Will white (low bleed) ink typically be heavy/thick?

[Gilligan]

Sorry for all the Newbie questions, but hey, you guys created this section. :p

So I have been doing test prints for my 50/50 Navy shirts/hoodies.  I'm using Rutland ML9232 Maximum Plus White.

I've tried various techniques, including trying Bill Hood's "One Hit White" and obviously I'm not doing it right.  I get decent coverage but still in need of a flash and 2nd print.

Either way, no matter what I do I seem to have a pretty thick layer of ink.  I personally wouldn't be satisfied, but that might just be the nature of the beast?

I haven't got any dye migration, but I've only tested on some of my own old shirts... would being washed shirts keep dye migration from happening or am I just that good?  Even printed on a fairly new (maybe washed 3 or 4 times) ROYAL blue 50/50 that I printed on about 6 times and cured at various times and even TRIED to over cure it.  Washed it and it still all looks good (been about 12 hours now).

[Frog]

I can't answer for your Rutland, but the low bleeds (IC 774 and Xenon Regular White) I presently have are not especially thick.
On t's, I tend to use higher mesh, 160 and p-f-p. On a fleece only job, I may go down to 110, still p-f-p, especially if there are large areas to cover.

Tighter mesh will allow you to deposit more ink on the surface rather than driving it in, resulting in less total deposit, and a softer feel. White plastisol however, will probably never give you the same hand as based down darks.

Be warned, your dye migration can take as much as two weeks to rear it's ugly head. There is a method for speeding up this possible reaction with heat, and checking this, but I'll be darned if I can find the particulars right now.

Be warned also that different colors, different shirts, and even different dye lots can all behave...you guessed it...differently!

[mooseman]

we find that we can reduce the bullet proof thickness of white ink by kinda printing them backwards....OK i will explain and remember my world spins in a different direction than most but as long as you are screwing around......take a walk on the wild side

We also PFP there is no such thing in our shop as a single hit white that we like.

Try print , flash and instaed of allowing the shirt to travel around the press to cool down print next station right after flash.
You will find the first print is tacky and the soak-in heat from the shirt will nicely thin the second hit making that print real smooth and easy. We get a nice two hit white with a pretty smooth medium hand and after a few shirts the ink really moves nicely through the screen. we tryically use 155's at 40 Nm.
And yes there are risks letting your ink get warm , hot in the screen or whatever. I will get gang banged for even mentioning this but at the end of the day this is all about technique with a healthy helping of rebellion thrown in for good measure.

mooseman

[Gilligan]

I don't have a carosel so I do just that anyway... granted I'm probably slow enough that it cools down enough.

Oh, and I'm using 158 mesh.

[Printficient]

Hate to disagree with the Mooseman, but ig the ink is tacky it is TOO HOT.  You want it dry yo the touch not tacky.  Mike (Mooseman) hope all is well.  I'll call you this week.

[Colin]

Actually Sonny, there are several different reasons why an ink will be tacky after flashing.  None of them will have a direct corellation to heat.

[Colin]

I should add that yes, depending, being to hot can make an ink tacky. 

But even if the ink is right at flash temp... it can still be very tacky.

[Gilligan]

Well, I'm DONE!

Whew... learned a lot I think.

I never could get anything close to a "one hit" white but I still used his "fill" then print technique... If I did it right and cleared the screen on both passes (pfp) then I'd get a pretty good feel to it... granted that happened like twice out of 36 prints (granted the hoodies were kind of weird to print on.

I also realized that I need to cheat the screen a little on left chest prints otherwise I get way too close to the edge on a little 20x24 screen.

I should have punted on that screen and made a new one but I just pushed through it.  The print close to the screen edge ended up blurry, I assume from being so close to the edge amplified all the imperfections in my technique and made it that much harder to hit the same spot on each stroke.  Though that is still weird since I was only hitting it once then flash then hit it again.  I probably could have lowered my off contact to counter this.

Overall I give the job a C.  The good thing is that it's my father-in-laws friend's company I'm doing these for.  The bad thing is that their slogan is "We have an eye for detail"... oops.  Kind of like "we are perfectionist"  'well, what about those shirts"  "oh, well.. our printer isn't."  ha!

Other good thing about the job is that we found out the wife can actually print with a 5" blade... so from now on she's on left chest prints. LOL  Maybe I'll get some 12" squeegees and see if that helps on smaller prints.  I found out that a 5" blade feels very flimsy and is kind of hard to print with actually.  Is it common to up the durometer of the blade for smaller squeegees?

Also realized I want a dip tank! LOL

[mooseman]

Hate to disagree with the Mooseman, but ig the ink is tacky it is TOO HOT.  You want it dry yo the touch not tacky.  Mike (Mooseman) hope all is well.  I'll call you this week.

Hey Sonny,
actuallt the tac is, in my shop, is more a function of time under the flash as opposed to temp. The temp is pretty constant the time is my gut feel. You have to remember also i am in the frosty north and ink temps are all relative. Ink brands are a factor also, this just off the flash works the nuts on One Stroke Versamax inks which otherwise can be a pain in the arse other brands like Wilflex not so much...just sayin'
mooseman

[Printficient]

Hate to disagree with the Mooseman, but ig the ink is tacky it is TOO HOT.  You want it dry yo the touch not tacky.  Mike (Mooseman) hope all is well.  I'll call you this week.

Hey Sonny,
actuallt the tac is, in my shop, is more a function of time under the flash as opposed to temp. The temp is pretty constant the time is my gut feel. You have to remember also i am in the frosty north and ink temps are all relative. Ink brands are a factor also, this just off the flash works the nuts on One Stroke Versamax inks which otherwise can be a pain in the arse other brands like Wilflex not so much...just sayin'
mooseman

Colin and Mike.  I get it.  All I'm saying is that out of 11 issues when printing dark shirts 9 of them are TOO MUCH HEAT.  Figuring out how to lower the heat is the test.  Some suggestions...higher mesh=less ink.  Harder squeegee=less ink.  We want the ink on top of the shirt not inside the shirt.  Have a great day guys, now go put some ink on underwear.

[mk162]

I have to agree with sonny, watching some of the guys here print, i would notice that they would deliver too much heat, and that causes a ton of problems.  A thinner ink coat helps flash faster by not having to bake the ink to prevent it from peeling off the shirt with the top colors.