[davistees]

Has anyone found a good ink that wont fade bad at a decent price? I have tried ink form a few reputable companies and they fade after 1st wash. I saturate shirt and print twice and still fades. I have used pretreat on whites and it helps a little but still fades, its hard to sell shirts like this..
any suggestions on good ink?
thanks

 

[IYFGraphics]

What inks have you tried? we use the Dupont Fastink3(most common ink) and have no problems with fading after washing, in fact we have shirts made for our company that have been washed dozens of times with no noticeable fading at all.

 

[DAGuide]

Have you tried different garments? Some garments do better than others.

The other thing to look at is whether your heat press is getting to the correct temperature. Heat presses can display one temperature and be off by as much as 20 degrees from what some people have posted here.

When done properly using the standard Dupont ink on a good garment, the fading should be pretty minimal. So you might want to check out some of the other factors besides the ink.

Best wishes,

Mark

 

[davistees]

Ok,
I am using gildan 2000, 6.1oz cotton shirts, mainly white an dlight colored. I press at 350 for 90 seconds with medium pressure and use pre trat before I print. Where is the best place to get actual dupont ink and not an off brand marked as dupont?
thanks

 

[DAGuide]

Which pretreat are you using? If you are using the white ink pretreatment, that would explain your fading. The CMYK ink does not adhere to the white ink pretreat fluid.

As for where to get Dupont inks, I guess that depends on where you are located. If you are outside of the U.S.A., then you will get a different list of places. You might want to post your location. There might be a local place that you don't have to pay for shipping.

Mark

 

[davistees]

I am in Arizona,
I used pre treat for lights..

 

[IYFGraphics]

Ok,
I am using gildan 2000, 6.1oz cotton shirts, mainly white an dlight colored. I press at 350 for 90 seconds with medium pressure and use pre trat before I print. Where is the best place to get actual dupont ink and not an off brand marked as dupont?
thanks

We use a ton of the Gildan 2000 shirts, we press also for 90 seconds if a white/light color shirt (no underbase) but at 320 degrees and light pressure covered with coated parchment paper.

Since your in AZ you could contact American Screen Supply in Phoenix.

Here's a link to their site.

FastINK3® Textile Ink for the Fast T-Jet®

They also have a very good tech support staff so I've read.

Hope this helps.

 

[bornover]

I am in Arizona,
I used pre treat for lights..

There are two pretreats for lights. One for lights using white ink and one for lights not using white ink. Which one do you have and what is it called?

I don't have problems with any significant fading on light or dark garments using DuPont inks and the three different pretreatments.

The other thing it could be is that your heat press is not as hot as you think it is. I had problems with fading once, and it was that my heat press said it was at 350 but it was only around 275. I bought a good IR heat gun to check it. There are even better ways to check than an IR heat gun, but it works for me.

 

[douglasc]

What is a pretreat

 

[IYFGraphics]

What is a pretreat

It's really pre-treatment, it's a solution (liquid) sprayed onto the garment and cured prior to printing, as stated above there are a couple different types of pretreatment depending on the color of the garment or the poly content of the garment.

What it does is provide a base on top of the garment for white ink (or color) to adhere to, which brightens the colors, provides a stable underbase for colors, and greatly improves washability of the print.

Hope this helps.

 

[FatKat Printz]

We have us our regular dark pretreat with a light coat and then rolled it with the roller.. they have a darker tinge to it that washes out and press like normal.