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screen printing => Newbie => Topic started by: Appstro on March 19, 2014, 10:01:15 PM
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Well I printed some safety yellow shirts today and ran them under the conveyor a little too hot I guess. Here's a pic...Is there ANY thing I can do to save these 50 shirts??? :( If you can see the discoloration...its in the top right of the shirt, thats how I folded it in the conveyor. never even bothered to look while it was running :(
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That's a scorch, and like you said, a little too hot.
I've had great luck with minor scorches, usually on white, hanging the shirts in the sun for a few hours.
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welcome to Scorchville.....sunshine and some peroxide have been known to remove scorch to some degree, but I think what you have there is toast....we've all done it.
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Ugh...Man thats going to be pricey... Do you think the hydrogen peroxide will remove it?? What about bleach? I read on here somewhere that it will remove scorching...or should I even bother?
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I have never had luck with peroxide though many do. I ended up with yellow stains.
I also don't know if it is meant for colored fabric like these though.
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bleach would most likely be a no go, but that's my guess.
we've successfully used hydrogen peroxide on 50/50's, but have not tried it on safety colors. It might be worth a shot.
In the end, we ran into the same problem last year (new dryer) and solved it by running the shirts through again completely flat. It made the discoloration even so we sent the shirts out. Ours were just a tad darker than the surrounding area so, again, it might not work for your circumstances, but it's worth a try.
pierre
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I've had issues, fortunately not a whole job, with the safety green shirts scorching under what seemed like not appreciably hot conditions. I'm finishing a job with pockets this morning, and I'm keeping the temp just around 340 at most.
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We had this happen with jerzees saftey yellow too, even in the gas dryer, if the temp is too high, some of these can be a nightmare. It wasn't really spotted until about 150 were printed. It wasn't the typical scorch, it was kinda spotty. Tried the peroxide and it didn't work. We ended up taking them to a coin laundry and put a heavy dose of oxyclean in the the load, took the discoloration out and salvaged the shirts. Learned a lesson, be very careful with the heat settings when printing these and we haven't had a problem since. Be careful flashing too, some times the issue can happen on press with the flash.
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It is kind of funny to see all the recent discussions about "shoddy" work done by online sellers and then see a discussion by you folks about how you can pass off "shoddy" work.....IMO the shirts are trash and should be replaced....
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It is kind of funny to see all the recent discussions about "shoddy" work done by online sellers and then see a discussion by you folks about how you can pass off "shoddy" work.....IMO the shirts are trash and should be replaced....
Although I have never thought that a laundered shirt still looks new, if described as "pre-washed" and not misrepresented, I think that's legit.
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Talk about 'shoddy', I temped Gildan safety yellow shirts UNDER 300 and they scorched. Is that my fault? ;)
Garbage in, garbage out...
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Good news!!! I washed the shirts last night in a last ditch effort to save them and the $115.00 it would have cost to replace them. ( not to mention ink and time!). I put all 55 shirts into the front loader washer, set it to heavy soiled, put a full serving of laundry soap, and 1 cup of bleach in the dispenser. I tried to stay awake to put them in the dryer but I was wiped and had to go to bed. So they sat in the washer over night after the spin cycle. I threw them in the dryer this morning after looking at a wet shirt and getting my hopes up a little and 45 minutes later.......THANK YOU JESUS!!! :) All shirts are saved. AND because they are poly blend they don't really even look too washed. These shirts are for a construction company and I think they will be very happy with them . I was ALMOST ready to make them shop wrags. BLEACH WORKED. No noticeable color fade at all.
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It is kind of funny to see all the recent discussions about "shoddy" work done by online sellers and then see a discussion by you folks about how you can pass off "shoddy" work.....IMO the shirts are trash and should be replaced....
Sometimes you are in a bind and if you can fix that bind, you fix it. What's wrong or? Shoddy about "washing" a batch of shirts? Is that passing off trash?, If the discoloration is gone, there is nothing shoddy about it, in turn that actually shows you are willing to go above and beyond to meet your customers due dates, especially in our case, the shirts already had 8 color front, 8 color back, 3 color left sleeve, and then the issue happened printing the 3 color right sleeve. It's not about the 100 shirts, it's about the time that went into the deco already. Don't get me wrong, if the discoloration didn't come out, shirts would be replaced, but after contacting the customer which we have a great relationship with, letting them know what happened and them needing their rush order, they agreed to give the wash a try. Nothing shoddy about this situation in my book or the customer's book in my opinion. "this is isolated to the situation we had".
