Author Topic: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?  (Read 6900 times)

Offline Rockers

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2074
Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« on: November 18, 2014, 05:51:18 PM »
When printing plastisol onto a discharge underbase do you flash the base first our do you print it all wet on wet?


Offline mimosatexas

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4221
  • contributor
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2014, 06:18:13 PM »
I do, but I'm on a manual.  Never had good luck printing on to a wet dc base.

Offline alan802

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 3535
  • I like to screen print
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2014, 07:08:48 PM »
I do a quick flash, about 2 seconds.  I've done it with and without and things work just fine without flashing but I feel like there is some buildup and mixing of the plastisol and DC ink that can be avoided by a short flash. 
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it -T.J.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it -T.P.

Offline ZooCity

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4914
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2014, 07:18:17 PM »
Yes. 

Like Al said, just enough to dry it out a bit typically.  You aren't printing a DC UB like you would regular DC, it's not about saturating and fully penetrating the fabric, that's not needed, just need to bleach out the top of the garment so the plasti hilite colors pop.  So it's a lot less ink all around and doesn't take much to flash out enough moisture to prevent issues down press.  Still, be careful with ventilation here it can get a lot of nasty in the air at higher production speeds if you don't watch it.  Depending on the temp/humidity in the shop and the fabric, etc. I like to see the image just barely start to discharge before the quartz kicks off.

We've ran without flash and it looks fine too...until the wet DC starts clogging your 330/30 CMYK screens and you can't see that the skin tone went from tan to sunburnt for 30 shirts as the Y clogged and then from sunburnt to pallid as the M starts gumming up.  After that experience we just flash all DC UBs, makes life a lot better and you can see what's going on more clearly before pulling the garments.  I've also seen a slight opacity boost doing this v. not flashing.

Offline ScreenPrinter123

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 863
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2014, 08:06:41 PM »
Every time I see a post like zoo's I think I'm gonna start saying, "Dont have this problem with plastisol."  I'll equally sound like a broken record in no time ;-).

Offline Inkworks

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1761
  • Pad&Screenprinter
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2014, 08:21:28 PM »
I recently tried not flashing a DC UB with a flou. Orange top colour and we had significant drop-out of brightness in the finished product. A quick flash fixed it
Wishin' I was Fishin'

Offline ZooCity

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4914
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2014, 08:23:03 PM »
Every time I see a post like zoo's I think I'm gonna start saying, "Dont have this problem with plastisol."  I'll equally sound like a broken record in no time ;-).

Ha! You sound like me and my production manager when we're down on wb printing.  But man, plasti over DC base v. over plasti base?...no comparison imho, so much softer, smoother, better blends.  I think it's worth it. 

Offline ZooCity

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4914
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2014, 08:25:59 PM »
I would really like to hear from someone who doesn't flash the base, it's something I really, really want to get away with but it has not been production friendly enough and the finished product with a flash looks better.  If you don't flash DC bases, I want to know your secrets.

Offline Prosperi-Tees

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4297
  • Common Sense - Get Some
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2014, 09:29:01 PM »
How are cure times affected using a dc ub?

Offline TCT

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #9 on: November 18, 2014, 09:30:22 PM »
We flash. When I stop and think of it, it is usually more out of habit than anything I think. Like other said it is like a 3 sec flash, somewhere in my head I've told myself it looks better.

Pretty sure Tony said they don't usually flash.
Alex

Hopefully I'll never have to grow up and get a real job...

www.twincitytees.com

Offline ZooCity

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4914
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2014, 09:30:34 PM »
How are cure times affected using a dc ub?

Our dryer is 16' of high output/high airflow so DC UB runs at 320˚, same as an all plasti print.  However, we would not run super fast as we could do with all plasti, there's a retention time needed to get the DC UB to do it's thing.

Offline ericheartsu

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 3540
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2014, 09:35:19 PM »
last job we did like this we had to flash longer than i wanted to, it was on gildan 18000 blacks. But without that added flash time, it really looked gross.
Night Owls
Waterbased screen printing and promo products.
www.nightowlsprint.com 281.741.7285

Offline Prosperi-Tees

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 4297
  • Common Sense - Get Some
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #12 on: November 18, 2014, 09:37:07 PM »
I'd like to get into doing dc's but 6ft of infrared is not gonna cut it.

Offline brandon

  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1709
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #13 on: November 18, 2014, 09:48:06 PM »
Permaset makes a "first down white" underbase non discharge. Flash all you want nothing bad in the ink. Print water base or plastisol on top

Offline TCT

  • !!!
  • Gonzo Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2877
Re: Discharge underbase, do you flash it?
« Reply #14 on: November 18, 2014, 09:51:41 PM »
Permaset makes a "first down white" underbase non discharge. Flash all you want nothing bad in the ink. Print water base or plastisol on top
Have you used any Permaset stuff with success? The samples they sent us blew ballz!!!
Alex

Hopefully I'll never have to grow up and get a real job...

www.twincitytees.com