How To Cure Speedball Screen Printing Ink
Curing your prints is one of the concluding steps of the screen press process, but it is one of the most important steps. Ink needs to be cured properly so information technology sets into the garment. If the ink does not cure fully, it will scissure, fall apart, and not last for long. Printers use either oestrus guns, rut presses, flash dryers, or conveyor dryers to cure inks. Let's have a look at how each curing device works.
WHAT DOES "FULL CURE" MEAN?
Before we dive in, permit'due south note that the temperature ink cures at depends on the ink itself. Water-based ink like Dark-green Galaxy volition cure between 300°-320°F. Some plastisol inks cure at 320°F. Low-cure plastisol inks, like FN-INK™, cure at 260°F.
The temperature that an ink cures at ways that ink needs to reach that temp from the acme to the bottom layer. Before purchasing and using ink, learn what it needs to accomplish a full cure before implementing it in your shop. We'll address what each slice of curing equipment can do for unlike types of ink.
CURING VIA HEAT GUN
Using a heat gun is an cheap way to apply estrus to ink, but how effective is information technology? Heat guns are keen for prints on minor areas like the chest. When the design gets bigger, it's more than difficult to maintain the consistency of estrus across the unabridged print. Information technology's possible to go some sections likewise hot where they bubble, while other sections don't achieve cure temp. There'southward no truthful understanding of the actual temperature the heat gun is emitting.
If a heat gun is the method y'all're using to cure garments, make certain you're being conscientious because there'due south a high chance that the inks will not hit their cure temperature. For plastisol ink, apply the heat gun to the garment until it'due south dry out to the affect. Make sure you're holding it directly above the impress. Use heat to the garment until information technology's dry to the touch. And then perform a wash examination (more on that later).
Pro Tip: Low cure plastisol ink on a cotton fiber shirt will exist easier to reach its cure temp since you do not have to get the ink as hot. You will still need to perform tests on it to see if it has fully cured.
Heat guns are non a skilful option for printing water-based. If you're gung-ho virtually printing water-based ink, there is a workaround. Beginning, mix Warp Drive, a low-cure condiment, into your ink. Once you have finished printing, apply the heat gun to evaporate the water from the ink. Apply the heat gun until the print is dry to the touch. Allow the garment sit for 48 hours. The Warp Drive will chemically cure the ink.
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Curing discharge ink with a heat gun isn't possible. Continue reading to detect out when you tin.
Using a heat gun as a curing device is doable, but just for small runs. Remember that information technology will be difficult to maintain consistent heat across the entirety of the print. It will be a trial-and-mistake procedure. Make certain to test out each new job before going into production.
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CURING VIA HEAT Printing
A rut press is essentially a conveyor dryer without a belt. It'due south a fantastic way to cure inks because it provides a stable rut source. It gives a readout of whatsoever temperature fluctuation while you're using it. If a shop is already printing vinyl, a heat press will be an excellent, multi-use tool.
Curing with a heat press is incredibly unproblematic. For plastisol ink, read the characterization to detect the cure temp and gear up the heat press to be 20-30 degrees above that curing temperature. Use lite to medium pressure level. Identify a heat-resistant non-stick sheet on the impress. Press for xx-30 seconds. Make sure you lot perform a wash test to double-cheque that the ink has fully cured.
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Guess what, printing water-based is achievable when you have a heat printing! Set the heat printing at 330 degrees with light to medium pressure. Place a oestrus-resistant non-stick sheet on the print. When curing a water-based impress, the ink layer needs to exhale in order to evaporate the wet. Hover the heat press right above the print to permit the heat evaporate the water content. In one case it is dry, press onto it for 30-45 seconds. If you add together Warp Drive to the ink, press it for xx-30 seconds and set it off to the side to allow it finish chemically curing the ink.
A heat press is a no-can-do for discharge ink. Go on going.
Pro Tip: Do not forget to Test. Perform a wash examination earlier going into production.
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CURING VIA Wink DRYER
Flash dryers are a mutual way to cure shirts if you are simply starting out in the screen printing business. They're much more consistent than a heat gun. They are both meaty and relatively cheap. A diversity of different flash dryers be on the market. Shops demand a wink dryer for printing multiple colors, so some will also use information technology as a curing device.
