[supersweettees]

I just finished my first batch of shirts in my own home studio shop, but since I can't afford a flash dryer or conveyor yet, I used my trusty new heat gun. This was a pain in the ***, but the way I made it work was by curing the outside of the ink and then stuck them in the clothes dryer on max heat to gel the inside of the ink all the way. This works great in a pinch but I swear I will go crazy going flood-pull-lift-dry-dry-dry-dry-dry-dry-whenwillitend... And I have a hundred-piece job coming in that might kill me if I do it this way.

I guess what I'm asking is, what's the next inexpensive step towards better curing? Any leads on a ~$200 flash unit? The Bob Mongiello one looks promising but kind of half-assed (building my own wood mount for a 300+F hot panel sounds terrifying). There's the Seiki one from ScreenPrintingSupplies.com that's only $250 right now, can someone tell me whether that's a good or a bad call?

Basically, anything has to be better than holding this glorified hairdryer for 30 seconds a shirt and then holding my breath hoping I'm not inking up the inside of my clothes dryer. I need that to dry my OWN clothes in!

 

[screeningdude]

I just finished my first batch of shirts in my own home studio shop, but since I can't afford a flash dryer or conveyor yet, I used my trusty new heat gun. This was a pain in the ***, but the way I made it work was by curing the outside of the ink and then stuck them in the clothes dryer on max heat to gel the inside of the ink all the way. This works great in a pinch but I swear I will go crazy going flood-pull-lift-dry-dry-dry-dry-dry-dry-whenwillitend... And I have a hundred-piece job coming in that might kill me if I do it this way.

I guess what I'm asking is, what's the next inexpensive step towards better curing? Any leads on a ~$200 flash unit? The Bob Mongiello one looks promising but kind of half-assed (building my own wood mount for a 300+F hot panel sounds terrifying). There's the Seiki one from ScreenPrintingSupplies.com that's only $250 right now, can someone tell me whether that's a good or a bad call?

Basically, anything has to be better than holding this glorified hairdryer for 30 seconds a shirt and then holding my breath hoping I'm not inking up the inside of my clothes dryer. I need that to dry my OWN clothes in!

Your next best option is a good Flash Dryer. . not one with a Calrod but a real Electric Short Wave Infrared Unit. . 18" x 18", on a stand with adjustable height capability. Either 120V or 240V

 

[supersweettees]

Your next best option is a good Flash Dryer. . not one with a Calrod but a real Electric Short Wave Infrared Unit. . 18" x 18", on a stand with adjustable height capability. Either 120V or 240V

Sure, that's true, but where can a guy source one quickly on a budget? What you're talking about I can only find for about $400 minimum online. Ideally, we would all have nice big IR conveyors in our basements, but it's all about the Benjamins, baby.

 

[superD70]

suck it up and do the 100 pc. job with your heat gun then buy a good IR flash with the proceeds.
sure it will be a PITA but think how much easier your next run will be with a good flash drier

 

[supersweettees]

suck it up and do the 100 pc. job with your heat gun then buy a good IR flash with the proceeds.
sure it will be a PITA but think how much easier your next run will be with a good flash drier

I like your style. The hell with my wrists and arms, let's do this.

Any suggestions on an entry level IR flash unit, though?

 

[screeningdude]

I like your style. The hell with my wrists and arms, let's do this.

Any suggestions on an entry level IR flash unit, though?

Here is a great value in Flash Cure Units. List price $495.00

For you on the Forums.. . .$420.00. Vastex F Flash + UPS Shipping.
Here is the link. . .F-FLASH - Entry Level Flash Cure Unit
https://sites.google.com/site/printinator/

 

[screeningdude]

Here is a great value in Flash Cure Units. List price $495.00

For you on the Forums.. . .$420.00. Vastex F Flash + UPS Shipping.
Here is the link. . .F-FLASH - Entry Level Flash Cure Unit
https://sites.google.com/site/printinator/

Here is another neat idea for most Flash Cure Units. $225.00
[media]http://www.vastex.com/literature/F-Flash.pdf[/media]

 

[Kazahleenah]

I also am using a heat gun for now. Real close to having the cash to get a Flash Dryer though... I can't wait!!

