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| Twisted |
 Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:28 pm |
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 50
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| I am just using a heatgun right now to cure, I am eventually going to buy a flash unit but for now I got to do things this way. Does anyone know the proper amount of time for curing the ink with a heatgun? I have a gun that goes as high as 1350 F. Thanks agin for the help everyone, I would be lost without these forums! |
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| Fool's Gold |
| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:43 pm |
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Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 284
Location: Ontario Canada
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| start at the top of the design and go side to side towards the bottom, odds are you will get parts that will wash off, but this is a decent method. Then pull the print in all directions, if it cracks it's undercured. I used to do this, worked on small designs, but bigger designs would often wash out. Once the shirt starts to smoke then they are clost to cure, or close to catching fire depending. You will undercure and burn a lot of shirts though |
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IRONCLAD GRAPHICS: Custom screen printed posters, apparel and stickers. |
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| Twisted |
| Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 7:52 pm |
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 50
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| Ok, I need that flash unit quick because I don't want to ruin to many shirts. Now when i get a flash unit how long do i flash the shirt to final cure If I am using Union Inks? |
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| Fool's Gold |
| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 4:41 pm |
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Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 284
Location: Ontario Canada
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| until the whole ink film reaches 320 degrees. It takes less time to cure a white print that's been printed with a 200 mesh, then it takes to cure a design thats printed with a 110 mesh. There are no set times only set temperatures. There are what are called 'quartz flashes' that will flash a design in .5 of a second and cure in less than 2 seconds; my flash takes about 10 seconds to flash cotton white, 8 seconds to flash 50/50 white and 5 seconds to flash 100% poly white. If you can get the design to a cure state in 30 seconds, or 5 seconds it will be cured, the key is to make it hit 320 all the way through, anything less and it will fall off. It's all about trial and error dude, you are gonna ruin a lot of shirts along the way . . . it's just a fact. |
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IRONCLAD GRAPHICS: Custom screen printed posters, apparel and stickers. |
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| Twisted |
| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 6:27 pm |
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 50
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| Ok, do you use one of those temperature guns to check the heat the Ink Is at? |
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| Fool's Gold |
| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 10:28 am |
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Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 284
Location: Ontario Canada
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I don't have a temperature gun. I only use the flash units to gel the ink, before applying top colours. If it's dry to the touch then it's gelled (if your top colours look like they have chicken pox then you are probably curing the ink, not gelling it) after that I fire the shirt into the conveyor dryer and that machine does it's work and the shirt is cured. I have been doing this so long with my current setups, that there is no variables regarding flash and cure, it's now been reduced to a number chart (poly ink: 5 sec, cotton ink: 10 sec, poly/cotton ink: 8 sec)
There really isn't much advice that you will get regarding curing with a temperature gun. This is just one of those cases of 'the right tool for the job' the heat gun will cure the ink, but it only projects the heat over a 4" circular area, thus you need to move that 4" circle of heat over the entire design untill each and every area has reached 320 all the way through. Think about using a can of black spraypaint to cover a 10'x10' white wall in solid black. You have to start somewhere and 'work' the area untill it's all black, you will be able see where the black is a bit lighter and where it's a bit heavier.
Do you know anyone who is a welder or metal worker? Apparently BlackBody sells the flashcure heating panels, and you can attach a stand using a MIG welder. I think they are around $400 US or so, I got a flash off ebay from a company called David's Distribution and it only cost me about $600 and I still have it running 6 years later (with only $20 worth of rewiring) You will get maybe a 15% sucess rate with a heat gun (unless you spend lots of time curing) or a 90% sucess rate with a flash unit.
Print a shirt, cure it, then pull the print in all directions, if it cracks anywhere, it's undercured and needs more heat. Keep going until you start to get an idea of your times, distances and whatnot. The best part is standing over the shirt, curing it while the PVC is off-gassing, yummy. |
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