Slight washout issue

By scot w. on Dec. 06, 2009

I am pretty new to screen printing and I am using the original plastisol ink that came with the unit. I'm not sure when it was originally bought as I bought the set up early this year.

The issue i'm having is a very small spot of my design seems to be washing out after it's washed. The rest of the image looks perfect! Why is only half a a "B" washing out and the rest of it looks great?

Heres some screen info:

* Screen Mesh - 156 7 9
* Ink is a Plastisol - Skylar white

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have orders to ship but refuse to ship anything unless this is solved.

FRESHLY PRINTED / WASHED
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Ghostwork Ink's picture
Submitted by Ghostwork Ink on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 16:34

what are you drying your shirts with?
Looks to me that your ink isnt cured very well on that side..
if youre using a conveyor thats up to 325 or higher you should be clear on that...
flash dryer on the other hand.. it has to be a hottttt flash dryer; that covers the whole image

@Justin_PalmTees

Submitted by scot w. on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 18:23

Ghostwork Ink wrote:
what are you drying your shirts with?
Looks to me that your ink isnt cured very well on that side..
if youre using a conveyor thats up to 325 or higher you should be clear on that...
flash dryer on the other hand.. it has to be a hottttt flash dryer; that covers the whole image
Thanks for the reply and the help! I'm using a Black Body infrared conveyor dryer but not really sure of the heat it was up to when I ran the shirts through, but why did it cure everywhere else on the image?

I have a laser thermometer that I will use tonight and see how long it takes to get to temp. ( WHERE SHOULD I TAKE THE TEMP FROM?? )

PS: Also on the screen in that very same spot it seems to be loading up with ink at times like i've never seen happen before. Think I should switch to a 110 mesh instead of that 156?

Scot W.

Submitted by tshirt outlet on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 20:57

how is your screen in the b area is it washed out good or it maybe cloged and your not getting all the ink coming thru . ive been doing silkscreen for 13 yrs and thats what it poss is.

Submitted by brothersprinting on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 21:31

There are a few things that could be going on. You said that your ink was thicker on the b than everywhere else. when you have thicker in it takes a little longer to cure. Also when you are running it through the conveyor make sure your temp is at least 320 all the way across the image (left right center). To me it looks like a curing issue. Use your laser temp gun and point it about 8 to 10 inches inside your dryer as the shirt is coming out and that is where you should check your temps. If I were you I wouldn't really be concerned with your screen mesh. Try turning your temp on your conveyor up or slow down your belt.

Submitted by scot w. on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 22:20

tshirt outlet wrote:
how is your screen in the b area is it washed out good or it maybe cloged and your not getting all the ink coming thru . ive been doing silkscreen for 13 yrs and thats what it poss is.
You nailed it !! YES on the same part where it washed out there has been a problem with the ink on that side of the "B". When making a pass over the image with the squeegee that area almost seemed to NOT go all the way through but when I make Another pass and put more pressure over that area it seemed to make it look alot better. I took the screen off the press and will be trying out a 110 screen tomorrow.

Scot W.

Submitted by scot w. on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 22:21

tshirt outlet wrote:
those the b look good before you wash it also
my wife said it could many of things causing it .
YES the "B" looks perfect just like the rest of the image prior to washing it.

Scot W.

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Submitted by scot w. on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 22:26

brothersprinting wrote:
Also when you are running it through the conveyor make sure your temp is at least 320 all the way across the image (left right center). To me it looks like a curing issue. Use your laser temp gun and point it about 8 to 10 inches inside your dryer as the shirt is coming out and that is where you should check your temps. If I were you I wouldn't really be concerned with your screen mesh. Try turning your temp on your conveyor up or slow down your belt.
So I should check my temps ON THE SHIRT 8" - 10" INTO THE DRYER as the shirt comes out?

What should the shirt be as it exits out the dyer, Like right as it's exiting? My temps just now were right around the 213* mark..

I just printed a test shirt and there still is a problem with the screen in that area of the "B" so I removed it and will be going to a new 110 screen instead.

Any thoughts on the "white" Ink being bad? NONE of my other inks have ever gave me a problem..

Scot W.

Submitted by scot w. on Mon, 12/07/2009 - 16:39

UPDATE!!!

Well I went back and got rid of the 156 mesh screen and went with a 110. I then thinned out the white ink a little then did some testing with my coveyor dryer here is what I done.

1) Let the dryer warm up for 30 min

2) Ran a white shirt through it untill the image on the shirt reached 335*, I had to fool around with the speed to finally reach that temp.

Now onto the printing stage of things:

1) Made 2 passes

2) Then flashed it for 10 seconds

3) Made 2 more passes and it came out beautifull !!!!!

Ran the freshly printed shirts through the dryer and then washed & dried the shirts and they came out PEFRECT!!!

Thanks to Everyone for the help and tips.

Scot W.

Submitted by hbgraphics on Mon, 12/07/2009 - 18:06

Scot one other thing to remember is: when flashing you do not want to CURE the ink on the bottom layer. If you do the ink will lay down on top of the base but will not bind with it and cure together. When you run a shirt throught the wash after this happens, the bottom layer will adhere to the shirt but the top layer will wash right off. Looking at your pictures, it looks like that may have been the problem. perhaps your flash wasn't evenly heated, perhaps it wasn't level to the shirt platen.
One good thing to practice when flashing is the finger test (flash the image in short bursts, just untill ink stops coming up on your finger). To check if your flash is getting good coverage or heating evenly, check the whole image left/right, top/bottom, center. everywhere to make sure it is drying evenly. Ink cures instantly once it reaches certain temperature. Flash cures are designed to "gel" the surface of the ink on the substrate so as not to transfer ink on to subsequent stencils, but still allow layers to adhere to one another.

Submitted by PatFinn on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 21:48

one other thing.. the laser temp guns do NOT measure surface temperature.. only the are around. so if you are checking the temp of the ink on your shirt with the gun you probably not getting a VERY accurate temp..good luck!

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