white discharge questions

drscotty14 said:

i just tried discharge for the first time yesterday. it is ryonets white discharge. i have a few question.

1) should i p/f/p, or is it best to drive the ink into the shirt without flashing?

2) when i washed the test shirt, the crusty-ness went away. if i printed plastisol on top before washing, will the plastisol stick to the crusty surface, or will it wash away with the crusty stuff?

3) im confused on how long to cure for. i used a heat gun because it has forced air. i have a flash dryer but not forced air. is there a test to see if its cured before i wash? like a stretch test?

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From what I've read it's generally not a good idea to print plastisol over WB discharge anyway, as the discharge agent can cause a dulling of the plastisol pigment.

can anyone help?

We use westix brand but it depends on the print if you want to p/f/p or one stroke it all. Both methods work depend on the print. The westix stuff is pretty thin but we p/f/p only on larger print areas because i think you get better definition with your prints.

Q: What is this 'crusty stuff' you speak of?

Heat gun curing you can see the colors and wet areas change
pretty easily though you have to keep an eye on it and keep it moving and dont get too close to the print so you dont burn either the shirt or the print.

Be really careful doing discharge with a flash dryer or heat gun. Make sure you're in an open area (garage w/ door open or outdoor) and have a class 3 respirator that filters organic vapors and a fan to remove the fumes.

I ended up in the doctor's office getting a stern talking-to last summer because I wasn't careful enough and though doing it in an open garage with a fan was enough. Also make sure you don't have any neighbors that are elderly or have small children and have their windows open. Discharge is no joke, and while it looks fantastic it can seriously mess you up if you're not careful.