If I'm printing with a white plasticharge under base (for a brighter under base) how long should I flash dry it before moving onto the next color. I'm worried if I print wet on wet the colors won't be bright. I'm printing red and white on black. I bought discharge and plasticharge. Is there a difference? I read that you can add ink straight to the discharge base. If so, whats the point of plasticharge? The shirts I'm printing on are American Apparel's Classic Girl 100% Cotton. The shirt is very thin. So I was worried if I did a traditional plastisol under base the print would be to heavy. One last thing.... I remember seeing this process done at a shop I worked at and I remember there being a problem with the garments smelling after they came out of the dryer. I don't want the finished product to stink! Is there something I can do to watch out for this problem?
Usually when referring to discharge, you are referring to waterbased discharge. Plasticharge is a discharge base made to be mixed with plastisol inks. We use Matsui discharge base with pigments added for waterbased discharge printing, and Union Ink plasticharge if customers request plastisol discharge. If you cure the discharge long enough, there shouldn't be much of a smell to the actual garment.
If you cure the discharge long enough, there shouldn't be much of a smell to the actual garment.
So it sounds like I want to go with the plasticharge.
I was told to cure it at 320. Is this correct? I have a Little Buddy conveyor dryer and a temp gun. What about flashing the under base before putting the next colors down, how long? Also, if the color I am laying down on top of the plasticharged under base also has plasticharge mixed in it will there be any side effects (color change)?
using union plasticharge, i flash until it's dry to the touch. at that point it's just starting to discharge and will look blotchy, but it evens out once fully cured
i have a workhorse 5' that is similar to the little buddy. i have to run them through twice or do the art butt-registered, so i don't have to flash, i then have the flash over the end of the dryer. it's hokey but works for the small amount of discharge i do. doing that you will use inks mixed with plasticharge and zfs agent, instead of using an discharge underbase w/ plastisol on top.
btw. your username is so nasty i love it!! welcome to the forum!
We have flashed before, then printed plastisol on top of plasticharge/discharge base, and we have printed wet on wet softhand plastisol over discharge or plasticharge base. We have also printed wet on wet with the plasticharge base mixed with plastisol. We don't flash any longer than normal plastisol printing. For red and white on black shirts, I would just mix the plastisol into the plasticharge base and print it with 2 screens under a flash. When you print wet on wet, the colors are muted. This post is probably very confusing, but there are several different ways to print this.
I understood that. What I don't understand is why my emulsion started breaking down about 5 shirts into it. I'm using SAATIchem Grafic HU. And burning the screens for 12 min with 2 500wt halogen lamps about 12" below a 1/4" glass. Do I have to burn them longer or maybe use a different emulsion? I should have known it was easier said than done.
Thanks for the quick responses,
Jon "Roach" Brosius
Lord help me!
Yes, you need to use waterbased emulsion. Plasticharge is basically the same prepress setup as waterbased and discharge printing, but it is intended to be mixed with plastisol pigments instead of waterbased pigments.
The label says:
"All Purpose fast-exposing dual-cure photoemulsion w/ high resolution and wide exposure latitude. Highly resistant to water-based, solvent-based, & UV-cured inks."
While I was printing, some areas over printed. So I went about it like normal and sprayed some screen opener on a towel and wiped the area down, more than once. Could the combo of the plasticharge and screen opener have caused the screen to break down so quickly? If I can't get this plasticharge thing figured out. What would be my best option for printing on american apparel's classic girl. Those tee's are so thin! Would softhands work? I heard it causes the print to crack or not last as long. Is this true?
if i use white plasticharge for my underbase on a black shirt will i still need a highlight white for any parts of my image that are white. i think i saw somewhere were they used a white plasticharge on a black shirt but the white plasticharge print was more of an off white as compared to a regular plastisol white. i have been wanting to try a plasticharge underbase to try to keep more of a soft feel to my prints.
another question is how long can you leave plasticharge on a screen without it drying up in the mesh, 1min, 5min, 10min.
I also noticed that the print wasn't soft after coming out of the dryer. Is this normal? Does the print get softer after a wash? If so, should I wash and iron them before giving them to the customer?
I have found that the Matsui water based discharge white that I have been using is very sof after washing. It is kinda rough right out of the dryer but after washing it gets very soft.
I'm racking my brain here........
Could it be possible that my emulsion broke down because I mixed in to much of the powder? I think it's called ZFS. I read on the board that some one uses 8% ZFS. What I did is scooped some ink into one cup at about an inch full and poured the plasticharge gel into another cup up to the same line as the ink cup. Then I put about 2 or 3 spoons of the powder.
I'm also wondering whats the best on press clean up for this? Is it ok to use press wash or screen opener? Or should I just stick to water? I've already tried the screen opener, I don't think it went well.
it's not the zfs, it's the discharge base breaking down the screen. supposedly plasticharge is plastisol based, but i tend to think the base is water based and when mixed, it's like a hybrid ink (?). you need a scale to measure and get close, but it doesn't have to be exactly 8%.
i've used ulano qt-discharge and it works for about 100 prints (for me at least) i need to find a spray on hardner from somewhere, my vendor had never even heard of such a thing. I know unik uses it, maybe he'll chime in again.
screen opener makes a mess w/ this stuff, i use easiway 842 if it's mixed with plastisol, and just plain water for the plain unpigmented discharge. as long as the screen is holding up to having a waterbase type ink in it, water should not break it down when wiping.
the key is to not stop long enough to let it dry, a coarser mesh will stay open for longer, but a minute or two is about all i've ever got w/o having to wipe the bottom side out.
Printing with a discharge base 
Re: Printing with a discharge base 
Re: Printing with a discharge base 
