[civil238]

Ink cracks in some places, im guessing it a problem with either too thick ink on shirt or curing. i use a heat gun for a while some part are very well like thin words but these huge circles like cracking.

Im using plastisol and water based inks.

Im buying a temp gun on amazon right now but i hear 320 is good.

Thanks in advance

 

[ChristFollower]

It's hard to get a good cure with a heat gun. One thing that helps is pop the shirt off the board- if it's adhered to the platen, the platen acts as a heat sink and makes it harder to cure solid areas. Also, go slow - heat guns are harsh and it's easy to melt the top of the ink before the entire film cures.

You might turn the shirt inside out after curing, and hit it from behind, too.

Save up for a flash unit - they'll do so much better than a heat gun!

 

[civil238]

It's hard to get a good cure with a heat gun. One thing that helps is pop the shirt off the board- if it's adhered to the platen, the platen acts as a heat sink and makes it harder to cure solid areas. Also, go slow - heat guns are harsh and it's easy to melt the top of the ink before the entire film cures.

You might turn the shirt inside out after curing, and hit it from behind, too.

Save up for a flash unit - they'll do so much better than a heat gun!

Thanks for the advice Christ!
Ill probably invest in one once my store does well. cant afford one right now and no space

also what do u mean by film?

 

[dnicky928]

Don't do it...that's the best advice...find a flash for a hundred bucks and start there...you might say " I ain't got $100 right now" then I would say to you not to start printing..you would be putting out a consistently inconsistent product.

 

[jeron]

I agree you should look for a flash...

when I first started I used a heat gun to flash my multi color designs and then cured them in a normal kitchen oven. I set the temp to 450 put the shirt on a cookie sheet and let it cook for 2 minutes... extremely slow and a pain in the butt but it at least cured it evenly... I used temp strips to get the temp and time right and never had one wash out...

Get away from the heat gun to cure your shirts asap!!!

Thanks,
Jeron

 

[civil238]

I agree you should look for a flash...

when I first started I used a heat gun to flash my multi color designs and then cured them in a normal kitchen oven. I set the temp to 450 put the shirt on a cookie sheet and let it cook for 2 minutes... extremely slow and a pain in the butt but it at least cured it evenly... I used temp strips to get the temp and time right and never had one wash out...

Get away from the heat gun to cure your shirts asap!!!

Thanks,
Jeron

so? would you recommend using the oven trick until i get the cash for the heat flash?

 

[jeron]

so? would you recommend using the oven trick until i get the cash for the heat flash?

I would yes, I did it for about 6 months.... it will at least cure the shirt evenly. Get some temperature strips and test your oven to find the right temp vs time to get the ink to hit 320-340 degrees.

But let me just say it's not the best way... put a flash drier, on the top of your priorities list.. then get a conveyor drier asap also...

 

[EVILEMANON]

If you don't mind me asking? what kind of store do you have?

 

[ChristFollower]

what do u mean by film?

The deposit of ink on the shirt - "film" is probably an inarticulate way of saying it. I should have said, the top will melt before the entire deposit of ink will be dry. My bad!

 

[wormil]

The cost of the shirts you ruin trying to use a heat gun will quickly outpace the cost of a flash.

 

[royster13]

The cost of the shirts you ruin trying to use a heat gun will quickly outpace the cost of a flash.

Ain't that the truth.....

In the absence of a real dryer there is always water based inks on light colours....I have contact that has never owned a dryer and has been printing and selling shirts (and rally towels) for over a decade....

 

[jeron]

If you don't mind me asking? what kind of store do you have?

Me???

I don't... I started about 2 years ago as a hobby and didn't have any equipment. Made everything i needed to print shirts with. But since then i have accumulated an actual press, exposure unit, conveyor, flash. Even still i don't do it for an actual job, just a hobby....

 

[civil238]

If you don't mind me asking? what kind of store do you have?

Just a little one i just opened on etsy
And im trying to get shirts in there as soon as this is perfected

I would yes, I did it for about 6 months.... it will at least cure the shirt evenly. Get some temperature strips and test your oven to find the right temp vs time to get the ink to hit 320-340 degrees.