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Well if the OP is going to clearly communicate with his client what the problem was and what he did to solve it and the client has no problems with it, then he is good to go and I am ok with that.....But I suspect what happens most of the time is the "fix" is unknown to the client.....That IMO is "shoddy".....
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Well if the OP is going to clearly communicate with his client what the problem was and what he did to solve it and the client has no problems with it, then he is good to go and I am ok with that.....But I suspect what happens most of the time is the "fix" is unknown to the client.....That IMO is "shoddy".....
Now that, is totally agreeable! I'm not sure how other's do things, but my wife has made a policy of being very open with our customers in communicating every little detail, almost to the point of being rediculous, but it hasn't failed us and our customers always tell us how much they appreciate the constant personal communication.
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The safety colored garments will discolor even if you don't do anything "wrong". We had a batch turn brownish yellow even after taking precautions with the dryer. 250 shirts a few months ago did this and our supplier made it right after I discussed everything we did to keep it from happening. We tested a shirt and it was perfectly fine and started the run then all of a sudden about halfway through a 500 piece run they turned on us.
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I learned alot from this job. I have only done 3 REAL jobs so I have alot to learn :) I learned to charge extra for poly blends, especially safety colors. I learned that if the ink isnt thick on poly blends it cracks easily even if the shirt is heat pressed or scorched. I learned that I need to figure out a way to dial in the little buddy conveyor that I have. Strips are all over the place as is the heat temp gun..so.? I learned that XXL shirts are prone to misalignment if your not careful ;). I learned that I can save a shirt if the color is right and the scorching is light. I learned that acetone will remove ink stains from shirts ;). I learned that it will take me at least 4 days to do 250 shirts while the rest of my business will be on hold and customers may not like that... I learned that water based adhesive from Mclogans is only good for about 50 shirts before you need to reapply. getting it wet just made the surface of the platen ....wet... I learned that I can register colors by hand with a little nudge from a rubber mallet and also that I don't want my first color to be right up against the clamp. If it is and the 2nd color needs to go higher then I have to go back and lower the first color to get it to register.... I also learned that the $215.00 for micro registration upgrade on my press is nothing compared to the hour I had to mess with the 2 colors on press. I learned that trapping has to be more than 1 point or even 2 points. More like 3-4 points if I can get away with it. I learned to check my hands after ever other shirt and keep and eye on that pesky ink that seems to find its way all over the f-ing place :o I learned that my back is out of shape and that this screen printing business will get it back in shape. I also learned that on some big runs I need to have a local moonlighter that knows his or her stuff come to the shop and do the run while I take care of my other customers. I learned that screen printing has a really nice learning curve and that I do love it and that it can make me more money, which is freakin' awesome.
Oh and I also acknowledge all of you people that give great advice and truly are not trolls. This forum has been the most positive I have EVER been to and I wanna thank you all for being there for me for every dumb question I have even though you probably have answered it a thousand times before!! 8)
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I learned that water based adhesive from Mclogans is only good for about 50 shirts before you need to reapply. getting it wet just made the surface of the platen ....wet...
I assume that you got Tek Bond, but they are all pretty similar and no, just wetting the board won't work. The water is only meant to make the accumulated lint easy to remove. It's that lint that really reduces the stickiness.
So, some use a damp rag and rub, (the lint is usually visible, so you can see it work), some spray and then rub, some use a scrubbie or green or blue side of those double sponges.
If you have your flash going, a quick stopover will help dry the board and make it sticky again a little sooner. One great thing about the water based stickum is that it likes heat, while the sprays seem to break down from it.
btw, sometimes I use a 50/50 dilution of Windex as my cleaner and rejuvenater. I do feel it both cuts the crap and drys a little faster
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Well if the OP is going to clearly communicate with his client what the problem was and what he did to solve it and the client has no problems with it, then he is good to go and I am ok with that.....But I suspect what happens most of the time is the "fix" is unknown to the client.....That IMO is "shoddy".....
I am with you on that Royce--the people like you are easy to deal with in this respect, since you are the one ordering and responsible for the quality of the goods you are printing. Probably a PITA when you find out it's the goods and not a printer doing something stupid though.
My thought was that it's sad when product that can't be imprinted properly without issues like that goes out, and CONTINUES to go out from the mfr as such. FWIW, I did a pretty big sim proc job we had to do one, take it home and make sure the 'scorchy' marks washed out, and then run--pretty fun problem to deal with when you're under the gun on 300 shirts with a silly fancy print, as well as other drops. Just makes me wonder, a year later, is it the same situation making problems for other people?
And Appstro--do yourself a favor, and only SUSPECT you have learned things at first. It will make it easier in the long run...