Ink washes out

[ApeShirt]

Well, I'm embarrassed. I sold shirts to a band who sold them at a music fest this past weekend. I just got a message saying someone who bought a shirt says they washed it and half the print washed out and the rest is flaking. I cured the plastisol ink to a minimum of 330 for at least 10 seconds to allow it to penetrate. I washed the shirts before I even gave them to the band and had no issues. What could be the problem? Again, when I washed and dried them there was no issue. This is not a good start for me.

[ApeShirt]

Please disregard this post and delete if you want. It turns out it. Wasn't one of my shirts. Sure wish people would get the facts straight before causing unnecessary stress.

[Catspit Productions]

Well I tell you. That is important as well. You have to determine and set guidelines for your return policies. I always ask for the shirts in question before making any decisions or worrying. I actually guarantee my work 100% so I’d refund money for almost anything but they have to return the shirts they didn’t like. That’s my general rule.

If there is no work defect in the printing or in the garment then they have to be unworn and unwashed as well. But you should be confident in your work and don’t second guess yourself until you see what the fuss is about

[ApeShirt]

I will always buy back my product if there's an error on my part. Reputation is extremely important to me. I didn't start a business to provide shoddy work. This did show me not to talk people at their word without seeing physical proof.

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, reputation and word of mouth are the best form of advertisement for small screen printing businesses. Thanks a lot for posting on the forum.

I appreciate your contributions.

[Ochtees]

actually I just logged on to post this question too. We just did a big order and we cured at 320-340 for 15 seconds. Everything looked good and we heat guned every shirt. We just had the client call and said some of the shirts washed out. I really really have no idea what to do? This is the 2nd time we have had this happen. How long do we need to run it through and besides a wash test how can you tell if your good?

please help

Cody

[ApeShirt]

Hi Cody,
I'm new to this but I do know a couple things, lol. If you're printing white plastisol you can do a stretch test after it's cured. Slightly pull the white ink after it's cured. If it cracks or pulls away from itself then it is not properly cured. If you are hitting more than once, or white ink (thicker due to opacity) you may need to cure it longer to allow the the heat to penetrate completely through the ink. Also, be sure you are curing the entire image as it is essential every inch of the image gets cured. Question: Are you letting it get to 320+ and then doing it for 15 seconds or it takes 15 seconds to reach 320 and you stop?

[Catspit Productions]

Cody,

ApeShirt is correct about the stretch test. Plastisol inks will stretch without cracking or exposing the shirt fabric underneath when properly cured. Maybe we have to do a video on this subject. I think the problem here is using a heat gun. If I am to understand correctly it seems you cured all the shirts with a heat gun, yes?

That is the problem. Check out this article:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fl ... units.html

And in that article we are talking about a flash cure unit. As you can see a belt dryer is the best option but if you cannot get a belt dryer then I would at least use a flash cure unit that is oversized compared to your print area.

Using a heat gun to do a final cure will be wildly inconsistent at best. Some portions of the print may actually be cured while other areas may not. It is impossible to thoroughly and consistently do a final cure on plastisol inks with a heat gun. And 15 seconds at 340 may have not penetrated the entire ink layer. My shirts spend almost a minute going through the belt dryer at near 400 degrees F. I run my oven a little hot to make sure the entire ink layer is cured. The actual heat setting on the belt dryer thermostat is like 675 degrees F.

So you can see a heat gun is ill equipped to do the job. A flash cure unit is better but still could be a problem if you are not careful.

Thanks for the assist ApeShirt! I appreciate your contributions to the forum.

[iCreateGraphix]

Hi All...I'm new to this forum. Thanks for the good work you do Catspit. Regarding return policies...I just wrote one up this week, because of an issue with a customer. If its my mistake, I will replace/reprint all items, no questions asked. But if its a customer's issue (ordering wrong sizes, etc.), I only offer reprints at a reduced price, and at that, I only give customers 14 days to do returns. Is this too harsh? I totally agree with word of mouth and reputation being our best form of advertising right now, so I do want to please the customer, but I don't feel like I should take the hit if its a customer's mistake. What does everyone think?

[Catspit Productions]

That sounds pretty fair to me. I think I only give 3 days for returns and reprints. I have found that letting them have too long to return goods can lead to getting shirts back that have been used. In a way I make the customer check their order and do a wash test right away to make sure they are happy.

Of course in the end if they bring a shirt back that washes out over time, I would still honor a replacement on those garments. That’s probably very unlikely for me but I am always prepared to do that in any event.

So this is a good start. Try it out and see how it works for you over 6 months. Modify your return policy as you go and learn what to expect from your particular customers and market place.

I agree if it is the customer’s mistake they should step up and take the responsibility but it is very difficult to tell a customer who has misspelled something and approved the artwork without noticing it that I won’t do anything for them. It’s one of those things where even if you have the customer sign off on artwork or whatever, you always have to be flexible in helping them recover from their mistake.

Know what I mean?

Anyone else?