How To Cure Water Based Ink At Home

In screen press, the nigh important affair you lot want to do is achieve a print that can last fourth dimension later fourth dimension going through the washer and dryer and not fading away or swell and flaking off.

A lot of printers inquire how to cure inks and as easy as it is to read instructions, people yet struggle. For starters, there are two popular types of inks to screen print with. Y'all have your Plastisol Inks that traditionally cure at around 320° F for a minute and your H2o-Based Inks will cure at the same temperature just require around 3 minutes to cure. The popular plastisol inks these days are curing at around 260° - 270°.

Curing Tools

And so first there are 4 tools you can utilize to cure your ink. Let u.s.a. all recognize that not anybody has the same upkeep to first off with so tools may be different and that is ok. There is no right or wrong fifty-fifty if you call up you lot are a know information technology all.

Heat Gun

The tool that most people start out with when entering screen printing is a estrus gun. Will a heat gun work for curing ink? Yes and no. Nosotros don't recommend using a heat gun for screen printing because you won't be able to get a consistent and authentic temperature across your print surface area. Yes, it's the best blindside for your cadet and even though it looks like a accident dryer it can reach temperatures that will burn a hole in your scalp so realize a blow dryer is not going to accomplish your inks curing temperature. Heat guns can be institute at your local hardware store and could cost anywhere from $15-$l depending on brand and specs.

Heat Press

Some other tool used is a heat press. Picture a panini or tortilla press for t-shirts. A lot of people ask, "Can I use a heat press to cure my ink?" and the answer is yes! With a heat press for screen press, you are going to have a heating element on top and in one case it gets to your curing temperature y'all are going to use pressure level to close it downwards onto your garment. This will cure your garment and give it a nice flat feeling. As well much pressure tin also cause the inks to smudge together and brand your nice crisp print await a picayune blurry. Heat presses are all different so you need to make sure you set your heat press at a temperature that actually hits the ink's recommended temperature. For example, many heat presses will read 270°F digitally simply the heating element may actually have a temperature of 250°F.

You tin can find estrus presses at a variety of pricing depending on quality and size. Let's say $200+ would be where yous tin can get a basic estrus printing.

Wink Dryer

The wink dryer, anybody involved in screen press knows what a flash dryer is. This is pretty much a heating element on a rotating mail. You are going to desire to become an infrared heating chemical element rather than a scroll type of chemical element. You can cure with a oestrus press just brand sure you raise information technology up a couple of inches from the shirt so y'all don't fire information technology.

You can find flash dryers for screen press anywhere from $350+ or you lot can become scroll blazon for around $100+ but those would not be the start option since they are more inaccurate when curing.

Conveyor Dryer

Now the type of dryer everyone is going to say you need and it's not a lie, if you tin can afford one and take the room for it then aye let'south look for a conveyor dryer for screen printing. Now unfortunately these dryers are going to showtime at the very least around $1,600 and you are going to need at least a 3' x 5' area for the conveyor dryer.

These dryers are squeamish because in one case you lot set the temperature and then you just permit your garment run through the machine and one time it pops out of the other end you lot are proficient to go.

Cheat Sail

This is a skilful place to start off with for curing. Go on in mind all equipment is dissimilar so some may experience different curing times.

Bonus Tools

For all of your temperature readings, a laser temperature gun will exist your best friend. These will tell you the surface temperature of your ink and allow you lot to do it speedily and accurately. The nearly important thing to accept into consideration is that information technology's a cost-effective tool ranging from $25+. Now there are other helpful tools such as a donut probe but it is going to cost you upwards of $100, which we know can be a hard buy for near printers starting off.

Now when it comes to testing your inks to see if they are cured properly you can do a small stretch test with plastisol inks. This does not hateful stretching the shirt as far autonomously as it tin go until the ink cracks. This won't actually help with h2o-based inks since they get into the shirt fibers themselves significant if you lot pull you lot will virtually definitely notice the threads separating, which you don't desire to see with plastisol inks.

The all-time matter to do is throw your shirt in the washer and dryer to brand certain the ink has been cured properly, if not you will get a nice, distressed expect once it'due south done going through the laundry cycle.

There yous have information technology guys! 4 different budget friendly options that yous tin can employ to cure inks and a few tips and tricks you can use to exam and run into if your inks are cured.

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