ugh..1600 5 color prints on RED 100% poly

[Clark]

Not looking forward to this one at all.  2 flashes, red 100% poly.  Client doesn't want too much ink on the shirts..Ugh.  Please say a prayer for me and my bottom line.

[Tees4U]

Oh My!! Yes you are going to need lots & Lots of prayer!

[blue moon]

I was just given a sample of new Wilflex low temp low bleed poly ink. My thinking is I will be able to print flash only once rather than building a thick bleed blocking layer with pfpf. Might be worth looking into as you could possibly get away with one flash only.

it does cure at a lower temp, but I don't know how that would influence the top colors.

pierre

[Homer]

I would play around with WM aqua pura, no heat needed at all. awesome ink, nobody seems to talk about it much.

[ZooCity]

I've been running Wilflex Epic Performance and have been impressed.  Very low cure temp and they make a Performance Base to use with the PC system (good luck getting spot colors or matches of this stuff).   Just off that generic description I'd run the UB Grey and then your top colors. 

Despite a claim of "no odor" it's actually the stinkiest ink in the shop and smells like that weird blue chemical at the barber shop and that lovely fragrance will linger on your garments. ( I haven't had a "professional" hair cut in like 10 years or more, so maybe nobody uses that stuff anymore)

The white is, predictably, kind of a bitch to print.  The prints tend to cure out to a more brittle feel but it's not as bad as some that I've seen.  Prints very well through 150/48 and I even did halftones through a 225/40 on one job.  Pulling the white by hand is brutal but it passes through the mesh somehow. 

In the past month I've ran it on 3 100% poly jobs - red, black and black, bike jerseys and dri-release Ts - and not a complaint yet. 

If it were me I'd grab a handful of shirts from different sizes/boxes immediately.  Print a base/flash/white on there with a similar mesh count/coverage to what you're going to use on the full run.  Cure and wait a few days before running the complete job.  1600 pcs will be out the door in what?..4, maybe 6 hours or less for you?  So let that job sit and see what happens to the testers first. 

Oh, and warm that ink up before printing.  It makes a serious difference in printability. 

[ZooCity]

What's this aqua pura bizness Homer?

[Homer]

http://wmplasticsinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=52_79

I've got some here, I use it on knit winter hats. . .it's the bees knees. . .

[mjrprint]

I was just given a sample of new Wilflex low temp low bleed poly ink. My thinking is I will be able to print flash only once rather than building a thick bleed blocking layer with pfpf. Might be worth looking into as you could possibly get away with one flash only.

it does cure at a lower temp, but I don't know how that would influence the top colors.

pierre

Whats the name of that ink Pierre?

[blue moon]

I was just given a sample of new Wilflex low temp low bleed poly ink. My thinking is I will be able to print flash only once rather than building a thick bleed blocking layer with pfpf. Might be worth looking into as you could possibly get away with one flash only.

it does cure at a lower temp, but I don't know how that would influence the top colors.

pierre

Whats the name of that ink Pierre?

It's the Wilflex Epic Performance that Zoo described few posts up. The sheet I have says "Cures at 290 deg".

pierre

[Clark]

Well, if the bottom of a thick layer of the epic white got to 290 then I would imagine the top colors got to 320.  These shirts are coming in wednesday for delivery Friday, so they won't be allowed to sit.  I'm just gonna run the atkins probe through several times, keep the temp low as possible and cross my fingers.  It's the second flash that has me worried.  I normally don't ever use the second flash, but because of the amount of white base I will need to put down, I am sure I will need it.

Thanks guys!

[squeegee]

I tried to run some Epic this week with mx colors on top, when I got the whole ink layer to 320, it had migrated like a SOB, be careful.  It was like 320 was too much for the Epic, but is was very high coverage too.  Let us know how it goes for you.

Eventually I want to run the Epic base/PC's as the top colors.

We get pretty good results using Classic polywhite and mx on top, keeping the cure temp between 320-330, but when it gets much higher than that is when problems start to happen.

Oh and if your base is high coverage, definately keep that second flash as short dwell and low temp as you can.

Good luck dude.

[ZooCity]

I slapped QMX standard colors on top of the Epic Performance Grey Underbase on red 100% poly jerseys and no reports of migration so far.  Then again, they're in Bhutan....

a quick nomenclature check up on these Wilflex inks:

EPIC - refers to the non-phthalate line of inks, inherently better coverage and more bleed resist than standard, phthalate-laden inkbut
          it's a general term for this line, doesn't indicate any bleed resist beyond that

PERFORMANCE - the low-cure for poly garments with dye blocking a key point.  affix Epic before it and there's the combo.

Wfx recommends the grey base for these jobs and I'll second that notion.  Clark, try and get some from GSG before running, I think they keep the grey in stock.   I'd have a lot more piece of mind with that stuff under my ink than just Quick. 

[Clark]

Zoo.  I'd be using the Rutland super poly white.  I'm gonna see if I can test a barrier base on a few 100% poly rags I have here.  Barrier base, flash, red, navy, flash, light blu, white.  From my understanding it would take an act of god for the barrier base to bleed. 

[Lizard]

Rutland Super Poly is great stuff, I use it all the time.  I don't think you will have any issues, they should print great.

Toby

[squeegee]

I think I may have written my last post a little hastily, I was referring to epic performance white, and if I'm not mistaken, if you run mx colors atop, a real cure will require 320, anyway that's my understanding and my results weren't so good at 320 using epic performance white as a base with normal ink.

For now I'll use the epic for a standalone white, and as a base classic polywhite.