 

[D3L0C4T3D]

I am working on plans for a poor mans conveyor dryer and hope to start the build next week. My plan is to try and keep total build cost under $300 and shut up negative nancy, we have the technology, it can be done Lol.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using T-Shirt Forums

 

[Dkenzie1]

Ok I know I'm going to catch some flack over this but here is what we did. gel with heat gun and then into the oven set at 400 for 1 min 10 sec. get a digital thermometer for the oven to keep a good eye on the temp. after a couple of jobs replaced the heat gun with a flash then up graded to a conveyor dryer. if you get the timing down right you can put one in the oven and print one before the first comes out then all you have to do is keep going. Yep low tech and a pain in the *** but it does work.

 

[Hegemone]

Just don't eat food from that oven any more. Lol. The shirt can off gas the ink can off gas and then It ends up on the oven walls then in your food. blah blah blah yeah that's just my inner ninny talking.

 

[Dkenzie1]

I bought one at a garage sale just for curing ink. got it for $25. Then again pizza and plastisol mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.LOL

 

[beanie357]

Good used brand name flashes are available here in the classifieds, or on ebay or other printing forums.
vastex, bbc, ryonet, lawson,workhorse are all very workable units. We'll even have one like new for around 225, a ryonet coming up for sale this week. We put a vastex Airflash on line instead for our new manual setup, so they are out there used and affordable. The heat gun method can be variable over the design, and as people tire, the consistency goes down in anything. Thats why small automatics are popular now adays.

 

[BroJames]

I often heard of craigslist for used equipment

 

[jayell]

I like your style. The hell with my wrists and arms, let's do this.

Any suggestions on an entry level IR flash unit, though?

I bought the 18"x18" IR flash dryer from Bob Mongiello and it works great...came to $370 I think with shipping, but he has a smaller one, I think 16"x16" for cheaper.

or you can always check craigslist....I ALWAYS see people selling new & used equipment for cheap on there...

I used to get nervous as hell using the heat gun...I always thought I'd miss a spot and it would wash out, but with water-based ink it's a little easier to use [a heat gun]...I'd go absolutely crazy trying to dry plastisol ink with a heat gun....

you can always use your oven to cure the shirts until you get a flash dryer...just put the oven on broil so it heats from the top...

 

[PhilR]

Personally I'd say the cheapest & best option after a heat gun would be a 4-lamp quartz halogen heater. They're lightweight and put out a lot of heat which is more or less on-demand. they're slower than a proper flash but much less prone to spot scorching than a heat gun. they're fundamentally the same working principle as high-end quartz flash units only with much shorter, lower wattage tubes.

 

[BroJames]

Personally I'd say the cheapest & best option after a heat gun would be a 4-lamp quartz halogen heater. They're lightweight and put out a lot of heat which is more or less on-demand. they're slower than a proper flash but much less prone to spot scorching than a heat gun. they're fundamentally the same working principle as high-end quartz flash units only with much shorter, lower wattage tubes.

It is a "better" option. Even a halogen worklamp is better.

 

[W.E. Productions]

I know everyone always says to save and buy the best you can afford when we ask questions on here but, I started my business using transfer paper and vinyl then later upgraded to a hobby kit from Ryonet which could only print 1 color using water based inks. I would let the shirts dry then set the ink with my heat press to cure the ink. After doing this for a few months I was able to upgrade to a 4 color unit & the cheapest flash dryer I could find at the time on ebay (New Flash Dryer Silkscreen T shirt Printing Curing | eBay). I also had a friend of mine to build me a poor mans convayer dryer. Just a note I did this out of a shop with a 1 color press not out of my house. Now My business is doing well and I am at the point where I could upgrade again soon. The point of all of this blabbing is that You can run a successful business buying just what you can afford and you will be able to upgrade and having equipment to help get the job done quicker was good for me even though my equipment is not the best out there but it gets the job done faster and now I can upgrade to better equipment and sell some of it or keep it around for small orders.

 

[crazymike]

Whatever drying system you use, one thing you need to do
is to print some scrap shirt and wash them 6 time in a row
to see how they hold up. After this adjust curing to get
the results you need.

 

[Domenic]

Many years ago, 1980...I went in the printing business with an old girl friend...she knew how to screen print. She dried the shirts with a hair dryer. They looked great. (120 shirts.) a few days later the customer called...the ink was cracking? We had to take the shirts back. She went back to Las Vegas, and I forgot about screen printing until this past month. I just build my own 4-color press...cost was $250. I will not print anything until I get a flash dryer. I don't want to pay more than $200. Flash dryers are great...they can dry a shirt in one minute...one color shirts I can print and dry 50 in an hour.
I'm now making my light box.
When I have everything I need, I will do my marketing before I print shirts.