TSB

screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: BartJY on July 03, 2019, 07:16:05 PM

Title: Heat Time
Post by: BartJY on July 03, 2019, 07:16:05 PM
Hi Folks,

I have a bunch of shirts that are printed with water based ink. The ink has dried over night. My question is, now that the ink is dry at what temperature and for how long do they need to be flash dryer cured?

Thanks
Bart
Yes, I'm a total noob.....
Title: Re: Heat Time
Post by: Frog on July 03, 2019, 07:29:03 PM
Well, the simple answer is as long as it takes to remove all of the water.
When I started in this biz, I printed yardage on long tables, with waterbased inks. We were able to set it with a normal hand iron.
I also have used a waterbased ink from Union that with a catalyst would dry enough to handle in a couple of minutes, and fully dry/cure in a day at room temp.

Now, as for using waterbased inks on shirts, even with a conveyor dryer, one with circulating air is best to aid in the removal of this vapor.
With plastisol, we are merely bring the ink layer up to cure temp.

All this said, with luck, someone who has also tried this will have some real-world advice.