Cutting flock material with a vinyl cutter is easy – just something to differentiate yourself from standard heat applied vinyl flex material.
If you own a vinyl cutter listen up. There is a material out there called flock that you can benefit from and that can possibly differentiate you from competitors on certain types of jobs.
Let’s start with the basics on how to get your cutter ready to cut flock - whether you own a Roland GX-24, a Mimaki CG60, a US Cutter, a Summa or a Graphtec you should be familiar with at least 2 different angles of blades – a lower degree and a higher degree. With the Roland GX-24 – the cutter I’m most familiar with and sell, you have the 45 degree and a 60 degree. With the Mimaki a 37 degree or a 54 degree and likewise for the remaining brands.
Odds are you’ve always just used the lower degree blade – in my case the 45 degree for cutting anything and everything. Glitter vinyl, reflective vinyl, foil vinyl, standard vinyl, flock and twill – just load it and cut it – right???
Well – maybe not…..
There are two angles of blades for a reason – and flock is one of those reasons.
So to start, when cutting flock, switch your blade out to a higher angle blade. If you are using the GX-24 use the 60 degree blade.
When you make this switch there are a couple other changes….
- When the blade angle changes, so should the offset. Check with your cutter manufacturer or dealer regarding the proper offset for each blade – for the 60 degree on the Roland – change the offset to .40 (for reference, the default for the 45 degree is .25 offset). Changing the offset should be fairly simple, just like speed and downforce – consult your cutter manual for details.
- Now the last of the technical details is to increase the downforce. Make test cuts to find your exact downforce needed to get through the flock material.
Now for the fun stuff – how can you use flock, how can it benefit your business, isn’t it expensive?
Using Flock Heat Press Material: Flock is used just like any other heat applied vinyl, you just load the material, adhesive side up – cut it in a mirror image, weed away the excess and flip it over and heat press it. That’s it.
Now – How can Heat Applied Flock benefit your business? Flock can benefit you much in the same ways as vinyl – except at a higher perceived value. Flock, like any other cut product, is ideal for low to mid volume runs and personalization. Lots of people are using flock and here’s how:
- Indoor sports lettering – doesn’t grip the floor when diving, sliding etc.
- Customized T-Shirts – just a cool look on a shirt
- Customized fleece – whether a hooded sweatshirt or even a pair of warm up sweatpants, flock is an unrivaled look on fleece – a nice price point between applique and vinyl
- Polo Shirts – flock is a nice left chest embroidery alternative – offers a lower price point to your customer that doesn’t want to afford embroidery in todays economy
- As a way to add impact, applied as lettering over direct to garment prints or screen printing
So now that you have some ideas on how to use flock – Isn’t it expensive?
Well not really, it is more expensive than standard heat transfer vinyl, but not that much more. The flock material that I sell is called Fashion Flock and goes for $50 for a 5 yard x 15″ wide roll.
When you consider putting a 3 x 13″ name on the front of a t-shirt or hoodie, your cost breaks down to about $0.85 including material and waste - that’s cost of materials. Add in the 5 minutes of labor at $20 per/hour (estimate) and your overhead percentage at 20% (estimate) and you get a final cost of about $2.75 + your garment. Not too bad for a customized design that can bridge the gap for your customer between more expensive decorating options and less expensive heat transfer processes.
Fashion Flock Close Up & Swatch Colors
Hopefully this serves as Flock 101 for you. To get started with Flock 102, you have to buy a roll.
Oh – did I mention I sell Flock material:)
Here are the colors available:
White, Black, Gray, Dark Gray, Beige, Cutrus Yellow, Orange, Light Red, Dark Red, Magenta, Pink, Lavender, Burgundy, Brilliant Blue, Royal Blue, Navy, Purple, Liquid Green, Turquoise, Light Green, Green, Army Green, Brown, Light Blue
We also have a limited number of color swatches available – pictured in the photo above. Be sure to request one with your order to help you sell and show off this material to your customer.
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment below and remember to subscribe by email for updates.
Also – to order a roll of flock email me at josh@imprintables.com or call 1-800-347-0068 x.236.
