Screen printing on hats can be a little tough because most of screen printing happens on a flat even surface. To make it easier on yourself, try printing on a trucker hat. The trucker hats give you more flexibility. Check out these steps and video to help you get started printing on hats.
Ink
Because the fabric on trucker hats is soft and absorbent, we recommend using water based ink. In this video, Ryan used two colors from our Green Galaxy line.
Warp drive
Another thing to remember is, it isn’t the best idea to put the hats through a conveyor dryer. So you will want to use a flash dryer. To help add Warp drive to your ink so it can cure at a lower temperature. Make sure to watch your temperature carefully when flashing. You want to keep it about 250˚.
The platen
In this video, we used a Hatchet platen from Livingston System. You tuck the bill of the hat under the hook at the front and fold the rest of the hat down and clamp in place.
Check out the video and Ryan can show you step-by-step how to print on hats.