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drying plastisol inks

2603 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Ripcord, 
R
Hi,
I have an infra red flash dryer (not forced air) I've been using to flash dry and cure water based ink with. I'm thinking of using plastisol inks. Someone told me you need a special dryer for plastisol ink. Is it possible to flash dry/cure plastisol ink using the dryer I've used to flash dry/cure water based ink?
thanks for any input you might have,
Nick
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Celtic
Yes, it will work just fine.
No worries. Just remember to fully cure (usually 320 degrees, through all the layers of ink).
Use a temp gun to be sure of full cures.
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V
The term dry is not really appropriate for plastisol. The ink actually turns to a plastic at about 320 depending on the ink. You can leave plastisol set for years and it will never withstand washing. Your must get the in to its cure temperature for it to stay on the shirt. Below 320 it may feel "dry" but it is still not cured and will wash out. Be carefull that you get the whole design cured. It is easy to get part of the design cured and part of it not. After you use the flash dryer for a while it will heat up the board it is laying on and the cure time shortens some. I found that without airflow in the flash unit it is easier to scorch shirts. If you can get the shirts to to just start to smoke, you know you have got them hot enough. Any longer and they will scorch. Good luck.
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Ripcord
The temp gun (laser thermometer) is available at any auto parts store. Use it to monitor the entire print (as Virgram said) not just the center. You will get different readings from the edges. If you need to shift the position of the shirt or the dryer, go ahead and do it.

Bring it up to at least ten degrees over the cure temperature (I like 20 myself) and let it remain there for a good 30 seconds. You want to be sure it's fully cured. If your shirts are 100% cotton, don't worry about overcuring or scorching as long as you keep the temp reading below 380. (I've hit almost 410 out of my dryer by accident and have not seen scorching even on white shirts...)

A stretch test is a good idea and a good indication of a full cure. Many people will also recommend a wash test, which is the best test of all...But I really don't have time to do laundry while I'm printing, so I prefer to just cure at a hot enough temperature that I'm confident with.
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