TSB
screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Croft on April 18, 2012, 01:16:26 PM
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Does anyone have exp. with the atkins "donut" thermoprobe. I have a new dryer and want to check temps. I used a gun style thermo-probe in the past and never had anything returned in 7 years for undercure.
I am still using it but wanted to double check, I borrowed an Atkins from my supplier. The problem I have is when i place it on the ink it is only reaching 275*F but my gun style probe if reading 412*f in the last 12-18" of the dryer and the shirts are smoking. That seems like a big difference. any thoughts?
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I don't really trust the gun. When my thermoprobe was reading 290 my gun was showing 350 and the ink was not cured. I think the gun can be used as a baseline tool once you get everything set with the atkins probe but I still wouldn't trust it completely. I know what you're thinking though, you've relied on a tool that never has let you down, you've probably never undercured a shirt but I really trust the donut probe over the gun.
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BUT all things need to be calibrated and maintained... it IS possible that the donut is out of spec.
Granted, I'm with Alan on this and I'd say the donut is MORE accurate... but I have a k-type probe that is WAY off and it's a Fluke being used on a Fluke meter... go figure.
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I am dealing with the exact same scenario today Croft. Shirts smoking, 425 on gun, 280 with the donut probe.
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I used the atkins years ago at an old job but never really trusted it, Ive been doing the stretch test on white no problems and have washed some heavy deposit white on blacks. Its probably more me having used a drier for years then switching makes me nervous.
We ran about 1000 pcs of underarmour yesterday and they were very hot coming out.
The driers a Radicure 36-6 4 panel running at 985* and about13-18 fpm 13 for tees/hoodies 18 for the UA shirts ( they were sport grey so not too much of concearn about dye migration)