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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Prince Art on September 13, 2016, 02:41:08 PM

Title: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Prince Art on September 13, 2016, 02:41:08 PM
You know what I'm talking about: long sleeves, plus sizes, odd placement that has most of the shirt dangling. How do you keep these from dragging the ground as you print?

It's all well & good to just baby a few 4XLs on a run - but what do you do when the whole run, or a large part of it, could drag the floor?

I know Frog mentioned something about this in a past thread, but I can't find it. If Our Illustrious Administrator would care to share again, I'm all ears. And curious to know how others deal with this, too.

Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Screen Dan on September 13, 2016, 02:49:24 PM
We used to line the path with clean cardboard.  That did the trick every time.  We usually have plenty of extra shirt boxes.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Homer on September 13, 2016, 02:50:00 PM
we put some cut up boxes on the floor. OR sling the arms of long sleeves over the platen arm. depends on how many we have to run.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Frog on September 13, 2016, 02:57:25 PM
I have a cut-off short sleeve on each arm, past the board, in which I tuck the offending fabric.

Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Doug B on September 13, 2016, 02:57:58 PM
  Cardboard here also.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: mk162 on September 13, 2016, 03:05:51 PM
We actually put the press on hydraulics to lift it up high enough to not drag.

Just kidding, we use cardboard.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: inkman996 on September 13, 2016, 03:15:58 PM
we simply flip the hanging part (sleeve,leg,huge shirt) over the pallet arm right behind the palette. This works perfectly for our press but I don't know if it would work for others.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: dirkdiggler on September 13, 2016, 03:17:34 PM
cardboard here.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Shanarchy on September 13, 2016, 03:28:38 PM
We have an S Roque and tuck them into the holes on the pallet arms.

Before that we would use cardboard and/or a short sleeve shirt sleeve to tuck the bottoms in as Frog showed.

(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/Twinc/100_0072_zpscf2fd039.jpg)
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: jvanick on September 13, 2016, 04:40:26 PM
Rolls of Kraft paper work very well too.  Cut off pieces for around the press.  Plus you can use it for keeping the ink and glue off the floor.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Prince Art on September 13, 2016, 04:58:12 PM
Awesome, thanks for all the replies. And thanks for the visual, Frog! And Shanarchy, too!

I've got a job coming up printing on hoodie pockets. In my config, that means almost the entire thing is dumped upside down - body, hood, then sleeves. That's just more of the garment than I wanted to drag around, even on a relatively clean surface. I was wondering about something to help hold some of the weight, too. So the "tuck it up" examples are along the lines I was thinking. Any other brilliant ideas, happy to hear them.

We actually put the press on hydraulics to lift it up high enough to not drag.

Just kidding, we use cardboard.

What, you mean that's not an option on the high end presses?  ;D
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Shanarchy on September 13, 2016, 05:02:38 PM
I would probably just do the shirt sleeve idea but make a bigger loop with material, rope, etc to hold it up. Then probably put cardboard down for "just in case".
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: 3Deep on September 13, 2016, 07:29:43 PM
I just tuck the long sleeve inside of the neck of the shirt, guess I'm the only one here that does that :-[
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Prince Art on September 14, 2016, 09:14:53 AM
I just tuck the long sleeve inside of the neck of the shirt, guess I'm the only one here that does that :-[

That's actually a good idea for long sleeves - I'm surprised I've never heard of it/thought of it. Seems kind of obvious, now that you say it. Won't help with my hoodie job (or plus sizes), but I'll keep that tip in mind for the future. Thanks! :)
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: alan802 on September 14, 2016, 10:34:49 AM
We used to do the cardboard thing, but for years we've been loading sleeve prints through the neck and they don't hang down far enough to touch the ground.
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: ScreenFoo on September 14, 2016, 12:56:45 PM
I guess I'm the odd man out--I just clean the floor if I think garments will hit it.

Could see where tucking would be worth it on hoodie pockets like that though.

Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Frog on September 14, 2016, 01:03:37 PM
I guess I'm the odd man out--I just clean the floor if I think garments will hit it.

Could see where tucking would be worth it on hoodie pockets like that though.

Floor appearing clean or not, I'd be nervous dragging a few hundred white sleeve cuffs over 30 feet or so.
Then again, I've never seen really really clean floors in my shops. Heck, folks walk on them!
Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: ScreenFoo on September 14, 2016, 02:24:17 PM
I should have made the disclaimer "For those who still have a cleanable floor".  :)

Title: Re: How do you keep shirts from dragging the ground?
Post by: Prince Art on September 23, 2016, 05:29:14 PM
In addition to hoodies, we had to keep a few of Canvas' new "long body" tees from dragging, so I tried a variation on Frog's idea. I just cut around the bottom hem of a few scrap shirts, and put that band around the press arm. Easy to grab 3 dangling shirts at a time & tuck them up there.