[gdprint]

Hey now..

Hubby and I have been professional screen printers for about 6 years printing plastisol.

We took on a rather large job and we are needing to use waterbased ink.

We have little experience using it.

T-shirt color: Cherry Red - 100% organic cotton
Ink : Aerotek Royal blue (using catalyst that comes with it)

We tried a few test prints. Print looks GREAT. Using 110 mesh screen (we will be using 156 for the actual job).

We ran it through a 10ft conveyor dryer @ 250 degrees for about a minute.

We also let the shirts sit for 48 hrs. before running a wash test. First washing - - Royal blue ink everywhere splotched all over the shirts.

Now - since we did a test run, we measured out the catalyst to the ink rather than mixing the whole quart to the whole catalyst bottle.

We printed on Red and Medium gray. I didn't see ink everywhere on the gray shirt, so I am wondering if maybe the red shirt is the problem since we didn't use a discharge.

Thoughts?

and Thanks!

 

[splathead]

We ran it through a 10ft conveyor dryer @ 250 degrees for about a minute.

That's not long enough. Slow down your conveyor so the print stays at temperature for 2 minutes.

Also, be careful with your testing. Once you add catalyst, the ink has a shelf life of only 48 hours. After that, you have to throw it away. Suggest you use a scale and mix up smaller batches.

FYI waterbased ink of choice for professional printers is Matsui.

 

[tlpe548b]

FYI waterbased ink of choice for professional printers is Matsui.

Indeed, works the best. I've heard people that love union ink, but meh. Get some matusi 301 amazing shelf life and no catalysts shangeinons

 

[JantexInks]

Here are a couple of thoughts,

1 - Yes the garment may be to blame. It may have a silicone coating that is blocking the ink from getting a good bond to the garment.

2 - As stated above, more curing is always better and I would raise your temp closer to 300F.

If the same ink works one one garment but not another, all other things being equal, then yes I would blame the garment.

Good luck!

 

[pbk!]

If I remember correctly, Matusi water based ink cures at 325.