I just purchased a heat gun to cure my shirts that were printed with plastisol ink. I am getting an oily residue around the image from the heat ( I think). I've used household stoves and irons to set my designs. But I am having mixed results. Some inks are plastisol and others are water-based.
Is there a procedure to ensure that our images are set correctly onto the fabric? I want to ensure that the clients have high quality shirts that will last a long time.
Using a heat gun on plastisol is hit or miss. It is very difficult to determine if you are getting the entire print hot enough to cure since the gun is moving around the image constantly.
Do your stretch test on different areas of the design when you think you are done. If the ink cracks, it means it is not cured.
The oil issue is new to me. It sounds like it might be your ink rather than your heat gun. Try stirring the ink before use. How old is the ink?
Lol...I am an artist, and I've been meaning to get into screen printing for a WHILE now....I would guess my buddies and I bought it in like 1996 or 97'...Yeah. I stirred it, but probably should have got the attachment for a drill, as opposed to doing what I could by hand. It was THICK bro, first run was tough, and went on cakey....but the fact that I'm a newby contributed....the next run was mint. I threw some shirts in the wash to see if it eliminates the oily stain. Waiting on results. The oily residue only happened with the heat gun, not the iron or stove. NEVER doing the stove again...I was high for days.
I've been doing better with the curing. The plastisol prints are showing me something, changing in texture after I hit em' with the heat gun...and they are stretching, not cracking. Playing with the household iron too, and the water based prints temporarily change color (then go back). The water based inks seem to stay hard, but also do not crack.
I use a stove to cure Plastisol but I've never had a problem with fumes. There's a SLIGHT smell but not a bad one. I've never had an oily residue when using a heat gun on Plastisol, either. What brand do you use? As for curing the entire shirt with a heat gun, even with a laser thermometer I think it's too risky. I did it on a few shirts and one got sent back because I had missed a spot and it started to wash out.
Heatgun on Plastisol ink 
