Impressions - January/February 2025 - 37

By way of example, pretty much every
U.S.-based heat-press manufacturer these
days includes one or more pneumatically
operated presses in its product line; this in
addition to the many manual presses out
there equipped with " pop up " features
that allow them to open up automatically
after a set time, freeing
an operator to step away if
necessary during the actual
pressing process.
ROQ's recently introduced fully
automated IMPRESS system
takes high-volume heat-press
decoration to a whole new level.
Photo courtesy of ROQ.US
Also available are fully
automated shuttle-style
presses that include a
pair of separate platens
allowing operators to reAlso
available are fully
allowing operators to remove
and then re-thread a new
shirt onto one of the platens while
the other is engaged in pressing. Examples
of the latter include the Geo Knight &
Co., Inc. DK20SPT Digital Knight TWIN
Air-Op Swing-Away Press; Insta Graphic
Systems' Dual Shuttle Heat Press; and
the STAHLS' Hotronix Dual Air Fusion
IQ. Th e latter, in addition to foot-operated
pneumatic operation and its twin platens
includes the option of the newly introduced
ProPlace IQ system, a positioning technology
that projects a facsimile of the design
move and then re-thread a new
shirt onto one of the platens while
the other is engaged in pressing. Examples
of the latter include the Geo Knight &
Co., Inc. DK20SPT Digital Knight TWIN
Air-Op Swing-Away Press; Insta Graphic
Systems' Dual Shuttle Heat Press; and
the STAHLS' Hotronix Dual Air Fusion
IQ. Th e latter, in addition to foot-operated
pneumatic operation and its twin platens
includes the option of the newly introduced
ProPlace IQ system, a positioning technology
that projects a facsimile of the design
being pressed directly onto a blank garment
as it is being threaded onto the platen, in
STAHLS' words, " ensuring quick and precise
alignment every time. "
" In the printing industry, decorators know
how hard it can be to fi nd experienced labor.
Print placement is one of the things
learned over time and can be one of the
most time-consuming aspects of the heat
printing process. Th e Hotronix ProPlace IQ
solves this problem with accurate projection
to reduce misprints and speed up production
for any decorator, " said STAHLS'
Conner. " Th e ProPlace IQ allows employees
or decorators of any experience level to be
able to simply load the garment correctly,
then place the logo to the light for perfect
placement, every time. "
Equally exciting are the advances being
made by ROQ and its distributor ROQ US.
Long known for its top-of-the-line automated
screen-printing systems, the company
recently debuted a system it calls the ROQ
IMPRESS, a fully automated, multi-station
DTF heat press, complete with laser guides
to help with transfer placement.
Complementing the IMPRESS are the
brand-new ROQ FEED, which automatically
places each transfer and the ROQ PEEL,
which as the name suggests, automatically
removes each print's transfer paper when
the pressing it done. With these three systems
in place, all that's left to do manually
is thread the blank garments onto a platen
at one end and then remove the fully decorated
garments from the other-a process
that looks awfully similar to a fully automated
screen-printing operation.
" If you factor in all the costs, time, risk
and space required to run a screen printing
shop, training printers, prep an order, ensure
everything is perfect to reduce errors while
printing, break down the screens, clean up,
and assign job to the correct printer who can
handle it and compare it to the simplicity of
DTF pressing, you'll quickly realize it's so
easy, your 'professional' 10-year-old nephew
can do it, " Ninja Transfers' Nemeroff said,
putting the amount of time involved in DTF
decorating in perspective.
" With innovations to the process, like Easy
Peel Technology allowing you to peel hot,
dual-platen heat presses or simply having
more heat presses, you can handle any size
order, " Nemeroff added. " Typically, customers
are doing one-piece orders to 100-piece
orders on the regular, but this has been increasing
ever since DTF came out and will
continue to rise in average quantity over
time as everyone becomes more experienced
with pressing DTF effi ciently. "
ColDesi's Vila agreed, emphasizing, the
fact that it's much easier to train someone
to operate a digital printer than it is the
many steps involved in screen printing. " Th e
amount of square footage needed to operate
a high-color automatic screen press
is [also] signifi cantly larger. As real estate
prices increase, the cost per square foot of
business operation becomes more important, "
he added.
Bottom line: for those decorators convinced
DTF only make sense for fulfi lling
smaller orders, think again. Plenty of companies
are already pushing the envelope in
terms of big numbers, and you may want
to consider doing so as well. Per M&R's
Biberstine, " Whether they are testing the
waters or diving in headfi rst, its undeniable
that our industry is adopting DTF as a core
competency. You get to decide if you want
to be part of it or just watch it happen. " 
Ed Note: Next up in Impressions' March 2025
issue, DTF special eff ects and outsourcing DTF
printing versus bringing the work inhouse.
Resources
613 Originals - 613originals.com
ColDesi - coldesi.com
Geo Knight & Co., Inc. - heatpress.com
Insta Graphic Systems - instagraph.com
M&R - mrprint.com
Ninja Transfers - ninjatransfers.com
ROQ.US - roq.us
STAHLS' Hotronix - hotronix.com
STAHLS' Transfer Express -
transferexpress.com
Jan./Feb. 2025
P.37
http://www.ROQ.US http://www.613originals.com http://www.coldesi.com http://www.heatpress.com http://www.instagraph.com http://www.mrprint.com http://www.ninjatransfers.com http://www.ROQ.US http://www.roq.us http://www.hotronix.com http://www.transferexpress.com
Impressions - January/February 2025

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