When using a flash to cure, you start need to consider variables like the temperature of the room (pay attention to winter and height of summer, how long it takes to warm up platens), the type of t-shirt material, the kind of flash, the type of platen, and the temperature of ink, shirt, and platen.
VARIABLES WHEN CURING WITH A FLASH DRYER
It takes fourth dimension for a platen to warm up, so it's important to know how warm it is considering a cooler platen will take abroad heat from the flash. Pay attention to the cloth content of the garment y'all're using because it volition too affect your cure timing. For example, cotton fiber tin absorb wet. H2o cools downwards the space that it's in until it's completely evaporated from a heat source. Synthetic materials oestrus upward faster considering they don't hold moisture. The more yous know about the garment material, the better for you.
The type of platen affects the curing process because different materials volition concur onto heat for longer or shorter periods of time. The aluminum platens accept a while to oestrus up, but they hold oestrus well. A platen that tin can agree estrus means it's quicker to reach full cure since the garment is receiving oestrus from to a higher place and below.
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Lastly, the temperature of the space will as well bear upon the curing process. On a toasty solar day, inks are polish like butter, machines run faster, and the garments are warm. Printers tin can flash at their normal times, if non faster. If a store is cold, inks and garments volition demand more time to heat upward, which may irksome down product. It's important to have all these variables into business relationship so you know how to adjust accordingly and run a smooth production.
HOW TO CURE WITH A FLASH DRYER
To outset, warm the platen, shirt, and ink. It'll make flashing and curing easier. Pull the shirt off of the platen after press so heat can get underneath the print. Heat penetration goes faster because it'due south non adhered to the platen, which would soak upward rut. Leaving the shirt adhered to the platen causes issues with letting the heat penetrate the garment. Gently lay the shirt over the platen and move the flash dryer over the shirt and brainstorm curing. Pull out your laser temperature gun and aim it at the middle of the print. Once the ink reaches the cure temp, it's fix to be tested.
Curing water-based ink is the same here equally information technology was for the heat gun. Outset, mix Warp Drive, a low-cure additive, into your ink. Once you have finished printing, use the heat gun to evaporate the water from the ink. Apply the flash dryer until the impress is dry to the affect. Let the garment sit for 48 hours. The Warp Bulldoze will chemically cure the ink.
Sorry, curing discharge ink with a wink dryer is not safe. Luckily, there's still one more than option.
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CURING VIA CONVEYOR DRYER
If you're busting out high-volume orders each day, and then a conveyor dryer is the way to go. Conveyor dryers run multiple shirts through at a time which helps speed upwardly production. You will need to adjust the speed of the chugalug and heat information technology accordingly to the garment and the ink you are using.
After your conveyor dryer is up and running yous can start placing your t-shirts on the belt and letting them run through. Make sure to grab a temp gun or donut probe to run into if the ink is striking the cure temp. Test to learn if the dryer had the correct settings then you tin brand adjustments before going into production.
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In general, water-based inks have longer to cure. Yous'll want a forced air conveyor dryer like the Aeolus. H2o-based inks demand air movement to effectively drive the water out of the ink and move the steam outside the dryer so that the heat can cure the ink. Without proper air motion, most printers either have to slow their belts way downward or run the shirts through the dryer multiple times.
If yous're using a conveyor dryer with no forced air, y'all'll desire to use Warp Drive for curing water-based inks. Warp Drive will ensure the garment hits cure temp since it's hard to achieve without the forced air.
Guess what, now you can print discharge ink! There's a reason why a conveyor dryer is the only way to cure discharge ink. During the curing procedure, formaldehyde and sulfur bond to create an inert molecule. That molecule is released in the air, so having an enclosed space (a conveyor dryer) is important considering information technology'll allow the molecule practise its task while not harming y'all.
Discharge is water-based ink, so yous'll need a forced air conveyor dryer. Information technology'll lay a thin ink layer which ways information technology volition heat upward faster, once all the water has evaporated. Discharge is about 70% water in ink, then information technology'll take a while to evaporate. It'south easier to achieve a cure, but evaporation is longer.
