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How Environmental Conditions Can Affect Heat Transfer Printing

How Environmental Conditions Can Affect Heat Transfer Printing

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Tags: heat-transfer supplies printer blog-2 toner-heat-transfer paper environment

by Chris West on October 12, 2021

JPP Heat Transfer Printers, Products & Paper

Toner Heat transfer printing is becoming a widely popular printing technology solution for many personalization and decorating businesses, hobbyists, and “DIYers”. Similar to other printing technologies such as sublimation, toner heat transfer printing creates the ability to put full-color images onto many types of hard and soft products, materials and substrates. In addition, toner heat transfer printing features low equipment maintenance, printing and transferring white, transferring to uncoated substrates and garments, printing on specialty papers and card stock, and more.

Customers who are new to a printing technology may experience a slight learning curve for their chosen technology, and toner heat transfer printing is no different. There can be challenges when creating those first few transfers, but don’t get discouraged. Many of the most common issues can be caused by the environment of the room where the printer is and where the transfers are made. Static electricity and humidity can impact the quality of prints and the functionality of the transfers in toner heat transfer printing.

Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to help mitigate the impact static and humidity can have on the toner heat transfer printing process. Understanding how they affect toner heat transfer printers and transfers can help you get the most out of your toner heat transfer equipment and supplies.

The shocking truth about static

Static electricity is one of the most common issues that arises in the toner heat transfer printing process. Dry environmental conditions are the leading cause of static electricity buildup, and are most often seen when using Two-Step transfer papers for garments and fabrics. The vast majority of these papers are made of a plastic cellophane sheet with a toner-receptive coating on one side. When the humidity of the surrounding environment is too low, static issues will occur. Some of the most common issues caused by static within toner heat transfer printing include:

Ghosting of the printed image on the page

Pieces of the image repeating across the page

Toner smearing on the page

Toner pick-off or failure of toner to fuse to the page

Paper jamming in printer

There are a few simple ways you can help reduce the effects of static electricity on your toner heat transfer printing process. Some of those are:

Testing for static on the transfer sheets. You can do this by holding two sheets of transfer paper vertically and slowly bring them together. If the two sheets will try to attract and stick to each other, then there is static buildup on the sheets.

To help dissipate static build up on your transfer sheets, remove them from their package and separate the individual sheets from each other. Hold each sheet vertically upright by the top of the sheet and gently shake/fan the sheet several times. For best results, gently shake/fan holding each edge of the sheet (four times total) before loading the paper into the printer.

Lightly and gently rub the surface of the transfer sheet with a cotton ball before loading into the printer to help dissipate static buildup.

Before running a multi-page print production run, remove several sheets of the transfer paper from the box and separate the pages. Lay the individual pages on a tabletop separately from each other and allow them to sit for two minutes.

Load only six to ten sheets of transfer paper at a time in the printer tray instead of an entire stack of transfer paper. In cases of severe static, loading only one to three sheets at a time may be necessary.

Avoid sliding the transfer sheets across each other, especially from a thick stack of sheets.

If static issues are present on the printed sheets, but not obvious on the blank sheets when loading into the printer, print a few sheets of normal copy paper to help clean off and dissipate internal static from the printer rollers and transfer belt. Then continue to print on the transfer sheets.

The highs and lows of humidity

Another common environmental condition that can cause toner heat transfer printing issues is high or low humidity. For most printer models, the optimal operating humidity range is usually between 40-60% relative humidity. Some printer models may have humidity sensors built in to measure the current humidity level and automatically adjust the internal printer parameters to compensate for the current conditions. However, automatic printer adjustments might not be enough to compensate for wide variations in humidity levels.

If your printer comes with automatic humidity adjustments, the measured humidity levels should be available either from the printer menu, control panel, or displayed within the print configuration page.

There are some simple steps you can take to manage humidity levels in the room where you print and transfer. These steps can make a big impact on the success of your project and include:

Keeping the printer away from open doors or windows.

Placing the printer in an internal room of a building. Interior rooms allow climate control, such as air conditioning and heating, to be more consistent than rooms with exterior walls.

Keeping the printer away from direct air currents, such as heating or air conditioning vents or duct work.

Placing a hygrometer or humidity-reading meter near the printer to help monitor the environment around the printer. A meter that also tracks high and low humidity readings can also help determine the best time of day for optimal printer performance as well as determine if high fluctuations of humidity are affecting both the printer and transfer paper. In such cases, more extensive measures may need to be considered to help control the environment of the room in order to resolve any potential humidity issues.

When first placing the printer in the operating environment, allow at least 24 hours for the printer to acclimate to the new environment before use.

Allowing new toners and transfer papers to acclimate to the operating environment before use for at least 24 hours is preferrable.

Always store unused toners in the sealed plastic bag in the original box they came in when not in use.

In environments of continuous high humidity, consider adding a dehumidifier to help keep the room within the optimal humidity range for the printer and papers.

In environments of continuous low humidity, consider adding a humidifier to help keep the room within the optimal humidity range for the printer and papers.

Setting yourself up for success

As the seasons change and temperatures and humidity level fluctuate, it’s important to consider taking a few basic steps to control the environment where you’re doing your toner heat transfer printing and transfers. These steps will help avoid frustration and disappointing transfer results and make sure you’re delivering the best possible products to your customers. As always, our team of toner heat transfer experts are here to help as well. Give us a call at 800-869-7800 and ask to speak to one of our Advanced Support Team members for additional equipment support and troubleshooting help.

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