Having some issues with with curing

[KBcreative]

I am just starting out printing myself, been designing shirts for some time now and decided to take up screen printing. I am having some problems with curing the matsui opaque white on dark garments. I have been only using a heat gun, which may be the problem. I have been hitting the screen then using the heat gun to flash a little bit then hitting it one more time before curing it. I have been watching many of the videos on your youtube and they have helped out tremendously, maybe i just need to experiment with different methods. I was just wondering if you had any suggestions.

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, the heat gun could be an issue here but also treating a water based ink like a plastisol ink and doing a hit/flash/hit may also be not a good idea. I have never used the Matsui inks so I have no experience with the opaque white. I would try to set it up on an open enough mesh count that you can get the coverage you want without flashing and printing again.

I would also use a flash sure unit at the very least to cure any ink. So these issues combined may be what the problem is. My guess is there is too much ink to fully cure properly with a heat gun. But since Ryonet sells the Matsui ink let’s ask them. I’ll see if I can get them to help us out here and tell us what we should do with your issue.

[Free Man]

If you dont have the money for flash dryer or better, I have heard of people using heat presses to cure. Of course if you dont have money for the other dryers you dont have it for a heat press either, which leads me to this tid bit. Lots of printers, self included, started out heat pressing before screen printing, and before I was ready to put money down on a good heat press, I built one. It cost me $5 and worked great. Simply went to good will and picked up a electric griddle thingee and built the rest from wood scraps and what not around the garage. I dont want to encourage money spent on less than professional tools but at $5 I think its no biggie for a home hobby level.

[N. Flight Designs]

I am doing the same thing you are. This will help you. When using water based white, you can flash, hit, flash. Make sure you get close to the ink with the gun. Let it cool for about 20 sec. You can do this as many times as needed. When you are done, pull it off the platen. I use the clip type hangers and hang it up. put your hand inside the shirt when curing it. if your hand burns, you are to close. Steam should come out off of it. Keep doing this for 7 min or untill the steam stops. It takes a while but it works. This works with 100% cotton only. If you are doing 50/50 then cure it on the platen for a little time over and over. If you leave space under the t-shirt it will cause it to burn easier. So 50/50 on the platen. 100% on the hanger. Hope this helped.

[Aaprintingkc]

Hello,
So I am using speedball ink on a 110 mesh screen and when I print it comes out great, so I flash dry it for about 15-20 seconds. I was told from the company that sold me the press that when using speedball ink that is all you really need. But after flash drying or attempting to cure for 15-20 seconds the ink still washed out in the dryer. Is there a way to know that the ink is cured? I know that with Plastistol inks there should be smoke coming from the ink but I didn't know if this was the same with Speed ball Water based ink. Thank you for your time and help.

[Shamax]

Welcome to the forums, folks! It sounds like most of you are in the same boat as me. I'm currently using Matsui waterbased inks and most of the prints I do are opaque white on black shirts. For most designs I usually do a hit, flash for about 15 seconds or so with a heat gun, then hit again. Sometimes I'll do two strokes on the second hit, depending on how much I need to lay down, so it's more like: stroke, lift, backflood, flash, lower, stroke, flood, stroke, lift, backflood, peel it off and find a spot to lay it out or hang it. For doing the final cure of the ink, I usually sit in the floor and work each shirt with the heat gun for a good 3-5 minutes or so depending on the size of the design. Like others have said, you should see steam escaping out of the shirt. Once the steam stops, you're about there. Just make sure to keep the heat gun moving at all times. If you let it sit in one spot, especially if it's only a few inches from the shirt, you'll scorch it (then promptly kick yourself).

With waterbased inks, you need heat AND airflow which is why a heatgun works well starting out. Forced-air flash units & conveyors are best if you can afford them. IR flash units work great for plastisols, but they don't give you he air flow/movement that waterbased inks really need, though I'm told an IR flash can work - you just need to let the garment sit for a much longer period under the heat element. Heat presses suffer the same problem, in that they trap the steam/moisture in the garment until the press is opened. I have read though that people have had luck with heat press curing of waterbased inks by doing it in two cycles: an initial one, open to let the steam out, then press again.

Good luck, and happy curing!

[Aaprintingkc]

So shamax what you are saying that a flash dryer will work but you just have to watch it a little more close.? What if after I flash dried it, I threw a pillow case over the shirt and ironed it just to make sure that the cure was complete. How do I know that water based ink is completely cured.?

[Shamax]

So shamax what you are saying that a flash dryer will work but you just have to watch it a little more close.? What if after I flash dried it, I threw a pillow case over the shirt and ironed it just to make sure that the cure was complete. How do I know that water based ink is completely cured.?

Just like with plastisols, a stretch-test will usually tell you whether it's cured or not. Find some of the more ink-heavy parts of your design on the shirt, stretch it an inch or so - if the ink cracks, it's not cured. And yes, an infrared flash unit will work, it just takes longer. Set the unit to be a little farther above the shirts than you would for plastisols, and monitor the temperature on the shirt with a heat gun. Plastisols only need a handful of seconds at ~320-degrees to fully cure. Waterbased needs to stay hot longer to drive out the moisture when there's no air movement. Once all areas of the design reach about 300 for a minute-ish, do a stretch test. If it doesn't crack, do a wash test to make sure before you go into full production mode.