RELATED: WHEN TO Apply DISCHARGE INK (AND WHEN Non TO)
Just for fun, allow'south say it once again. You need to examination, test, and test. Thicker ink deposits will accept longer to cure considering more mass means information technology takes longer to penetrate the ink. Various garment types volition touch the curing procedure (i.e. demand to ensure polyester does not drain) with all the variables that can affect the time to reach a proper cure and test to find what works best.
The length of the tunnel on a conveyor dryer likewise plays a huge function. Remember of the tunnel as a bullseye on a dartboard. The shorter the dryer, the tinier the bullseye. The longer the dryer, the bigger the bullseye (the bullseye is achieving optimal cure). Shorter tunnel dryers are more difficult to control. Information technology's like placing a flash unit of measurement on tiptop of a conveyor chugalug. Longer tunnels like the Riley Cure offer more flexibility. It allows y'all to accept more fourth dimension to mess around with belt speed and temperature, so tin fine-tune your curing process. Conveyor dryers like the Riley Cure are mainly used for plastisol, but they can work for water-based ink if using Warp Drive.
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HOW TO Examination FOR PROPER INK CURING
Think of curing similar blistering a cake. After the timer dings and you pull the cake out of the oven, information technology may look perfectly baked. In one case y'all stick a toothpick in the middle of the block, pull it out, and see that it's even so gooey, you lot then know it needs to be broiled for longer. The same idea applies to testing cured ink. It may look cured, just you won't know for sure until you lot test it.
A printer can perform two tests on a garment to double-cheque that the ink has fully cured. The starting time test is the stretch test. A stretch examination shows whether or not the top layer of the ink has cured or not. Afterwards curing the garment, pull on the ink. Stretch the biggest area of ink to encounter if it cracks. Slap-up ink means information technology wasn't completely cured. There is a difference between cracked ink and ink motion-picture show split. Ink film split happens when the ink layer is stretched further than its capabilities.
How do you lot tell the difference between swell and moving-picture show carve up? Ink cracking will exist uniform and all over the print. Film split will be scattered and there won't be a ton of it.
Performing a stretch examination will simply give yous a brief idea of whether or not some curing has occurred. Information technology's not an accurate style to see if the ink has cured to the lesser layer. Therefore, you need to perform a 2d exam.
The accented best way to confirm cured ink is with a wash test. Throw the printed shirt in the wash. Launder and dry in the harshest conditions. Launder it normally. Put it through all the different scenarios people may exercise when they wash their shirts. Perform the launder exam for at least three wash-dry cycles. Don't exist gentle, don't be careful. How the ink responds to the wash exam will tell you everything you lot need to know. If the ink cracks or parts autumn off, it wasn't properly cured. If it looks only every bit good as when it came off the press, you're good to get.
Before you print someone's club, always exam. Impress on a few garments and dial in details before printing the final product. Testing may seem ho-hum, simply it'll save you time, money, and headaches downward the road.
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MONITORING INK TEMPERATURE
A laser temperature gun is a common way to read the temperature. All y'all gotta do is bespeak the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation at the middle of the print to see the ink'south temperature. Just because everyone uses it doesn't mean it's the best method. A donut probe is a small, circular device with two wires that run perpendicularly. Where the wires see is where it reads the temperature.
The biggest deviation between a temp gun and a donut probe is that a temp gun picks upwards a reflective heat reading whereas the donut probe reads the temperature at the point of contact. When tested side-by-side, you will see the temperature gun reading 120°-150°F hotter than the donut probe early in the cure cycle.
Equally yous accomplish the cease of the dryer, those temperatures will get closer together. Every bit a direct result, you volition need to read a surface temp as little as 60°F higher up what the stated cure temp is and as much equally 100° depending on how short your dryer tunnel is and how hot your settings are.
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No affair what device yous're using to cure, the goal is to completely cure the ink, from the summit all the way to the lesser. Always test a print earlier you go into product (the wash test is the best examination). Still curious? Bank check out the gratuitous class on the nuts of screen press.
Source: https://www.screenprinting.com/blogs/news/ensuring-proper-ink-curing
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