[shirtman69]

Hey guys im having some problems printing permaset super cover inks colour white on black and red shirts. I realised after reading some info here that I need to do a print pulling once or twice flash cure the ink and then print again well I think thats what you need to do from what I gather? I only print by pulling down about x3 as I was getting good results with just the normal inks. I will try the print flash print process later today. Another issue is I print on another shirt and it doesn’t come out good and just by looking at it this is because the inks seems to be drying into the screen. It was a 94 degree (34c) day and im in a 10 by 10 foot (3meter sqaure) tin shed and with the flasher and conveyor dryer im sure it will be hotter. Does anyone have any tips to prevent the super cover inks drying in the screens? Im using a 110t mesh screen. After printing if I flood the image would that prevent the inks drying in the screen?

 

[NoXid]

Supercover, especially the white, has a really high pigment load. It dries in the screen faster than most inks, as it is already so thick.

On their site they suggest misting the screen/emulsion with water and letting it sit for 10 minutes, then wiping out any obvious moisture before printing. Do the first print on a scrap shirt or paper or some such, as it will probably be a little blurry as you force out any remaining excess water. The point of this is to let the micro pores in the mesh/emulsion absorb a bit of water so they won't suck that bit of water out of the ink.

You can thin it a bit with glycerin, which is the main component in their retarder. I believe 3% is the most they advise using. Some people simply add a bit of water. They advise having a spray bottle of water on hand to mist the ink, if needed.

Yes, keep the screen flooded at all times. And be ORGANIZED. Have all your blanks and tools etc laid out and ready to go before opening the ink. Work reasonably quickly.

Keep the screen away from the heat of the flash, if at all possible. You aren't trying to cure the ink when print/flash/printing, just drying the surface so the next layer will sit on top of the previous one instead of soaking into the shirt.

Once a shirt is printed, get it off and the next one on. Don't mess about curing the thing until your are done printing (unless you can just toss it on a conveyor dryer and get right back to printing). You can't let much time pass without making a print stroke, or you will start to block up. You can try a hard print or two on some scrap to clear the screen. If it is really blocking up, you can wipe out the mesh area with some Windex or screen cleaner on a rag, then print on some scrap to make sure all of that is gone before resuming work.

Porkchopharry prints in LA under pretty hot conditions. He tries to get an early start, before it gets too hot.

 

[porkchopharry]

Pretty much what Noxid said:

Yes, if you want a bright, bold print, you will want to flash it, then hit it again.

Really, the only way to keep it from clogging once it hits 90 degrees farenheit is to keep working. Like ZERO breaks. You have to keep the ink moving and the stencil loaded. And you need to print AGGRESSIVELY. Meaning you need to hit it hard to keep clogs cleared.

A little off contact with the high opacity WB inks goes a long way too. I use a bit of off contact with any WB ink. If you are printing correctly, the screen will snap off the garment, much like plastisol (especially with high opacity WB inks) and help keep the mesh clearer.

If you DO get a clog, you can stop and spray the screen with some water, or glass cleaner and rub both sides of the screen. Make sure to wipe the shirt side of the screen off of any smudges and make sure to test on a scrap before resuming production.

Biggest thing is not panicking. If you get a clog that you can't clear by a hard stroke, stay calm, handle it, move on. If you freak out, everything spirals out of control. Something that you need to train yourself to do, especially if you're used to printing with plastisol.

Tips to avoid clogs? Well, I have a thermometer in the shop and I don't really need to look at it when the temps in the shop hit 90. I can tell instantly by how the ink is behaving and it starts to "gel up" a bit. If I only have a couple more tees or hoodies to do, I'll keep going. If I have loads more to do, then I'll just shut down for the day. Because, being stubborn only ruins tees and hoodies! Point being: Try to get an earlier start and get done before it hits 90 degrees.

Plan your day accordingly. If you are printing a number of different screens, start the day with the ones that might clog the easiest - halftones, higher mesh, certain ink colors like white and/or yellow.

Plan out your mesh counts. While I prefer using 180's on most everything, sometimes it makes more sense to use say...a 158 on something that has tight and curly fonts (for example) and avoid permanent clogs.

Yes, you can get permanent clogs. Or clogs that "build up" over time. Or rather, clogs that can be so cloggy that you need to blast them out with a power washer ON. So with that said...

Make sure if you are using the screen over and over again, that you are using a stencil hardener. As stencil failure when/if it happens, WILL happen in the washout booth. EVEN with "water based safe emulsion". EVEN with stencil hardeners if the screen sees hundreds of prints and wash outs.

Always good to have a back up screen ready. Or at least some screens that can be coated and dried quickly.

 

[Rick4001]

When we are flashing a lot, we like to use a humidifier in the shop. And when it's really bad, we use two people, one printing and the other loading and taking off.

 

[shirtman69]

Thanks for the info guys this worked well

 

[Gettingitdone]

I have been using Supercover for a long time and always used 160 mesh with no blocking problems. I keep my shop at 70 degrees with a dehumidifier running constantly and I just roll right along. Just in case I do keep a spray bottle of distilled water by the press but only on a run for about 200 shirts I might spray a couple of times. My emulsion I use is Chromaline PC 787 which they call a economy emulsion but it doesn't matter which ink I'm using Plastisol, solvent ink for Coroplast signs or Water Based I get no screen failures and never any pinholes. My take on this is if you feel uncomfortable in hot humid weather then until you control your shop environment your always going to be chasing and not producing. Since using Permaset inks I very seldom use Plastisol anymore, my customers just love the soft hand that Permaset provides and my business has grown tenfold.