Discuss the different plastisol screen printing inks and curing methods on the market. Share tips on getting the best results with the different ink manufacturers.
My boss seems to favor only plastisol inks, because they are cheaper im guessin. I just hate how everything seems to come out looking so shiny, and cheap lookin.(especially on dark shirts) usually when printing darks colors on black or navy shirts, i have to put a undercoat of white then the other colors on. why are these inks so thick and shiny when you do a 4 or 5 color shirt. i dont like the quality of my work i am sending out. i need to know other options, so i can make a defending argument.
Plastisol is the most common and easy to use ink in the industry. This is the staple ink product for nearly every garment printer. If your prints are too shiny, it's likely because you are laying down too much ink. A higher mesh count in your screens will help with this issue.
A multicolor print can have a very soft hand by simply using the proper mesh. As an example, when printing a six color simulated process job, your white underbase and your highlight white will be printed through a 230 mesh. Your colors will be printed through 305. The result is a bright but very thin ink film.
Higher mesh count will make a huge difference for you.
Terry is correct, and we can look at it in this simplified way:
If you've ever "primed" a car for a trick finish, or painted un-finished wood furniture,
the idea is to seal it somewhat smoothly for an additional paint layer(s).
We don't need to go overboard on filling the rough texture, we just need to cap the raw surface so that the next layer is more managable.
Too thick and everything will gloss over, with rolling, uneven surface.
Likewise, your print "underlay" should just seal the garment, so that the color inks capping it can be minimum thickness for flexibility and still remain bright.
As Terry indicated, White is then another color like the other capping colors, and goes ontop of the underlay, just like them.
If you're doing spot color prints are are currently in the 110-125 mesh range,
try using a 160mesh as your base white and all other colors (including white) print through 180-230 mesh.
It often results in a "satin" ink finish that tends to be the standard for much of the plastisol ink world.
One question I have.....
Are many of your shirts 100% cotton, and has your boss ever said anything about his opinion of dye-discharge base layers on dark color shirts?
If i am to use a higher mess count for printing white ink on a black shirt, it does not look as bright or solid. then i have to flash and hit white again. how do you print white on a dark t-shirt in a higher mesh. We currently use 80 mesh for white on darks. it usually consumes alot of ink on big jobs.
80 mesh is going to lay down way to much ink. Looks like you're trying to avoid flashing, but print/flash/print is the nature of the beast in printing white ink on dark shirts.
Tom's mesh specs above are dead on. A good, smooth, thin underbase print, flash for about 10-15 seconds till the ink is dry to the touch, and then another pass of white. The result will be night and day difference in what you're getting right now. I haven't seen what you're getting now... but I guarantee, night and day difference.
For multi-color, a white underbase, flash, and then all your colors wet-on-wet. If you have white in the design, you need to print white, flash, all your colors wet-on-west, and then a highlight white as your last screen. Using the white underbase as the white in your final image means an underbase that is too heavy.
Seems like more work, but the result separates you from the next printer down the street.
One other thing that will help in addition to using higher mesh counts. The ink cures as soon as it hits about 320 degrees in the dryer. Heavy ink deposits will take longer to get the whole layer cured than thin deposits. Higher temperatures will also make plastisol look like a high-gloss enamel. The trick is to run your dryer so the ink hits a temperature of just over 320 or so and is in there long enough for the ink layer to reach the temperature. Put another way, it's better to run the dryer slower and keep the temperature as low as possible to fully cure the ink rather than run it so hot that it melts it resulting in that high-gloss finish. You do have to be very careful to make sure the ink does get cured, though, by monitoring temperature, checking ink surface with a temp gun, doing a stretch test, and ultimately a wash test with a sample. Once you get things set up for a consistant cure, you can pretty much go with periodic temp gun and stretch testing throughout the print run.
plastisol ink so shinny 
Re: plastisol ink so shinny 
Re: plastisol ink so shinny 