But let me just say it's not the best way... put a flash drier, on the top of your priorities list.. then get a conveyor drier asap also...

what did you put under the shirt when placed in the oven? just on aluninum? or just straight in as is and for how llong?

 

[jeron]

I put them on cookie sheets... I did it for 2 minutes at 450 degrees, but you should test it yourself with temperature strips to make sure it's good

Thanks,
Jeron

 

[miktoxic]

well i'm learning the hard way about trying to cure white plastisol on dark shirts using a heat gun. i had a small order of 2 dozen shirts and i scorched the white ink to light brown on 1/3 of the shirts. just had to reorder more shirts. nothing pisses me off more than cutting into an already small profit. usually i do waterbase for my own prints but this was done plastisol because i didn't have any more water resist emulsion left. UGH!!

my problem is i'm printing from my apartment and if the landlord found out i'd prob be asked to stop or leave, so i don't want to get caught AND even though i might be able to squeeze a flash unit in an already stuffed one bedroom i'm not looking forward to another piece of equip. i've cured white on darks before but where i print and cure there is only one light and i have an overhead fan blowing. when i tell you using the heat gun releases smoke from the prints i'm wondering what the flash will do. all i need is for someone to complain that they smell something burning and i'm done.

is there a way to wash out the scorched effect of the ink?

 

[civil238]

well i'm learning the hard way about trying to cure white plastisol on dark shirts using a heat gun. i had a small order of 2 dozen shirts and i scorched the white ink to light brown on 1/3 of the shirts. just had to reorder more shirts. nothing pisses me off more than cutting into an already small profit. usually i do waterbase for my own prints but this was done plastisol because i didn't have any more water resist emulsion left. UGH!!

my problem is i'm printing from my apartment and if the landlord found out i'd prob be asked to stop or leave, so i don't want to get caught AND even though i might be able to squeeze a flash unit in an already stuffed one bedroom i'm not looking forward to another piece of equip. i've cured white on darks before but where i print and cure there is only one light and i have an overhead fan blowing. when i tell you using the heat gun releases smoke from the prints i'm wondering what the flash will do. all i need is for someone to complain that they smell something burning and i'm done.

is there a way to wash out the scorched effect of the ink?

Dude im the same here except I have a huge room and my landlord wont care. or find out anyways.
but no you just went to close to the shirt i did on purpose to one of mine to see what happened but cool man. Where are you from? im in nyc

 

[miktoxic]

Dude im the same here except I have a huge room and my landlord wont care. or find out anyways.
but no you just went to close to the shirt i did on purpose to one of mine to see what happened but cool man. Where are you from? im in nyc

yeah i'm in dobbs right on the hudson about 14 miles north of NYC on the saw mill.

i live in a 6 floor apt building and am rent controlled so any excuse to get us out would do for the management company.

i know it's all my fault. i started printing silk screen as a hobby and like others it's not my full-time thing. weened on water base and should have never strayed. like they say when you have something that works, why stray? water base and discharge to me is much worth the extra time and angst to print correctly only because the curing process (for me) is soooooooo Farging much easier. i can cure to the touch and then throw it in a commercial dryer at the laundry mat for a half hour and it is fine. the same with discharge. plastisol is a different monster.

i decided to go plastisol this run because i didn't want to pay more for an emulsion that i had run out of.

any time you decide to cheap out in this biz it comes back to bite you in your azz.

 

[civil238]

I put them on cookie sheets... I did it for 2 minutes at 450 degrees, but you should test it yourself with temperature strips to make sure it's good

Thanks,
Jeron

450 fahrenheit ?

 

[miktoxic]

just shelled out for a flash dryer (ryonet 16 x 16) got a couple of big jobs coming up and couldn't see myself standing over a shirt with a dryer in my hand for hours to cure/burn shirts.

 

[jeron]

450 fahrenheit ?

Yes Fahrenheit.... I thought it would over cure them but for whatever reason it took 2 minutes to hit around 340