings! Thanks

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Holy heck… have you been in my house? :smiley: I have a heat press I’ve not used in years in my shop ! LOL

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