[W.E. Productions]

I printed some polyester shooting shirts for a summer basketball team and had problems with a couple of them sticking to themselves after going through the conveyor dryer and falling into my catch box at the end. I was wondering if mabie i had the temp to high and if i should have sped up the belt a bit. What temp should i cure plastisol ink on poly?

Sent from my LG-E612g using T-Shirt Forums

 

[Greatzky]

it all comes down to what type of ink you are using. what brand/series are you using?

 

[W.E. Productions]

I used plastisol ink for that. The colors I used were White (Union Diamond Lo Bleed), HP Yellow (Int Coatings), SCarlet (IC), Black (Ryonet).
I used the white for under base to prevent color bleed then printed the others. The warm ups were Orange.

 

[Greatzky]

The only time I've ever had ink stick to itself was when I was still using International Coatings inks that came with my starter kit. I've never had any other inks stick together even after folding the design into itself directly after curing. I never tested these inks on polyester because I wasn't printing on poly yet and they aren't meant for poly(or at least the IC inks that came with my kit weren't. I'm sure IC makes poly inks)

Polyester fabrics will release the dyes used to color them when the material hits a certain temp (IIRC this starts around 325-330?). This is why many polyester inks cure between 280-300 instead of the usual 320. This way you can cure before the dye migrates and you even get a nice cushion in case you overcure. You just need to remember that polyester can't be treated the same as cotton.

Some might argue this, but only use poly ink on performance material garments. These inks are more bleed resistant, usually have a lower cure and flash temp, and they usually have a stretch additive already in the mix. I am currently using Excalibur's 1550 Athletic series. It cures at 290F and it is very stretchy. I will usually let the ink cure up to 300-305 just to make sure the entire design is cured and it still keeps the temp low enough to avoid sublimation of the dyes in the polyester fabric.

Some people would say that you only need a poly ink or a grey blocker ink for the underbase and the rest can be regular plastisol, but why mix inks? I want all of the inks I use on the design to have the same flash and cure point otherwise it defeats the purpose of having a low cure ink. Also the top colors going on top of the underbase need to be able to stretch as well.

Some poly shirt colors are more problematic than others even under the same exact conditions. Reds and Oranges can be tough so you need to really make sure you aren't overcuring. Others have said that Forest Green and Navy can be difficult, but I think that people just don't print a solid enough underbase as I haven't seen any additional dye migration from those colors.

 

[superD70]

^^ what Scott said^^
He speaks the truth, that's exactly how I handle all poly garments .

 

[W.E. Productions]

The only time I've ever had ink stick to itself was when I was still using International Coatings inks that came with my starter kit. I've never had any other inks stick together even after folding the design into itself directly after curing. I never tested these inks on polyester because I wasn't printing on poly yet and they aren't meant for poly(or at least the IC inks that came with my kit weren't. I'm sure IC makes poly inks)

Polyester fabrics will release the dyes used to color them when the material hits a certain temp (IIRC this starts around 325-330?). This is why many polyester inks cure between 280-300 instead of the usual 320. This way you can cure before the dye migrates and you even get a nice cushion in case you overcure. You just need to remember that polyester can't be treated the same as cotton.

Some might argue this, but only use poly ink on performance material garments. These inks are more bleed resistant, usually have a lower cure and flash temp, and they usually have a stretch additive already in the mix. I am currently using Excalibur's 1550 Athletic series. It cures at 290F and it is very stretchy. I will usually let the ink cure up to 300-305 just to make sure the entire design is cured and it still keeps the temp low enough to avoid sublimation of the dyes in the polyester fabric.

Some people would say that you only need a poly ink or a grey blocker ink for the underbase and the rest can be regular plastisol, but why mix inks? I want all of the inks I use on the design to have the same flash and cure point otherwise it defeats the purpose of having a low cure ink. Also the top colors going on top of the underbase need to be able to stretch as well.

Some poly colors are more problematic than others even under the same exact conditions. Reds and Oranges can be tough so you need to really make sure you aren't overcuring. Others have said that Forest Green and Navy can be difficult, but I think that people just don't print a solid enough underbase as I haven't seen any additional dye migration from those colors.

Thanks for that info, I don't do a lot of sports apparel but I will look into getting some poly inks so I can be prepared for the next time. I didn't have any problems with dye migration after using the Diamond white but, using all poly inks does make a lot of sense, I just used the inks I had in stock. Thanks for taking time out to answer my questions!

