The ink will smoke before the garment scorches. Are you doing a stretch test? This is not foolproof either, but it will give you an idea. After the garment exits the dryer and cools a little, grasp on either side of your heaviest ink layer and pull. Properly cured plastisol will stretch and not crack. God Bless.
Curing Plastisol Inks...
Hi,
I have been printing for a little while and have had some good success. But I have had some shirts with cracking and just noticed one that washed off. Also, I just printed a run of tank tops and all of the ink washed off there...
So, I've read up on the curing process, but I still have a couple questions. On the run of tanks that I have screwed up....is it possible to send them through the dryer again and get the ink to cure up or have I really screwed them up and should just trash them?
Now I have one of those infrared guns to measure temps, but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing. My ink says it cures at 325. I measure my conveyor dryer at about 340 two inches into the dryer. Now, how do I tell I've got the right conveyor speed to make sure I'm curing the shirt to 325 all the way through? I've had it on 30 (out of 100) for the shirts that I didn't cure. I just turned it down to 20 and now the shirts are kinda steaming as they come out, which I assume is the moisture going away? Or is this skorching the paint/fabric?
Help! Too many variables to know I'm headed in the right way before I do another wash test....
I'm printing on Gildan 5000 - which are 100% heavy cotton. The tanks were Bella tanks, also 100% cotton...
Thank you,
S
I have been printing for a little while and have had some good success. But I have had some shirts with cracking and just noticed one that washed off. Also, I just printed a run of tank tops and all of the ink washed off there...
So, I've read up on the curing process, but I still have a couple questions. On the run of tanks that I have screwed up....is it possible to send them through the dryer again and get the ink to cure up or have I really screwed them up and should just trash them?
Now I have one of those infrared guns to measure temps, but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing. My ink says it cures at 325. I measure my conveyor dryer at about 340 two inches into the dryer. Now, how do I tell I've got the right conveyor speed to make sure I'm curing the shirt to 325 all the way through? I've had it on 30 (out of 100) for the shirts that I didn't cure. I just turned it down to 20 and now the shirts are kinda steaming as they come out, which I assume is the moisture going away? Or is this skorching the paint/fabric?
Help! Too many variables to know I'm headed in the right way before I do another wash test....
I'm printing on Gildan 5000 - which are 100% heavy cotton. The tanks were Bella tanks, also 100% cotton...
Thank you,
S
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
Hi Ole Jobe!The ink will smoke before the garment scorches. Are you doing a stretch test? This is not foolproof either, but it will give you an idea. After the garment exits the dryer and cools a little, grasp on either side of your heaviest ink layer and pull. Properly cured plastisol will stretch and not crack. God Bless.
Yes, I've done a stretch test and no cracking! So, the smoking is ok...not quite scorching then....
Thanks,
S
Here are a couple things to check...
Did you add anything to the ink? If so what and what percentages?
A Heat gun is okay, but that is only telling you what the dryer is reaching or the top of the ink film. The ENTIRE ink film has to reach the cure temperature. If it doesn't then you will not have a full cure.
The best option is a thermoprobe. I have attached some info on the use of a thermoproble.
Are you flashing? If you are make sure that you are not over flashing between layers.
Have a great day!
Erin
Did you add anything to the ink? If so what and what percentages?
A Heat gun is okay, but that is only telling you what the dryer is reaching or the top of the ink film. The ENTIRE ink film has to reach the cure temperature. If it doesn't then you will not have a full cure.
The best option is a thermoprobe. I have attached some info on the use of a thermoproble.
Are you flashing? If you are make sure that you are not over flashing between layers.
Have a great day!
Erin
Hi Erin,Here are a couple things to check...
Did you add anything to the ink? If so what and what percentages?
A Heat gun is okay, but that is only telling you what the dryer is reaching or the top of the ink film. The ENTIRE ink film has to reach the cure temperature. If it doesn't then you will not have a full cure.
The best option is a thermoprobe. I have attached some info on the use of a thermoproble.
