Author Topic: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)  (Read 1843 times)

Offline ZooCity

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DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« on: November 13, 2014, 01:25:58 PM »
Apologies for another thread on this, could not for the life of me find the others doing a search.

We run Sericol Texcharge DC fluoros, mostly the green and pink and they look great.  Have a bucket of CCI d-flo blue and it looks not great.   It's time to reorder gallons of fluorescents but I didn't want to pass by CCI in case I was missing something.  I hear a lot of you saying the d-flo stuff is awesome. 

Specifically, this D-Flo blue.  Now, I know a "fluoro" blue isn' really a thing and we usually mix our own bright blues to fill in on runs that are all neons and have a blue but our results with the d-flo blue were just dull as hell.  This is anywhere from 3-6% activator.  Then I saw this picture:
http://instagram.com/p/qUO-K8AzBc/?modal=true

See the gozira print for the blue.  It looks fantastic. 

Anyone using the full d-flo set able to chime in and maybe steer me to what I'm missing?  Based off the blue's performance I am very hesitant to order any more in and want to stick with Sericol all around.


Offline ZooCity

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Re: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2014, 01:28:10 PM »
Ah, I stand corrected.  That pic was done under a blacklight or something. 

This one in daylight looks exactly like our d-flo blues....super dull.


Offline cbjamel

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Re: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2014, 01:33:40 PM »
Wow truth in advertising? I would be pissed if I wasn't even close to the sample shown. They need to say shown with black light or something to that effect. Doesn't seem right.
Shane

Offline ZooCity

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Re: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2014, 01:48:48 PM »
Oh I don't think it was meant to distort necessarily, it was just an insta or some soc. media pic. 

"Neon" or very, very bright blues can be tough all around.  Honestly, Sericol had the best blue pig in their RFU inks that I have seen so far out of them, CCI and Rutland.  I think the quality/type of the pigment really comes into play with this color and DC/WB inks.

Offline CCI TECH

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Re: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2014, 02:59:43 PM »
Zoo,


The Florescent blues are always a problem for brightness. That is why Sericol does not even make one. The picture you refer to is with a black light that we displayed at a show. There was no advertising, that is what it is under a light. Most all Flo Blues look like process blue. They are not bright. Under a black light they are.

As I know you like to run high mesh on all your prints, What mesh did you run the ink through? For bright colors I recommend a maximum of 138 mesh or lower. The pigments are big and need to be put through open mesh. Activate at a mix of 4% activator. Drive the ink into the shirt and for brighter color or even a second pass.

Good luck.

Tech   

Offline ZooCity

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Re: DC Fluorescent Ink (again)
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2014, 03:39:22 PM »
Agreed on bright blues, as stated in my initial post, it's a tough row to hoe.  fwiw, Sericols blues are the best I've seen for pig quality, CCI pro blue in at a solid second, I actually feel like a much brighter blue can be mixed out of the CMS system v the RFU d-flo.  Rutlands blue pigs have left a lot to be desired for us, they just seem 'dirty'

Also, as stated, I did not feel the pic was trying to advertise falsely, we've already ran the ink and results were just like the daylight pic.  I just didn't realize the other was blacklight and thought "what are we doing wrong?".

Great advice all around.  We print flouros on a 150/48 with a 2x pass.  This mesh is likely more open than a standard thread 138.  We will occasionally print DC on a 135/48 but this often results in over penetration.   There is no hard and fast on mesh for DC, penetration through the fabric along with a wash test is the guidepost.