 

[sben763]

I use poly inks for poly. The problem is the uniforms hold heat much longer the a poly tshirt. I think if has something to do with how its weaved.

I print a lot of basketball uniforms. If you don't have a cooling fan at the outside of the dryer the uniforms stick. I mounted a small desktop fan at the end of my dryer to cool garments. I will take a pic later today and post.

Now I do only under base with poly though. The reason I don't worry about the different temps is the white requires a long cure time so the under base isn't reaching the same temp as the top colors. I have a donut probe and have done extensive testing with different materials, inks, number of ink layers, and have belt speeds speeds for each garments and inks. I rarely touch the temp but usually will turn down a few degrees with the uniforms. The worst ones are the reversible jerseys and you have to be careful as one you print the first side if your temp or speed aren't correct the inside can stick together.

 

[Greatzky]

Good point Sean!

 

[W.E. Productions]

I use poly inks for poly. The problem is the uniforms hold heat much longer the a poly tshirt. I think if has something to do with how its weaved.

I print a lot of basketball uniforms. If you don't have a cooling fan at the outside of the dryer the uniforms stick. I mounted a small desktop fan at the end of my dryer to cool garments. I will take a pic later today and post.

Now I do only under base with poly though. The reason I don't worry about the different temps is the white requires a long cure time so the under base isn't reaching the same temp as the top colors. I have a donut probe and have done extensive testing with different materials, inks, number of ink layers, and have belt speeds speeds for each garments and inks. I rarely touch the temp but usually will turn down a few degrees with the uniforms. The worst ones are the reversible jerseys and you have to be careful as one you print the first side if your temp or speed aren't correct the inside can stick together.

I saw a youtube video where someone had a fan at the end of the conveyor but now I know why! Once I realized the ink would stick to itself I ended up catching them before they hit the box at the end of the conveyor and lay them flat until they cooled then I could stack them. It made things take a little longer since I usually work alone. Thanks for the info. Hopefully I will be doing more uniform printing in the future.

 

[binkspot]

Try the Wilflex TopScore inks. They won't stick together. It has totally eliminated the sticky issue.

 

[Virgram]

There are inks that cure at lower temps but can also tend to set up in the can if you store them in a hot environment. I have used them on some fabrics that start to melt or scorch a normal cure temps. The are also good for fabrics that sublimate color into the ink, that use to be a real problem with cheap shirts.
The only time I ever had real problems with ink melting to itself was with very heavy deposits and on nylon jackets. I would put a fan at the end of the dryer to cool the print before it fell in the box. On jackets I tried to have someone pick them off the dryer before they fell in the box.

 

[Ripcord]

Union Diamond is formulated for 50/50 blends, not for 100% polyester. For 100% poly you should use Union Poly Low Bleed.

If the prints stick together it is most likely the result of the shirts falling off the belt before they have cooled sufficiently. You want to slow the belt down, not speed it up. Then the shirts will have more time to cool before they fall into the basket on top of one another.

I'm paranoid about dye migration, because it can happen a day or so after the job is printed, so the shirts can look fine when you deliver them and look horrible when the customer opens the box later. (This has only happened to me once years ago, but it was embarrassing enough to get me to be way more careful.) Since I use a small conveyor dryer with a fluctuating and uneven heating pattern, when I print 100% polyester I cure it at a very low temperature in the conveyor and then cure it again with my heat press set on 330 degrees. No pressure with the clamp, just the weight of the heating element (with a piece of protective paper.)

Might seem like too much work, but replacing an order of polyester shirts would be really expensive, so I take the extra time and charge the customer accordingly.

 

[sben763]

For those who have printed on the moisture wicking performace basketball jerseys I personally don't think any ink, temp change is going to make that much differance. I have used IC, Excalibur, Union, Wilflex poly inks sent though the dryer with a donut probe so that it has the proper cure temp and everytime they will stick till they have cooled. Even the performance shooters shirts, or any of the silky moisture wicking shirts seem to want to stick. Standard 100% ploy tshirts do not have this issue. Most of your Poly inks have a small amount of puff. I have in a crunch mix a small amount of puff to a non poly ink although I only use whites that are LB and label for 50/50 for all other printing.

 

[Terrapin Tees]

any remedys for the IC poly being sticky after the oven? pleasssee...