Are you flashing? If you are make sure that you are not over flashing between layers.
Have a great day!
Erin
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not flashing on this one, but I have a shirt that I will soon be flashing....what temp is that? I had a bad flash dryer that just wouldn't do it....but I bought a new one and I think the starting rule of thumb is that I flash for 7 seconds and see if that is good...depending on what the heat stuff says?
I will look at the thermoprobe. My mind is just spinning with all these variables. I feel like I have to spend all my time testing, testing, testing....
S
It looks like I forgot to attached the thermoprobe info! the file is too big. Please email me (email address is below) and I will send it to you via email.
You need to make sure that you flash according to the ink you are using. Not all inks are created equal. Especially with whites. Contact the manufacturer of ink and discuss flash parameters with them. Generally they will give you a gel temp and you will need to bo by that... 7 seconds sounds bit long!
Erin
the file is too big. Please email me (email address is below) and I will send it to you via email. You need to make sure that you flash according to the ink you are using. Not all inks are created equal. Especially with whites. Contact the manufacturer of ink and discuss flash parameters with them. Generally they will give you a gel temp and you will need to bo by that... 7 seconds sounds bit long!
Erin
Different inks act differently. We had a similar issue with Wilflex Quick white ink. I like that ink because I can run it on 230 mesh as an underprint and then print 9 colors on top of it and still have a good hand. I rarely ever have any issues with this ink but on one job for a very well known customer we had this cracking issue. I run a 24 foot long gas dryer with 12 feet of heat and run it at speed 24 at 411 degrees so that the ink will reach 320 degrees for at least a full 30 seconds to cure all the way through. This particular batch of ink was getting the proper temperature for the proper amount of time and STILL cracking. We called a rep from Wilflex to come by here and tell us what was wrong. They came, they tested, they said they would get back to us. The rep while he was in our shop said, temperature was good, time was fine couldn't tell us what we were doing wrong and would get back to us. That call never happened. I lost that client because of it. I've never had the same problem again using the same type of inks. I'm convinced it was a bad batch of ink and they wouldn't take responsibility for it. My distributor later told me that he also discussed it with them and they told him we weren't curing it enough. In truth any hotter would most surely have scorched the shirt. My advice is make sure you hit the right temperature for long enough and if the issue repeats change inks. If the ink is not mixed right you can have problems and the ink manufacturer may not tell you if its their fault.
Are you using the temp gun to measure the ink on the shirt, or the element in the dryer?
Thicker ink layers need more time to cure all the way through, as another poster mentioned. Keep your ink layers as thin as possible and you'll have fewer curing problems, plus a nicer shirt.
Thicker ink layers need more time to cure all the way through, as another poster mentioned. Keep your ink layers as thin as possible and you'll have fewer curing problems, plus a nicer shirt.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJoeiavaUDQ[/media]Hi,
I have been printing for a little while and have had some good success. But I have had some shirts with cracking and just noticed one that washed off. Also, I just printed a run of tank tops and all of the ink washed off there...
So, I've read up on the curing process, but I still have a couple questions. On the run of tanks that I have screwed up....is it possible to send them through the dryer again and get the ink to cure up or have I really screwed them up and should just trash them?
Now I have one of those infrared guns to measure temps, but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing. My ink says it cures at 325. I measure my conveyor dryer at about 340 two inches into the dryer. Now, how do I tell I've got the right conveyor speed to make sure I'm curing the shirt to 325 all the way through? I've had it on 30 (out of 100) for the shirts that I didn't cure. I just turned it down to 20 and now the shirts are kinda steaming as they come out, which I assume is the moisture going away? Or is this skorching the paint/fabric?
Help! Too many variables to know I'm headed in the right way before I do another wash test....
I'm printing on Gildan 5000 - which are 100% heavy cotton. The tanks were Bella tanks, also 100% cotton...
Thank you,
S
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHz-zYVEtCQ&feature=related[/media]
1 - 9 of 9 Posts
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